Hearing Shane's question, the extra expression on Natsu's face instantly drained away. In its place came obvious confusion and loss.
"Igneel…" Natsu's voice dropped, the usual energy gone, sounding dull and heavy. "He's… gone."
That answer caught Shane off guard.
If Natsu really was one of the children inside that red light, then Shane had personally witnessed the majesty of a fire dragon. How could a being that powerful just vanish without a trace?
"Gone?" Shane pressed, his tone investigative. "What exactly happened?"
"It was just one day—" Natsu scratched at his messy pink hair in frustration, trying to put it into words. "Like always, I woke up and said hi to him… and he just wasn't there. Anywhere. Couldn't find him."
The way he described it was childish—confused and hurt, like someone had been suddenly left behind.
"He didn't leave any message? Or did anything unusual happen before that?" Shane tried to guide him toward more details. A dragon that raised a human child, by any logic, shouldn't disappear for no reason.
Natsu shook his head hard, getting more worked up. "No! Nothing! The day before, everything was normal! I even remember— I remember he brushed me with his claw, like saying good night—"
"The day before? Do you remember what day Igneel disappeared?"
"Of course! I burned that day into my brain!" Natsu practically shouted. "It was July 7th, nine days ago!"
"…I see."
Hearing that precise date, Shane fell into thought.
If Natsu wasn't lying, then it was basically certain: he was one of the five children who crossed four hundred years.
Shane's eyes lit up instantly as another startling realization surfaced.
If that was true, then Natsu—like the legendary black wizard Zeref—was basically a walking history book.
"Why are you looking at me like that?!" Natsu shivered, shrinking back with a creeped-out expression.
But he quickly rallied, pumping his fist again. "Igneel must've had something really important to do, that's why he left! He's a ridiculously strong fire dragon—he wouldn't just disappear for nothing! I joined Fairy Tail to get stronger and travel everywhere, and one day I'll find him!"
"Oh?" Shane looked at his "living encyclopedia" with a hint of warmth in his voice. "You want to find Igneel?"
"Obviously!" Natsu answered without hesitation, loud and firm. "Who wouldn't want to find their idiot dad who went missing?!"
No, that's not "went missing"—you were clearly left behind.
Shane complained silently, then made a suggestion.
"I might be able to help you find Igneel. Want to try?"
His Eye of Karma could read cause-and-effect. If Natsu's bond with Igneel was really that deep, Shane might be able to follow that "line" and pull up a lead.
"R-Really?!" Natsu rushed closer, eyes wide and shining.
"Well, I'm not promising anything," Shane said, not overselling it, but he still nodded.
"Ha! That's awesome!" Natsu slapped Shane's shoulder, flashing a huge grin. "So you're actually a good guy! I thought you were just as annoying as that exhibitionist!"
Why am I being compared to Gray…?
Shane rolled his eyes internally, decided not to argue, and moved straight to action.
"Alright. Let's start."
"W-What? Right now?" Natsu stiffened, suddenly awkward. "What do I do?"
Fwoom—
Red flames ignited in Shane's eyes. Calmly, he said, "Don't move. Just stand still."
He focused, pushing his Eye of Karma to full power and stared at Natsu.
In that crimson vision, the world shed its normal colors and turned into a mesh of interwoven causal threads.
There were fewer "karmic lines" around Natsu than most people his age—probably because his personality was simple and his experiences relatively straightforward.
Shane nodded slightly and looked deeper.
Very quickly, he found two lines that dominated everything else—two main rivers surging through a landscape of thin streams.
One was a deep, blazing red, like fire flowing within it. No need to guess—that had to symbolize Igneel, the strongest bond in Natsu's life.
The other… was red turning into black, so dense it looked like it could swallow light.
It was heavier—far heavier—than even the karmic weight Shane had sensed clinging to the dragon bones in the Dragon Graveyard. This wasn't just "dark." It was pure, absolute blackness.
"What is that…?" Shane's heart jolted.
Why would someone as young as Natsu carry something so thick, so ominous?
Who—or what—was that black line connected to?
He concentrated, trying to peer through it. But all he got was blur and chaos—no clear images, no readable details—only a vague sense that it pointed far away, to some unknown destination.
So that's it… a kid from four hundred years ago. Of course he'd be carrying secrets.
Shane's expression slipped into an intrigued smile.
He decided on the spot: later, he'd write to Layla and try to contact Anna—someone who might actually know what this meant.
For now, he shelved the black line and returned to the main objective: the deep red bond that represented Igneel.
The line was vivid and unbreakable. Natsu hadn't been lying—his connection to Igneel was real and profound.
Shane followed that red thread, trying to trace it back to its source—trying to locate where Igneel was now.
But as seconds passed, Shane's brows knitted together.
"This direction… why is it so weird?"
He'd even braced himself for the possibility that the other end might point into four hundred years ago, making it impossible to track.
But it wasn't that.
It wasn't far away. It wasn't in another time.
It was… too close.
Because the deep red line didn't point outward at all—it looped like a circle.
And its end connected… to Natsu himself.
Shane's pupils tightened, and his mind flashed back to the massive dragon silhouette he'd seen within the red light.
Don't tell me… Igneel didn't disappear. He's been here the whole time—inside Natsu, in some form—coming into this era with him.
The idea shocked Shane.
What kind of magic was that?
A dragon that powerful, with that colossal existence, "living" inside a human body that small?
It was absurd—yet the causal connection shown by the Eye of Karma was brutally clear.
Shane took a slow breath. The flames in his eyes gradually went out.
He forced down the turbulence in his chest, steadied himself, and looked at Natsu—who was staring at him with pure expectation—ready to share what he'd found.
"Natsu… Igneel actually—"
But at the exact moment he started to speak, a surge of heat slammed into his mind without warning, like magma flooding his skull.
And then came that same disorienting, "wrong" sensation he always got right before an heroic vision—
Stone, trees, blue sky—
Everything in his view shook violently, colors blending together, until it all dissolved into a single, deep crimson.
~~~
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