The Red Dragon

Chapter 15

Gratsu Bingo 2019
Prompt: Scarf

Chapter 15

Happy soon returned with his kill, an immense mountain Vulcan, before immediately flying off to get another as he realized it wouldn't do much to sate Atlas considering his enormous size. Rogue wasn't with him, so Natsu could only assume he'd gone to get the others.

The hellfire dragon finally awoke at the smell of food and quickly consumed the Vulcan, letting out a loud burp. His eyes narrowed as soon as he finished, and he glared at his nephew.

"What were you thinking?"

Natsu gave him a dirty look, not entirely sure what his uncle was referring to.

"Why did you expand our territory so much? You should only make it as large as you can reasonably defend, boy! You were killing yourself."

"It wasn't that bad," Natsu tried to protest, purposefully downplaying how tough the last couple of years had been. "There are a lot more people living in Talos now. I wanted to make sure the dragons stayed far away."

"I understand you wanted to protect everyone, Natsu, but it just isn't possible. We're at war. Making yourself weaker helps no one. The sooner you learn that, the better off you'll be,"

There was an underlying urgency to Atlas' words that Natsu could only sense, but he didn't really understand what it meant.

"What happened to you guys? You said you'd be back in a few months and that was years ago," Natsu reminded his uncle, desperate to know what was happening even though he was terrified of the answer.

"Things were a lot worse than they'd led us to believe," Atlas replied carefully, giving nothing away. He leaned forward as he studied his nephew, "When you saw me, you didn't look surprised in the least. Why is that?"

Natsu told him about the dream and waited to be told that it wasn't real, that it had been his overactive imagination at work.

"Has this happened before?" Atlas tilted his head, waiting for Natsu's answer.

Natsu could only shrug. The fact was, he'd been so tired of late that he couldn't even tell if he'd been dreaming. "I don't think so, but I rarely remember my dreams."

Atlas sighed, "It sounds like the dream was in my perspective, so maybe I did link with you somehow. I was already thinking of asking for your help, so I suppose it's possible. Even I don't know the full extent of my magic."

"That was Acnologia you saw. He's the leader of the renegade dragon slayers," Atlas sounded irritated just talking about him, "He's a tough bastard, and currently the biggest threat to all of us."

"But I don't understand," Natsu puzzled, "How can he change into a dragon? Is he like me?"

"He's nothing like you!" Atlas roared, his words making the cave shake around them.

He glowered at the cave walls a bit before continuing with his explanation, "We told you about how renegade dragon slayers were using our blood to strengthen themselves, but this is different. It seems like the more the dragon slayers use our magic, the more dragon-like they become. I've seen some signs that it has driven a few to madness."

"You've always been both so your brain can handle the change between one form and the other, but the dragon slayers are human. It seems my enchantment is attempting to turn them into dragons, instead of allowing the two natures to coexist like they do in you. That's just my guess. If it weren't such a disaster, it would be a rather interesting puzzle, considering there was very little transformation magic involved."