This is a birthday gift for primordialpaper! Happy birthday, dude! I hope you like this fic. I know how much you enjoy Wendy and Gajeel broship. This is going to have multiple chapters, too. I ended up really liking the concept and I'm curious to see how the FT universe is changed by this.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Chapter 1: The Two Lost Children

Dead leaves blew up in a burst of color, sent fluttering all around by a violent kick. A boy stood amongst the detritus, fuming and near to growling at the offending things. They were everywhere and they made too many loud sounds when he stepped on them, the branches some were still attached to cracking when his foot stepped on one, unseen. He didn't want these noises, and they incited growing anger inside him with every movement. Even worse were the birds, trilling happily in the treetops, and the other animals that scattered when they heard his approaching footsteps. The beating of his own heart, and the heavy cadence of his breathing grated on him, too.

None of these were the sounds he wanted to hear.

The rasp of metal scales against wood and earth, and the chimes that accompanied it whenever a rock hit metal. A deep, gravel voice, coming from lungs far greater than a human's. The creaking of metal wings, and the rumble of the earth as great weight settled onto it.

He couldn't find those sounds anywhere.

Metalicana was nowhere to be found.

The child slumped at the base of a tree, exhausted. Searching had been his whole existence for the past two days. He was cold, and hungry, and lonely.

"Where are you, you shitty lizard," he grumbled softly, though there was hardly any bite to the curse. "What kind of parent just up and leaves their kid without saying a goddamn word?"

The forest did not deign to answer.

Wearily, began making a campsite for the night, drawing on the knowledge left to him by his absent parent.

Only the sound of his growling belly kept him company in the long night. And though it wasn't cold, he shivered all night long.

The unmistakable cacophony of something crashing through underbrush startled him into wakefulness, instincts moving his body into a crouching position long before his brain had caught up to the disturbance. Ears straining, he stilled his breath and listened to the forest.

Loud, hiccupping sobs were not what he'd expected to hear.

Despondent wails accompanied them, high pitched and wavering in the still air. There was a hint of hoarseness behind them – as if it had been going on for a long time. He was surprised that his keen ears hadn't picked up on the sound sooner, and he mentally berated himself for the lapse.

Cautiously, the boy left his makeshift shelter. He peered into the forest, already the gold and green of midday. He waited there, completely still, as the source of the noises approached his direction. It wasn't long before a small child popped out from behind a bush, her clothes torn and her skin marred with countless scratches from the rough foliage.

"Grandeeeeeeeneeeeeeey!" she cried out. "Where are youuuuuuu?"

The boy stared incredulously as she made her way directly over to him. How did she know where he was…?

Then suddenly, she sniffed, and a light burst in his skull. He too gave the air a good, long smell; the distinct musk of dragon was strong in his nose. It was her clothes, he realized. And a little bit of it was her, as well.

Since it was clear that she knew he was there, he stood up and stared her down. Frightened by his sudden movements, she flinched and immediately ceased her wailing, looking up at him with wide eyes the color of bark. Somehow – he couldn't for the life of him place it exactly – somehow they were achingly familiar to him. Like he'd known them in another life.

The disappointment shining in those eyes cut deeper than any wound he'd ever sustained.

"Brat," he hissed at her, angry at how much pain her gaze had inflicted upon him, "Why are you screaming like that? Do you want to bring a horde of Vulcans down on us? Shut up!"

His words stunned her into sustaining her temporary silence.

Just fucking great – now her lip was trembling hard and her eyes were starting to overflow once again. She was doing her best to hold it in and not anger him further, but it was clearly a losing battle.

He wasn't entirely certain why, but something about her tears was freaking him out.

"Why were you screaming?" he asked again.

He had a feeling he knew the answer, though.

The girl shook violently in front of him, but remained silent, her mind frantically trying to decide whether to follow his first order to be quiet, or his second to speak up.

With a roll of his eyes, he told her, "You can answer me. Just don't scream again!"

"G…Grandeeney," she whispered. "I can't find her anywhere. I thought… I thought I smelled…" A hiccupping sob escaped her lips, the force of it jolting her entire body.

The boy sighed. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened. The stench of dragon wafting from the child was far too strong to have gotten there by accident. Grandeeney must be a dragon, like his Metalicana.

And she'd disappeared too, it seemed.

"Haven't seen her," he told her.

Despair welled inside of her eyes, and twin heartbreak arose inside of the boy for his own loss.

Suddenly, a loud grumble came from the little girl, and she flushed bright red at the sound.

Gods, she couldn't be more than five, the boy realized. It was only thanks to the hardiness of her dragon magic that the little girl wasn't dead yet, probably.

He grabbed her hand, then, and started leading her towards a berry patch he'd spotted the day before during his own searching. "Come on, let's get you fed," he grumbled at her. "You got a name, brat?"

"I'm… I'm Wendy!" she replied, obediently following as best as she could with the older boy's much longer stride. "What's your name?"

"Gajeel. After you eat, we can go look for Grandeeney together, alright? And my dad, too. His name is Metalicana."

Wendy nodded, her cheeks drying fast. "Okay, Gajeel!"

The children disappeared into the wood, their fates irrevocably changed.