Third Person Igneel

Igneels cave

It was after Atlas helped the goddess and the dragon king settle their issues -at least for the time being- that Igneel was allowed to let his mind return to the matters at hand, being far more pressing than the arrival of a goddess ever could be. And of course, that issue just so happened to be Natsu, coincidentally the very reason that the goddess had even showed and started causing problems in the first place. Sometimes that boy was a major pest and gave him the biggest headaches, and it didn't seem to matter if he was awake or not...

Regardless of the goddess in the cave, Igneel needed a way to get Natsu the water and nutrients he was going to need to live while he was unconscious. The boy wouldn't be able to survive more than four days at the most without water if he was lucky, yet if he just tried to give him water while he was unconscious he would very obviously drown. He wasn't trying to kill his son after all. He wasn't annoyed enough with him to try at the moment.

After the dragon king thought of everything he could do without getting any help, Igneel was beginning to consider going to Anna and getting help from her. She had been more than happy to help him the last time they needed it, maybe she would be able to help them again this time around. She was very smart, and a very powerful Celestial wizard. He was certain that if anyone was capable of finding a way to help him in his time of need, it would be her. Even if he ended up having to leave Natsu with her so she could take care of him, he could trust in her magic power to protect him.

Nodding to himself and settling on the decision, Igneel was about to pick Natsu up right before he heard the goddess speak up, "What happened to Natsu? Why is he unconscious? Is something wrong?" Turning to the goddess, Igneel could very clearly see the worry on her face. He supposed it was understandable, after all she was still his mother and she had come all the way here just to see him...

Sighing with a small shake of the head Igneel decided to forget about his irritation with her for now, if only for Natsu's sake, "He's going to be just fine. Nothing is wrong, this is what is supposed to happen in fact. He just now had a dragon slayer lacrima implanted into his body, his body is adapting to the new power accordingly. He will take a while to wake up however, and its because of that fact that I was going to take him over to a dear friend of mine. She is already familiar with Natsu, having helped me with him before. I am sure she won't mind helping again."

Hestia gave the massive fire dragon an odd look. Igneel sighed when he saw the look and gave her a tired look, prompting her to speak, "Why not leave him here and allow me to stay for a while? I should be able to take care of him just as well as this Anna can. He is my son after all, and this way you will be able to keep an eye on him along with me. Sound like a good idea?"

Igneel blinked before he hit face-palmed at what Hestia had suggested. Now that she had arrived, she made very good points. Natsu didn't have to go to Anna as long as Hestia was here, and while Anna was strong he would be safer if he was still under his and the goddesses watchful eyes...

"Yes, the idea has merit. Very well, you may stay to keep Natsu healthy. If you do have to leave before he wakes up, let me know so I can take him to Anna. For now, do whatever you need to do to make sure Natsu stays healthy.." He told her, agreeing with the plan. Of course, he was going to keep an eye on her just in case she wanted to be around so that she could take his son when he least expected it. If she did try to pull something like that...

Well, its a good thing he knew the location of a few dark guilds. At the thought, Igneel couldn't help but scoff, most dark mages being fairly weak and unorganized in comparison to the light guilds. Still, he would be more than satisfied in their destruction.

Third Person Hestia

Hestia wasn't exactly sure what to feel now that everyone had calmed down. On one hand, she was absolutely elated to find out that her son, who was supposedly dead, was alive safe and sound. On the other hand, his blood father had left him for dead. There were plenty of things Hestia was conflicted about in the situation, such as the fact that she hadn't been able to be their for him and the fact that he had been raised by a dragon the entire time. She was happy she was being allowed to stay to watch over Natsu, but she was worried about his condition.

So much was going through the goddesses head based on the past couple of hours. If she hadn't already been through a lot in the past couple thousand years that shes been alive, she might have felt completely overwhelmed by everything that was happening. As things were, this was still pretty stressful for her. Not being eaten by your father and than puked up several years later stressful, but still stressful all the same.

She hovered her hands above her sons head, her hands being covered in a thin layer of fire. She let the fire flow into her sons mouth and down his throat, the boy not choking as she did so. His body gained a faint orange glow as she did this before it faded away. Hestia sighed and shook her head at the strangeness that was dragon slayer magic. She could only assume that was what the fire dragon king had meant by training, teaching him dragon slaying magic.

