Hello everyone!

So, this is my new project, I am so very excited about... There a few things I should clear out first. This will be somewhat of a "darker" story. What I mean by that is that, as you will see, the villain is a serious psycho - don't expect him to have one of those last minute enlightening moments and repent his ways (or anything like that). Because of their pasts, the characters will be a lot more serious and mature from an earlier age, but that doesn't mean they'll stop being who they are (this is an AU, after all). Finally, people will die, and I don't mean some minor character or OC. And, this is also a NaLu story that will develop from their childhood. But be patient, and, eventually, most of the awesome Fairy Tail characters will make their way into it. I promise, I love them too much to keep them out.

Aside from that, I hope you are all ready to get tossed into a world where people are all "bound" to each other through their past and their present, by who they are and by who they decide to be. Where fate and choice clash and a single decision can change the future. There is no such thing as coincidences in this world, but neither are we pawns of a prefixed destiny. Natsu and Lucy might have been destined to meet, but they chose to keep their promises to each other. Born in a world plagued by death and governed by a tyrant, Natsu Dragneel held the power to restore Fiore to what it once was. When he met Lucy Heartfilia, he promised to always protect her. However, before embarking on the journey to complete his training, he made a decision in order to keep his promise to his dearest friend that would change everything... Performing a Magic Binding...

One last quick note: For all of you who follow my other story "A Favor," I just want to apologize for the delay on Chapter 10. I know it's long overdue, but I'm almost done with it. I've tossed in some more daring fluff, and the first scene with Gajeel is one of my favorite things I've ever written.

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. The plot, and the added bunch of psychopaths and the nice little people here and there are mine.

"The Fire that Binds Us"

Chapter 1: The Bitter Twists of Fate

She needed to hurry if she wanted to make sure the boy survived. The cloaked and injured woman ran as fast as she could manage along the empty dark hallways of the castle's dungeons, pulling behind her an eight-year-old boy. She knew he was tired and confused, but he remained quiet and tried his best to keep up with her pace. She should have expected King Astarot would do something like surprise-attacking his enemies in the middle of night. She should have taken better measures to protect the child. But it was too late to worry about the "what ifs" in life now, and she had to concentrate on getting him out alive of the blazing inferno.

She brought her left hand towards her side to put pressure on her wound. A royal soldier had stabbed her on her way to the boy's quarters with one of his daggers before one of the knights had had the chance to kill the aggressor. She hadn't stopped to thank the knight, or stayed to see if he had survived, but she couldn't feel any regret about it. Her priority was reaching her ward, and, even if she felt guilty for leaving the people she had worked with for over four years so abruptly, ensuring the life of the boy took precedence – even if guaranteeing his safety came at the cost of her own life.

She didn't have much time left, but she could almost see the moonlight ahead, signaling they were approaching the exit to the maze of darkness. She knew he would be watching from a distance in the forest up the hill. He had to be; he was her last hope, since she knew she wouldn't make it alive past tonight. She increased her speed, "Come on, little one, we're almost there." The boy nodded and quickened his pace as much he could, "I'm coming, Nurse Velia."

They ran through the labyrinth-like structure for a few more excruciating and anxious minutes, barely escaping the burning castle as its walls collapsed just a second after they had made it out. The woman named Velia picked the child up from the ground and started to make her way towards the forest in front of her, not once looking back at the devastation behind them. "You may rest now, little one," she said, pulling some unruly strands of hair away from the child's face. "I'll take care of you, Natsu," she whispered to him, as the tired boy wrapped his arms around her neck and rested his head on her chest, falling asleep almost instantly. Please be up there, Igneel. He'll need you.

Shrouded by the shadows of the vast forest behind him, the dragon watched the blazing flames disrupt the dark of night, breaking its silent reign with the sounds of human screams and visions of utter devastation. He stared at the destruction bitterly and regrettably. The reds, oranges, blues, and whites dancing up and down as they consumed the stone structure they engulfed. Familiar flames he'd grown to despise, flames responsible for too much death, sorrow, and pain to measure. These were the distinct flames of King Astarot Dragneel, the last descendant of the Drakoninan bloodline. He could still remember the time before Astarot had become king of Fiore, when the current tyrant's father ruled a prosperous land.

