The boy with horns

The Sunflower forest

Natsu's POV

In the morning I woke up after Gray, which almost never happened, and we almost immediately started moving again. When we got close to the forest my nose was filled with Igneel's scent. I ran inside the woods, hoping that it wasn't just another piece of a claw or scales. I sniffed around with Gray following me, and came across this pile of dirt and sunflowers over it. I started to uncover the dirt and felt my heart sink. It was a bone, and from the looks of it, it was a neck bone. I smelled more in another direction and ran towards it, but Gray was too scared to follow. I chased the scent for a while until I came across a huge crater in the dirt. I ran down the crater and saw a huge dragon skeleton. I sniffed it to make sure, and it was Igneel.

I felt a liquid run down my face and my throat felt dry. I felt Gray behind me, holding my shoulder. 10 years. 10 years I've wondered where you were. And now you're dead, without even telling me why you left. I buried my face in my hands and choked on my tears, trying to breathe. After a few more seconds, I felt my eyes change colour. I stood up and looked at the bones of my father, and heard a voice in my head speak. It was Zeref.

"Want to know how he died?" He spoke.

"Show yourself." I said through my coughs.

"Fine than." Zeref said. I could here his grin.

"Who are you talking to?" Gray asked, standing up. Zeref appeared in front of us, standing on my fathers head. I told him to get off, and he did.

"Do you want to know how he died?" Asked the black wizard. I nodded.

"When he left you, it was because I called for him. He didn't want me to see you again for your safety, so he left you. He thought it would be a quick thing, but instead of that, it was many years. I wanted him to do something for me, I wanted him to talk to me about letting me have you back, but when he disagreed, things got heated. He ended up dying, and leaving you behind. Forever." He said it slowly, calmly, and with a grin.

I felt my blood boil and my skin crawl. I stood up, but Gray was holding me down, trying to make sure I didn't do anything. I yelled at him to let me go, but I broke free and lunged at Zeref. He dodged it and teleported behind me, then delivered a hard blow to my stomach and threw me back a few feet. I landed on a tree and fell off, hitting the ground hard. I saw that Zeref was about to attack me again, then he was frozen in ice a second later. Gray then came towards me, picked me up, and we ran. Leaving Igneel's claw and bones behind. Then I blacked out. And when I woke up again, I was at a camp that Gray made.

"Where is Zeref, I need to kill him." I say, struggling to get up.

"No, you need to rest." Gray walked over to me, trying to keep me laying down

"Shut up, he killed Igneel. I need to kill him!" I yell.

"No you don't. You'd die instead." I could tell he was trying to stay calm.

"You wouldn't understand. I have to do this." I sat up finally, staring at Gray in the eyes.

"I said no! I'm trying to keep you safe, so shut up and keep calm." He shouted at me, trying to make me lay down.

Gray looked down, and I laid down. I looked at the sky, tears falling down my face after the adrenalin rush faded. I saw the clouds and remembered flying around on the back of Igneel, tasting the sky, feeling the clouds, hearing the wind in my ears, seeing huge forests as tiny pieces of earth. Everything was so fun until he disappeared. And now I have someone else that actually likes me, and now Zeref is trying to kill him too. Bastard. I heard Gray move, but didn't turn my head to see what he was doing, then I dozed off.

When I woke up, I sat up and looked around. Gray was sitting on a log like it was chair, and he was eating what looked like berries from the forest. He noticed I was awake and gave me some food too. When I asked what it was, he said it was some cranberries. I don't like Cranberries. I spat out the food and wiped my mouth. Gray asked why I did that, but I ignored him and tried to find more food. When I looked around, the only thing I saw was those gross berries. I gave up and decided to just not eat. I sat back down and looked at Gray.

"I'm sorry for getting you caught up in this mess." I said, bowing my head. "It was all for nothing."

"I wouldn't say nothing, you got a friend out of it right?" Gray smiled. He was always so happy, I've never seen him cry before.

"Thank you." I say, smiling back. He's right, he's the first friend I've ever had, that was human.

I didn't realize it, but I was crying again. I've only cried so much in one day before, and that was when Igneel left. I guess it makes sense though, because today Igneel left me again, but this time he'll never come back. I looked at the sky and cursed at myself for being so stupid. How could I have thought he'd come back. If anything he'd tell me if he was leaving, so when he did, and didn't tell me, it was because he wasn't coming back. I saw the sun and how bright it was, then looked around and saw that nothing, not even the fire Gray started, was a bright. Something 150 million miles away is brighter than something less than 5 feet away. The world is crazy, and everything outside of it is crazier. It makes me wonder if I'm not the only one who's essentially cursed.