~Mini-Flashback~

"Dragon slayers? What is supposed to be so special about them?" Hestia asked quietly, looking over at Brenton. They were both sitting together under the shade of a tree, simply enjoying each others company, when the topic of magic came up, subsequently dragon slayers became the topic of discussion. To Hestia there wasn't too much special about being a dragon slayer, at least not where she was from. Sure it was impressive to kill a dragon, but she didn't see the big deal.

Brenton simply shook his head and sighed however, a fond smile on his face as he looked over at Hestia, "Besides the fact that they can kill dragons, which are damn near unkillable by anyone but a dragon slayer or another dragon? That would be their magic, which is just called dragon slaying magic. Its fairly new, and it was made to help fight back against those dragons which devoured to consume humans. Humans learn it from dragons that are sympathetic to our plight, and gain the power of a dragon. They apparently have the ability to eat the element that they are trained to use."

Hestia couldn't help but be a bit surprised at the apparent strength of a dragon, and that of a dragon slayer. Of course, it may be an exaggeration. It might just be the fact that no one has the proper means to actually kill a dragon in the world of Earthland. Regardless, she couldn't help but feel it would be interesting to meet one of these dragon slayers.

~Flashback end~

Hestia smiled fondly down at Natsu and cut off the flow of fire, before she brought a hand down to caress his face. She would've never believed that her son would be one of the people to inherit dragon slaying magic. It did give her some comfort however, knowing that he would be more than capable of protecting himself when the time came to do so. Until that time came, she would be more than willing to watch over him.

The fire dragons behind her looked at her curiously, wondering why she was feeding Natsu fire. They knew that fire would strengthen a fire dragon slayer, but that wouldn't matter too much if he was A, not fighting, and B, unconscious. Igneel decided to speak up, questioning the goddesses idea, "Hestia, why are you feeding him fire? You are aware that it will do nothing for him in this state, correct?"

She nodded at the large fire dragons question, still keeping most of her attention on her son as she started to ruffle his hair a little bit, ruining the spiky look, "Yes, normal fire would indeed do nothing, and your fire would more than likely do nothing as well. However my fire is meant to nurture and strengthen the body, combine the fact that Natsu is my son and a dragon slayer, than it should do the job to keep him alive and well. He will be extremely hungry for proper food and water when he wakes up, but his body won't deteriorate."

Igneel seemed to accept the explanation that the goddess gave him, though he still seemed a bit skeptical at the idea of her fire preserving Natsu. Regardless, it was easy to see that he was relieved to know that Natsu was in more than capable hands now. He began to head back towards the entrance of the cave, speaking as he did so, "I shall go inform a few friends of mine than, it is best that they know of his condition." Right before he and Atlas could fly off however, Hestia waved a hand, allowing a large pile of raw meat to appear in front of the two dragons.

"Best not to fly on an empty stomach, correct? I may not have as much power here as I normally would, but I have more than enough to summon food. Even if its enough to feed behemoths such as yourselves." Hestia told them, deciding to explain before they asked any questions. Needless to say, the two fire dragons were surprised at the kind gesture, before they both sighed. Igneel relaxed if only a little bit, feeling the goddess was a bit more trustworthy, before he ate his fair share of the food, Atlas doing the same.

Once they had eaten it all, Atlas leaped into the air first and began to head back towards his own den, while Igneel looked back at Hestia, "Thank you Hestia, for everything you are doing and have already done. If something happens and you need help, try to send a signal. Maybe a pillar of fire. If its too difficult, take Natsu and hide. I'll find you both when I return." Igneel seemed to be anticipating trouble, why he was doing so the goddess didn't know.

Of course, she decided not to dwell on it too much and nodded in acknowledgement, "Of course. If anything happens I'll make sure to get your attention. If its anything dangerous I'll try to hold it back until you arrive, I'll hide if I have no other choice. What is it that makes you so worried?" She asked with a curious look in her eyes. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw Igneel shiver a bit and turn away from her as he prepared to fly.

"Just a precaution. Don't worry about it..." He muttered, before taking off without another word, flying North away from the cave. Hestia couldn't help but feel a bit worried, unsure of what it would take to worry Igneel so much. He was more than willing to fight her, knowing she is a goddess. So what, exactly, could terrify him so much?

Third Person Igneel

'Acnologia the black dragon of the apocalypse... and vengeance.' He thought to himself with a frown set on his face, making his way towards a nearby mountain. Metalicana, Grandine, Skiadrum, and Weisslogia were all waiting for him to discuss a few important matters. They had all left their dragon slayers with Anna while they met up, having to discuss a few important topics they didn't want their children knowing about quite yet.