Fiore had once been a thriving kingdom, where mages and commoners alike lived peacefully and happily. The royal family, the Dragneels, was comprised of the direct heirs of the celebrated King Drakon, the founder of Fiore and the first human to pact with dragons in order to learn their magic. Drakon was, thus, the first human with dragon blood running through his veins, and his family had ruled over Fiore for many centuries, letting the land and its people flourish. But their peaceful and benign reign was brought to an abrupt end thirty years ago, when prince Astarot was born.

The boy showed great promise in his magical abilities from a very young age, the likes it had never been seen in hundreds of years, and murmured to be as gifted as Drakon himself had once been. His father, then, entrusted the oldest remaining dragon in the land, the fire dragon Igneel, to teach his son the arts of the family's legacy, the ancient Dragon-Slaying magic. The dragon and the young Astarot became instant friends, and the scaled creature doted on his young apprentice, teaching him everything he knew in the ten years they were together.

Astarot left Igneel when he was seventeen to embark on the last phase of his training, the journey to the Mountains of Aberash, where he would learn to master the last and strongest form of Dragon-Slaying magic, known to humans as Dragon Force. However, something happened to Astarot during his absence and he never reached Aberash. When he turned twenty, the Dragneel heir returned to Fiore a changed man, followed by a small army of dark and powerful mages and ready to betray his family and teacher.

The boy had always been proud and self-centered, being praised for his uncanny power from a very young age and, soon, he grew to believe he was the strongest mage the world had ever seen. Deluded with his own magical power, he convinced himself he had been chosen to take Fiore into a new age. Astarot raged war against his own father and deposed him from the throne, crowning himself as the Everlasting King of Fiore. Rumors said Astarot had encountered some unknown creature in his journey to Aberash that had shared the secrets of immortality with him and, thus, he was convinced he was the chosen dragon-blooded heir who would conquer death and rule Fiore eternally.

To guarantee his rule would never end, Astarot murdered all the members of his own family and sent assassins to faraway lands to kill all other mages who carried Drakonian blood in their veins. The massacre took the lives of thousands of people far and wide and the exact number of casualties was never found out, since their bodies were always taken back to Astarot's castle. The new King had his own father and mother executed publicly to give his new subjects a taste of his iron rule, and he had personally delivered the fatal blow that killed them both. Some said Astarot had smiled throughout the entire execution and even laughed, but, regardless of all the disagreement surrounding Astarot's behavior, all witnesses remembered the agonizing screams of the King and Queen as they burned to death in the scorching flames their own son had conjured.

Astarot's only ally through the war had been the newly proclaimed Duke of Fiore, Iwan Dreyar, commander of the largest army in the kingdom and the only man treacherous enough for Astarot to trust. Iwan was a despicable man and a powerful mage who had come into his title by murdering his older brother, Jude Dreyar, and forcing his widow, Lady Layla Heartfilia, to marry him. Driven by mad lust for the woman the elves of the forest had foretold would carry beauty beyond the limits of man's understanding, Iwan had ordered the death of his own wife to make sure he could possess his brother's spouse, only sparing the life of his own son, Laxus, on the promise that Layla would bear him a child in the first three years of their marriage.

After taking his brother's title, Iwan imprisoned his own father, the Saint Wizard Makarov Dreyar, the unquestioned leader of the strongest mage army in the land, Fairy Tail, in the east tower of his castle, and threatened to kill him if Fairy Tail rebelled or dared oppose the new King and Duke. The Dreyar and the Heartfila were two of the three families that had remain close allies to the royal family throughout the years. Thus, in an effort to protect the dignity of the noble families and as a last act of defiance, Fairy Tail disbanded instead of joining the ranks of Astarot's mage army, and its soldiers spread across the land. The King swore to kill them all for their insubordination, but the book containing their names and magical abilities mysteriously disappeared and their identities remained a secret.

Throughout the years, King Astarot and Duke Dreyar hunted these mages under the codename of dispatching "fairies," and high sums of money were offered to those who could provide information regarding their whereabouts and identities. Still, rumors that Fiore's mage army had never pledged allegiance to neither the King nor the Duke spread far and wide, and people believed its members were instead waiting for a rightful heir to challenge the King. However, many considered these thoughts to be childish dreams, for the first who had suffered Astarot's wrath had been his own, and hopes that another Dragneel lived were scarce. As the years passed by, with no news of a new heir and terrible rumors that the King continued his bloodthirsty persecution of the bearers of Drakonian blood, almost all hope died.

