Chapter 29: Rising Menace

In the hall of a great castle, a young woman was sitting at the end of a huge table. On the other end was her father, the King, and on either side of him the Stewart and the castle's strongest knight. Across the rest of the table were various people who currently were the castle guard's best warriors. Anyone who looked at them casually might think they were just being polite with the silence while everyone ate. However, the young woman, a princess who had known these people all her life, recognized the unspoken tension hanging over their heads precariously.

This princess eventually wiped her mouth with her handkerchief and called across the table, "Father, are you going to tell us why we were all summoned here on such short notice?"

The King looked back and considered for a moment if he was prepared, then sighed and decided it would be best to simply get it over with, "Very well. First and foremost, I apologize for calling you all here so unusually. I know many of you have personal issues with one or the other…"

At this, he glanced between his Stewart and Head Knight, both of whom were looking at each other indifferently. The King shook his head and cleared his throat, "Ahem. Despite our differences, I need something to be done about these Dragon Slavers. Our might as a country lies in the dragons we live alongside, but if there are forces killing and stealing those dragons, we must send a response team to deal with them. I understand there have been small skirmishes here and there, but this recent attack on Fairy Tail Thunder a few months back troubles me greatly."

"Should we send spies into their midst and gather information first?" the Head Knight asked, "That is standard procedure for studying an enemy we know little of who possesses a force like theirs."

"I have already attempted what you suggest," the King sighed, "but our spies were quickly discovered and killed. We have no choice. We must send in forces to intercept and stop all their attacks on our dragons."

The Stewart nodded, "An excellent suggestion, your majesty. I can arrange such a force immediately if you wish."

"Do not overstep your powers," the Head Knight glared at him, "The military force is led by me, so if his majesty requires a response team, I'll organize the members myself."

His glare was countered by the Stewart's, who appeared displeased with this knowledge, but did not respond.

The princess snapped her fingers at the two men, "Please, stop this. We have no luxury at a time like this for infighting. Father, should Arcadios organize the team, or no?"

"Yes," the King told her and the Head Knight, "I'm leaving the response team in your capable hands, my friend."

Arcadios nodded, "Consider it done, your majesty."

"With that said, that is not all I have called you here for," the King stated, "There are two other issues to deal with. The first is that of a strange group that the Dragon Slavers may be in contact with. They possess an unusual magic and I want it to come to light. The second is the recent destruction of the city on the edges of our borders, Rosemary. I trust you've all heard of that by now?"

Oh, they had heard. The whole event had revolved around two of their most prominent young warriors. Even now, they both looked angry about the attack.

The King offered them both a comforting glance, "Fear not, for the one responsible is, in fact, in Fairy Tail at this very moment, or so I've been told. A drake going by the name of Smaug recently found his way to the Thunder and has apparently been welcomed in. I want a direct interview with this dragon to determine his true purposes and why he insisted on annihilating my country's people. Hisui, I'm sending you with two soldiers of your choice, plus a dragon for good measure. I'll send a message to Jiemma after this and have him assign one of his Thunder to you. Understood?"

Hisui the princess dipped her head, "Yes, father. As for the two soldiers, it goes without saying who should escort me, right?"

She looked to the two who had been so angry earlier and smiled at them, "Come. Let's go find this dragon and make sure he answers for what he's done."

"…You're sure this list was accurate?" Natsu asked.

Erza nodded, "It is. Since Rosemary was relatively small, they kept records of who lived there and who moved. The man who gave us this said we were lucky this much of the list survived, so he checked off the names of who was alive and who died during Smaug's attack."

Lucy was scanning the parchment until she paused and told Natsu mentally. (Kagura's name is here. She and her brother moved out of Rosemary two years ago. It doesn't say where they went, but they weren't present when Smaug attacked.)

Natsu let out an inward breath of relief. Despite the fact that he hadn't seen Kagura in years, she was still special to him. Without her, he would have suffered a lot more pain, even though she had just been a child at the time.

"Well, I guess I was worried over nothing," Natsu muttered to himself.

"Hmm?" Erza glanced back at him.

"Ah-oh, forget it!" he replied quickly, "I was just thinking out loud. No big deal."

She played with the idea of being suspicious, but decided against it, "I see. You'd best hurry, Natsu. Smaug won't be happy if you show up late for training."

Natsu grinned, "Training time!"

With that, he swiftly escaped his cave and padded towards the Thunder Hall's exit. Natsu loved training with Smaug, who could push him to his absolute limit and stop just before he could hurt himself. The elder Fire Drake was adamant on making sure his charge was turned into a strong dragon and Natsu was eager to learn.

