It was any normal day at Fairy Tail; well, if you considered the date. More than fifteen years had passed since the times of Team Natsu. Natsu had matured a lot, and when Makarov finally retired, he had made Natsu the guild master, much to the joy of the rest of the guild, who knew that Salamander was worthy of the position. Natsu and Lucy had married and had two children; one of which was truly theirs, and the other they'd taken in. Theirs was about six, and the child whom they'd taken in was fourteen.
"Don't look at me like that rock-head!"
"Who're you callin' rock-head, stardust-brain?"
Lucy chuckled as she watched her adopted daughter fight with one of her closest friends, as odd as it was. "Who do they remind you of?" she murmured to Natsu, leaning her head on his shoulder. He grinned at her and looked over at Gray.
"Hey ice-brain," he shouted, "it's been a while since we had a good fight!"
Erza stormed over and said, "Oh no, you don't, Natsu. You're a grown man. You should know better." Natsu cowered before the great Fairy Queen.
"Yes, Erza," he squeaked out.
Gray meanwhile, was simply laughing, sitting at a table with Juvia and their fifteen year old son, Caiden. Most of the old guild was this way now; married, with children, or grown and watching their guild-mates' children to make sure they didn't get into TOO much trouble.
"Rock-head," the girl grumbled, heading over to her parents. She had long blonde hair that was slightly pink at the end, as though it'd been dipped in pale pink paint. She wore a strapless pink dress with slightly shimmery frills on the skirt as well as pink ballet flats with pink ribbons crisscrossed up her legs and tied in a bow behind her knees. She also had pink ribbons up her arms. Her eyes were a hazel-y green. Even though they were not blood-related, it was easy to believe when she said that she was the daughter of Natsu and Lucy Dragneel.
She sat on a stool next to Natsu and Caiden walked over, sitting next to her. "Why don't you kids go on a mission?" Natsu said, grinning at the two. "Lucy, Gray, Erza and I used to go on missions almost every day. Natalie, you haven't gone on one lately."
Natalie shrugged and looked at Caiden. "Well? You feel like going on a mission?" The boy nodded brightly and they stood up, heading over to the request board.
"Not even gonna invite me, egg-heads?" the girl who'd been fighting with Natalie before joked as she headed over to them.
"Of course you can come, Kailah!" Caiden said, and Natalie nodded brightly. After looking for a little while, they found a job that paid well and seemed easy; the request asked them to take out a group of bandits. As the three of them walked out, a periwinkle Exceed, the daughter of Happy and Carla, flew up to Natalie.
"I thought you weren't gonna make it, Lilac," Natalie laughed, hugging the cat to her chest. The Exceed giggled and shook her head, flying alongside them. Kailah was staring at the request paper incredulously.
"Yu…Yume… Yumezuma? Yeesh, what kind of a town is Yumezuma?" she was squinting at it… and it was upside down.
Natalie took it from her and said, "Kailah, the town is Lumeville. I don't know where you got Yumezuma from. And it's a little town just outside of Magnolia. But I think we'll still have to…" she gulped, "…take the train."
The other three laughed. Natalie had horrible motion sickness, as she was a Celestial Dragon Slayer. It was a very strong form of Dragon Slayer magic that she'd been taught by Lucy and Natsu. They were both teaching her their magic powers at the same time, and somehow, she'd come up with it, but it definitely worked for her.
"Don't worry, Natalie," Caiden said, "We'll get your mind off of it." He smiled at her, his cheeks reddening just a little. Kailah rolled her eyes with a small laugh. It was plain to see that Caiden had a crush on Natalie. Unfortunately, she was dense as could be and though she also clearly loved him, she didn't realize it yet.
Caiden was decently handsome. He had a dark shade of royal blue hair and bright blue eyes. His magic was Water Make Magic, again, a combination of his parents' powers. He didn't have his father's habit of stripping completely, but he did have a habit of taking his shirt off in the midst of battles and in the midst of normal conversations.
Kailah had black hair, meanwhile, and golden eyes. She had tanned skin and wore a long sleeved gray and gold shirt, though the sleeves were a net-like lace, and a dark gray mini skirt with gold lining. She also wore gold knee-high boots. Her magic was Earth magic. Her specialty was rocks, but she also had a way with plants.
The four of them, Kailah, Caiden, Natalie, and Lilac, got on the train. Well, Lilac, Caiden, and Kailah had to drag Natalie on, but in the end they made it on just fine. They sat down in a compartment before the train started and Lilac took a sleeping pill out of a satchel she always had.
