Echo: Hey all! I know it has been FOREVER since I uploaded anything after i deleted all the stories on my profile... hopefully there will be more to come :)
Moonlight filtered down through the canopy of leaves, specks of silver light upon the green foliage. The wind blew softly, whispering through the trees, carrying on it the pained cry of a young girl of about nine. She sat, hunched over the broken and bleeding body of a boy about ten. Her golden hair flowed down her back in a cascade of waves and curls, mingling with the blood pouring down her face, the source of which was a long gash above her left eye.
"Eric..." She sobbed, holding tight to the boy.
"Layla..." He coughed, blood trickling down the corners of his mount, "Please sister... take it..." He said, weakly holding up his hand, his emerald eyes pleading with her.
Layla shook her head, "No! I won't! It will kill you!" Tears dripped down her face, her gold eyes almost glowing in the night.
Eric laughed, cringing in pain at the motion, "Look at me Layla... I am as good as dead."
The girl furiously shook her head again, "No! If I can get you to a doctor, y-you'll be ok!" She stood, trying to lift the boy, but her small frame couldn't handle the weight and they both crashed to the ground. She lifted her head to the heavens, eyes growing angry, "DRACO" she screamed, "Why! Why won't you answer me! Why have you left me! I NEED YOU" She searched the stars for an answer, but they just glowed coldly, silently.
"Layla" Eric said, his voice faint, "I haven't much time left, give me your hand and take my power." He said, forcibly grabbing her hand, holding tight as she struggled to pull away. "There is no choice, remember what Lyra told me... Only the call of Sound can herald the return of the Dragons."
Layla felt a surge of power flow through her, then saw Eric's green eyes dim and fade, his life leaving his body, his last words echoing around her.
"Only the call of Sound can herald the return of the Dragons."
••••••••
"Oi!" Natsu yelled "Are we leaving or not!" He called as Lucy ran over to him.
"Sorry!" She apologized, coming to a stop beside the pink haired boy, "Time got away from me..." She explained.
"Lucy's late agaiiiin" Happy taunted, the blue Exceed flying around Natsu in boredom.
Lucy rolled her eyes at the cat and looked at Natsu again, "What's the job anyways?" She asked, snatching the flyer from his hands, eyes skimming it. "Catching a thief eh?"
Natsu nodded, "Yup, apparently its been stealing food from a bunch of restaurants so the owners are offering 2 million jewels to whoever can catch it." He shrugged. At his words, Lucy's jaw dropped, "2 million jewels!? That will cover rent for a few months!" She smiled, clasping her hands happily at the prospect. She grabbed Natsu by his vest and pulled him onto the train. As soon as the train began to move, the Salamander slumped over on the bench, face turning blue with motion sickness.
A short train ride brought them to a nearby town, the local restaurant owners meeting them at the train station.
"Thank God you are here... please catch that thief!" They pleaded and Natsu nodded, "Lets go!" he said.
Lucy shook her head "Wait! We don't know anything about this person! What does he or she look like? Is it a wizard?" She asked the owners and they shook their heads.
"All we know is it's a wizard of some sort. It comes at all hours of the day, and if anyone is here, all we hear is a loud blast of sound, so loud it knocks us out or incapacitates us. When we wake up, all the food is gone..."
Lucy's brow furrowed deeply as she thought, "Some kind of sound magic?" She mused and Natsu nodded, punching his hand into his palm, "Nothing we can't handle" He grinned, "Come on Lucy, let's go."
They headed off, "Do we even know where we are going?" Happy asked and Natsu shook his head, "Nope, but I'm sure we will run into this thief."
They made their way to the outskirts of town, to the woods surrounding the small city. As they walked, Natsu sniffed the air, trying to find something out of place. "I smell something..." Natsu said and plunged deeper into the woods, following his nose. After about ten minutes of walking he stopped, "Whatever it is, it's close..." He cautioned, looking around the trees. Lucy grabbed her keys and stood ready.
