Chapter 54

"What are you doing?!"

"Is there a problem?!"

In a beautiful forest, two childish voices could be heard.

From the tone of voice alone, one could tell that they were heckling each other.

At the edge of a lake, a young boy of about 5 years old with pink hair was fighting with another boy of about 5 years old with black spiky hair and piercings on both arches.

"You can win Natsu!"

"You can win Gajeel!"

To the side, two other 4 year olds were cheering the other two on.

Just by their sparkling eyes, you could tell that they idolized the other two.

On the side of the pink-haired boy was Natsu, a young boy with spiky blond hair and a rather long scar above his right eyebrow.

He encouraged Natsu with ardour and adoration as a "Big Brother" figure.

On the other side, Gajeel's, a young boy with short, black shaved hair encouraged Gajeel.

Unlike the blonde boy, he shouted less loudly but his enthusiasm was no less, he just seemed a little more reserved than the others.

"Stop fighting, please."

Just behind the two fighting boys, a little girl of the same age as the others was swinging her arms around trying to stop the boys.

She had tears in her eyes as she watched the two fight, she was a very passive, sweet and shy little girl, really shy because apart from the children here and their parents she couldn't really socialise with others.

"I said Igneel is the strongest," Natsu declared, banging his head forcefully against Gajeel's.

"Shut up Charmandre! Metalicana is obviously the strongest! "Gajeel replied, pushing his head forcefully.

They were constantly pushing their heads with as much force as possible to show who was right.

"Please stop, both of you," a small childish female voice intervened from a distance.

Natsu and Gajeel comically turned their heads in the direction of the voice, their foreheads still pressed together and their expressions still angry but funny.

They saw a little girl, six years old, a little taller than them, with translucent blue/purple eyes, beautiful silky smooth red hair and little black horns on either side of her head.

She wore a small white and black dress which made her even more irresistible.

Despite her age and size, she asked Natsu and Gajeel to stop, but with a certain presence and authority.

"I do what I want!"/"What do you want, bird!" Natsu and Gajeel shouted at the same time.

They both looked at each other after shouting with displeasure.

"Why are you talking at the same time as me x2" declared both of them at the same time while growling.

"Stop talking like me! x2"

Natsu and Gajeel were getting more and more angry like two idiots and fighting.

Erza, off to the side, was watching the two idiots fight with a slight twitch on her forehead.

Not only was she being ignored as if she was nothing, but they were calling her a bird.

It was like insulting her dear dad.

Her anger began to boil over and was immediately felt by Natsu and Gajeel.

Both stopped in funny positions and turned their heads comically as they felt an aura of anger behind them.

Drops of sweat beaded from their foreheads at this more than familiar aura.

They had dealt with it so many times and yet they continued to fight each time, only to regret it.

"You're idiots who don't know when to stop. And on top of that, you call my dad a bird..." Erza said in a voice that sounded calm but terrifying to the two idiots.

The two swallowed their saliva at the sight of an angry Erza and hugged each other shaking.

They knew they had screwed up and would suffer the same fate so they might as well stick together.

"When are you two going to stop being such idiots?!"

Erza hit both of them in the head so that they fell to the ground completely knocked out.

Sting and Rogue for their part had already given up cheering for Natsu and Gajeel so as not to share the same fate.

"Besides, my dad is of course the best and strongest..." Erza muttered.

"Erza, I told you to stop hitting them."

A soft mature voice was heard in the distance.

"Mum, it's not my fault those two are idiots, plus they make Wendy cry" Erza complained as she turned to see a beautiful woman.

Irene in five years was relatively the same physically, only her hair had grown down to her buttocks.

She was dressed in a long plain white dress like her daughter and a small red coat to match her hair.

Over the years, her maternal role had become etched into her skin and she now exuded a much more mature aura, although she had not aged a bit.

"They're just bickering, Erza," Irene explained, placing a small kiss on Erza's forehead.