Astarot never married; instead, he took several lovers throughout the years. There was a time, though, when many thought the King would marry, early in his reign of terror. Her name was Lady Asha and she was the daughter of one of the first enemies he had defeated over the years, taken as spoils of war and forced to become his servant and lover. Astarot had brought her with him from a faraway land on his return to Fiore. The woman possessed striking beauty, rumored to rival even Lady Layla's. She was described as having long, wavy pink hair, a golden, almost shimmering complexion characteristic from the region she was born in, and a pair of deep, green eyes. Few, however, had had the privilege of meeting her, since the King had her under a vigilant lock and key in his castle.

Asha lived with King Astarot for a total of four years, including the three years she spent with him abroad, until she disappeared one day, leaving no trace behind her. No one ever saw her again and no one knew what had happened to her. Some thought the King had grown tired of her and had thrown her into one of the many dungeons in his castle, while many others believed she had escaped from the bloody claws of her captor and was living peacefully somewhere outside the reaches of the King. Her fate, however, was a mystery to Fiorians and their King alike.

After Asha's disappearance, Astarot never took a lover for more than a few months, and, if any of the women had the misfortune of getting pregnant, they were publicly executed to remind the kingdom that their King would never need a successor. The King had asked Iwan multiple times to let him meet the famously beautiful Lady Heartfilia, but that was the one request the Duke had always denied him. Afraid the Duke would betray him for his lust, Layla became the only woman he could never own and the only woman he was forbidden to lay eyes on.

Igneel blamed himself for not realizing sooner the sort of man Astarot really was. He had noticed from earlier on the child's irritability and pride, but he had hoped the boy would correct his ways after his training and learn to control his anger. As punishment for his involvement in creating a monster, the dragon exiled himself from the world and chose to live in solitude, forbidding himself from ever teaching the arts of Dragon-Slaying to another human. Astarot had been his best student, and it had been that same boy who had taken everything away from him. The dragon had failed to realize the sort of cruelty Astarot Dragneel was capable of until it was too late. He had been the King's first victim, the first left to deal with unbearable grief.

Before attacking his father's castle, Astarot made a visit to his old teacher's nest, killing his dragon mate and incinerating their three eggs. He had been cautious enough to leave the remaining ashes for the male dragon to see and immediately know who was responsible for it. In his desperation, Igneel had failed to see his old pupil had been hiding and waiting for his return. Astarot, taking advantage of the opportunity, revealed himself and casted a binding spell on the distraught dragon. The spell prevented Igneel from taking his own life or attempting against Astarot's. Thus, the spell incapacitated either of them from dying by the other's hand, condemning Igneel to live the rest of his life watching Astarot's reign of terror, incapacitated from doing anything to stop it.

Lost in his own regretful thoughts, the dragon had missed the erratic movements of the forest until a cloaked figure was standing before him. The woman looked tired and the distinct smell of human blood told him that she was gravely injured. The hood fell off her head as she took a deep breath, revealing light brown tresses and a pale and wasted countenance. The woman had a sleeping child in her bosom, but his weight seemed to further drain her down. She lowered the boy, reclining his back on a nearby rock, and, then, approached the dragon. She stared at the red-scaled creature with no fear in her eyes, holding onto her side tightly in an effort to prevent the loss of more blood.

"Fire dragon Igneel, my name is Velia… I don't have much time," she began, stopping momentarily to take a deep breath, as she winced at the pain the wound elicited. "Please, I beg you, take care of my ward. He's an orphan, I am dying, and he has no one else."

The dragon looked down towards her, "How do you know who I am, human? Who are you?"

Velia responded, "It is not important who I am or how I know you. The child must live. Promise me, fire dragon Igneel, promise me you'll look after the child. You are the only one who can."

The dragon fumed at the lack of answers from the stranger, huffing and releasing some steam from his nostrils, "I will promise no such thing, human! I am done dealing with your kind. You all kill and betray each other, and I want no part of it. I have enough sins to burden me for the rest of my long life, I don't need to add any new ones."

The brunette had fallen to her knees in pain while the dragon spoke, "Please, fire dragon Igneel, just light a fire for the boy and then make your decision. But please," she was forced to stop as she coughed blood out of her mouth, "don't let him see me die."