He started to run so he could jump far out of the Hall, but just moments before he could fly, another dragon landed and accidentally blocked his path.

"Whoa, look out!" Natsu shouted.

The dragonelle froze and yelped as Natsu, unable to stop, nearly barreled into her. The two dragons ended up sprawled on the floor in a heap of flailing limbs, wings, and tails.

"Oof!"

"Ouch! Natsu, that's my tail you're sitting on!"

He scrambled to his feet and spun to face the dragonelle, "Sorry! I was about to take off and couldn't stop!"

She puffed up her cheek in mock anger, "Honestly, you're so hot-headed!"

Natsu blinked, recognizing the dragonelle instantly, "Lisanna?"

"The one and only," she replied as she turned to make sure everything was in place.

Without thinking, Natsu blocked his mental link with Lucy. Not that he didn't trust her; he was still uncomfortable with the fact that someone knew he and Lisanna had known each other prior to him joining the Thunder. He felt a need for secrecy he wasn't sure he actually needed, but better safe than sorry.

He glanced at the ground awkwardly, "Uh, sorry again. I need to go train with Smaug. If I'm late, that old dragon'll throttle me."

Lisanna looked to him in surprise, "You're going already?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, I know we literally just ran into each other, but…just 'hi, sorry I ran into you?'"

"I'm just in a rush. I'd talk longer if I could."

She frowned, "Well…okay, I guess."

Why do I feel like I should talk to him more?

Lisanna found herself staring awkwardly at the now nearly-glowing scales lining Natsu's jaw and neck. For some reason, she couldn't help but wonder if they were as warm as they looked…

She froze and shook her head. Stop it! Get out of my head!

Natsu tilted his head at her, "Are you okay? You look like there's a bug flying around your face or something."

"No- I was just thinking something stupid," she stammered. Lisanna offered a smile and a brief pang went through her. She was starting to realize how little time she and Natsu had gotten to spend together. Mind you, it wasn't as though she expected anything out of being with him, but Lisanna did miss the months they had spent in the wilderness, just the two of them.

No, she thought, that can't happen again. He's a part of the Thunder now…and it would be suspicious if we flew back out to the waterfall, just the two of us. Besides, nothing could come out of that…

"Well, I'd better go see Smaug," Natsu interrupted her thoughts.

"Yeah. See you…" Lisanna quickly walked away, deciding she wanted to lie in her cave for a bit. As Natsu passed by her, she decided to take a risk, "Natsu?"

"Hm?" he paused and turned to look at her.

"How about we go hunting later?" she suggested, "Not too far, just in the forest a few leagues off."

Natsu didn't think too long before deciding, "Sure! I'd love to!"

Her expression brightened immediately, "Great!"

He flashed her a fanged grin and took off to meet Smaug. Lisanna then padded to her cave, now in a much better mood.

"Move faster!" Smaug bellowed, whipping Natsu's flank with his powerful tail.

The smaller dragon was knocked off balanced and crashed to the ground, but he scrambled up just as quickly, only to be gripped around the throat by Smaug's talons and pinned down. His mentor squeezed a moment and growled.

"Dead."

Smaug let Natsu up, who got back on his feet and begged, "Let me try it again!"

"No," the elder declined, "We've been at this for hours. Your movements are becoming sloppy. Any further practice will hurt more than help. I'll let you rest for a bit. Sit, young one."

Natsu didn't argue and sat down heavily, breathing out a quiet sigh of relief. He loved the training, but Smaug had ways of exhausting every muscle in his body. Just sitting up the way he was caused his legs to throb with soreness.

Smaug also sat down and rumbled, "You're getting better. You have natural instinct for fighting that's been honed for the past seven years in the wilderness. An untrained enemy would have a rough time against you."

He stared at his teacher with surprise. He hadn't expected praise like that to come from Smaug.

"But," continued the elder, "You rely too much on raw power and scrappiness. Without technique, those can only get you so far. You'll never stand a chance against a trained dragon."

Natsu's surprise at the compliments immediately died down. He should've expected Smaug to finish with something like that. As happy as it made him to hear that the older dragon saw potential, one could always rely on Smaug to be unrelenting. The old drake knew there was always room for improvement.

"I'll get stronger," Natsu muttered, "Strong enough to beat anyone. Especially Acnologia."

The Volcanic Drake eyed his charge, "And do tell me how you plan on achieving this great feat?"

"I just will."

