Taste my Pain

Training with Capricorn and Igneel

Taste my Pain

Chapter 10

"Igneel..." Lucy whispered in surprise as she tilted her head up to gaze at the dragon's tall and bulky figure. The fire dragon emitting out power, they didn't seem scary at all. Instead, he seemed calm and collected.

With a smile, Igneel changed into his human form where a thirty-four-year-old man stood. “To think I’ll be seeing you this soon,” he said in a deep voice. "I'll be returning back to the palace now Lucy," Cherita stated as she opened her wings powerfully under the presence of the most influential dragon in the kingdom. The princess nodding, the two remained in the heated environment as they watched the dragon fly off into the distance. 

The silence between them awkward, Igneel turned his head to look at Lucy worriedly before he shook his head as he tried to not scare off the girl. "Starting from today Lucy, I'll be teaching you the element of fire. But before we train, you must be tired from the travel here since we're further away from the castle. Please, come to my home and we'll talk."

The blonde nodded as he felt her uncertainty pulsing through her veins. Leading the way into his home, Lucy inspected it to find it to be quite cosy for such a dragon that held battle scars on his body.

Igneel's home consisted of a cave filled with rock-carved furniture which seemed to look like marble. Everything made of solid materials, it still held some sort of gentleness to it so taking a seat in front of a large rock table which seemed like a dinner table, her gaze followed Igneel who sat in front of her silently where he raised his head to look at her like a parent that was about to have a very stern talk with their child.

"Well, if you don't mind, I've heard about your... The situation with that idiotic son of mine. Hopefully, you can tell me how he's doing without going into it too deeply," he questioned as he entwined his fingers together and rested them on the table where he leaned forward to listen.

She dropped her gaze and felt the tension rise around them as she fiddled her hands against the smooth-bumpy surface. Sighing, she looked up to meet his worried gaze and forced herself to smile. "Uhm..." She opened her mouth but closed it again. Her words weren't coming out as planned...

Hearing the man chuckle, she blushed at her ability to be unable to speak. "How about I tell you about his past?" She looked up and leaned closer. "Would it bring me any use?" she questioned where he leaned back and shrugged his shoulders.

"He was like a lost puppy when I first found him in the forest. Honestly, I didn't even know or had even met the faces of his parents back then. For all I knew, I was constantly being followed by this lost child once I picked him up," Igneel began as he scratched his earlobe. "Natsu was a brat I tell you. His determination could brighten up a dark cave itself, and that's what brought me into teaching him Fire Dragon Slaying magic. As he grew up, I taught him many things that'll benefit his life. I wanted to teach him in this form, but I cannot - He's too young to face the truth that many dragons may or may not be wandering around the streets today. I wanted to teach him more than what he knows..."

Lucy continued playing with her hands and slowly looked down at them to see them tightly clenching each other. "Why are you telling me this?" she whispered.

Igneel threw his arms behind his neck and sat there. "I don't know, I would've taught him more than what he has to learn by himself. Before I could even teach him to control his Dragon Force, we had an emergency in which you should know. To hear that he ate a bloody crystal..."

She then heard him chuckle, making her look up to meet his humorous eyes where he had a saddened smirk on his face as if he was sad to not have been able to see such a sight that had made his son knock out right after their dramatic adventure. "He's an i***t of mine, and I should've taught him much more than that," he sighed in which he dropped his smirk to frown.

Lucy lowered her gaze slightly, feeling that it was his right to know about his fostered son's lifestyle. Closing her eyes, she took in a deep inhale before opening them with a cold face. "I'll tell you what had happened but under one condition of course. That condition is you teaching me the magic that you never taught him or got to teach. You've heard about the things that he had done to me, right? Well, I want to prove him wrong and wipe that over-confi-"

She was about to ramble her complaints where Igneel sighed and tried to stop her. "Lucy..." he said, signalling her that she was doing the wrong thing.

