Chapter 4

"Looks like we won't have time to spar today after all," Sting grinned in anticipation as he looked at the two recruits.

Natsu barely heard him, too preoccupied with Gray to pay attention to anything else.

"Fresh meat," Sting commented, giving Gray an appreciative once-over.

Natsu growled in response, low in his throat, but no less threatening.

Sting glanced at him in surprise, smirking as he immediately caught on and jumping on the opportunity to tease his best friend. "Oh, I see. Interested already, are we?"

Natsu did not respond as he trained his attention on the pale blue-haired boy standing next to Gray. He looked very comfortable there, and Natsu couldn't help but dislike him immensely on sight.

He had a million questions he wanted to ask. What had happened after they parted ways? How did Gray learn magic? Had he missed him?

But Natsu knew he'd have to wait until he was at the field to get his answers, so instead, he tested to see how much of their time together Gray actually remembered.

"So, how does it feel to have magic?" Natsu asked, watching Gray's face and waiting to see a spark of recollection.

Gray gave Natsu a small smile and answered, "Cold? At first, at least."

Natsu's heart fluttered, remembering the answer he had given when asked the same question all those years ago. He felt this ridiculous happiness at seeing Gray again after they had left things so badly.

His arrival signaled the beginning of everything that Igneel had worked so hard to put in place for Natsu. To give them a chance at a happy life, even within all the chaos of the Dragon War. But in all honesty, to see Gray in Talos, and know that he was okay, that already made him feel happier than he'd been in a long time.

"Are you ladies done chatting?" Gajeel interrupted, "I thought they were here to join the guard."

"Sorry." Gray bowed his head in apology, "My name is Gray Fullbuster, and this is Lyon Vastia. And yes, we are interested in joining your guard."

Erza observed Natsu's interactions with Gray with great interest. They knew nothing about Natsu's life before he came down from his cave in the mountains to attend school with the rest of them. He never talked about it, but there had always been rumors around the village.

People said that Natsu was the son of the village's previous healer, a woman named Porlyusica, and a strange man that had appeared in the village one day. She had died giving birth to Natsu, and the man had taken him and moved to the mountains, never to be seen again.

Anna was the only one that had remained in contact with him, helping to take care of Natsu in what must have been inhospitable conditions. But she'd refused to discuss it, no matter how many times Erza had asked.

Now here was this boy, who seemed like he might know Natsu from before. Erza's curiosity was bursting, but she could be patient. She moved forward to introduce herself.

"My name is Erza Scarlet, I'm the Captain of the Guard." Erza began her speech with zeal, and all the dragon slayers immediately looked bored. It wasn't unusual for wizards to come looking to join, but very few of them ever passed the tests.

"Before we can take you on, you will need to pass two tests. The first is a purely physical test. You will spar against one of our guards to showcase your fighting ability. Although we usually use our magic, there are often times when it's not the best course of action. For the second test, you will fight a guard while using your magic."

"Is that little girl part of your guard?" Lyon asked while pointing at Wendy.

"She is," Erza replied evenly, and Natsu could see from her amused smile that Erza had already decided who Lyon would fight for the second test.

Lyon could apparently not contain an arrogant smirk from crossing his features, no doubt thinking that the test couldn't really be that difficult if a young girl such as Wendy could manage it. Gray elbowed Lyon and glared at him. Natsu couldn't wait to see the look on the guy's face when he learned what it was like to go up against a dragon slayer. He glanced over at Wendy, offering her a reassuring smile when he noticed she seemed nervous.

"Mostly we deal with problems that affect the village. This could be thieves, bandits, or even monsters. Occasionally we take missions. As you know, we are in the middle of a war, and although Talos has stayed out of it so far, we realize we might come under dragon attack at any moment. Several of our guards are so-called Dragon Slayers. They specialize in a type of magic that is very effective against dragons."

"You kill dragons?" Gray asked, his eyes immediately hardening into a look of determination. "I'd join for that alone."

Natsu's heart sank at the words, realizing their time apart had changed nothing. Igneel had been right, Gray still felt the same way

"Well, it's my day off, and you don't need me for this," Natsu told Erza before turning away and walking towards the field, no longer as excited as he had been.

He needed to think this through.

Natsu didn't notice the others looking after him in shock, nor did he see Gray's heavyhearted expression on discovering he wouldn't stay to watch him fight.