The one thing Igneel was worried about while he was away from Natsu was the black dragon of the apocalypse. Acnologia, the harbinger of the end, nightmare of all the dragons. Igneel and his allies had only escaped his wrath because he was currently busy hunting much more active dragons, however when he ran out of dragons to hunt, he would begin to look for those in hiding, such as Igneel and the others. An eventuality that they all feared.

Igneel knew the other dragons would be worried for their slayers as well, if Acnologia caught wind of their location he would certainly obliterate them before they ever had the chance to become a threat to him. Igneel wasn't as worried, knowing his sons mother would be capable of defending him if need be, and possibly holding off Acnologia until he could arrive to fight off the black dragon. Whether he could kill him or not was a whole other story however.

It wasn't long before Igneel arrived at the cave they were all meeting at, only to see that all the dragons had already arrived before him. Even Metalicana had gotten there before Igneel, getting the fire dragon to groan in annoyance at the sight before he shook his head, "I'm sorry that I was so late in arriving here, but a few things came up and I ended up getting delayed. Do you all have any news?"

The other dragons shared a few glances, before they all looked over at Metalicana. Upon further inspection, Igneel could see that the iron dragon seemed distressed for some reason. His eyes were closed and his fists were clenched, his claws digging into his hands and his mouth was shut tight. The fire dragon king was surprised to see his old friend and rival in such a state.

Grandine sighed and shook her head, speaking up and directing her attention to Igneel, "The iron dragon king, Titan, was killed recently by Acnologia. Acnologia ended up wiping out him and his guard, as well as the many iron dragons in the area. Metalicana was lucky to escape the massacre." She muttered, looking down at the ground and feeling sadness for the loss. At the same time, she also felt rage for the monster that had committed such an atrocious act.

Igneels eyes widened at the information before he looked back over at Metalicana in sympathy, "I am so sorry my friend... I wish there was something I could do. I promise you, we are going to bring about an end to Acnologias reign of terror." The strongest dragon in the group was disheartened by Metalicanas lack of response, though he was able to understand it. He looked around at the other dragons in the room in worry, "Has anything else happened? Do you all have anything else to report?"

Skiadrum spoke up this time, surprising Igneel due to his normally quiet nature, "Yes, it has to do with what your doing with Natsu. A few of us have decided that we wanted to give our dragon slayers a boost in power via dragon slayer lacrima like you did with Natsu. Grandine has already done so, while Weisslogia and I would like to simply make lacrima from our own power and trade them. Grandine has given Wendy a lightning lacrima, as for Metalicana... he is on board with the idea. We wanted to see if you'd be willing to give him a lacrima for Gajeel."

Igneel looked surprised at the fact that the other dragons had gone through with giving their dragon slayers lacrima. Though he supposed with the threat of Acnologia drawing closer with each day they hid, seemingly becoming much more aggressive than before, he supposed it made since that they would want to give their children as much power as possible in case they all had to face him together. Or if they had to face him at all...

"Well, at least you all have finally decided to listen. Hopefully we'll be able to ensure the kids are ready before Acnologia comes down on top of us. Hopefully..." He repeated softly, the other dragons all looking at Igneel with sad eyes. They all knew that Acnologia would kill them at some point, whether it be a few years from now or a few months. They hoped to get more training in before that eventuality occurred.

Grandine than spoke up, remembering a rather disturbing sight she had found on her way to the cave, "Actually Igneel, there is something else I forgot to mention. While I was on my way here, I flew over that village you showed me, the one you said your boy came from, or should have come from. I feel its important to tell you that everyone in the village was dead, and yet there was no sign of fighting or illness. It was as if they simply died where they were standing."

Igneel narrowed his eyes and turned towards the entrance of the cave, "We better go see what happened than. I don't like the thought of something that's able to massacre over a hundred people so easily. It seems too much like a human Acnologia, and we already have enough problems with the dragon as things stand." He took off once more, heading back to the village he had found near Natsu those many years ago. The other dragons followed after him, though Metalicana was a bit slower in doing so.

Third Person Zeref

The young man looked around at the bodies as he came back to the village, making his way to his house to grab a few things. He felt some remorse upon seeing the children that now lay dead on the ground, but it didn't cause him any great strife. He knew no one in the village besides his own parents, and even than he barely cared about them. He couldn't say he was gonna be very emotionally scarred by the fact that he had just killed so many innocent people.