She growled in response. "I won't let my revenge overcome my senses..." she said as she cut off her ranting. Sighing, she looked at him with a weak expression. "Please, I want them to taste the pain that they've made me suffer through," she whispered.

Igneel sighing to her little plea that he could hear in her whisper; he crossed his arms. "Lucy, it's our job to train you with everything we've got. I'll do everything I can to bring you peace and happiness, and those are the same words that I've told your mother."

With a nod, Lucy's eyes grew distant as she averted her direction to the scenery outside of the cave. "I travelled to Hargeon and somehow got myself under a spell of an illegal magical charm... That's when I met him. Actually, he was the one who brought me into Fairy Tail and into more troublesome problems," she explained before dropping her head back to look up to the rugged rocks hanging on the ceiling of the cave.

"I'm pretty sure that you've heard about Fairy Tail from Cherita, but they're really a bunch of good guys. Every day was an adventure for us, Natsu would go into these random brawls with Gray, and would often look up to Laxus, the guild master's grandson. He has saved us from countless situations, fought for our pride and would always keep the guild the way it is. To us, he was someone important - A core member. But then just a few months ago, he wasn't the Natsu I once knew."

Igneel hesitated to say something but it was hard when the girl in front of him was gripping the table strongly. He flinched in surprise when she abruptly stood up, only to slam her palms onto the table furiously. "How dare he played along with my emotions! He knew my past, and still called me a weakling!" she yelled.

"To think he grew up into that type of person... I'm sorry Lucy, I shou-" She snarled at him angrily. "You shouldn't be the one apologising! He should have known better but to act ignorant to his former nakama! Don't even think about going to Earth World to act upon this situation!"

Slamming her palms onto the table again, she dropped her head, allowing her bangs to shadow over her teary eyes. "Please... I'll stop you - Even if I must use a royal command upon you. Please, I just want to show them my worth, as Lucy Heartfilia," she whispered, pleading him not to interfere with her plans of coming back stronger.

Igneel nodded his head and looked up at the clock hanging on the wall. Reading that it's nine at night, he decided that it's best to allow the princess to have a long slumber before their intense training.

Telling her to go to sleep as he checked her swollen hands, he got her to lay on the makeshift bed where he then sat next to her and placed a hand on top of her head. Her eyes looking up at him in question, he gave her back a soft smile where she snuggled into the blanket that he had provided for her. "Even with that son of mine being such an i***t, I'll treat you as my beloved daughter and raise you better than him," he whispered.

She smiled at him before seeing his scar, her hand reaching out to it, she frowned. "You dragons have seen and have been through a lot of things... Does the scar hurt?" she asked.

He shook his head in reply. "It will hurt when he does something mean to you. When you return and my scar hurts from him being mean to you, I will come when I feel your heart yearn for a dragon's protection," he promised where he watched her eyes flutter.

Falling asleep, Igneel watched over his princess before getting up when she had completely fallen into the world of sleep. His hands behind his back, he walked out to the entrance of his cave and looked up to the brightest star tonight. "To think that all of this is happening... What's happening, Layla?" he whispered.

The next day, Igneel had woken her up early.

"So, what are we going to do today?" Lucy cheered in sarcasm, not too enthusiastic about having to wake up this early. Hearing Igneel's chuckle, they made their way over the crevasses of the prominent volcano which continued bubbling away. Now that she thought about it, she looked over to Igneel. "Will the volcano erupt?"

He looked down at her and smiled where he shook his head before stopping midway to only shrug as he remembered to add one certain detail regarding his domain. "It depends really. It'll erupt if I'm very angry or feeling very frustrated," he answered where Lucy sighed in relief.

They soon made a stop in front of a very large crevasse where Lucy looked down upon the oozing liquid which slowly moved due to the convection currents of heat. Taking in a swallow, she looked at him nervously as she pointed down to the glowing fluid. "What are we doing today, and if it's relating to this… Am I going to get killed for it?" she asked.

