Natsu 7: Chapter 7: Chase vs.
Natsu “Hey, Chase!
Tell me quick, what did that dragon look like?” Lucy only snapped out of her daze when Natsu’s voice cut through the guild, loud as always.
She pushed herself slowly up off the floor.
She looked up in time to see Natsu cross the room in a few strides, grab Chase by the collar, and shake him hard enough to spit while he yelled.
Natsu’s whole impulsive, headfirst personality was already giving Chase a headache.
To get the guy off his back, Chase dropped into a chair at the nearest table, and with the rest of the guild crowding in close, walked them through what had happened, careful to keep the danger toned all the way down.
He left Ignia’s name out of it entirely and leaned hard into how frightening the dragon had been.
Where the rest of the guild sat frozen in shock, Natsu just waved Happy over and started for the door.
“Happy!
Let’s go, to the continent of Guiltina.
That fire dragon has to know something about Igneel!” Without a word, Happy spread his wings and followed.
The others scrambled after them, all trying to talk Natsu down at once.
Walking up to something that dangerous with zero preparation was just asking to die.
But Natsu, desperate as he was to find his father, wasn’t in a mood to listen to anyone.
“Hey, Natsu,” Chase said, calm as anything.
“Chase, are you trying to stop me too?” Natsu shrugged off Elfman’s grip and turned to face him.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.
Go wherever you want, it’s your call.” Chase shrugged.
“But Guiltina’s a big continent.
Don’t you want to know exactly where that fire dragon showed up?” Natsu, already halfway out the door, spun right back around.
Just as he opened his mouth to ask, Chase reached down, picked an ant up out of a crack in the floor tiles in full view of everyone’s confused stares, and set it down on the table.
“Ask it.” The guild’s reaction was written across every face in the room.
The ant, for its part, just stood there with a breadcrumb in its mouth.
“What kind of joke is this?
You bastard, are you messing with me?
That’s just a regular ant!” Natsu looked properly furious this time, no acting to it.
He swung his hand back and let loose a burst of flame that reduced the poor thing to ash on the spot.
“That’s the answer it gave you, Natsu.” Chase straightened up, satisfied that Natsu had taken the bait exactly as planned.
He blew the charred remains into powder with one breath, then looked up to meet Natsu’s furious glare, calm as ever.
“That ant was me, back when I ran into the dragon.
Right now, you’re playing the dragon’s part.” “Something with that kind of power over you doesn’t stop to let the weak thing talk.
It doesn’t trade information.
It just acts.” “I don’t know what kind of personality you’re picturing when you think about Igneel, but that thing back there wasn’t going to be friendly with a human.
Not for one second.” Chase’s words hit Natsu like a bucket of cold water.
The vein standing out on his forehead flattened, and whatever fire had been building in him a moment ago went out just as fast.
He wanted to argue back, but he’d already boxed himself into a corner with his own logic.
Short of losing his mind completely, there was no version of this where he sat down and had a conversation with an ant.
Satisfied he’d made his point, Chase stood up with a smile and clapped Natsu on the shoulder.
“Instead of running around like a headless chicken, try getting stronger instead.
When you’re able to beat me, I’ll tell you exactly where that dragon showed up.” With that, Chase left Natsu hanging his head in confusion and headed off toward his place in Magnolia.
He really was exhausted, two days and two nights of travel on top of a fight with Ignia.
Exactly what Makarov’s sharp eyes had already caught.
He hadn’t gotten far before a wave of scorching heat rolled up behind him, raising the temperature around him by several degrees.
“So basically,” Natsu said, energy fully back, a familiar cocky grin spread across his face, right fist already blazing, “all I’ve gotta do is beat you right now, huh?!” “Chase said a whole paragraph and you caught exactly one sentence of it…” Lucy’s sarcasm burned just about as hot as Natsu’s Dragon Slayer Magic at this point.
She sighed, holding her forehead, unable to watch.
“Natsu’s always had such a cute way of going about things.” A familiar sweet voice drifted in beside her, and Lucy turned to find Mira had appeared out of nowhere, right at her shoulder.
“…Cute?” Lucy’s lips twitched.
She really couldn’t agree with that one.
“Mm-hm!” Mira nodded, smiling.
Lucy glanced over at Natsu, still eagerly brandishing his flaming fist, and asked, a little worried, “Seriously though, shouldn’t we stop him?
The guild’s going to end up in ruins, isn’t it?” This didn’t feel anything like the half-joking scuffle from when Chase first walked back in.
Natsu looked dead serious this time.
The mess at Hargeon is still fresh in my memory.
“No need.
Natsu’s strong, sure, but there’s still a real gap between him and S-Class.
Chase isn’t going to let this get out of hand.” Mira said it with her usual smile, sounding completely sure of herself.
“Speaking of S-Class, Mira, you went up to the second floor earlier, didn’t you?” Lucy blinked, curious.
Master Makarov said only S-Class mages are allowed up there.
So what does that make harmless-looking Mira, exactly?
“That’s right.
Don’t let the look fool you, I’m an S-Class mage of Fairy Tail too.” Mira laughed, tilting her head.
“Though I’m nowhere near as good as Chase and the others.” “Huh?!” “But Lucy, you’re still pretty new.
It’s way too early to be thinking about S-Class.
Focus on racking up a few more missions first.” “…So I really do come across as that ambitious?” Lucy pointed at herself, equal parts confused and mortified.
The conversation cut off there, an explosion interrupting it.
A fresh hole had been smashed clean through the side wall of the guild, splinters and debris still settling around the edges of it.
Out on the street beyond the gap, Natsu lay flat on his back in a pile of broken tables and chairs, eyes glazed, staring up at the sky like he was questioning the meaning of life.
One hit.
That’s all it had taken to put him down for good.
“That was way too fast, he barely lasted a second!
And—” Lucy took in the state of the guild and couldn’t help herself.
“This is way too much!” “Natsu never even got the chance to start anything.
Chase is the real troublemaker here!” The words were out before she could stop them, and Lucy clapped a hand over her mouth, already regretting every syllable.
It was already too late.
A second later, the sound of soft, self-blaming sobs reached her ears.
“Chase hasn’t been home in so long, I just…
I forgot to keep an eye on him.
I’m sorry, Lucy, I should have listened and stopped them before it got this far…” Mira had her face buried in her hands, tears streaming down through her fingers.
“No, it’s not your fault, Mira!” Lucy panicked, scrambling to comfort her.