Chaos & Salamander

Chapter 58 - Attention

Natsu's POV

Argh this is so frustrating. Blond Jerkface is taking all of Lucy's attention. She's been too busy competing with him to pay attention to me and it's irritating. This has been happening the whole trip to Doriloss. First it was the map, then collecting firewood, and now they are in another glaring match with each other as we're walking to our destination. Gr he's stealing all her attention away from me! Even Celestia and Lector began to argue about who had the better Dragon Slayer as a partner.

"We're here" Wendy said which caught my attention and fortunately it seemed to snap Lucy and Sting out of their glaring battle. Ahead of us was a large city wrecked by fire and destruction. The buildings were almost completely scorched and parts of the walls were caved in with a few stray flames all over the place. The damage looks terrible but what else would I expect from a few daily dragon attacks.

"Oh, are you the Dragon Slayers?!" a middle-aged man rushed towards us. He had short dark purple hair, ocean blue eyes and was wearing a navy suit with a black tie. "Yes sir and may we ask who you are?" Lucy asked. "Oh yes, sorry I've forgotten my manners. I'm Giyu Bubble the mayor of Doriloss. I'm so happy you've all finally arrived. May I ask your names and the type of Dragon Slayers you are?" he asked.

"We're the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth. I'm Sting the White Dragon Slayer and this is Rogue the Shadow Dragon Slayer" Sting introduced themselves first. "I'm Wendy the Sky Dragon Slayer. It's nice to meet you" Wendy said politely. "Gajeel, Iron Dragon Slayer" Gajeel grunted with his arms crossed. "I'm Kaito the Water Dragon Slayer and Lucy's boyfriend" Kaito smirked while pointing his thumb at Lucy. I growled at his last words.

"What?! No you're not!" Lucy shouted at Kaito and then turned to the mayor. "As he kinda said, I'm Lucy the Fire Dragon Slayer and this is Natsu the Chaos Dragon Slayer" Lucy introduced herself and me. Good, I didn't want to waste my breath introducing myself to someone I don't give a single care about. "Chaos?!" the mayor exclaimed while jumping back in fright. Tsk, another chicken. "And we're their exceeds. I'm Happy, Natsu's exceed" Happy spoke up ignoring the mayor's fright. The other exceeds followed his lead and introduced themselves which seemed to calm the mayor down.

"Oh, well it is nice to meet you all" the mayor responded. "So where is this dragon? We heard you had a dragon problem" Sting asked. "Well, the dragon only comes out at night. It would arrive as soon as the sun sets and would leave before sunrise" the mayor explained. Lucy hummed and caught my attention. She had her arms crossed with one hand on her chin in thought. She's been thinking a lot lately about this dragon but kept her thoughts to herself. "Your thoughts?" I asked her and broke her out of her thoughts. She took a quick glance at Sting and Rogue before looking back at me. "I'll tell you later" she replied. Hm, she better tell me soon or I will have to force it out of her.

"Oh look at the time! I have to finish evacuating the city. We've finally established a camp South from here to safely hide all the citizens. You'll find me and everyone there after you take care of the dragon. Bye" the mayor quickly spoke before running off. My gut is telling me something is off about him but I can't put my finger on it, and my gut is never wrong. "Let's split up so we can cover more ground before the dragon gets here" Lucy suggested. "I agree with Beautiful" Kaito said and I growled at his nickname for Lucy. "Let's make it a competition. First one to meet the dragon is the best Dragon Slayer" Sting smirked. 'Pfft, like Lucy's going to fall for-' "You're on!" Lucy interrupted my thought and I sighed frustratedly. I couldn't believe she accepted his dumb challenge.

Becoming sick of this dumb conversation, I grabbed Lucy's wrist and dragged her away from the others. "Oh Natsu's sick of waiting" Happy commented before flying after us along with Celestia. If Lucy stays around Sting any longer then she's not going to pay attention to me or tell me what's on her mind. "Wait for us!" an annoying voice called as their footsteps followed after us with a flutter of wings. I growled as it was Kaito and Kyan following us even though they weren't invited. What part of leaving you behind makes it an invitation to follow us?

After we were far away from the others, I stopped and let go of Lucy's wrist in a deserted cobblestone street near the centre of the city. "Speak" I demanded from her. The curiosity was killing me on the inside. She sighed, "I think we're dealing with a Celestial Dragon" she said and I tilted my head. How does she know what type of dragon we're going to be confronting when we haven't even met the dragon? "Why do you say that Lucy?" Happy asked. "Yeah, we haven't even seen this dragon yet" Kaito added to the conversation.

"Well, the mayor mentioned the dragon only attacks at night and remember what Gramps said? He said the dragon was dark blue and has unusual magic abilities. So I put two and two together. Plus, I've read Celestial magic is rare and holds unknown elemental potential, so that would explain the 'unusual magic abilities'. Also, I think the dragon is looking for something or someone. Why else would a dragon attack a human city daily?" she explained. After hearing her explanation, her theory made perfect sense. 'My girl is so smart...wait what did I just think?!' I inwardly panicked but didn't show my emotions on my face. "You are as smart as you are beautiful" Kaito complimented as he grasped Lucy's hand and kissed the back of her hand. A growl immerged from my throat and I snatched Lucy's hand out of his hand. His flirtatious attempts to win over Lucy's affections was really making my blood boil.