"That's a child's answer!" Smaug scolded, "That beast will kill you like an eagle kills mice. How do you expect to protect what's most precious to you if you can't even protect yourself?"

Natsu stiffened. The fire in his belly boiled. He knew Smaug was intentionally goading him on to motivate him, but the elder's sharp tongue was pushing it.

"What will happen when Acnologia gets his claws on someone dear to you?"

"I already know what happens," growled the younger dragon, "Remember?"

"You weren't strong enough then," Smaug told him, "And you aren't strong enough now."

"I don't need you to tell me that," Natsu retorted.

"You're going to hear it whether you like it or not. Because if you try and confront him, he will kill you just as surely as he killed Igneel."

"Shut up. I'm going to kill that monster if it's the last thing I do. No one is going to stop me."

"It will surely be the last thing you do, Natsu, if you so much as try to hunt him. Wait a century or two to grow to Igneel's size, then you can think about fighting him."

"What's stopping you, then? You're even bigger than Igneel was!"

"My reasons are none of your concern."

"Coward."

Smaug's orange eyes flickered with dangerous fire, "What did you just call me?"

"You and all the other dragons," Natsu snarled, "If size and firepower is all that it takes, then why haven't you lot done something about Acnologia yet? Because you're afraid?! And you called me a child!"

Smaug growled, his patience snapping, "Do not dare presume to accuse me of cowardice! What do you think I've been doing since Igneel's demise?! Spitting embers in boredom?! I've been picking up the pieces left by his death, trying to bring order to a whole kingdom of fire dragons while trying to find you at the same time!"

Both drakes were snarling in each other's faces, breathing out plumes of smoke from their jaws and nostrils in rage. The air around them started to heat up considerably.

"If all those dragons can't even take care of themselves, why are you trying to convince me to go back and lead them? You make them sound useless!"

"NATSU!" Smaug roared in fury, rising to his full height and looming over the younger dragon, "With all your brashness, you forget your place! You think and act like a child and because of that you have no right to lead anyone! I do not teach you because I must, I teach you because I know what that brashness leads to and do not wish for you to experience what I have!"

"Oh yeah? What could possibly be worse than what I've experienced? You're always on your own! You don't know what it's like to lose someone important to you!" retorted Natsu in his anger.

Smaug's throat and chest swelled, as though he were about to unleash a roar that would topple the mountain. The rage in his eyes was frightening. The ground around him began to sizzle and melt.

"Leave."

Natsu stared at him, "What-"

"Leave," Smaug breathed out furiously, "Your training is over for the time being. Do not approach me again until you have found enough actual decency within yourself to apologize for that insult. You have no idea what I have lost, boy. You have no inkling of all that I have…"

He trailed off and did not complete his statement, seemingly too angry for words. Natsu held his elder's glare for a moment before flying off, doing his best to ignore the burning pit in his stomach.

Smaug waited for Natsu to go before settling down, albeit with extreme effort. He shook his head, banishing the majority of his rage, but he did not forget.

Lisanna had woken up from a nap after Smaug's enraged bellow. Shortly after, she heard the stomping of clawed feet and lifted her head as Natsu poked his head inside her cave. She blinked as she took in the smoke roiling from his nose and the intense expression on his face.

"Natsu? Are you ok?"

"Can we go hunting right now?" he muttered, "I need to let off steam."

Lisanna frowned at his tone, sensing the anger dripping from every word, but nodded.

"Lucy!"

Lucy paused before she could leave the mansion. She turned around to see her mother approaching at a rather busy pace.

"Where are you going?" asked Layla.

"To the Thunder Hall," Lucy replied, "I want to check on Natsu. I think something might be wrong."

She was more concerned than she let on. Earlier, Natsu had randomly shut down their mental link. Not long after, she had felt unbridled fury seeping from his end, then more silence. Whatever had gone down was significant enough for her to feel rushed about finding him.

Layla shook her head, "It'll have to wait, unfortunately. Your father just got word that we have some very important guests coming to Magnolia. They'll be here very soon.

"Who's coming?"

"Princess Hisui. She's coming to meet Smaug and question him, I assume."

Lucy was shocked, "The Princess is coming here?!"

"It shouldn't be that big a surprise," Layla murmured, "Smaug did destroy Rosemary, after all. I suspected someone would catch wind of him living here at some point, but I didn't anticipate it being so quick. We'll have to prepare, because she'll be arriving by tomorrow."

"But Natsu…" protested Lucy.

"Whatever is going on with Natsu, he'll just have to handle it on his own for a bit," Layla told her, "Come on, we need to meet with Makarov about this. If Natsu is there, you can ask him what's wrong then."