"I know, but still... Plus, they called me a bird," Erza declared with a pout and a little anger.

"Ahah, in that case you're my pretty little bird" Irene laughed teasingly at her daughter.

"I'm not a bird! I'm a proud Phoenix and Dragon!" declares Erza as she puts herself in a proud stance, head held high.

"Of course ~" said Irene as she cooed and took her daughter in her arms, hugging her tightly because she was so cute.

She didn't want to be pretentious but her daughter was already deadly beautiful and cute at only six years old, so when she grew up she would be a beauty without equal.

But knowing Shin, she wouldn't find a husband or boyfriend for a while.

"Mom, eheh" Erza gloated as she was hugged by her mother and felt the small guilt.

After a few minutes between mother and daughter, Irene stood up and held Erza's hands as she walked towards Wendy.

"Don't cry" Irene crouched down and stroked Wendy's hair to calm her down.

Wendy quickly stopped her crying as she felt the warm hand on her head.

"Come on" Irene said with a smile as she held out her other hand to Wendy.

The three of them walked along the lake to the foot of the mountain while Sting and Rogue looked for Natsu and Gajeel at their landing spot.

The girls soon arrived at the desired location where there were several human and non-human figures.

At the edge of the lake and at the foot of the mountain, there was a large table with five large draconic figures on one side and two chairs with two human figures sitting on them on the other.

"Dad!"

As he arrived and saw one of the human figures, Erza shouted and rushed towards it with a big smile.

"You're here my princess" The figure, which was Shin, opened her arms wide to welcome the big hug from her princess.

Irene arrived at the table while Wendy had eagerly left to join one of the dragons.

"Hello Igneel, Metalicana, Grandeeney, Weisslogia, Skiadrum and Zeref" Irene greeted politely.

"Hello Irene" The six responded in turn with equal politeness.

"Darling" Irene hurriedly sat down on a chair next to Shin and gave him a kiss.

"Daddy, I want one too" Erza who was on Shin's lap got excited and pleaded with Shin.

"Sure" Shin leaned over and gave his daughter a little kiss on the cheek.

"YAY" Erza was all jovial about getting a kiss from her dad.

"Princess, you didn't say hello, that's rude" Irene next to him gave Erza a small reflection.

"Ah, sorry" Erza apologized as she turned back to the others.

"Hello."

The others replied with a small gaga smile as they saw the cute little treasure in front of them.

"Princess, could you go play with the others please? We have important things to talk about" Shin asked gently.

"But I want to stay with you..." said Erza in a small voice.

"Please. I'll let you sleep with us tonight" whispered Shin into Erza's ears.

"Okay."

Erza didn't even argue as she left to go play with the other children.

She loved sleeping with her dad and mum, her dad's woody smell was like a tranquilizer for her and she always ended up snuggling up to him.

"Well, back to business" Shin became serious again and focused on the main reason they were here.

"The war has been going on for over five years and it hasn't even abated" Shin said.

"Yes the dragons are proud and stubborn by nature, they will never give up" declared Igneel.

"Yes and the amount of dragons is much greater than the amount of dragon slayers. Besides..." added Grandeeney, showing a hint of sadness in her eyes as she tried to say the last part of her sentence.

"Also, the dragon slayers have started to turn into dragons, go mad, greedy or even die," Shin said with sorrow.

"Yes..." All the dragons lowered their heads.

About less than a year ago, the dragon slayers began to show signs of draconification.

Some have become corrupted and insane, some have died, some have transformed more recently.

Those that went mad were killed to Irene's dismay.

The presence of Life energy in the realm along with Shin's presence helped to slow the process but not stop it.

This is not a disease but a transformation, Shin's Life energy could not cure it, perhaps later it could but not now.

Not long ago, Shin and Zeref had found a secret art that allowed a dragon to enter the body of a dragon slayer and sleep there, creating antibodies to prevent the transformation.

However, the process is long and the dragon will become weak until it dies.

