57Hey you guys! How are you all? Well, I guess fine cause you are all right as you all are reading this.
I'm going to start a riddle contest okay. I will write riddles in this area and you all will answer me in the reviews. Don't worry I will provide the answer in the following chapters
So here is the long-awaited Chapter 1.
Year – X377
It has been four more years training with Igneel; Natsu is now ten years old.
Igneel sighed, 'The time of the Eclipse is coming.'
Igneel is a fire dragon with dark red scales, he has many scars on his body but the most noticeable is the X-shaped scar on his right side of the snout. He has beige-colored scales on his front, Igneel has a triangular head with horns, a pair of large round eyes with the yellow sclera, and a sharp horn pointing upwards just above his nose. His large body also has huge bat-like wings which are tattered from the ends.
"Igneel!" Igneel looked down at his growing son, Natsu who had called for his attention. Seeing that Igneel is listening, he continued "Who is Zeref?"
This question caught Igneel completely off guard, 'How did Natsu found about Zeref?' So instead he asked, "What do you mean Natsu?"
"There is a nagging feeling in my head which tells me I should know who Zeref is?" Natsu replied with a confused which turned into a frustrated face. But then gave his toothy grin and asked "Do you know who is Zeref, Igneel?"
Igneel did not like to lie to his son, but he remembered Zeref's words loud and clear 'I want you to never tell Natsu about me under any circumstances, if the situation is dire then you must tell him for it is his right to know.'
No. He can't tell Natsu until the situation is dire. "No son I don't know who Zeref is."
Natsu's face fell for a moment; he was really expecting that Igneel would know about Zeref. But then brighten up and shouted, "Let's train Igneel; I will hurt you now for sure."
Igneel sweatdropped at his son's sudden mood change. 'This brat is unbelievable, from being curious to sad and now jumping in excitement.' But he loves his son nonetheless.
"Ok, Natsu will try your every Fire Dragon Slayer Magic spell."Growled the red dragon. Natsu jumped in anticipation and climbed on his back, which in turn flew toward the mountains as the dragon's son tends to get to destruction much to Igneel's amusement.
"I'm still not able to even hurt you." Whinnied Natsu for the millionth time. Igneel stood in front of Natsu without even a scratch on him. He sighed at his son's antics.
There sat his son with a pout plastered on his face; battered and bruised with occasional scratches here and there.
The whole area under a five hundred meters radius near them was in rubles and ashes, he doesn't understand how can his son always destroy more than anything instead of hurting him. But was happy whatsoever, Igneel never would've thought Natsu can destroy so much while fighting him. It's a huge accomplishment.
But still… he is not strong enough to even stand a chance against the Apocalypse Dragon.
The date for Eclipse gate to open is coming soon and he wants to make as many memories as possible with Natsu. He will be with Natsu all the time, even if his son does not know. He smiled a kind smile while closing his eyes at that thought.
"You know, you look kind of creepy smiling like that Igneel." Snickered Natsu with a hand on his mouth.
Igneel's eyes snapped open. While picking Natsu from the ground and holding in his claw. "YOU, brat I will eat you. But first, let me roast you, then you will taste good." Igneel bluffed and blew fire out of his mouth to 'roast' Natsu before eating.
There was a sucking sound, as Natsu was eating the flame. Igneel was looking at Natsu; the said person did the same. After a moment both of them burst into laughter.
"I'm all fired up!" he exclaimed.
The duo went to their cave after hunting.
Next week
"Do you really have to leave me Igneel?" Natsu asked sadly. Igneel sweatdropped at that. His son was acting as if he was leaving him forever. Now that he comes to think about it will happen in the future. He gazed sadly at his son at that thought.
"Natsu I'm just going for the dragon meeting which will be over after some time. Don't worry I'm not leaving you; you can play here with other dragon slayers." Igneel explained. Hearing about other dragon slayers Natsu perked up with excitement.
"Other Dragon Slayers huh, I will defeat them all. Bring it on!" he exclaimed in the end.
Igneel smelled the other dragon slayer or to be more precise, Metalicana's brat. The Iron Dragon Slayer, Gajeel. 'He would company Natsu while I'm gone.' With that thought, Igneel left Natsu.
