The Past Will Come To Hunt You Down

Did You Find Dad?

Y/n walked back inside the main guild Hall and sat down with the two Natsu who were now bickering about how they should call each other. "Why don't you call him Natsu-nii and you call him umm... What about... Junior.", she said and the two of them thought about it for a moment and nodded in agreement after that.

Just then their two stomachs growled in unison and y/n bought the two of them some food. "I'll come over to your house tomorrow morning and bring some food with me, okay? This little fellow is just too cute.", she said and started playing with his cheeks and petting his hair.

"Sure. You're always welcome at my place. But, if you don't mind. We'll be going now. I'm still tired.", Natsu said as he suppressed a yawn.

On their way home

"Hey Natsu-nii. Did you manage to find Igneel?", the little boy asked. What should he say. Igneel had died a year ago after Tartarus.

I bent down on one knee and looked into his eyes.

"I'm not strong enough to find him yet so I'll keep training. But whenever you feel lonely, just remember that he will always be right here.", I said and put my hand on his chest. On the exact same place I had felt the throbbing feeling when Igneel had appeared. I felt the tears forming in the corners of my eyes and didn't want to let him know so I hugged him so he wouldn't see them to stream down my cheeks.

"You worked hard. And you'll always be working hard.", I said and felt his little hands grope the fabric of my vest. His head was buried in my chest and although he didn't knew what happened to Igneel on that one black day he was crying. He was the little boy that had recently lost his father. And he missed him "And no one knows better than he does.", I said and my voice broke down at the end.

"You miss him too, don't you?", he asked and I could only nod. After a while we walked further home. I was carrying him because he had fallen asleep. He was pretty cute...

When I put him down in the bed next to me he woke up. "Natsu-nii? Was that girl from back in the guild your mate?She felt so special. And she had that shine in her eyes that I've never saw with anyone else."

"Maybe. Now go to sleep. Happy! Are you coming to bed too?", I asked the blue cat who responded with the usual 'Aye!'. When he flew on my arms for the night the kid looked at Happy. "You've grown up. Does he still like fish so much?", he asked and Happy answered "Aye" before rolling over into his arms. When they both had fallen asleep I put my arm around him and hugged him closer too. I never had a warm chest or arms to snuggle into, I wanted to give him at least that.