The Love of Dragons- Nalu

Chapter Nineteen - Strongest

POV: Lucy

            “You can’t fly.” The four of us sat down slowly, drained, “You lost to Acnologia.” I stated bluntly, Igneel set his golden eyes on me,

            “I learned from the fight.” He looked at each one of us, standing taller even than Gajeel. “She cares far more about Natsu than anything else and that means that we have hope.” His gaze fell individually to each member of Fairy Tail, “If we get there soon enough, before she has commandeered his mind then-”

            “WHAT?!” I shrieked, rising so rapidly that I nearly toppled over, “Igneel, what the hell?” The other three stared at him mouths agape, that’s not possible, this stuff only happens in books…

            “This isn’t a new plan for her, Lucy! Sit down!” Igneel commanded, “She’s been planning this for years, almost as long as Natsu has been alive, even.” He resumed his informative voice and continued, “If given enough time, Acnologia can essentially take the will of a person and readjust their mind so that the person will dutifully carry out her every wish.” The dragon-man waited a moment for it to settle in, “This really shouldn’t surprise you; she is – to our knowledge - the strongest being in existence.”

            “What about Zeref?” Erza asked, of course all of us remembered the terror of our trip to Tenroujima island. The Dark wizard Zeref had summoned Acnologia to rise, at the time she had so easily crushed us, it was a miracle that the guild was able to survive.

            “Yes, Zeref… He is a puppet.” I felt my chest tighten at Igneel’s words; Acnologia could even control a mage as powerful as Zeref? “As you hopefully know, she is quite a dangerous adversary.”

            “Clearly.” Erza confirmed, Grey’s hand tightened on the bark of the log we sat on. I looked backwards to see Gajeel’s reaction, and it was less than inspiring. The iron dragon-slayer was quivering and his mouth was hanging open in disbelief.

            “Natsu is strong, that is the one thing that gives us a chance here.” Igneel started, his eyes lit up, “You kids gave him something that he won’t soon forget. That will make Acnologia’s process to overthrow his mental control take longer giving us time to find him.”

            “You’ll help us search?” Grey stated cautiously

            “I’ll be on my own, having kids trailing me would only be a hindrance.” Erza’s nose scrunched and her lips shifted into a snarl.

            “We could be helpful.”

            “No. Titania, trust me that I want to find Natsu with every fiber of my being and I will NOT do anything that would hamper our ascension towards that goal. If ever you doubt that, then remember that I fought the most powerful creature in this world almost to my own demise, the only reason I fled was to give this information to you four.” His eyes began to blaze with such ambition, such determination, such fury at being defeated; the grass by his feet wilted and I felt the air grow thick, every tree, every bush was fighting to absorb the excess magical power that he gave off, but it challenged us to rise. “Do not let that go to waste, find my son, help him, save him!” I almost stumbled backwards but Erza put a hand to my shoulder and stabilized me,

            “This is what we have on our side, Lucy.” She met my eyes and I felt the resolve that shot daggers from her entire body. Looking around the same result appeared in the others, Grey stood with a certainty that he had lacked since Natsu’s disappearance, and Gajeel grinned wildly at the dragon standing before us.

            With one final smirk, Igneel leaped up into the branches of the closest tree, his magical power still clinging to the earth around us. Within moments we saw the tail of his coat flying through the air, then in a spectacular explosion of light and power, his small form expanded to the massive shape of a startlingly scarlet dragon. Even from our perspective on the ground we could clearly see the wounds and tears in his leathery wings, even the muscle was torn, he tucked his wings into his body and dove back into the forest almost a mile away, a haphazard yet remarkable way of traveling. We would have been a hindrance.