Natsu watched Igneel's figure going for the dragon gathering. Suddenly he was hit on his head with something hard, he smelled.
Iron?
"Oi, are you the other Dragon Slayer? About whom Metalicana told me." The new boy said smirking.
The boy was no older than Natsu; he has black spiky hair and red eyes. And much to Natsu's amusement
NO Eyebrows.
Instead of eyebrows, he has metal dots. "My name is Natsu Dragneel. Who are you NO EYEBROWS!?" Natsu teased him with a nickname.
"Gajeel Redf- HEY! What did you call ME!?" Gajeel shouted.
"What happened dotty brows!? All that smugness is gone." Natsu teased smirking at the look of anger from this boy.
Gajeel was outraged and decided to teach this boy a lesson "Let me tell you what I will call you from now on PINKY!" Gajeel replied, emphasizing solely on 'Pinky' with smugness for coming up with a good nickname.
And with that, the two of them began their fight. Natsu said, "I will defeat you dotty pants." While holding Gajeel's hairs.
"I will beat you until you beg for mercy. Gihi" Gajeel smirked for coming up with a very cool statement. While holding his rival's cheek.
"Mercy," Natsu said dryly.
Gajeel turned white from shock. "That's not what I meant Pinky!"
"Then what did you mean girly hairs!?"
While the two fought their….Brawl?
There were certain presences the two did not notice. The presences were two boys. One was a boy with spiky blond hair, he had a diagonal scar near his right eyebrow. He was wearing an earring in his left ear. This was Sting Eucliffe - the White Dragon Slayer.
The other presence was another boy with black hair who also had red eyes like Gajeel. He was wearing a plain shirt and pants of a light gray color. This was Rogue Chenney – The Shadow Dragon Slayer and sworn brother of Gajeel Redfox.
Both of them were hiding behind the same tree watching the two older dragon slayers fighting, with stars in their eyes. "Wow, Natsu is sooo cool!" Sting said while admiring Natsu's fight.
"No Gajeel is very cool." came a retort from the Shadow Dragon Slayer.
Both the Dragon slayers realized something, which was the same thing, to say the least.
"Who are you!?" both of them exclaimed at the same time.
The duo looked at each other incredulous, that how come they did not notice each other at all.
Now they both realized another thing which was also the same thing.
"When did you come here!?" they both asked in unison yet again and still stared at each other incredulously.
"Before the beginning of the fight." Yet again both answered at the same time. Both looked at each other and a moment of silence passed between them. The duo of Dragon Slayers burst into laughter.
"Okay, that was weird… Anyways my name is Sting Eucliffe; I'm the White Dragon Slayer." Sting boasted with pride.
"Wow, my name is Rogue Chenney, I'm the Shadow Dragon Slayer." Rogue replied sincerely. While the two were growing the seeds of friendship.
"Waaahhhhh, Waaaahhhh!" the four Dragon Slayers heard a cry. This was, to say the least damaging their sensitive ears. "Waaahhhh" the attack to their ears continued.
Then a cute blue-haired girl came into the clearing, where Gajeel and Natsu were fighting…still.
The girl was extremely cute; she has blue hairs which reached her ears. She wore a green shirt and khaki shorts. She also has big cute brown eyes, who looked to be the same age as Sting and Rogue. For she was Wendy Marvell – The Sky Dragon Slayer.
"Waaahhh" Wendy cried and cried. Natsu couldn't bear a little cute girl crying and by her scent, she was a Dragon Slayer too.
"What happened, why are you crying little girl?" he asked Wendy kindly.
Wendy ceased her crying and pointed her finger at Natsu then at Gajeel "you and he are fighting; I don't want to see people fighting. It is bad, and you can get hurt." She said still sniffing here and there.
"Aw, no need to cry." then Natsu hugged her small form. "I'm here for you, it was just a friendly fight isn't it Gajeel?"
In response, Natsu only got a "yeah".
Sting who still had stars in his eyes and was idolizing Natsu said "He is so cool and awesome and brave and strong an-"
"Sting your rambling." Rogue stated deadpanned.
This conversation got the attention of the other three Dragon Slayers, who were curiously looking at the duo hiding behind the same tree. "Uh, hey" Sting started awkwardly.
