Chapter 8.2- And so the Dragons Danced

Of course, it wasn’t all to be as our revelry and fun is brought to a quick end as one of the numerous servants in the school ran towards me with a note in his hand. “For you, Master Natsu” The older boy said with a whisper and stretched out the scroll he held in his hands towards me.

“Ohhh. Probably from the school about your application to graduate early” Lee said, and before I could take the letter from the servant, Toji had jumped in between us and snatched it right out of the boy’s hands before jumping away when I tried to get it from him. I marched after him, but it was too late as he’d already ripped open the scroll and began to read.

“Dear, Natsu Wu. oohhh so official” He whispered as an aside after reading the first sentence of the letter. By now, I wasn’t fool enough to believe there was any chance of me getting that scroll off of Toji without doing some form of damage to the missive. I just relaxed back into my seat at the alcove we’d wandered into as a result of our conversation.

“We write this letter regarding your application to take the Graduation Exam of the Royal Fire Nation Academy” Toji was having fun with this, I could see. He’d already begun doing his very best impersonation of a stuffy official voice. That actually did sound oddly similar to the voice of the Headmaster’s secretary who I was pretty sure was the one who’d have written a letter like this one. So maybe that was who he was going for.

“We are proud that like so many alumni of this prestigious academy, you have chosen to go the route of early graduation.” Toji’s tone shifted when he read the phrase ‘prestigious academy’ to become more sarcastic which was always something I failed to understand. If he hated this place so much, then why come here in the first place. I found it difficult to imagine that the proud, wealthy, and powerful Zenin clan could not find something else to do with him.

“However, as you are well aware, for any student to graduate early they must gain the approval of every member of the academic staff. You have failed to meet this requirement”- “What?”- “and as a result we have no choice but to reject your application” The words Toji spoke failed to reach me as I could hear my heart beating in my chest. I could feel the blood pounding in my head as it flowed. What?

That wasn’t a real requirement. It was a formality at the very best. No one ever says no. And who’d have the balls to piss off my family like that in the first place. Sure, we were disgraced but we still had gold and power aplenty. The fire lord’s displeasure with us hadn’t robbed us of that. Could it have been him, though? The Fire Lord himself? No. No way. It makes no sense. First of all, if it ever gets out, he’d have a rebellion on his hands. And besides, there wasn’t enough time. I’d made my application a day ago. It would take even the fastest messenger hawks at least three days to reach the Royal Palace with a message. That doesn’t even account for the time it would have taken the hawk for the return trip. No way. It had to be someone here. Someone who already hated me. Someone with no horse in the race wouldn’t dare take a risk like this with no immediate and visible payoff. No, it had to be him. He was the only one who made sense.

I came to the conclusion at the same time as Toji. I could see it on his face as he realised, and then it appeared on Maki’s face too. Zhufu was just beginning to realise when I turned around to run towards his office. I wasn’t surprised when Maki appeared right in my face, gesturing for me to stop or to calm down. Too reasonable by half, she always was. I jumped right over her and built flames at my feet to shoot forwards. A sound of stone creaking and Zhufu was by my side as we shot forwards. “This is a bad idea” She said, and I would have given her the opportunity to calm me down if Toji didn’t jump in from behind and plant his foot on her head and drive her right into the floor with one attack. Ooof. That one was going to leave a mark. I nodded at the boy who most considered my best friend before shooting right for Shin again.

I drowned out the shouting behind me, as I sped for his office in the firebending practice room. When I arrived, it was to find him with the new set of First Years. Without the anger clouding my judgement, perhaps this was where I would have stopped. But no. Not now. I jumped into the room and as he turned to me, it was to hit a blast of fire to the face.

He blocked it, of course. Wouldn’t be a firebender worth his salt if he didn’t. “What the fuck, Shin? Are you truly so petty that you would deny me my opportunity to leave? To regain my family’s honour” I asked him as I rushed at him. Asked was probably a bit of an understatement. In truth, I screamed accusations at him as I demanded answers for what he’d done.

“I truly have no idea what you’re talking about.” He said, still not standing up from his meditating position at the front of the hall. The first years had already begun to move backwards, sensing that this was not going to end peacefully.

“Let me remind you, then” I said, getting into my stance.

“Watch and learn, children. This is the difference between a master and a novice” I scoffed at his words and blasted a kick filled with flames right at his head from the opposite end of the hall. Finally, he stood up, and had enough time just to block my attack. I rushed at him in the intervening time and made my way right for his position.

A/N; Just a reminder that I’m still working on this. Will probably finish the entire chapter by tomorrow