Family 2

'Look like I can't train on my own. This might be the limit.' In the forest, One could find me standing there, looking at the ball of flames in my palm. I frowned lightly, for I didn't know how to train. So far, all I have been doing is training to make it easier for me to use magic without too much focus.

After Zeref left, I spent the following month training hard, until today when I felt like I couldn't improve anymore. I didn't need to think much to summon flames and control them. Using spells was even harder as I didn't have the magical energy needed for such a heavy task.

So, I had to wait to grow old enough... but I didn't want that, I had to at least learn to convert these normal flames I was creating into the flames of the fire phoenix. I frowned for some time, before throwing the palm-sized fireball towards the tree, the fireball exploded, leaving only a small burnt mark on the tree. Seeing this, I pouted lightly at how weak I was.

I hesitated for a moment, before returning home. It has been 1 month since Zeref left for the academy, and he should be returning today, before leaving in 2 or 3 days. 

"It's odd, the firewood seems so low." As soon as I stepped inside the house, I heard my father's confused voice. I tried to keep a straight face under my mother's gaze, seemingly asking for me to slip up and show I knew something.

"Where were you, Ryu." She asked making me feel awkward for a moment, My father also looked back in interest, as I up and left. 

"Well... I went to go train." I said making her eyes narrow while looking at me. She wasn't given a chance to speak as my father laughed while walking over to me.

"Oh? My little boy is training to be a mighty warrior like his old man?" My father laughed with a grin, to which I just held out my palm, showing them the ball of fire. This shocked the two, as it wasn't common for people to gain the chance to use magic at such a young age.

"So, it was you playing with fire?" My mother asked with a frown, to which I awkwardly scratched my head. 

"I wasn't playing with the fire, I just found out I could eat fire to restore my lost energy. I was scared you would get mad." I said stunning not just her, but also my father. The two looked at each other as they knew what this meant.

"Show us." My mother said seriously, to which I went over to the fireplace, and under their shock gazes, I sucked the flames into my mouth, leaving the fireplace empty.

"Ryu... did you come into contact with someone who gave you something?" My mother asked while getting up, her face filled with unease. But at her words, I shook my head.

"I had a dream a month ago about a phoenix, who gave me its magic or something... it's hard to understand what it was saying," I said to which My mother paused while looking back at her husband, the two faces turning extremely pale. This made me uneasy, as it was a risk on my side to tell them this. But as things were going, I would have died along with them. So, I had no choice. 

"Is that bad?" I asked with unease, to which my mother hesitated for a moment, before nodding.

"The phoenix and dragons are enemies, there was a great war long ago, which led to the downfall of the phoenix... the phoenix race was later hunted by others who wanted to become immortal through their powers." My mother said while walking over to me, and holding my palms, sending her magical energy into me.

"Focus, are you able to make the immortal flames of the fire phoenix?" She asked, to which I focused with closed eyes, and with the help of her magic, I had more than enough magical energy to birth golden flames.

My mother let me go, and held the flames, feeling its unique nature to heal, while also having the nature of being undying. it was such a unique flame, and although not as powerful as dragon flames, it made up for it in the fact it could heal, and the fact it could burn forever.

She waved her hands, sending the fire into the fireplace. She looked at it for some time, making sure the flame wasn't burning anything. Seeing that it wasn't, she turned her attention back towards me.

"I want to say never train with and to forget this magic... but it would be foolish to ignore something so powerful and so useful. With this magic..." She couldn't finish her words and instead held my hands with her shaking. She didn't want me to become famous thanks to this magic, for if that happened, the world would be after me. Both humans and dragons.

"We will teach you. Help you master your magic, and teach you our own magic. But remember, use only our magic, and never phoenix magic unless forced to." My father said in a soft gentle voice, to which I nodded in understanding.

"Don't tell Natsu about this, we would say you are being punished, so you're being forced to train." She said with a smile, leaving me confused as to why it would be considered a punishment... and why was she smiling?

"We will start tomorrow morning." My mother said with a sigh, before getting up, going to put out the phoenix flames, just in time as the door opened, with Zeref entering inside. it was such perfect timing, drawing our attention away, and giving her the chance to store the flames in a bottle she got from somewhere.

"I'm back," Zeref said happily, before running over to my side where he gave me a tight hug, which left me feeling awkward. But I hugged him back, putting my pride as a teen aside, for this was my brother.

"Where is Natsu?" Zeref asked with a bright smile, to which the door burst open as Natsu came running in, jumping into Zeref's arms seeing he was there. I smiled seeing all of this play out,

"Cough, I'm here too." My mother said with a sad look, which made Zeref awkward, he quickly apologized while going over to her and hugged her, all while my father laughed at all of this.

"Zeref, how was the academy?" Natsu asked the question that had been on his mind the whole month. Zeref at his question thought for a moment, before holding out his palm, showing off how he could use shadow magic, which made my mother smile with pride.