"Hello, my name is Rogue Chenney; I'm the Shadow Dragon Slayer. Son and Student of the Shadow Dragon Skiadrum." Rogue introduced without hesitation.
"Hi Natsu!, my name is Sting, Sting Eucliffe; I'm the White Dragon Slayer; Son of Wisselogia." Sting introduced himself with enthusiasm.
"Wow, there are so many Dragon Slayers!" Natsu started and continued "I challenge you all to a fight. Bring it on!" ended Natsu showing his flaming fist. Everyone sweatdropped while, Wendy and Sting looked at his flaming fist in awe. "Oh by the way; my name is Natsu Dragneel and I'm the Fire Dragon Slayer, son of Fire Dragon King Igneel."
"I'm Gajeel Redfox, I'm the Iron Dragon Slayer; son of the Iron Dragon Metalicana." Gajeel said with a smirk.
Now everyone looked at the little blue-haired girl for the introduction.
The said girl hid into Natsu's shirt, as she hates being the center of attention. She said in a timid and muffled voice "M-my n-name is w-Wendy, Wendy m-Marvell, I'm the Sky Dragon Slayer; Daughter of Grandeeney. It's nice to meet you all." she ended in a shy voice.
All the five Dragon Slayers started talking with each other while their parents were meeting for the last time for the dragon meeting. After this meeting, they will meet directly on 7th July (Year – X377) on the opening date of the Eclipse gate.
Two weeks later
"Really! You made it just for me?" Natsu exclaimed with stars in his eyes. He continued "I will wear it." While wearing the white scaly scarf which was made from Igneel's scales. To say Natsu was happy was a huge understatement for him. He was very happy no …he was very happy that nothing can contain it.
The scarf smelled just like Igneel, he will always wear this gift.
"Actually, the scarf was made by Anna. Remember her she taught you about language and culture?" Igneel said with a sweatdrop. But his heart fluttered that Natsu liked his gift, just seeing his son happy made him happy too.
"I don't care who Sanna is, but this scarf has your scent on it. It will always remind me of you." Natsu said happily, he was so happy that at any moment he could burst.
Igneel sweat dropped "Listen brat, her name is Anna, Anna Heartfilia." Igneel explained.
"Whatever." Natsu dismissed still inspecting his scarf with stars in his eyes.
"Now then, let's continue our training." Igneel announced.
"Yeah yeah." Still not even looking at Igneel instead eyeing his new scarf.
"Can you" Igneel started with a low and menacing tone, but still Natsu just hummed. "LISTEN TO ME BRAAAT!" shouted Igneel in the end.
Natsu immediately looked up and saluted "YES SIR!" like a soldier.
"Gooood," the dragon said in a sweet tone that promised pure pain while folding his hands.
Natsu gulped.
Some other day
Igneel looked up in the sky. It was evening nearly nighttime. But he sensed something. Something familiar.
And dangerous.
To him and Natsu.
Natsu was eating like a pig he is. Natsu saw the look on Igneel's face and decided to ask.
Igneel was thinking 'is it him, but we have just changed our cave last week. If it's him then Natsu and I are in huge trouble.'
"Say Igneel, what are you wondering about?" the salmon-haired boy asked. But all he got was a 'Nothing' from his father. Shrugging Natsu prepared for sleeping. Igneel also acted to get ready for sleeping. But was keeping a very keen ear, Igneel's senses were far sharper than Natsu's for he is an actual dragon.
After some time Igneel could hear Natsu's even breathing, which meant he is asleep. Igneel debated to go and check if the danger is there as he expects but if he will leave Natsu then something could happen to him. He snorted at that thought. As if, anything could harm Natsu; he would be more worried about the destruction he will cause.
'I don't ever want to leave you Natsu. But no matter what, I will always be with you.' Igneel thought.
That was when he heard it….
Hey people,
Left you all with a little cliffhanger cool huh?
RIDDLE OF THE CHAPTER:
I'm tall when I'm young; I'm short when I'm old. What am I?
Answer me in reviews.
This chapter's not that big only 2,400 words.
Any guesses what did Igneel heard? Write in comments/ reviews. These were some memories of Natsu with Igneel. They are a beauty in themselves, right?
Yeah, and just so you know…please let me know if there are any mistakes in spelling, grammar or names, etc.
Thanks for reading.