The only thing he really cared about at the moment was the deeds of his father. His fists clenched at his side and his black eyes slowly became red, with darker red rings in them, making it seem as if the red were three circles surrounding one another. Another wave of darkness exploded outwards from him, killing off the crows that had descending upon the body of the villagers before they really had a chance to feast. The wizard struggled to reign in his temper, though after a few minutes he was able to manage it.

Zeref heard thunder come from the sky above, though he wasn't really that bothered by the idea of rain. As he continued to look around the village, occasionally going into a house here and there to see if other people actually had some variety in the village. It was when he came out of the house that he froze and looked up, finally taking notice of a very important fact.

The sky was clear, the sun was shining, and the sound of thunder seemed to be getting closer and getting louder.

Zeref felt stupid for the fact that he hadn't realized what was going on sooner as he ran back to the outskirts of the village and looked up at the sky, his suspicions confirmed upon seeing about half a dozen massive beasts approaching his village, and approaching very fast. Even with his newfound power, Zeref wasn't exactly confident in his ability to take on the dragons that were coming his way. Yet he knew he would never be able to hide or run.

He stood there, lying in wait for the dragons as they approached. It wasn't long before they landed in front of him, standing out amongst all the death. None of them showed any sign of hostility towards him, which he felt slightly grateful for. Maybe they were those "Friendly" dragons that he had heard so much about. Of course, that didn't mean he was going to let his guard down.

"He seems very... young. But I can smell the death magic lingering in the air around him." It was the red dragon who spoke, seemingly leading the other dragons that had come with him to the village. He turned back to the black wizard with narrowed eyes and tensed muscles, ready to lunge at the human should he be a threat, "So what is your name boy? I assume your the reason these people died?" He questioned.

Zeref nodded at the massive fire dragon and decided to go along with his questions, "Yes, I would just so happen to be the reason these people were wiped out. My name is Zeref Dragneel. I wouldn't worry too much about these people, they were all emotionless husks for the most part, capable of terrible acts. My father even left my brother in the middle of the woods so that he would die and no one would find him. I can only assume that he is dead..." He muttered under his breath, looking down at the ground.

He missed the fire dragons eyes widening, as well as the sympathy that was in all of the dragons eyes. They of course felt bad for his loss, and a bit angry at what he had done, but the fire dragon... the circumstances and location were a bit coincidental. Of course, he wanted to make sure, "Oh? I am sorry for your loss, I can only imagine it must have hurt to know your father would do such a thing. Tell me, what was the name of your brother?"

"His name?" He looked up at the fire dragon with sad, curious eyes, "Natsu. His name was Natsu..." He told the fire dragon softly, not exactly sure what to expect from him. At least, he assumed it was a him. He wasn't all too knowledgeable on the subject of dragons, besides the fact that they were extremely powerful.

"Natsu..." The fire dragon nodded to himself, the dragons behind him seeming surprised at the answer, though the dragon covered in metal didn't have much of a reaction at the answer. Zeref could see the fire dragon come to some sort of decision as he opened his mouth and began to speak again, "Young Zeref, how would you feel if you could meet your brother?"

Third Person Hestia

Hestia sat in the cave, alone for the most part except for the still unconscious Natsu. Hestia had gone and laid his head down in her lap so that he would be a bit more comfortable, keeping one hand on each side of his head as she smiled down at him. Even if he was unconscious, just being able to be with her child and see that he is alive and well, it filled her with joy. Especially after she had came to the conclusion that her former lover had killed him.

She leaned her head down and touched their foreheads together, tears welling up in her eyes before they dropped down onto her sons face. They weren't tears of sadness, rather they were tears of joy. Sure she did have a few that her brother may kill Natsu if he discovered him, but she also knew she would fight for him. She had already lost her son once, there was no way in hell she was ever going to lose him again. She knew she would have the help of the two fire dragons who had been raising him as well, giving her more confidence in regards to her sons safety.

While she was also relishing in the fact that she could finally be with her son, that she finally had a chance to be his mother, his guide, she was also leaving her senses open. She was making sure that nothing was approaching the cave, and that nothing dangerous was even in the general area. She knew that if danger came, every second was going to count, to call Igneel and to hold off or kill the threat. She wasn't normally a very violent goddess, very far from it, but she would sooner incinerate a group of humans than allow anyone to lay a hand on her son.