"Take this, Nats," she said, and Natalie gratefully took it, the magic medicine quickly causing her to fall asleep, coincidentally on Caiden's shoulder. The train started moving, unbeknownst to the sleeping Dragon Slayer, and Kailah looked at Caiden.
"Read that paper to me," she said. She never could get the hang of reading. It was probably some awful case of dyslexia, but she didn't try to do much about it. She could always just get someone else to read it aloud to her anyways.
Caiden took the paper from Natalie's hand, which had fallen slack when she fell asleep. He flattened it out on the table and read. "From the Mayor of Lumeville; a group of bandits called MidKnights have been terrorizing the townspeople. We need a group of strong wizards to defeat them so they can be safely put in prison for their crimes. Reward: 210,000 jewel." He looked up and said, "So we can split it three ways; I get 70,000; you get 70,000; and Nat gets 70,000."
"What about me?" Lilac asked angrily. Caiden and Kailah just laughed. Lilac stomped her paw down on the table. "I'm serious!" This just made the two burst into even harder laughter, and finally the Exceed gave in and laughed with them.
They made small talk, things about the mission, the weather, etc. as the train ride wore on, and soon they made it to their destination. Natalie stirred slightly and blinked open her eyes, yawning and stretching as she followed the others off the train, Lilac flying beside her. "I'm still tired guys…" she grumbled, shaking off sleep.
Kailah chuckled and said, "Well I'm sure it beats motion sickness. Wake up, cloud-brain. We've got a request to fulfill." Natalie grinned and they went to the Mayor's house. When they got there, they knocked on the door and a little elderly maid opened it. She just blinked at them, waved them in, and scurried down the hall.
"Weird place," Caiden muttered as he watched the old lady scurry off. Nat nodded in agreement as she looked around. A few minutes later, the lady scurried back with a tall man. The man had white hair that was carefully combed to one side. He wore a deep purple suit with a neon green bowtie and a gray vest.
"Ah, yes, wizards, splendid, splendid! Come, mages, we have much to discuss, ah, splendid!" He walked into a different room and the teenage wizards followed him. He sat down in a large green chair and motioned for them to sit on a purple couch with green polka dots.
When they were all seated, the mayor began to speak. "My name is Cornelius Figlius Maximus, Mayor of Lumeville here, splendid town, splendid indeed! And it is my duty to protect these splendid people and keep them happy and of course keep the town overall splendid. However, the bandit group known as MidKnights has been tormenting my people, which is certainly not splendid! I need you wizards to capture them, and take them to the police, splendid, splendid!"
"The reward is 210,000 jewel. It would be simply splendid if you would do this for our splendid little town!" he finished, smiling brightly.
"Of course we'll do it," Caiden said brightly. "Shall we get to it now?" His comrades nodded and Cornelius clapped his hands together with an excited, 'Splendid!' With that, the four Fairies left and went to search for the MidKnights.
Natalie looked around and said, "Well, we ought to divide and conquer. Caiden, you can go west. Kailah, you can go north. Lilac, you go south. I'll take the east side of town. Send up a magic signal if you find them. Yeah?"
Kailah grumbled in a teasing manner, "Dragon girl, taking charge, never letting anyone else do anything."
"Do you have a better idea, Kailah?" Natalie said back, grinning. Kailah shrugged and headed off in her given direction. Lilac also flew off in hers. Natalie went to head off to the east, but Caiden grabbed her wrist before she left.
"Be careful, Nats," he said, his eyes glimmering with a slight concern for her. She smiled softly at him, understanding his concern, but knowing that they had to continue on their separate ways if they were to succeed.
"You be careful too, Caiden. I'm sure we'll all be fine." He nodded and reluctantly let go of her before running off to the west, and Natalie continued on her way east. She walked for what seemed like an eternity, looking at people's faces closely and smelling the air often with her dragon slayer senses to try and find anything suspicious, but nothing seemed to stand out. So she was surprised when she saw a rock fly into the air from the north.
Nat began running that way, knowing that that was Kailah's signal to let them know that she'd found something that was suspicious, or that she'd literally found the bandits themselves. On her way there, she was joined by Caiden and Lilac, who were also sprinting to get there.
They all skidded to a halt next to Kailah, who was facing four wizards. The one who appeared to be the leader was a man with fuzzy green hair and a green beard. He had freckles all over his face and a cigarette perched in his mouth. He wore a black hoodie, jeans, and work boots. His comrades also adorned black hoodies; a girl with fiery orange hair, skinny jeans and boots; a boy who seemed about their age, with yellow hair, sweat pants and sneakers; and another man with black hair, dark pants and sandals.
