Chapter Thirty-Two
The Road to Loduhn
"Just you and me," Natsu mused, "And for some reason, Gray," he added, the soft smile falling.
"Listen Dragon, that wasn't my idea, it's your fault for not reading the job you picked, it quite clearly stated that they wanted two elemental magic types, you only have yourself to blame," Lucy scolded, bearing down on the Dragon Slayer who had no choice but to shirk away.
The path they walked was an old dirt road, worn down beyond merely being a footpath from years of travellers. Thick forests surrounded them on both sides as they walked, with no apparent end in sight for the long straight road.
"I didn't pick it, it was the one the geezer gave me," Natsu said defensively, "I just asked for the hardest one." he laughed, his troublesome grin appearing.
Lucy glared, wanting to say something but she honestly hadn't expected anything else to be the case. Of course, he was going to ask for the most difficult job available.
"That is not my idea of a good time, I was hoping for something easier, something that would help me pay my rent this month," she glared. Gray, who hadn't said a single word so far, was hiding a laugh behind a series of badly faked coughing.
"Call it payback for getting Happy to bite me on the ear," Gray said dryly, though Natsu knew there was a smug grin on his face.
"And let's not forget that this job also happens to be the one furthest away, we won't reach this place until tomorrow by the feel of it!" Lucy snapped. "Where are we even going anyway?" she asked, trying to see any distinguishable signs. There were none.
"Loduhn, a small town near the mountains. It's kinda…" Natsu stopped, looking up and nodding slightly, "North West of Clover, probably two, maybe three days walk. If we run, we'll be there by nightfall." he told her.
"Three… Days…" she stopped dead in her tracks, "You expect me to walk for three days before taking on the most difficult job the master had?" she stared at him like his head was missing.
"Yes, let's go." he smiled as he and Gray continued their walk.
"We didn't think that far ahead about food either," Gray said quietly, not wishing to trigger Lucy any further.
"Don't worry about that, I'll be able to get us something and cook it," the Dragon Slayer answered nonchalantly.
"I've never been through these parts, always stuck to the main roads if I went to Clover, anything of note around here?" Gray asked, prompting casual conversation while Lucy trailed behind them, cursing and complaining while Happy blissfully flew in graceful circles around her.
"There's not a whole lot going on here…" he paused thoughtfully before his eyes lit up, "Well, not a lot except for the trolls near the mountains, and the giants in the valleys." He said with a bright grin.
The patter of feet reached their ears as Lucy suddenly appeared, almost comically fast, "Did you just say there are giants here!?" She screeched, looking around terrified of the trees themselves.
"I did, giants are fun." Natsu beamed like it was the most obvious and straightforward statement he'd ever made.
"Oh," Lucy said, feeling better.
"They'll probably try to roast you first but then they'll eat the marrow from your bones. Not such a good way to go, I would guess, but before that, they're fun to fight." Natsu continued jovially, ignoring the look of sheer horror in Lucy's eyes.
"Is that really a thing or are you messing with her?" Gray whispered as they walked on. Natsu gave him a tiny amount of side-eye and what Gray could have sworn was the smallest degree of a smile.
"Giants are real but they don't like humans, they'd rather crush you into dust beneath their feet than anything else. They'd never try to eat one, hatred runs deep for some of the older races in this world." Natsu explained quietly, going back to ignoring Lucy's complaints.
"Have you ever fought a giant?" Gray asked. The ice mage had been interested in finding out more about Natsu but never quite had the right time to ask.
"You'd have an easier time listing the things I haven't fought against. I've wandered for a long time, I've fought against Gods and monsters alike." He said, watching the quizzical look on Gray's face.
"Gods…" he said slowly, "Actual deities?"
"I've fought creatures of unheralded power that vastly outshine what most people think possible, but even I don't know whether or not they're 'deities'. Her spirits are what I'd consider to be deities and I've fought them." Natsu laughed, thinking back at the memory with what was now a fond perspective. It hadn't been so fun at the time, but he wasn't anywhere near as powerful then as he was now.
"Hey, Luce, can you bring Loke out?" Gray asked. Before Lucy could answer, a bright golden glow emanated from the keychain on her waist and Loke had immediately fallen into step beside Natsu and Gray.
"Hey, what's up?" He asked casually.
"I wanna hear from you about the fight you two had," Gray explained.
"Ah," Like said dryly, glancing at Natsu who shrugged.
"It was a long time ago and I wasn't myself, so I'm a little fuzzy on the details," Loke said, brushing the request off with ease.
Lucy had caught up, listening silently from Natsu's side.
"I was pulled into the Celestial realm… and I took exception to that," Natsu answered.
Loke had a brief flashback to the carnage Natsu had wrought upon them.