The problem is that the kingdom of Dragnof is already in trouble so losing manpower like the dragons is not an option.

Moreover, Irene was taking care of the kingdom and Shin was helping her and also taking care of Erza.

So Shin could only go to the battlefield a few times.

The workload was even heavier because several months ago, Belserion was killed on the battlefield with the appearance of a dragon slayer, Acnologia.

"Don't put your head down, it's not your fault, neither we nor you can do anything about it" Shin said to the dragons to avoid any unnecessary guilt.

"The other big problem is those dragon slayers, Acnologia" said Shin as the dragons around the table became serious and a certain resentment appeared in their eyes.

"Yes, he is very powerful and his power is growing" said Zeref, thinking seriously.

"And the appearance of more and more powerful dragons doesn't help" said Shin.

In the few times he's been back on the battlefield, Shin has come across more and more dragons that were in the A, AA, or even rarely AAA ranks.

"Yes, this war is making them stronger," Metalicana said.

There was a silence as everyone was in their bubble and pondering the situation.

The situation was going to end badly, and Shin knew that it was going to end just like in the anime.

But despite this, Shin would make sure his family was safe and together.

This will surely bring some small changes but he didn't care, it was no longer an anime or fictional characters but his wife and daughter.

Irene who was next to Shin looked at him with concern for the future.

"Everything will be fine," Shin reassured him, holding Irene's hand and smiling at her.

"So, are we going to operate the plan as planned?" asked Weisslogia.

"Yes, tomorrow we will send the children into the future via Eclipse" declared Shin.

The dragons fell silent as they thought of the children.

They had all raised these children with love and sending them into the future meant goodbye.

It also means that the end of their lives is approaching as they will have to use the secret art of allowing the dragon to enter the host's body and die slowly.

"Are you ready to make this sacrifice?" asked Shin with a small, sad and compassionate smile.

The dragons looked at each other slightly as if to show agreement between them with determination and tenderness in their eyes.

"Of course, we have raised these children, even if they are human, they are like our own children" said Igneel on behalf of all the dragons who nodded in agreement.

Shin smiled at their response while Zeref gave Igneel a look of gratitude.

And so they continued to talk about the problems of the war and other less unpleasant things for a whole day.

It was getting dark and they were still talking.

"Daddy, Mummy, I'm sleepy"

While they were talking, Erza arrived and pulled Irene's clothes off.

Irene looked at Shin for her answer.

"Yes princess, why don't you go to the cave and fall asleep with your mother" Shin offered seeing that Irene was also getting tired.

"Hm" Erza nodded, the cave gave off the same smell and presence as Shin.

Irene blushed as she saw that Shin had noticed her slight absences.

"Hmm" Shin chuckled at Irene's little behavior and gave her a small kiss.

"Daddy, will you come join us?" asked Erza expectantly and sulkily about falling asleep without her daddy.

"Yeah I'll join you," Shin said softly as he stroked Erza's cheeks, who was enjoying and purring almost like a kitten.

"How will you get us back if we sleep?" questioned Irene.

"I'll carry you on my back."

"Okay, bye" Irene took Erza in her arms, said goodbye to the others and flew back to the cave pulling her wings out of her back.

Irene had now become a full dragon and had learned to control her transformation from human to dragon to perfection.

In her first transformation, she had become a magnificent white and red dragon, even more beautiful and majestic than in the anime.

It had been a very stressful time for her as it was a huge change in her very existence.

But she overcame this stress with the presence of Shin and Erza, who were not afraid of her form.

Instead, she was amazed by the beauty, majesty and power of Irene's dragon form.

Now that Irene had finished her transformation, her total power had increased drastically with her magical power.

"Now, tell me what's up Shin" declared Zeref.

Shin who was watching Irene leave with a smile looked at Zeref and the others who were watching him waiting for his answer.

Shin blew his nose to himself as he saw that the others had already noticed.

"Tomorrow, when the time comes to send the children into the future, if anything bad should happen to the kingdom or to me, I want you to send them along with the other children as well."