Many are born with different affinities, one isn't just born with the capability to use all forms of magic. There were many types of magic one could learn from, and she took pride that she could teach her son a thing or two.

"In the academy, we learned about magic and ways to use it. It's amazing stuff, you want me to teach you?" Zeref asked, and one could see how he truly did enjoy his time at the academy.

"Naw sounds boring," Natsu said having zero interest in that. But I was different as I quickly nodded, wanting Zeref to teach me everything he could, and that made Zeref happy.

"Alright, Ryujin, Natsu, give your brother some time to rest. He just got back, go get ready for a meal." My mother said to which we all nodded while going on to freshen up...

later that night.

"Zelda, is everything okay?" My father asked seeing how his wife had this worried look while looking outside the window.

"Noah... how can you take this matter lightly? Did you forget who we are? We are the Dragneel, just because we lost our title as nobles doesn't we are safe." Zelda said to which Noah went quiet at her words

"The smart move might be to seal his memory, but he might be the blessing we need... or he might push the nobles to erase us. Should I seal his memory of Phoenix magic? Or should I allow him to use something that might erase the chances of him ever knowing peace?" She said scratching her head not knowing what to do. But She paused as Noah hugged her from behind,

"I think we made the right choice, if he is ever forced to use that magic, then it should be for something he sees as worth it... it might be his life he protecting." He said in a soft voice, to which she cried lightly

The Dragneel family is such a mighty name, one worthy of someone who was once a noble family of the Dragnof Empire. But when the family began to decline, they were saved by the king who sent them away to live in this village. The Dragnof was one of, if not the strongest empire in the world. Famous for the fact it lived together with the dragons. Many nobles had dragons within their own families, the Dragneel family once had the Fire Dragon King tied with their family, but the Fire Dragon King was challenged by the current Fire Dragon King and died in battle.

This started a snowball effect, with its greatest power gone, the Dragneel noble family wasn't so mighty anymore. With its elites being killed one by one...

"We would train him to the best of our capability, not for the Dragneel noble family, but for his sake," Noah said to which she nodded lightly... and so they went on to do just that.

The next day,

"Magic is the physical embodiment of the spirit. When the physical spirit of an organism connects with the spiritual flow of nature, the spirit forms Magic as a product of the connection. The Stronger your spirit, the stronger that connection is, the stronger the connection, the stronger you are." Zelda screamed while forcing me to work. She was like a general, 

I was forced to work out like never before, running until my legs, doing push-ups until I couldn't feel my limbs, doing sit-ups until I was in tears, and the list went on.

"You are part phoenix, your healing capability would ensure all your training couldn't cause problems to your growth. So, get up." Zelda said watching me as I breathed for my life, trying my best to fill my lungs with air. I was about to cry, but I gritted my teeth as I knew this was the only way to get stronger fast enough.

Zelda looked away slightly seeing me shakingly getting to my knees, she hesitated for some time, before stopping me.

"Go rest... don't tell your father about this." She said shocking me as she pulled out a needle that she used to take my blood. I looked at her in shock, but she glared at me, to which I shut my mouth, not asking questions.

"Go rest." She said while I dragged my body to sit under a tree. I had to get some energy as I would go train with Dad soon with fire magic. After catching my breath, I dragged myself to my father, who went on to teach me how to use magic.

"His phoenix magic should offset this..." In a secret cave Zelda had kept hidden, Zedla looked at her research into demons. She never gave up on regaining the title that was lost to her, it was the dying wish of her father, and ever since she had been working on ways to gain the magic powers of demons. One of the few magic that could harm dragons.

The Dragneel noble family did have one sealed away, she had brought it with her and moved the seal to this lab, where she had been experimenting with its blood.

She had gotten nowhere in the longest of time, but now she had a way. Phoenix magic could purify the evil within the demon, leaving it pure. at the same time, any negative side effects would be healed.

'Just being a fire phoenix isn't going to be enough to ensure his safety... If I can fuse the demon race with the phoenix race... my boy would be safe.' She thought while looking at the blood she had taken, 

'A devil Phoenix... what would he have to fear?' She thought while going on to do some experiments with the blood, before quickly finding out that the magic in the blood wasn't strong enough to do what she wanted.

'He has to grow quickly... before they make their move.' She thought, she never for a moment thought that the king could save them forever. that was even more so with his failing health, many nobles liked to avoid future problems, and slaughtering the whole bloodline of their enemy was always the smartest choice.

She was thankful to the king, but they couldn't rely on him forever, that's even more so when he had a lot to deal with. Sooner or later, something would come to erase them. Running away was pointless it would make them act sooner.

"I will have to add this in a small amount, enough to push him while his body heals from the side effect." She said while looking at some drugs she had made and bought. She now had to focus on drugs that could help one grow stronger, with side effects that could be bypassed by phoenix magic...