Chaos & Salamander

Chapter 31 - Lucy's Brother

Natsu's POV

"Erza, Gray, Lucy, Natsu and Happy come here" I heard the old man called out from his seat on the bar counter. I didn't bother to get out of my seat on the second floor while the others lined up in front of him. From my spot I watched and listened into the conversation. "I wanted to inform you that Nightmare from Hydra Heads has escaped from prison" he told them and they looked surprised. It's impossible to escape from the Magic Council's prison unless you have outside help.

"Should we do something about it?" Lucy asked. Hopefully, we don't need to because I don't want to clean up after the Magic Council. "No, the Magic Council has this covered, but I do want you to keep your eyes out for him. Especially you, Lucy, and Natsu. He may try to target you two since you were the ones to him down" the old man warned. 'Pfft, like we need help' I thought while rolling my eyes. We were the ones to take him down so it's not going to be hard to defeat him again. "Thanks for letting us know Gramps. We'll be careful" Lucy replied.

After that, Happy flew back up to me with a fish from Mira while everyone else walked away to different parts of the guild. As I was watching Lucy walking away, I noticed her groan with frustration. Curiosity filled me as I watched her acting strangely. She was walking casually towards the guild doors, but I noticed she was looking around subtly. No one noticed her slipping out of the guild except for me.

"Stay in the guild" I told Happy, who was nibbling on his fish beside me, as I stood up and followed after her. The whole time I followed her, I made sure to stay as far back as I could without losing sight of her and her noticing my scent. I noticed she was following some sort of scent. It didn't smell human.

I followed her all the way to a small forest clearing outside of Magnolia. 'What is she doing all the way out here?' I wondered as I crouched behind a bush and looked around. "I can smell you. Come on out Ignia" Lucy called out and I looked around for the person she called. A deep chuckle sounded above her and then she looked up. From where I was hidden, I couldn't see who it was, but I could tell they were male.

A toned, muscular man with dark orange hair jumped down a small distance away in front of her. "Hey Sis" he smirked. 'Sister?! He's Lucy brother?! They look nothing alike!' I inwardly exclaimed. She was getting more and more interesting. From Lucy's expression, I could tell she wasn't too happy to see him. 'Is he a bad guy?' I wondered but waited to see what would happen. If this conversation turned into a fight, then I was ready to back her up.

"What do you want Ignia?" Lucy asked unimpressed with her arms crossed. "You know what I want but now isn't the time for that. You're not strong enough yet" he replied. "I told you before, I don't care about your stupid fight" she replied bored. "Since you're still not motivated to fight me, I'll give you a little kick" he said and then his smirk grew. "By killing those precious friends of yours, especially that son of Acnologia" he added and then Lucy glared at him in anger. "Don't. You. Dare. Touch. Them" she growled threatening. I noticed her fists were shaking with rage.

Ignia chuckled, "there's the motivation I was looking for" he said, amused by her reaction. "We'll meet again Lucy. You better not die on me. We still have to see who's the better child of Igneel" Ignia said as he leapt backwards with flames formed around him and then he transformed into a...huge red dragon! "See ya Sis" he said with a smirk before he flapped his huge red scaly wings and flew away. Lucy's brother is a dragon?!

I stayed in my hiding spot for a moment, watching as the red dragon got smaller and smaller in the distance. "Tsk, that damn bastard" Lucy growled as she kicked the dirt angrily, gaining my attention. I decided to come out of my hiding spot and walk towards her. She noticed my scent almost immediately and turned around to see me. "Natsu! What are you doing here?" she exclaimed, surprised to see me. "Following you" I replied simply. There was no point in hiding it.

"Ah...How long have you been here?" she asked cautiously. "The whole time" I replied and she sighed. "Who was that?" I asked, looking up to the sky where Ignia flew off. "That's Ignia, my dragon brother" she replied and then I looked back at her. "We're not related by blood, but he is Igneel's son by blood" she explained. That explains why they look nothing alike.

"How did you two meet?" I asked. I was curious about how she met her dragon brother. "He searched and found me a couple of years ago while I was travelling. He demanded to fight me one day once I got stronger to test his strength, but I wasn't interested. I never had a reason to, so I've always declined" she explained and then looked up at where Ignia flew off with a sigh. "But now that he knows I've joined a guild, he's threatening my friends to get me motivated to fight him. Looks like he's got me because I won't let him hurt or kill any of my friends" she said with determination.

Since he's a dragon and Igneel's son, there was one final question that was on my mind. "Does he know where our dragons are?" I asked. "I've asked him before. He doesn't know and couldn't care less about where Igneel is, and he hasn't seen Acnologia in centuries" she explained which was disappointing to hear.

Her expression suddenly turned sad for some reason. 'Is she upset because I brought up her father?' I wondered, worried that I've made her sad. "Are you ok?" I asked, with a bit of concern in my voice. "Yeah, I just miss Igneel. Seeing Ignia in his dragon form always reminds me of him" she said. I patted the top of her head twice to comfort her and she looked up at me. "Come on, let's go back" I said and started walking towards the guild. "Are you trying to cheer me up?" I heard her say while following me. I could tell she was smirking by her tone of voice. "Don't get used to it" I growled, and she giggled. I was glad I cheered her up even if it was a little bit.