The dragon frowned; there was something about that woman that was telling him to trust her. Why is she being so persistent about this boy? he wondered. "Very well," he replied, "I will take the boy with me into the woods and prevent him from seeing you in this condition. I will also light a fire for him as you ask. All that I can promise, but I cannot do the same for your other request."

Velia raised her head up to look at the dragon with teary eyes, and with a shaky and almost inaudible voice, she replied, "Thank you, fire dragon Igneel. Just ignite a fire and wake the boy. You'll know, then..." The woman fell dead onto the ground, unable to finish her last thought and incapable of saying goodbye to the child she had taken care of for almost a decade.

Igneel sighed and turned his attention towards the sleeping boy. Who are you, child, and why was this woman so adamant in bringing you to me? With one claw, he lifted the boy from the ground and placed him as gently as possible on his other. Taking one last look at the dead woman, he blew fire out of his mouth and stepped into the forest, leaving Velia's incinerating body behind as he walked away. Whoever you were, I hope you find the peace you so desperately needed, human.

"Bring me that treacherous Fairy!"

The Royal Army was standing in formation at the ruins of what was once known as Fullbuster castle. On top of a pedestal made out of the ruble, the King of Fiore gazed menacingly at his knights, blood dripping from his armor. He only wore armor in the lower part of his body and a chainmail; his full arms were always exposed, as to not hinder his magic, and he never wore a helmet. He enjoyed watching the fear he instilled in his victims, he reveled on their screams. The night's wind blew on his dark tresses, carrying the nauseating smell of blood and burnt bodies. He smirked and inhaled deeply. He loved that smell.

"Here she is, my Lord." A hooded figure approached the King slowly, drawing behind him a short, black-haired woman and three children. He forcefully pushed the four prisoners forward, making them crash onto the trashed ground violently. "The master of the house is dead, my Lord, I apologize for not capturing him alive."

Astarot looked at his servant despotically, "It is no matter, she was the one I wanted," he said, pointing at the woman. He stepped forward, and, grabbing her by the hair, he pulled her up. "You must be Ur Fullbuster," he began, "or should I say, Ur Milkovich, former member of the Fairy Tail Army, correct?" An evil smirk appeared on his face as Ur looked back at him with hatred in her eyes. "Now, why don't you be a good girl and tell your King what your magical ability is? That way I won't have to hurt your children," he continued.

Ur glared menacingly back at the black-haired man, taking all of her strength to spit on his face instead of answering, "Go to hell, traitor!"

"Very well, have it your way," Astarot said, not bothering to clean up his face. He turned to look at the cloaked man that had brought him the four prisoners and addressed him, "Are these three her only progeny?"

The man in the hood nodded, "Yes, my Lord, there was no one else in the castle."

The King tightened his hold of his victim and turned to face the three frightened children, moving to grab their mother by her throat instead of her hair. "Your mother is a traitor to her kingdom, and she will pay for her offence with her life. But first," he said, raising his free hand and lighting it on fire, "She'll have to watch her children die before her." Ur's eyes widened, but she was incapable of yelling, her captor's hand cutting her air supply. Astarot released his fire attack on the youngest child, a black-haired boy, around seven or eight years old.

"Gray, watch out!" a voice yelled out. Before the fire attack could reach the frighten child, his older brother, a white-haired boy of about nine or ten, had intercepted the magical attack. The flames grew wilder and stronger once they hit the young boy, setting him ablaze instantly. Gray watched his brother burn wide-eyed, sobbing loudly, and trying desperately to reach him, but the two knights holding him were too strong for him and forced him to the ground.

"No! Lyon! Lyon!" came the desperate screams of his older sister, as she also struggled to free herself from the hold of the two knights that imprisoned her. She turned to her mother, who was crying silently and fighting to liberate herself from the King's snare. The white-haired child's screams echoed through the castle's ruins, creating a bitter cacophony along with the painful cries of his sister, his brother, and his mother.

Lyon stopped moving, and he fell to the ground immobile, dead. Astarot guffawed, turning to look at the woman he was choking with his bare hand, "Care to tell me what sort of magic you can cast now, Fairy?" Ur nodded at him, tears still falling down her eyes. The black-haired man released her, and she collapsed onto the floor coughing.

"Speak!" he commanded.