Unfortunately, Lucy's hopes of meeting Natsu were going to be dashed, because he was currently flying over the wilderness.

Lisanna hadn't gotten much out of him besides the fact that he'd had a heated argument with Smaug- no pun intended. She expected his tongue would loosen after eating a bit, so they focused on reaching the hunting grounds she had chosen.

"Down there!" she called after flying for a few hours. They had reached the border between the forest and the plains, sighting a herd of buffalo grazing by a river. The large beasts would definitely give them enough of a meal to talk over.

Natsu dove down without a word, bellowing at the herd. The buffalo took one look at him and ran, scattering in an effort to escape. Normally, this would expose the weakest links in the herd to the predator, but the young Fire Drake was in no mood to be choosy.

He lunged for the first bull he saw and crashed onto it, pinning the beast down with his huge claws. The animal struggled, moaning in fear, but the grip Natsu had prevented it from escaping. A moment later, his jaws clamped onto the buffalo's neck and crunched hard, killing it instantly.

Natsu felt something ram into his leg enough to make him stagger and whipped his head around to see that another buffalo had crashed into him. The animal looked disoriented and had probably just been confused, but it had annoyed the already angry dragon and was slashed open as a result.

The panicked braying of the buffalo herd was suddenly too much for Natsu's frayed patience to take. He snarled and started slashing and biting at anything that moved, seeking nothing but the urge to sink his talons and fangs into flesh and bone.

"Natsu, enough!"

Lisanna landed between him and a buffalo calf, the would-be next target of his anger. She glared at the young Fire Drake fiercely, "Stop this! You're just needlessly killing them now!"

Natsu glared back, but he took a few deep breaths and growled the rest of his rage out. The last of the buffalo herd took the chance and fled, escaping into the woods.

Eyeing the near-dozen dead animals, Lisanna shook her head and stalked up to Natsu. She thrust her face right in front of his and snapped, "I don't care how angry you are, there was no need for that! Look at what you've done!"

The Fire Drake glanced around and realized that some of the dead animals had been rent so violently that there wasn't much left to eat anyway. Having calmed down slightly, Natsu felt a pang of guilt.

He avoided her gaze and muttered, "I'm sorry."

"You should be," Lisanna rebuked, "You're better than this. Now tell me what's gotten you so worked up."

"Can I-"

"-and no, you can't eat until you give me an answer," she interrupted, "Start talking."

Natsu sat down and reluctantly began recounting his argument with Smaug, how their training had taken a turn for the worse and become something very personal and insulting. He flexed his claws at that point, digging them into the ground. Lisanna was silent throughout it all, listening to every word he said.

When all was said and done, she shook his head, "You shouldn't have called him a coward. He shouldn't have been so condescending either, but it sounds like you started the argument."

"You're siding with him?" Natsu growled.

"I'm siding with no one," she reasoned, "I'm just telling you what I think. Natsu, he wasn't trying to belittle you at first. Smaug wants you to understand how dangerous Acnologia is."

The Fire Drake snorted, "I know how dangerous he is! He killed my father, don't you remember?"

"I remember," Lisanna replied patiently, "But think about how you've been acting when it comes to Acnologia. All you talk about is how you're going to get stronger and kill him."

"That is what I'm going to do!" he insisted.

"At what price?" she asked softly, "Your life? The lives of those important to you? Even if you kill Acnologia, what will it accomplish?"

Natsu hesitated. He hadn't really thought of that before.

"I have no doubt that Acnologia is extremely dangerous, so what'll happen if you underestimate him and get yourself killed?" Lisanna murmured, "Lucy would be devastated. So would Wendy. I can't imagine Gajeel would take it well, either. Smaug would probably feel like he failed you. Everyone in Fairy Tail would miss you. Did you ever think about that?"

He ruffled his wings, slightly embarrassed, "I guess not."

Lisanna smiled, "Talk to Smaug tomorrow and apologize. I know it might be hard for you, but you can do it. Just make sure you mean every word."

Natsu sighed, "Alright, I'll say I'm sorry."

"Good. Now, let's eat."

They found the first buffalo Natsu had killed (The only one not in multiple pieces after his brief rampage) and took turns biting into it. It was reminiscent of the meals they used to have at the waterfall cave, up until Natsu started choking on a rib lodged in his throat.

He managed to gulp it down and gasped in relief, but Lisanna started laughing. Natsu gave her a pointed look, "Why're you laughing? I almost died there!"

"Because you didn't even bother chewing!" she exclaimed in amusement, "Honestly, you're such a hot head!"

