"You dare steal from me?!" Gajeel Redfox, a.k.a the Iron Dragon, roared as he took in the child in front of him. The child couldn't have been older than the age of 16 and looked like he weighed next to nothing. He shook in fear in front of Gajeel, but kept a calm expression "Please sir, I have no food... and... and... my siblings, they still need me." the child blabbered as Gajeel looked at him. "Siblings?" Gajeel asked. "Y... yes sir... I have a little Brother names Kinzoku and a little sister named Maho who is barely 1 year old."
"What is your name, kid?" Gajeel asked after a moments deliberation. "R... Romeo, Romeo Conbolt." "Well Romeo, I will spare you if you come work for me on my ship." Gajeel said.
Romeo looked up in confusion, he had just stolen from the most dear caption to ever sail the 7 seas and his punishment was employment? He couldn't help but think there was a catch. He looked up at Gajeel suspiciously and the man in question bursted out laughing before ruffling Romeos hair affectionately. "Come one boy. And don't worry, you can bring your siblings as well."
Romeo was dumbstruck but found himself trusting the gruff man for some reason. He nodded and they agreed to meet up at the port the next day, at dawn.
That day Romeo went home and packed, trying to prepare himself for his new life at sea. But the more he thought about it the more anxious he became. What if they treated him terribly? Actually forget about him, what if they treated Maho and Kinzoku terribly. He'd never be able to forgive himself if something happened to those two again. They were his whole life. But what if this was real. What if Gajeel was actually offering him a job then he would have turned down the opportunity of a lifetime.
He mulled it over for hours before deciding to take a chance and see where this goes. Just then he heard Maho's cries and walked towards her rickety crib. He picked her up and tried to calm her down by rocking her and then feeding her some formula that he had procured through rather, ahem, special means.
She put her chubby hand on the bottle and sucked, finishing half the bottle before letting go. He then burped her and tried to put her back to sleep. He tucked her in and turned around only to find his 4 year old Brother Kinzoku standing behind him. He was clutching his blanket and rubbing his wet eyes.
Romeo immediately knew what was wrong and crouched down in front of him and took his little hands in his larger ones, "Did you get that nightmare again?" He asked and Kinzoku nodded before climbing into his brothers lap and wrapping his little arms around his neck. Romeo let out a tired sigh before trying to calm him down.
"I'm here Kin-Kin, and I'm never going to let anything happen to you ever again." He said as he carried a half asleep Kinzoku to his bed. "You promise?" Kinzoku asked sleepily. Romeo smiled and nodded, "I promise."
~~~~~The Next Day~~~~~
Dawn arrived faster than Romeo had anticipated and he was a nervous wreck as he stood at the port holding a 10 month old baby girl in a sling across his chest, the hand of a 3 year old boy in his right hand and one medium sized trunk holding all his belongings in the other hand.
He looked through the crowd trying to find that familiar studded face and just as he was about to turn away in disappointment he saw the Iron Dragon followed by a beautiful bluenette.
Gajeel caught the kids eyes before taking in his appearance. He then nudged the shrimp by his side and pointed at the kid. He watched as his mates eyes lit up at the sight of the children and she practically jogged towards them with a huge smile on her beautiful face. Gajeel grinned at her before taking long Long strides to catch up with the agile shrimp.
Romeo was shocked to see the bluenette beauty in front of him and took in her huge smile rather sceptically. "Hi! My name's Levy McGarden! It's so nice to finally meet you! And your adorable siblings! How old are they." Romeo kept looking at her dumbly before blushing and finally opening his mouth, completely unused to the amount of warmth this tiny woman was projecting. "Well Maho here is 10 months and Kinzoku is 3 years old, 4 next month." Levy looked behind Romeo to see a shy Kinzoku standing behind his legs and peeking at her so she crouched down and began talking to him, "My, you're going to become a big boy soon! Are you excited?" Kinzoku looked hesitant for a second before he nodded his head and stuck out 4 chubby fingers, "I'm going to be this many years soon!" He said and Levy beamed happily. "You're a budding genius aren't you! You even know your numbers!" Kinzoku finally moved a little further away from his brother and gave Levy an excited grin before nodding. Levy laughed before getting up and facing Romeo again.
"I'm so happy you decided to join us! I can see you are going to fit right in!" Levy said excitedly as she grabbed his hands. "You and your adorable siblings. I love them already! Now I totally would understand if you said no, I am a virtual stranger after all but can I please hold Maho?" Romeo was taken aback by the suddenness of the request but saw the sincerity in her eyes and so conceded, handing his precious baby Sister to Levy who held her close and teared up a bit before turning to me and pulling me in for a hug. "Thank You." She whispered and my heart broke when I heard her broken voice.
When they broke apart they saw a huffing and puffing Gajeel standing behind Levy. "Seriously, shrimp. Slow the f...fish down." Gajeel corrected when he caught Levy's glare. She smiled before kissing him, "Sorry hunny, but you walk like an old man." She said teasingly before turning back to a slack-jawed Romeo. "I feel rather silly asking his now but who are you?" Romeo asked, causing Levy to dissolve into a fit of giggles while Gajeel grinned proudly, "This Shrimp right here is my wife and navigator of the ship. The ship sails to wherever she points and so far she has never let us down."
Romeo simply nodded at the odd pair. That he hasn't expected but when he saw the way Gajeel looked at her he wanted to whack himself for how obvious it was. It was a look of complete love and adoration. He then saw Gajeel look at Maho who was peacefully slumbering in Levy's arms, which was rather astonishing as Maho never slept in anyone's arms other than his own and that was only after a bottle of milk. He watches as Gajeels eyes turned sad for a split second before they grew warm and happy and filled with love. Not knowing what to make of the change Romeo cleared his voice drawing the couples attention away from his Sister and towards himself.
Gajeel put one of his arms around Romeo, picked up the luggage along in the other and he pulled him towards the ship.
They passed around 5 ships before reaching a beautiful ship made out of a light coloured wood and had a beautiful fairy with a tail as its figurehead. It's sails were pure white and the flag on the mast had the infamous Fairy Tail logo on it.
Levy beamed as she saw it and walked up the wooden stairs and onto deck.
"Welcome to Fairy Tail!" She cheered, "Welcome to your new home!"