The Red Dragon

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"You should have waited in the cave like I asked," Natsu tried to keep his fury in check, but now that they were far enough away from Talos that he was no longer feeling Gray's despair tearing away at him there was nothing left to keep it at bay.

"You hurt my mate, Atlas," Natsu seethed, "You made him relive a traumatic experience and probably rekindled his hatred of dragons, something he'd been working against. You made everything worse!"

"I just wanted to show you he could accept us now that he was older," Atlas hung his head contritely, "How was I supposed to know he'd react that way?"

"Deliora burned down his village and killed his parents. What the hell did you expect?"

Natsu could hear Atlas muttering something under his breath, but he couldn't catch what he was saying. "What?"

"I said I'm sorry I'm only going to make it worse," Atlas repeated a bit more loudly.

"What do you mean by that?" Natsu demanded, still trying to calm himself down. It had been a very emotional day, and he was just about at his limit of what he could take.

"I need you to transform, Gajeel weighs a ton, I can't fly all of you the whole way."

"Transform? What do you mean?" Wendy asked, looking at Natsu with concern.

"Are you serious right now?" Natsu complained loudly. First Gray and now this. If he didn't know any better, he would've thought that Atlas was purposefully forcing his hand.

Atlas only nodded, and now that Natsu examined him more closely, he noticed the strain his uncle had been trying to hide. It appeared he was more beat up than Natsu had initially thought, and he felt guilty for yelling at him when he'd only been trying to help. He didn't know what Atlas had been through in the last two years, not really, and he had an idea his uncle had no plans to tell him.

"Find a place to land," Natsu requested, resigning himself to the inevitable.

The moment of truth had finally arrived. Maybe this would at least go better than the fiasco in the field. He felt a hand squeezing his shoulder and looked back to see Rogue giving him a reassuring smile, making him feel worse for having lied to him in the first place.

He could feel all the dragon slayers' curious eyes on him. For them, it was just a distraction, something to keep them from thinking about the decision they had just made, but for Natsu, it was something he'd feared for most of his life.

Natsu thought about the best way to tell them his secret. Should he tell them first, or should he just transform as he'd done with Rogue? He wasn't sure, but he would try talking first as he didn't want to startle Wendy.

Atlas found a clearing away from any human settlements and landed there. All the dragons slayers jumped off his back, wanting to give him a rest. They sat on the grass near him and looked at Natsu, waiting for him to say something.

"There's something about me I've never told you about," Natsu started and then paused, not quite knowing how to continue.

He could feel their eyes on him, and all words just escaped him. He could only stare at them wide-eyed.

"Just tell them, Natsu," Atlas urged, "Trust in the bonds you've forged over the years."

Natsu nodded slowly. "I'm uhm, I'm not like you guys."

"What are you talking about?" Gajeel growled, growing annoyed as Natsu remained quiet, "Just spit it out already."

"Gajeel! Just give him a minute," Rogue scolded, once again giving Natsu an encouraging look. "Just show them, as you did me."