Ur took a moment to breathe. She stood up and glared daringly at the fire mage. She turned slightly to where her daughter and son were still being help captive by four royal knights. Fairy Tail mages had made one oath before disbanding and disappearing all over Fiore that night; they had sworn never to reveal their magic to Astarot or any of his minions. That's the only promise that was needed; all members knew they would never betray each other's confidence. She took another deep breath. She would be breaking that oath tonight – all for the sake of her children.

The black-haired woman moved faster than anyone could have anticipated, "Ice Make: Rosen Corone!" A flashing attack of spiraling ice flowers appeared from her hands, shooting straight at the four knights who kept her children prisoner. The force of the blast pushed Astarot a few feet back and he fell on his back. Ur yelled, "Ultear, take your brother and run! Save yourselves. Live!"

The black-haired twelve-year-old snapped out of her stupor, and, grabbing her brother's hand, dashed unto the darkness behind them, away from the King, his knights, and their mother. "We love you, mother!" she yelled, without turning to look back, tears clouding her sight as she continued to sprint forward, dragging the younger boy behind her.

"Come on, Gray! We have to hurry. For mom, and dad, and Lyon," she sobbed. She felt the child's pace quicken and he soon caught up to her, "For all of them," he added. Nothing else was said between them. They never looked back; they just continued to run as fast as they could in an unknown direction.

Astarot rose from the ground furious. He snatched Ur roughly and forcefully, his eyes burning with anger. "You will pay for that, filthy Fairy! I will hunt them, and now that I know their magic, they won't escape. I promise you that!" he yelled as he shook her violently in his grasp. With no other word, his hands lighted with fire and the flames soon covered the woman's body. She never screamed, and she had a smile on her face throughout her torture.

Astarot dropped the dead body of Ur Fullbuster on the ground a few feet away from where her son had fallen minutes before. "Find those two kids and kill them!" he ordered the first ten knights he saw, "Don't bother coming back if you don't."

Igneel walked until he was deep into the forest. Upon finding a small clearing, he put the boy down against a rock, and, after starting a small fire, he lay down next to the sleeping child. He dozed off momentarily, but woke up shortly after when he heard noises nearby. The dragon opened his slanted eyes and stared at the young boy in front of him, who was now fully awake. He chose to observe the child unnoticed for as long as he could. The boy was around seven or eight years of age, he had a noticeably pink mane of unruly hair, and he was staring into the fire intently, completely fascinated by the flames in a manner the dragon had never seen a human do before, his hands coming closer to it, as if he wanted to touch it.

"Don't do that, boy, unless you want to get burned." Igneel said, deciding this moment was as good as any other to make his presence known. The boy turned to look at him, revealing a pair of deep, dark eyes. "What do you mean? Fire could never hurt me. Nurse Velia says it's because I am a fire mage," he said, staring into the dragon's slanted orbs, not at all frightened by the unknown creature or the unfamiliar surroundings. "Where is she, by the way?" he asked, as he returned his attention to the fire, "The last thing I remember is running away from the castle."

The dragon sighed, "She's asked me to take care of you. She's no longer here." Igneel never lied. Perhaps it would be harsh for the child to know the truth now, but he believed this would be better for the boy in the long run. The pink-haired boy flipped his head to stare at the dragon again as he began to cry, "She's dead?" he sobbed, "She left me with you? Why?"

The red-scaled dragon looked deeply into the boy's eyes, "She died protecting you, child, and she brought you to me because she wanted me to teach you magic."

The boy stopped crying and wiped the tears off his face with his dirty sleeve sniffling, "So, you'll teach me fire magic?" he said hesitantly, after he was finished with his task.

"No, I will teach fire Dragon-Slaying magic, child," the dragon replied.

The boy grinned lightly at him, trying his best to put his grief for losing his nurse behind him, "Really?"

The dragon couldn't help but smile as well; the kid's effort to try to be happy was contagious, "Yes," he said sternly, "Now, what is your name, child?"

The boy answered back almost instantly, "I'm Natsu. I don't know my last name, though; Nurse Velia said my mother died before telling her."

If you only knew, Natsu, Igneel thought to himself. "Very well, Natsu, I am the fire dragon, Igneel, and as of today, you will be my apprentice. We'll start tomorrow morning, so get some rest, you'll need it."

The boy nodded, "Yes, Master Igneel!"