0-0

Natsu paced back and forth. What was he supposed to do?

Suddenly he was eight years old again and ashamed of who he was. Igneel had set up this whole thing so that he could eventually move into the town and make Gray his mate, but what kind of relationship started on a lie?

He hated that he was both human and dragon. He didn't feel like he was any good at being either. Most of the time he only felt a great loneliness that nothing seemed to ease.

No matter how many human friends he made, he could never tell them who he really was. Most dragons didn't know of his existence and those who did, couldn't understand him either. There was no one else like him.

His father was the closest to understanding his feelings, but Natsu didn't like bringing it up. He knew Igneel already felt guilty about his situation. Then he would get a faraway look in his eyes, and it was almost palpable how much his father missed his mother, and it would remind Natsu of how he'd been responsible for her death.

There was nothing for him to do but wait and see what happened. He had years before the mating instinct was strong enough that it would demand a claim. He'd just have to use that time to work at being friends and try to change Gray's mind. Then, maybe he could trust him with his secret.

He'd take it slow and maybe keep an eye on that Lyon guy.

With a plan in mind, Natsu settled down to wait for Gray to show up. At least he hoped he still would. Given how abruptly Natsu had left, it was very possible Gray would choose not to.

An hour later, Natsu heard someone coming nearer and immediately recognized Gray's new scent. He soon saw black hair and alabaster skin walking towards him and wondered what else had changed about his mate in the time they had been apart.

Natsu let Gray look at the field for a few minutes. It was beautiful, especially in the summer sun. He took a deep breath and feigned a cheerfulness he didn't feel.

"Took you long enough to get here," Natsu grinned. He was happy Gray was here, even if it made things more complicated.

"I don't recall you coming after me," Gray responded with a smile of his own.

"About that." Natsu ran his fingers through his hair nervously. He hadn't expected to get into that right away. "I'm sorry I left like that. I shouldn't have left you alone."

Gray looked down at the grass. When he looked up, Natsu could see the conflicting emotions warring for control of his features.

"Don't apologize." Gray looked at Natsu, his eyes dark and filled with shame. "I should apologize to you. I don't know what came over me. I should never have reacted that way."

He gave Natsu a wry smile, "I've regretted that every day since."

"It's okay, I forgave you a long time ago." Natsu did his best to sound sincere, "What you went through, no one should ever have to go through that. I... understand."

"Thank you." Gray seemed a bit more relaxed after he'd gotten his apology out. "Where did you go?"

"I was lucky enough to find my uncle, he brought me home." Natsu smiled, "My dad wasn't thrilled with me. It wasn't all bad though. Thanks to meeting you, I got to go to school and meet some other village kids."

"Thanks to meeting me?" Gray asked confused, "What did I have to do with any of that?"

Natsu shrugged, not being able to explain his father's reasons without disclosing what he was. "I guess my dad realized I was lonely or something."

Gray nodded, satisfied. "So, are you one of these dragon slayers too?"

Natsu nodded, hating to lie to him but not wanting to go against his father's wishes.

"Have you killed any?" Natsu found he really didn't like the look in Gray's eyes whenever he talked about dragons. It made him feel sick to his stomach.

"No, and I rather hope I never have to. Killing is not something I enjoy." Natsu replied dryly. "We've scared a few dragons away from Talos, but they weren't large ones. They've stayed away so far."

He changed the topic. "So, how did testing go?"

"I got my ass kicked in the physical fight, but I won the magic one." Gray smiled, proud of himself.

Natsu laughed. "Who did you get?"

"I fought the long-haired guy. Does he always look that pissed off?" Gray wrinkled his brow as he tried to remember the name. "He didn't pull his punches, it felt like I was getting hit by a hammer."

He unconsciously rubbed his shoulder. "Punching him wasn't much better."

"Yeah, Gajeel's pretty tough." Natsu commiserated, having sparred with Gajeel for years. "His magic makes his body as tough as iron. You're still standing though, so I'd say you passed. Who did you defeat with magic? What is your magic anyway?"

"If you'd stuck around you would know," Gray said quietly, and Natsu thought he looked hurt.

"I'm sorry, once you're in the guard, you'll understand that days off are not something we see a lot of. You learn not to waste them." Natsu could have hit himself when he saw Gray's reaction to his words.

"Wait, I didn't mean it like that."