Shin had said this with an unwavering seriousness and determination showing the making of a long thought out decision.

The others looked at him in surprise at his words.

"Why would anything bad happen?" asked Igneel thoughtfully.

"I don't know, a hunch, but even so, I want to be prepared for anything, I have a family to protect and a kingdom to defend.

"Alright, if it happens, we'll send Erza with the other children" said Zeref with unhappiness in his eyes for his friend, he took Shin's hunch seriously but he had to respect Shin's decision.

"Not only Erza but Irene too"

This surprised everyone as they looked at Shin with surprise.

"What? She'll never want to and why?" asked Grandeeney puzzled by Shin's request.

"I know she'll never want to, that's why when the time comes, I want you to take her by surprise and send her away"

They all looked at him still incredulous and upset but did not intervene.

"If Erza is sent to the future, I want her to have one of those parents with her so she's not alone and bad things don't happen to her, except we need someone to protect the kingdom if something goes wrong and run it. I can't abandon the citizens just like that. And I think as a King and a Dad, it's my duty. It may seem cowardly, especially behind Irene's back, but I don't care if it means their safety. Besides, I'm sure Irene would have done the same," Shin said with sincerity and a confident tone.

No one spoke, but everyone looked at Shin with respect and sadness that he had to make such a difficult decision.

Many were skeptical of the idea, but they could see that it was a difficult decision for him.

Also, in their hearts, they hoped that this prediction would be wrong.

After several minutes of conversation, they all reluctantly agreed.

"Thanks for everything."

"It's okay," Zeref replied with a small, sympathetic smile and a nod from the others.

"Well, I'll be going now, my two dragons are probably sleeping."

Shin got up from his chair and flew towards the cave where there was a beautiful moon and a cool breeze.

"Are we really going to let him do this if this prediction turns out to be true?" asked Grandeeney.

"Yes, if you were him, you would do the same thing, wouldn't you?" asked Igneel, with which they all nodded.

----------

When Shin arrived in the cave, he could see Irene hugging Erza, both asleep on her old bed of leaves.

He gently picked them up and levitated them with wind magic.

He emerged from the cave and transformed into a Phoenix, laying the two girls on his back, enjoying the warmth and softness of his feathers.

Landing in his room in the palace, he placed his little dragonets on the bed.

Erza already had her own room but it was not often occupied as she often slept with her parents.

Changing into his pyjamas, he climbed into bed and watched his two treasures for a while with bottomless love until he fell asleep.

------------------

*ROARR*

In bed, Shin suddenly opened his eyes as he heard a loud roar and colossal magical power.

This was accompanied by cries of despair and an equally broken roar.

"It really happened...!" said Shin through clenched teeth and a complicated look on his face.

He hadn't noticed or heard at first due to his deep sleep and being accompanied by Erza and Irene.

And on top of that, the one who attacked was as powerful as Shin and therefore knew very well how to hide his presence.

"Shin, what's going on?!"

Shin turned his head and saw Irene who seemed to have been awakened by the thuds outside.

"We're being attacked, take Erza" Shin said impassively so as not to panic Irene.

"Sweetie, wake up" Irene shook Erza lightly and gently.

"Hmm, Mommy, why did you wake me up?" asked Erza still sleeping.

*BOOM*

An explosion immediately woke Erza who heard it.

"Get up my princess, we have to go" Shin approached her and said calmly.

But Erza was mature enough for her age, and could see the eagerness in her parents' eyes, so she stood up and was picked up by her mother.

Shin took Irene and Erza in his arms and teleported to a corridor, still in the palace but at the back of it.

He couldn't go directly out the front because that's where all the killing was going on.

And Irene and Erza were surely one of the enemy's targets.

As they arrived at a door and Shin was about to open it, he felt a high speed and powerful attack coming towards the palace.

As he turned to protect Erza and Irene...

*FSHI*

...

...