The dragon chuckled, "Just call me Igneel, Natsu."

The pink-haired child grinned again, "Okay, Igneel."

Igneel watched as the boy he now knew was named Natsu crawled close to him. He assumed it had something to do with his body heat. When the child was done moving and had found a comfortable position around the red-scaled creature, he lifted his head to find the dragon's yellow eyes, "Igneel, do you think Nurse Velia is in a better place?"

The red-scaled creature fixed his gaze on him, "Almost any place is better than here, Natsu, as you will learn when you grow up. Fiore is no longer the place it used to be."

The pink-haired boy blinked, "Do you mean because of King Astarot? Nurse Velia and I have been running away from him since I was born. She said he's not a nice man."

Igneel sighed, "He is not. Astarot has been completely corrupted by the darkness in his own heart, Natsu. Remember this, child, all creatures have darkness within them, and fighting it is the greatest battle we must face."

The boy looked seriously back at him and nodded, "I will, Igneel."

The dragon looked back at him as well, "Very well. Now, go to sleep. You'll need your strength tomorrow."

After their short conversation, the child fell asleep pretty fast, but Igneel stayed up, looking at the dancing flames of his own fire and thinking about how everything had changed that night. He had never expected he would be breaking his own pledge to never instruct a human again, but he knew there was no such thing as coincidences in this life; and if the boy had managed to find him, he would teach him.

The dragon had lost all hope that someone could defeat Astarot, but that night, his dreams for a better future returned. He understood why Velia had lied to the child about his parents, but he had no idea how the woman had found him. It was obvious she was hiding something, but the dragon couldn't figure out what that something was. It didn't matter now, though.

Igneel chuckled bitterly; fate had a funny and cruel way of finding you. He had realized the truth about the child's origins the second the boy had fixed his onyx orbs on him; he would recognize those dark eyes anywhere. It seemed as if fate still had plans for the old fire dragon, since it had just entrusted him to teach his new pupil the magic necessary to defeat King Astarot. The spark of new hope Fiore had been waiting for had just been ignited, and Igneel would do anything in his power to ensure that Natsu Dragneel defeated his own father.

The following morning the dragon woke up first. He rose from his position and stretched, letting small sounds that resembled a roar leave his mouth as his atrophied muscles moved and re-accommodated. Once he was fully awake, Igneel decided to gather some wild berries for the boy to eat. He assumed Natsu would be hungry the second he woke up. He probably hadn't eaten anything in a long period of time. Thus, the dragon stepped deep into the forest, leaving Natsu in a profound sleep and lying next to the extinct fire from the previous night.

As Igneel walked through the forest, he continued to ponder on the rather unbelievable circumstances he found himself in as of last night. He wished the woman who had brought the boy to him had survived Astarot's attack. There were so many questions left unanswered. The ones that troubled him the most were how the woman had known Natsu was a Drakonian heir, how she had found him, and how she had known that Igneel would take Natsu and train him. Velia seemed to know many of the Dragneel secrets to be a stranger to the family. The dragon quickened his step when he saw a familiar berry bush, ripping half of it off the ground upon reaching it, and proceeded to walk back to the clearing and the boy.

When Igneel returned to the clearing, Natsu was already awake. The child was sitting on the ground next to the dead fire, his arms wrapped up around his bended knees. He was staring at the pit of smoke and ash, deep in concentration. The dragon assumed the boy was still mourning the loss of his nurse, realizing the woman had been more to the boy that he had been willing to admit the night before. Igneel sighed, dropping the berry bush beside him, and said, "Natsu, it is alright to feel sad and to miss her."

The pink-haired boy startled a little, clearly surprised by the dragon's return. He didn't know how long he had been sitting in that position. He had heard Igneel make his way into the forest, and the sounds of breaking branches and ruffling dry leafs had woken him up. Natsu thought he was in a rather weird situation. He had always wanted to learn fire magic and had bothered Nurse Velia constantly to get him a teacher, but he didn't know the price he'd have to pay to get his wish come true. Now that he had an even better teacher than he could have possible imagined, he felt regret and loss.

Natsu turned to look at the red-scaled dragon, "Nurse Velia was all the family I had. I know she wasn't my real mother, but to me, she was. She always took care of me, protected me when I couldn't protect myself, fed me when I was hungry, kept me warm when I was cold. We were comfortable when we came to live at Fullbuster castle, but it wasn't always that way.