It was too late though, Natsu could feel Gray distancing himself a little. "I have Ice Make magic, I can control ice however I see fit. Like this."

Next thing he knew, Gray had encased him in a block of ice and stormed off towards Talos. Natsu knew he could have melted the ice quickly. In fact, he could already feel it doing so just from his natural body temperature, but he felt like he deserved the discomfort.

Gray had come looking for him, had apologized for his actions all those years ago, and Natsu had made him feel unimportant. He realized to his dismay he didn't even get to ask him about Lyon. He cursed at himself and made his way up the mountain, still covered in his mate's ice.

Igneel saw him come in and laughed at him even as the remaining ice melted handily, no match for the immense heat of the fire dragons' cave.

"What happened to you?" Igneel asked.

"Looks like his boyfriend put him on ice." Sting teased him from where he was sitting in a corner with Rogue, who still looked embarrassed at having lost. "See love, you weren't the only one, and Natsu has fire magic."

Rogue said nothing, just hid deeper into the shadows of the cave.

"Boyfriend?" Igneel looked over at Natsu with interest.

"Shut up, Sting." Natsu snapped. He looked over at his father. "Gray's here. He showed up today asking for me."

"That's great news," Igneel eyed his son with confusion, "Isn't it?"

Natsu groaned in frustration, "You were right. He still feels the same way."

"I'm sorry, son." Igneel looked over at him again, "Is that why you were covered in ice?"

"No, I upset him when I didn't stay to watch him test," Natsu said before admitting, "I may have said the wrong thing."

Gajeel snorted, "May have? When do you ever say the right thing?"

Wendy gave Gajeel a look that suggested he might want to shut up if he didn't want to incur her wrath, and to no one's surprise, Gajeel complied.

"How did the testing go?"

Sting burst into loud fits of laughter, "You should've stayed Natsu! The look on that guy's face when Wendy fought him. She totally kicked his ass."

He laughed some more. "I think they might still be removing his jaw from the floor."

Natsu looked over at Wendy and saw her cheeks redden from Sting's words. He smiled proudly at her, before looking back at Gajeel. He raised an eyebrow in the Iron Dragon Slayer's direction.

"They're both pretty good fighters." Gajeel added, "That Lyon guy gave Sting a good fight and if it hadn't been for my body being the way it is, I'd be hurting right now. Is lover boy ok?"

Natsu glared at him, although he had to admit he didn't mind the suggestion that Gray was his. "I don't think he feels that way about me."

"I don't know about that, Natsu. He seemed pretty disappointed when you left. Even Erza noticed." Wendy tried to reassure him.

Of all the dragon slayers, she was the only one that knew who Gray was to him, and he gave her a hug to thank her for trying to cheer him up.

"It doesn't matter. The fact remains, we don't really know each other all that well," Natsu replied sadly. "We never did."

He walked into his room, only to find his uncle waiting for him.

"Giving up already?" Atlas frowned, "That doesn't sound like you."

"I'm not giving up. I just have to figure out a way to get him to change his mind about dragons, that's all."

"You don't have to tell him anything, Natsu." Atlas pointed out, "You could just court him as a human. He'd never have to know."

"What if something were to happen, and I changed?" Natsu argued as he fingered his scarf.

"What do I do then? We don't know what's going to happen to me, we have nothing to compare against. I won't base this on a lie."

"This is precisely why I stayed single. It's too complicated," Atlas grumbled.

"Here I thought it was because you couldn't get anyone to fall for your ugly mug."

Atlas chuckled, wisps of smoke rising from his nostrils as he laughed, before becoming serious as he acknowledged his nephew's distress. "Natsu, I understand you feel frustrated. Even at a young age, you could already feel the connection. Have faith that it will work out. At least you don't have to subject yourself to a spell to be with your mate like your father did."

"Did Mom know about Dad being a dragon?" Natsu had never felt comfortable talking to his father about his Mom, but he'd never thought of asking his uncle.

"She did. He was afraid to undo the spell, so he brought her to the cave to meet me. And before you ask, yes, she was fully aware of what could happen when you were born. She didn't care, she wanted you, and she hoped for the best."

"Can... Can you tell me more about her?" Natsu asked as he settled himself in his sleeping area.

"I'll tell you what I remember, boy."

Natsu listened as his uncle talked about his mother, cozying up to the warmth of borrowed memories. He hugged his scarf, inhaling his second favorite scent as he drifted off to sleep.