"He tried to fight the Spirit King as well but before they really got into it, he was ejected back to this realm," Loke said, realizing that if they really wanted to know, they'd find out one way or another.
"That explains why the Spirit King was so angry to see you," Lucy nodded.
"Well, no, he wasn't really all that upset because of the fact that Natsu is, well, Natsu, it was probably because he burnt half of his moustache off," Loke added, expertly hiding a smirk.
"Apparently I also left a charred handprint on Selerius' temple," the Fire Dragon grinned, his eyes bright.
"Se…" Loke frowned, "Do you mean Aquarius?"
"No, pretty sure I mean Selerius…" Natsu frowned for a moment before grabbing Lucy's hand and intertwining their fingers. "Only one way to find out,"
"Open; Gate of the Hot One!"
To everyone's surprise, golden light flooded their vision, but Aquarius did not materialize before them.
"What," they heard her voice calling out from the key on Lucy's belt, "Do you want, Dragon boy?" Her ire was evident even from the key.
"Yo, Selerius, Leo keeps calling you Aquarius for some reason, why don't you come out here and shut him up?" Natsu asked, knowing immediately that things were possibly going to take a dangerous turn for him.
There was a long pause before Lucy's keys glowed again and Aquarius spoke, "I don't know when, and I don't know how, but one day I will find a way to take your life," she told him with the coldest time Lucy had ever heard.
"Ooh, I love it when you talk dirty to me, Selerius!" He responded with a flirtatious grin.
The light faded and Aquarius was gone.
"I'd better go and try to calm her down," Loke reasoned with a grim frown.
"She's been playing hard to get for centuries," Natsu smiled fondly.
"Exactly how old are you? You said that you were over four hundred but do you know an exact number?" Lucy asked. While she spoke, she was half pondering whether or not she would summon Horologia and get him to carry her the rest of the way.
"I don't know." He shook his head, "I can remember as far back as four hundred and twelve years ago, before that nothing." He admitted.
He knew the reason why, it was the birth of E.N.D. but he didn't know how old he'd been before that.
"Is it a Dragon thing?" Lucy asked, delving deeper.
"Dragon Slayer magic is unlike all other forms of magic, it is closer to the core of magic itself rather than anything else. If you walk the path of a Dragon Slayer, you'll eventually master the discipline, but by that point the magic will have taken root at the very core of a person, changing their physiology to that of a Dragon, and when that happens, they stop ageing." He explained, casually telling them that he was in fact an immortal to the passage of time.
"So it's not simply that Dragons live a lot longer, you're just going to live forever?" Gray asked, a sadness to his tone.
"Yeah, but don't you worry my love, when the time comes, we'll go out in style together," Natsu answered, grabbing Gray's hands and holding it up. Enjoying how much Gray hated it.
"Don't speak to me ever again." The ice mage responded, tearing his hand away.
"He's playing hard to get, too," Natsu whispered to Lucy, giving her a small wink while she quietly laughed at his antics.
"Hey," Natsu stopped dead in his tracks, looking up and around. He took deep breaths, inhaling through his nose, "I can smell roasted meat, I'm going to go and check it out, there might be a village nearby. Keep going, I'll catch up to you!" He told the two of them as he began running through the trees, disappearing in an instant.
He heard Lucy's cries of protest but they quickly faded as he got further and further away, closing in on the smell of meat being slowly roasted on what he assumed was an open fire.
He followed the scent with ease, traversing the forest like it was nothing. He'd spent years doing this when he was younger, playfully fighting with another, but that time was long gone. His thoughts had brought back a painful memory. His heart thudded hard against the key in his chest, a reminder of the eternal task that Anna had given him.
He eventually thudded down into a clearing. He'd been right, there was a large boar left sitting above an open fire. Fat dripped into the flames and let out a satisfying hiss. It almost made him drool smelling the aromas wafting around the clearing.
Without a second thought as to who or what it might belong to, he grabbed the meat and took a huge bite out of it, swallowing hard as the tender flesh fell down his throat.
"I think you'll find," a laid-back voice reached his ears, "that you're eating my dinner." He added as he stepped into view on the other side of the fire.
He was a tall man with slicked-back red hair. He wore muddy black boots that had no doubt seen a lot of combat judging from the state of them, alongside the ripped and torn black pants. His stomach had been bandaged up but there was still a long prominent scar reaching up towards his chest.
A thick black cloak sat around his shoulders, reaching down below his knees. He felt strong, incredibly so.
"So, please, put it back and you can be on your way." He added, his easy smile never once leaving his face.
Looking him straight in the eyes, Natsu slowly but confidently took one more ludicrously enormous bite of the meat.
Then, the game was on.
A/N: Ooh, it's going to be fun writing the next chapter. Excited?