"We used to move around from place to place a lot, before we got to Fullbuster castle. But Nurse Velia had a friend there, so we were able to stay for a longer time... She liked it there," Natsu stopped and smiled slightly. He pulled his right sleeve to clean his face that was now covered in tears, "I couldn't protect her when she needed me, Igneel. She was all I had, and all I did was run behind her and fall asleep. I couldn't even say goodbye!" the boy yelled. "What sort of son does that to his own mother? I'm a terrible son," he continued in a quieter voice, tears still running freely down his face.

The red-scaled dragon softened his expression. He had definitely misjudged the kid's calmed demeanor the night before. It had been a long time since he had comforted another human. Astarot had been the last human child he had dealt with, and the boy had never been this vulnerable. Years later, Igneel had realized that was a clear sign of the evil that lurked in Astarot's heart, the undeniable pride that consumed his human soul, but he had failed to see it then, and it was too late to dwell on it now.

The dragon approached the crying child and lay down on the grass, "Listen to me closely, Natsu." He waited until the boy had calmed down and his eyes were fixed on his own, and then continued, "Feeling is not a weakness. On the contrary, it is through feeling that you become a better person – a better man, a better mage. Life isn't fair, child, and it is up to you to recover from what it throws at you.

"The world is not a pretty place, it is filled with suffering and injustice, and you have two choices, Natsu. You can either accept it and do nothing to change it, or you can decide to make a difference. Our fate is never fixed, how you choose to walk down the path life has set before you is up to you, child." Igneel stopped momentarily, letting his words sink in. Natsu had been listening intently to what he had been saying, and he smiled. "Velia's wish was to get you out alive of that castle, Natsu. She wanted you to become a great mage. Don't use her death as an excuse to waste your life away, use it as an encouragement to achieve all your goals and dreams. She did all she could to get you this far, and it is up to you now to continue your journey."

The pink-haired boy was no longer crying. He nodded at the dragon to signal he understood what he had said, "I will, Igneel. I won't let her sacrifices go in vain." He cleaned his face again with his dirty sleeve and grinned back at his scaled teacher.

The dragon nodded once, "Remember, Natsu, you are not alone in this journey. You have me, and once you finish your training and go out into the world, you'll meet others and make friends and allies."

The boy looked at him and his smile widened, "Then I will become the best mage out there, so I can protect them and make sure we can always stay together."

Igneel relaxed his gaze, nuzzling the boy with his snout, and then said, "Does that mean you are ready to start your training?"

Natsu stood up with a jump and newfound determination, "Yes, sir, Master Igneel!"

The dragon couldn't help but chuckle at the kid's enthusiasm. He wouldn't say it just yet, but he liked Natsu's reasons for wanting powerful magic. If there had been any magical training that could have ensured his family would have been safe, he wouldn't have hesitated for even a second and jumped right into it. Just like Natsu had done a few moments ago.

"Very well, Natsu. For starters, I've already told you. Stop calling me master!" Igneel huffed annoyed. He watched the kid as he grinned mischievously, as if he knew he'd be upsetting the dragon with the title. "Stop smirking, child. You don't want to see a dragon when he's angry."

Natsu nodded rapidly without losing his smile, "Yeah, yeah, Igneel. Let's get this started already! I'm all fired up!"

The red dragon stared at the excited boy in front of him. He knew right then and there he had gotten more than he had bargained for. That child would clearly be a handful. He grinned deviously back at the pink-haired human, So, you're all fired up, huh? You most certainly will be in a few minutes.

Igneel stood up and sat on the ground, leaving all playfulness aside and adopting a serious attitude. He lifted his left claw, which was closest to the child, and used it to shield the boy as he blew fire out of his mouth to reignite the fire from the previous night. Lowering his claw, he fixed his eyes on the boy, "Listen carefully to what I am going to say to you, Natsu. Dragons are magical creatures and that means that everything about them possesses magic, their scales, their roar, their voice, their tail, and most importantly, their element. To become a dragon-slayer, you must first become one with the magic of a dragon's element, which is, in my case, fire.

"Once you have accomplished this, you will gain other magical abilities. You'll get the heightened senses of dragons, so you will be able to listen, see, and smell things normal human beings cannot. But most importantly, and this is where your training comes in, your body will transform so that you are able to produce magical attacks that are equivalent to those of a dragon's. That means that, for example, your lungs will turn into dragon lungs when you invoke a Fire Dragon's Roar.