"So you're the MidKnights," Kailah drawled, eyeing them curiously. "You four don't look like much." The man with green hair scowled.
"And you here are Fairy Tail wizards? I don't believe it. This was all that guild could come up with? You're just a bunch of stupid, weak teens, and a little kitty cat." He laughed. The Fairies got into fighting stances, glaring at the MidKnights, who also prepared to fight.
Immediately they burst out in battle, throwing attacks simultaneously. Kailah and Caiden took on the girl and the man with black hair, and Lilac and Natalie faced the leader and the boy with yellow hair.
Natalie found out quickly that the man with green hair used Ice Make magic and that the boy with yellow hair used lightning magic, like Laxus. They fought for a while until Natalie was breathing heavily from throwing attacks and the leader was grinning. The boy however also seemed winded. The team was more nimble than Nat had expected, being able to dodge her attacks with ease.
"Wait, I know you," the man with green hair said, walking up to her. "You're Lucy and Natsu's kid, or so they say. Natalie Dragneel." He chuckled. "Or should I say, Nat Bluelily." Natalie stared with wide eyes in shock when her name was spoken aloud. Images of her childhood long ago flashed in her mind. She remembered the day she was taken in.
Natalie sat in the middle of a ruined village, tears streaming down her face. She was confused. She couldn't remember anything other than her name. Nat… Natalie… and her last name… Blue…lily. She sobbed loudly, frightened. She saw the back of a man with green hair, but that was it.
Then, suddenly, she saw people running up to her. "Natsu, dear, someone's here, someone's survived!" A woman with blonde hair and brown, worried eyes kneeled down before her shaking form, taking the little four-year-old into her arms. "It's okay," the woman murmured, "I've got you, little one. You'll be alright."
Natalie clung to the woman desperately. She then saw a man with pink hair and a white scarf come up behind her and kneel down next to them. "Damn," he whispered softly, "she's just a kid. Poor thing; we have to take her to the guild with us, Luce."
Lucy nodded and said, "Definitely, but Natsu… she needs more than that. This child needs a family. She needs parents. She looks even younger than you, Gray, and Erza were when you came to the guild." Natsu smiled despite the horrific scene before them.
"Well dear, you've been saying how much you'd like kids." Lucy's face brightened up and she picked Natalie up. The two of them walked away, carrying the girl with them.
Natalie wrapped her arms around Lucy's neck and looked behind her at the tattered remains of the village in which she'd once lived. And she saw the person peering out from behind a charred wall. It was the person with the green hair; no, the man with the green hair.
It was… the man with the green hair. "You," Natalie said in a slightly shaky voice, "you destroyed that village… you… you killed all those people!" The man laughed maniacally. Natalie trembled in a mixture of horror and anger. "You KILLED them!"
"Roar of the…" she started, and right before she threw the attack, the man said something she'd never forget.
"Are you sure you're worthy of Fairy Tail? You're sure you're worthy of your parents? That is, if they really are your parents."
"CELESTIAL DRAGON!" she yelled, and a beam that was the color of the night sky splattered with stars flew toward him and the yellow-haired boy. It took out those two opponents and made a gaping hole straight through the building behind them.
Kailah and Caiden finished their two bandits off and looked over at Natalie, who was kneeling on the ground with Lilac patting her shoulder and saying something quietly to her. She just shook her head and stood up, looking over at the other two wizards.
"You overdid it, Nat," Kailah said softly, pointing to the wall. Natalie looked at it and winced. She then shook her head and sighed.
"We're Fairy Tail. We always overdo it. Come on; let's just take these guys to the cops, get our reward and head home." They nodded, slightly thrown off by her sudden pessimistic mood.
Luckily, they didn't get in too much trouble for busting a hole in the building; it was an old building, and apparently the bandits tended to do much worse while they were in power in Lumeville. They collected the reward money and got on the train. Lilac tried to give Natalie a sleeping pill, but she shook her head. Her mind was too busy with that one statement. She simply leaned on Caiden's shoulder and didn't say a word. For once, her motion sickness didn't bother her.
While she left her friends to wonder what the hell was wrong with her, one thought was racing venomously around her mind.
'Are you sure you're worthy of Fairy Tail? You're sure you're worthy of your parents? If they really are your parents, that is.'
A/N So what do you guys think? Is it good? Don't worry, the plot's going to get better from here, this is just the exposition!
Also, what do you guys think of Mayor Cornelius? xD I noticed Fairy Tail characters tend to have their little speech things, so I decided that Cornelius' speech thing would be "splendid!"
Let me know; please leave a review! I'm going to try to do a chapter a day, or maybe a chapter every two days.
Thanks for reading!