Natsu's tail twitched and he fell into a crouch, "Oh yeah?"

Lisanna knew that look he had and quickly jumped back when he rushed her with a playful swipe. She waited for him to have another go before leaping forward and bowling into his larger body. The pair of dragons became a wrestling mass of flailing limbs, tails, and wings.

Eventually, Lisanna got in a lucky hit and made him trip. A moment later, she pounced and pinned him down, grinning into his face, "Got you!"

Natsu rolled his eyes, "Only because I'm sore from training with Smaug."

"Excuses?" she smirked, "That's not like you, Natsu. Or can you just not admit I beat you this time?"

"If I'll admit anything, it's that I feel way better after talking with you," he murmured, looking straight at her, "Thanks, Lisanna."

She was caught off-guard by his gratefulness and quickly retreated, letting him get back up. The young dragonelle avoided his gaze and tried to keep her embarrassment to herself. Her heart was speeding up against her will again, much to her dismay.

"Something wrong?" Natsu asked.

"N-nothing," Lisanna mumbled, "That was fun, wasn't it?"

He grinned, "It was a blast. We ought to go hunting together more often."

She looked at him, her tail twitching anxiously, "You mean that?"

"Yeah," Natsu nodded, "Out of everyone in Fairy Tail, I get along with you the best. It's just easy to be around you."

"Oh," Lisanna smiled a little, "Thank you."

The Fire Drake grinned at her again before looking skyward to the sun, which was sinking quickly. He hummed thoughtfully, "We probably won't make it back before dark…why don't we crash out here?"

"Sure," she replied, "There's a little clearing not far into the forest. I've slept there before. We'll try that."

The flight only took a few minutes before Lisanna spotted the clearing she'd talked about. She landed and then Natsu, who glanced around the small area.

Lined by the river on one side and the woods on the other, this clearing was a little cramped for two dragons their size, but they'd fit. Around them were willow trees, their tendrils swaying peacefully in the breeze. A few moments after they landed, Natsu saw small, glowing flickers in the air.

He tilted his head, "What are those?"

"Hmm?" Lisanna glanced at him.

"Those glowing things," Natsu persisted out of curiosity, "What are they?"

She observed the glowing flickers for a second before humming in amusement, "They're fireflies. I don't know why they glow like that, but it's really pretty, isn't it?"

He saw one land on her nose and glow for a few seconds, prompting the Fire Drake to smirk a bit, "It's kind of funny. I never knew your nose could glow, Lisanna."

Lisanna blinked and stared at the tip of her nose. Embarrassed, she quickly shook it off and laid down with a mutter, "A-anyway, we should probably get to sleep."

"Sure. Just like those times at the waterfall cave, right?" he settled down beside her and extended his wing to cover the dragonelle's back like a blanket. Lisanna thought about shaking his wing off as well, but after feeling the warmth emanating from him, she decided it was alright.

"Goodnight," Natsu yawned out, setting his head down and closing his eyes.

Lisanna watched him quickly fall asleep and sighed. This was just like the times at the waterfall cave- the times she had promised herself wouldn't happen again.

This isn't the same. He needed someone to talk to. I'm just looking after my friend…that's all. There's nothing more to this than that…there can't be…

But somehow, she wasn't having much luck trying to convince herself.

"Are you really sure about this, Laxus?"

Freed was facing his leader, the massive Lightning Drake with a cautious look. His two companions also looked a bit uneasy.

"It's true that your grandfather is old, but he's still a beast," Evergreen murmured, "Even if you challenge him, can we win? The rest of the Thunder might not take well to a forceful take over."

"They'll have to buck up and deal with it," Laxus grinned, "I'm going to be the one who leads Fairy Tail from here on out. Also, I'm abolishing that bullshit rule about the leader being the only one who can take a mate."

Bixlow was surprised, "That's pretty risky, Laxus! The Council won't take kindly to it, y'know."

"Oh, I think they'll see things my way," sneered the Lightning Drake, "I've found a loophole of sorts. Those old farts won't mind it too much."

Freed glanced at Evergreen and Bixlow, silently asking a question. Whatever Laxus had in mind, he had a plan for it. At the nods of his two comrades, Freed looked back to his leader, "We'll fight with you, no matter what. That's the job the Thunder God Tribe is tasked with."

Laxus nodded, "Good. Then we'll prepare for the upcoming Dragon Festival. By next week, there will be a new leader in Fairy Tail- and from then on, I'm taking control of Fiore entirely. This whole country will be my territory."