"Finally, the last, and strongest form of Dragon-Slaying magic is the Dragon Force, and in this form your entire body will become like a dragon's, not only a specific part of your body. Mastering that spell is complicated, and it will be the last thing you will learn. Thus, Natsu, the first thing you must do, is to step into that fire and let it consume you," Igneel explained, looking at the child who had been listening attentively to him.

The pink-haired boy stared at the dragon and then dragged his gaze to the burning fire the dragon had lit before he had started speaking. He returned his attention to the dragon, as the scaled creature spoke again, "Step into the fire, child, and let the flames bind with you as you bind with them. They must accept you as much as you must accept them. Once you have acknowledged each other, you will be able to breathe them in. When you feel you can do this, make sure you consume all of the flames." Igneel paused to make sure the human child was following his explanation. Noticing the boy seemed to understand everything he had said, he continued, "Are you ready, Natsu? Is there anything you don't understand? Tell me now, because once you've stepped into that fire, there is no turning back."

The boy nodded his head, still looking at the dragon, as seriously as an eight-year old could, "I understand, Igneel. I must let the fire get to know me before I can use it. We need to become friends first."

The red-scaled creature smiled; the boy had an interesting way of putting the rather complicated magical process. "Something like that, child. There's one more thing you must know before you begin. Once you have… 'become friends' with the fire and consumed it, it will run through your entire body and alter it. It will be a painful transformation, Natsu; be prepared. After your body has finished changing, you'll need to sleep and eat to recover your strength. And once you are rested and fed, we will begin your training, and it will be a long ten years of hard and straining training. Then, you will have to travel to Aberash to learn to use and control Dragon Force. You must understand what you will be committing to before I let you walk into that fire."

The pink-haired boy remained quiet, standing in the same position and looking into Igneel's slanted yellow eyes for a while. He then moved his gaze to the dancing flames and stared at them for a while longer. When he returned his attention to the dragon, Igneel could distinguish serious determination and understanding in his eyes. He knew, he understood, and he was ready to become a dragon-slayer. "I understand, Igneel. I'm ready."

"Very well," the dragon responded.

Nothing else was said between them, and only the sound of the burning flames could be heard. Natsu approached the blazing fire and walked into it, never looking back or questioning his steps.

Igneel watched the magic ritual with awe. The boy hadn't screamed once, and once the process was completed, Natsu had had the strength to walk back to where Igneel was standing and sit down next to him. The dragon had brought the berry bush close enough for the boy to reach it. Natsu ate his fill and then collapsed, exhausted, and fell into a deep sleep that lasted until the next morning.

The red-scaled dragon spent the rest of his day in silent solitude, pondering about the rather strange turnout of events as of lately. He had made the right choice in deciding to train Natsu. The boy was a natural. He had the strongest willed spirit Igneel had ever seen in a human, and the flames had embraced him almost as fast as they did a newborn dragon. The binding process had also been remarkable, the flames lightening in every color before letting the boy consume them. Igneel had only heard of that happening once before. He had been too young to witness it himself, but his father had once told him how his first and only pupil had devoured multicolored flames at his initiation ceremony. That child had been the first human with dragon blood, Drakon Dragneel. The red-scaled dragon knew he had an important responsibility with his new ward. He would teach Natsu Dragneel everything he knew. He would help the boy restore Fiore to the kingdom it had once been, to the kingdom his ancestors had wanted it to be.

Igneel spent the next two years with Natsu in the secluded forest, training the child to control and understand his new magic. The bond between them grew as well, and before he knew it, the dragon had come to see the child as the son he never had. It was the same way for Natsu, Igneel was the father figure he had always wanted and needed.

They remained alone and purposely unaware of the world outside their forest, avoiding Astarot and his cruelty, until one night, in which the red-scaled dragon saw a particularly bright and multicolored star in the sky. He would be needing to pay a visit to his old friend at the Dreyar's castle.

So, How was it? Please, don't forget to let me know what you all thought.
I guess you all have a clearer idea of what I meant earlier...

Next chapter: "Two Meetings Under the Moonlight," and I think you can guess from that who will be participating in those meetings pretty easily...