The hair stood up on the back of her neck and her eyes widened as she realized that a group of dragons was beginning to approach. She could tell they all had the same feeling of an innate primal power that Igneel and Atlas did. She could tell that Igneel was in front of the group, however as far as she knew he was running from the other dragons. He may be strong, but as far as she knew he was unable to take on a group of dragons. She took one of her heads away from Natsus head and pointed it towards the entrance of the cave, ready to send a blast of fire at anything that wasn't Igneel.

She kept her hand up and aimed at the entrance when Igneel came in, though she was able to take from his posture that everything was safe, getting her to begin relaxing. However she was still ready to attack in the case that he simply wasn't worried about the other dragons, even if they were a threat. In that case, she would be ready to turn them into ash.

When the other dragons began to enter the cave, and they did nothing to Igneel and simply gave her a look that seemed to be a combination of both respect, and caution. When none of them attacked and they had all entered the cave, she lowered her arm and calmed down. She brought her hand back down to Natsus head and kept her eyes on the new dragons, her eyes slightly widening upon noticing a young man with black hair on Grandine's back, "Zeref? What are you doing here? I thought you had to go and see your father?"

The boy gave her a small smile, hopping off of Grandine and making his way over to his brother and Hestia, "My father is dead, no longer able to draw breath in this world. I figured he deserved that much for what he tried to do to my little brother, and for how he lied to you." He told her honestly, not being very bothered at the fact that he just admitted that he committed patricide.

Hestia... honestly wasn't all that bothered that by the fact that Brenton was dead. After the way he had betrayed her trust, after the unspeakable act he had done, she was more than willing to allow his death to slide. Plus she didn't want to take the chance away for Zeref to meet his little brother.

Zeref brought a hand down to his chest to feel his heart beat, upon discerning that it was strong and healthy he breathed a sigh of relief. It was clear that Zeref had been worried upon seeing him unconscious, much like she had been when she first laid her eyes on him. Even though Zeref had never thought of having a brother before, it was clear he already cared for Natsu.

Third Person Igneel

"Zeref, can we have a word with you for a moment?" Igneel was calling the dark wizard over, wanting to discuss something with him. He and his allies had gathered that Zeref was a kind young man, despite his lack of sympathy for the people of his village. They were sure that if Brenton had never tried to get Natsu killed, he would of more than likely continued on in the village peacefully.

Zeref seemed to be slightly annoyed as he looked back up at Igneel from his little brother and got up slightly reluctantly before walking back over to the group of dragons and crossed his arms, beginning to tap his foot as he looked at them, "Well, what is it that you all need?"

"We need your help Zeref. You are only the second mage we have as a friend, which is why we do need your help. There is a dragon that is hunting down all others, killing dragons and dragon slayers indiscriminately. Eventually, he will find us. Of course, you know what that means." Igneel explained, a grim look on his face as he looked at Zeref.

The dark wizard paled when Igneel told him how this dragon was killing dragon slayers. He knew that this essentially put Natsu in this mad dragons line of fire. He realized that Igneel had mentioned being the second mage they knew for a reason and decided to question him, "While I'm sure its important that I know, what part do I play in all this? If this dragon is hunting others, and he is winning, than there is no way that I could stop him."

"The part you play... our other mage friend, Anna, has an idea for a gate. All it requires is a powerful source of dark magic, and someone who will be able to help with its construction... She calls this gate Eclipse."

So this chapter was supposed to end over 1k words ago. I kept on going as I felt y'all deserved it. I hope you all like the idea I am going with for the dragon slayers all getting a dual element mode, modes which I think make since. Now, I am very well aware that the Eclipse gate is a creation of Zeref. However, as things are, we simply do not have the time for him to learn more about magic, get ideas for the Eclipse, and to than build it. I plan on having it used three years from now. Of course, I'm not going to stick on Natsu's unconscious phase, I think I'll do another one year time skip, maybe two year, than after that we'll get to Eclipse and so on.

Now someone in the reviews said something about "Oh, just wait for Hestia to meet Acnologia." Blah blah blah, and I want to clear something up. Acnologia is not gonna be the only villain with monstrous strength, and I am not talking OC villains. I'm talking canon villains, with the strength they deserve. Not saying they are gonna be all Fairy Tail however. Also on the whole Acnologias strength thing, yeah he is terrifyingly powerful, yes he is a badass... but so is Igneel. You can't be a nobody, fight Acnologia while your soul is damaged and when your lifespan has been shortened to mere minutes or hours, and still be able to tear off his arm. And still have enough power left to give your son a temporary badass mode.

This chapter, without the note, was nearly 5k words, one of my longest chapters to date if NOT my longest. I hope you all enjoyed!