Igneel grinned as he motioned her to take off her bathrobe where she stood there with her white and pink bikini. "Today, we'll be seeing if you're able to handle heat well to control the elements related to flames." Seeing Lucy shiver in horror, he smirked where he slyly pushed her into the lava where she screamed, falling into it where she slowly sunk into the fluid with a horrid face.

"Igneel! I'm burning!" she screamed where Igneel smirked and leaned his weight on his right leg with his arms crossed. Slowly, she felt the lava cool to her touch in which she widened her eyes. Looking up, she waited for his explanation.

"I couldn't let you melt and light up in flames in it could I? Since I'm a dragon of fire, I'm able to control the elements in which are related to flames. This temperature should be to your pleasing right?" he smirked as he watched the girl slowly cover her face in humiliation.

Unfortunately for her, the lava was sticky and kind of solid. Trying to move, she couldn't move as much as she flailed around. Forcing her legs to push through the thickness of the fluid where her hands got caught in it, she gave out another huff of frustration. 

Groaning, she slowly yanked her hands out of the lukewarm lava to cross her arms over her chest. "Now what? I can barely move in this substance!"

A bright light emerged beside Igneel and there appeared Capricorn who stood as calm as ever. As he stood there to only turn his head to the dragon, the two men silently exchanged nods before turning to face Lucy who was slowly sinking.

"Uhmm... guys?" Lucy called out.

The dragon grinned and crossed his arms. "You're now ready to get familiar with a certain guardian. Lucy, it's time for you to start taking your first step in learning what Natsu's never been taught," he said.

"Calm down Lucy-dono..." Capricorn stated as he watched the girl flail around uncomfortably.

"How can I calm down when I'm sinking into this crevasse?!" Lucy cried out as she tried kicking her legs to at least prevent her from sinking deeper into the gap in which she had no idea how deep it was.

Seeing Igneel dominantly stand in front of Capricorn, she sighed out loud and waited for further instructions as she stopped her kicks and focused everything on the man in front. Watching his mouth open, she closed her eyes and listened to the two's voices guide her through.

"Don't think about the heat, only focus on the flowing lava," Igneel calmly said as he supervised Lucy carefully. "Cross in your legs. Remember, you're not sinking if you're still and have an image of the floor underneath you, focus on all of the energies within your body," the spirit then stated as he continued to instruct Lucy on what to do.

"And think about your hot spirit, Loke," the lion said as he appeared next to Capricorn with a cocky smile.

Annoyed, Capricorn smacked behind Loke's head. "There's no time to be playing with you right now," Igneel scolded as he tried to hold in his laughter. Loke pouted before disappearing, muttering under his breath how the megane man didn't know when it was time to have fun and tell a joke.

"Anyways, we'll be raising the temperature. While we do so, please keep on focusing but if you ever do lose your focus and you feel like you're getting severely burnt, please do tell me immediately," Igneel stated as he started to glow a semi-transparent red colour. He slowly began chanting the words which help him control the heat to allow the blonde to at least know what's going on rather than to assume. While he was doing so, Capricorn observed Lucy's facial expressions just in case she was to hold in the pain and severely get herself hurt.

She was still focusing with her eyes closed. Feeling calm and peaceful, she let out a sigh as she allowed the temperature to warm herself up from the wind. Her face showing no pain, she looked content and at ease as if she hadn't relaxed and had time for herself for a long time. 

As Capricorn continued to observe, he noticed a faint glow around the concentrating Lucy. 

"That's right Lucy. Keep on focusing, don't think about the heat, and be one with the flow and the current of the lava. Tell them who their master is, and slowly control the flow using your hands. When you're ready, you will feel the heat as nothing, and it will be lukewarm like before," Igneel began in a hushed voice so he didn't surprise her. "When you think it's time, release your energy that you were focusing on and push the lava away using your hands," Igneel encouraged as he focused on the spell.

Focusing, Lucy heard an unfamiliar voice echoing. The voice belonged to a female, and it was soothing to hear but was powerful enough to represent their wisdom and power.

"What do you want? Why are you intruding the home of Igneel and I?"