The Story of Nashi Dragneel

He Cares

I walked about three feet behind the Salamander and his cat. Loke was endlessly pestering me as usual.

'Don't give away anything. Don't show him your keys; don't tell him who your mom is; don't ask for his help--'

'Why would I ask him him for help?! I hate him, and he doesn't care about my mom at all! He abandoned her--us! He wouldn't help me even if I asked. Sure, he says he will now, but he doesn't know who she is, and I don't even want his help in the first place, so it doesn't matter. It's bad enough I now have to live with him.'

Loke didn't say anything after that, thank God. 

Salamander stopped in his tracks and looked back at me. I stood rigid.

"I don't really understand why you hate me, and I find it a little unfair that you do, but I'm giving you a place to stay, so try to be nice," Salamander said. I frowned. I was kind of being unfair--no! I wasn't! He...abandoned us... It was getting harder and harder to believe that, especially since Mom herself denied it.

Salamander sighed and continued walking. I momentarily fought with myself mentally, then grunted and ran to catch up with him and the cat. He looked at me in surprise.

"Why did you let me stay with you?" I asked. He thought for a moment.

"Dunno," he answered finally. I gave him an incredulous look.

"Natsu, tell her the truth," Happy said. I looked at Happy, then Salamander. His 'dunno' was a perfect answer, given my impression of him. 

"Okay, well, honestly, you remind me of myself, a little," Salamander admitted. My eyes widened. My dad thought I was like him? My heart welled inside, and I immediately chastised myself. I hated Salamander.

I scoffed.

"I'm nothing like you," I protested.

"When I was little, my dad abandoned me, too," Salamander said. I stayed silent. I didn't know Dad--Salamander was in a similar situation. "It was for a good reason. He was trying to save me from a terrible fate, but I was still sad and I didn't know at the time. I searched everywhere for him."

I chewed the inside of my cheek and looked down.

"D-Did you find him?" I asked finally. He laughed wryly.

"Yeah. He died protecting me. He died saving everyone..." he trailed off. I was about to say something when he grinned and started running. "We're here now!"

It was nothing special. Just a house in the woods, not far from my previous camp. I started to think to myself. Salamander wasn't entirely carefree. Perhaps he was just optimistic? But that didn't explain his lack of grieving for my mom.

"Come on, Nashi, stop brooding," Happy said as he dragged me into the house. Once I was five feet within the vicinity of the house, I refused to let Happy drag me anymore. Salamander and Happy looked back at me and my gagging face, tears falling.

"What's up?" Salamander asked worriedly. 

"What's up?" I wheezed. "How do you stand such a horrid smell?"

Salamander laughed.

"Years of practice, I suppose," he said cheekily, then went inside. I cleared my throat and wiped the tears away. I was going to face this, because just crying and gagging made me cowardly, or at least weak. I wasn't weak. I beat up Juliet. I made it to Magnolia. I have magic. I was going to save my mom. 

I met my father.

I nodded to myself and walked in. What was before me made me gape in disbelief. The house was clean enough, but I wasn't really paying attention to what was inside. I was giving my full attention to the source of the odor. It was the rotting fish in the sink that made this house toxic. I refused to clean this, but I heard a clinking below that made me believe I didn't have to clean this. Virgo was a maid, right? But...there was the problem of Salamander and Happy.