*BOOOOOOOOM*

The attack headed towards the palace and as soon as it hit, the whole palace was engulfed in a big explosion.

----------

The palace was reduced to rubble and went up in smoke.

In the debris towards the back of the old palace, a green cocoon could be seen.

On closer inspection, the cocoon looked like it had feathers...

It was Shin's wings!

He had used them as a shield to protect Erza and Irene from the explosion and collapse of the palace while Irene also protected Erza with her magic.

Erza, who was buried in his mother's arms with his eyes closed, slowly opened them again.

Looking around, she widened her eyes in fear at the traumatic appearance of her dad.

Shin's wings were covered in bruises and bloodstains, and his body had been pierced by a huge metal pillar some fifteen meters long.

"Dad!" Erza cried out in sobs and tears as she saw her dad's sorry state.

"Shin!" Irene cried out as well, but with less desperation, for she knew that Shin was powerful and had immense healing powers.

Erza was already out of his mother's embrace to join his dad and try to remove the pillar from his body.

"Leave it, don't worry I'm fine."

Shin's voice came out soft and healthy.

He knew Erza could remove that pillar but it wasn't her place to do it.

Shin was pained to see his little princess so worried ,filled with tears and snot.

"Look" said Shin.

The spot where Shin was pierced began to ignite and the flame spread over the entire metal pillar until it melted, leaving a hole in Shin's stomach that closed with great speed.

Seeing her dad's healthy appearance reappear, Erza rushed into Shin's arms, sobbing and scared, while Irene joined them.

They quickly parted ways as they continued to head off in the direction of the forest at the back of the kingdom.

*ROARR*

"Aaaaaah"

*BAM*

In their run, they were able to witness a most sad and bloody scene.

A huge black dragon in the sky, bathing in the blood of its victims and destroying the entire surrounding landscape.

Bodies of valiant dragons fell to the ground, dead and torn apart, and cries of agony and distress.

Erza could see this out of the corner of her eye and the scene terrified her and marked her in the depths of her mind along with the image of her dad being pierced.

As Shin and Irene witnessed this, they could only feel anger, pain, pity and sadness.

They were witnessing the destruction of their kingdom and this was even more true for Irene.

The sadness that overwhelmed her was overwhelming and the guilt was overwhelming her.

She had always lived in this kingdom and had ruled it since she was young.

She knew everyone.

Shin could see his wife's grief and his anger was about to explode.

He knew what these people meant to Irene or even to him and his daughter, but especially to Irene, so he wanted to save them.

No, he didn't want to, he had to!

Shin stopped in his tracks and turned to Irene who stopped in turn.

He approached Irene and gave Erza to her but Erza still clung to her dad with tears in her eyes.

"Daddy, don't go.."

Her words split Shin's heart as he seemed to be chained and held tight by chains.

"I will come back my princess."

These words hurt even more knowing that he would not see her again anytime soon.

Erza let go of her father with difficulty and then Shin rested his forehead on Irene's.

"You know what you have to do," Shin asked quietly.

"Um, I'll be back soon," Irene muttered as she enjoyed the moment.

Shin flashed a smile at Irene but it was really a sad smile that really knew what was coming for Irene.

"Yes..." muttered Shin softly.

As Irene was about to pull away from their position, she was pulled into a short kiss.

"Irene, know that none of this is your fault, nothing is, you are a beautiful queen that this world is lucky to have, so please don't feel guilty, I swear to save our people!" said Shin with determination after the kiss.

"Yes, I love you."

Irene gave him a warm smile at the words that made him feel good and then left with Erza who was still watching Shin.

After waiting for them to get far enough away, Shin turned and walked towards the massacre.

His wings unfurled and his magical power was unleashed, warning of his presence.

The black dragon noticed this, stopped its activity and turned in Shin's direction.

Shin was in the sky facing the black dragon.

A Phoenix of green flame burning with anger stood behind him.

"Acnologia.." Shin spoke his name in great anger.

Thus, a legendary battle began.