Suddenly a powerful siren of a scream sounded close behind them, Lucy and Natsu both dropping to the ground, hands over their ears and cringing in pain. Happy was writhing on the forest floor, his sensitive cat ears taking the brunt of the attack. When the scream ended, Lucy tried to sit back up, but was so dazed from the sudden loud noise she fell back to the ground again.
"Why are you following me!" Demanded a voice, a teenage girl dropped out of a tree and walked forward to them. Lucy noted her long golden hair, glowing like sunlight. Stranger still was the girl had two different colored eyes, the right eye was the same brilliant gold as her hair, but her left eye was a deep emerald green. She reached a tanned hand down to Lucy, checking her pockets for anything valuable and stood back up with Lucy's keys. Her eyes narrowed in disgust, "Celestial Keys... what makes you think you have the right to enslave the stars!" She hissed at Lucy, eyes looking at her in abhorrence. "Celestial Wizards... you make me sick."
Finally Natsu managed to stand, "Give Lucy back her Keys" He said, staring at the gold haired girl.
"Or what, you gonna fight me? Ha! Don't make me laugh, you can barely stand." The golden haired girl sneered.
Natsu grinned, "I'm all fired up," fire erupted around him and his eyes narrowed.
The girl took a step back, clenching her fists, a grin spreading across her face. Her eyes locked onto the mark on his shoulder, "A guild wizard hm? What guild are you with?" She asked.
"Fairy Tail!" Natsu said, "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
The girl leaped out of the way, "Sound Shield!" a piercing note filled the forest, the air in front of her started to shimmer oddly, looking like heat rising from metal on a summer's day. When Natsu's fist came in contact with the shimmering air, it deflected his punch, tossing his fist to the side. "What?" he looked at his fist in confusion.
The not the girl was holding and the air stopped shimmering. The girl panted heavily, that move draining a lot of her magic. "Iron Fist of the Sound Dragon" She hissed, blinking out of sight and appearing behind Natsu, her fist flying forward at blinding speed. The shear speed of the hit sent him flying into a tree, but he was just staring at the girl.
"Sound dragon?" Lucy, who had finally stood, mused. "Does that make her..."
"A dragon slayer..." Happy finished
Natsu's smirk turned to a full on grin, "Another Dragon Slayer!" he said, looking at her and putting up his hands, "Wait!" he said as the girl charged forward again.
"What" She stopped, glaring at him.
"You said Sound Dragon Slayer." He said and she nodded.
"Yea... and." She glowered.
"Which dragon raised you? I was raised by Igneel the Fire Dragon."
The girl looked like she was about to answer but stopped, "I was raised by... um Lyra... the Sound Dragon..." She said.
Lucy looked at her curiously, "She sounds like she's hiding something..." She whispered to Happy, who nodded in agreement.
Natsu grinned, "Sound Dragon Slayer Magic! That's cool... so that siren blast from before..."
"Roar of the Sound Dragon" The girl said, nodding.
"What's your name?" Lucy asked
The girl glared at Lucy, "I don't talk to celestial wizards," She growled, but turned to Natsu, who had the same question in his eyes. "It's Layla." She finally announced.
"What's her problem..." Lucy mumbled, Happy shrugged, "She doesn't seem to like Celestial Wizards all that much..."
Suddenly a rustle sounded in the trees above them as two winged cats flew down from the leaves, "Layla!" they said, landing on her shoulders. Both cats where very small, a little smaller that Happy. One was pitch black with a white diamond on its forehead, and one was snow white with a black diamond on its forehead. The black cat had short fur and the white cat had very long fur, the black cat had white wings, whereas the white cat's wings where black. "Keira, Lyle, where have you two been?" She asked, petting both cats.
The white cat spoke, "Keira and I where trying to find you." He said, he had a somewhat deep meow, and crossed his arms, "You keep running off..."
The black cat nodded, "You really shouldn't be stealing from the towns people you know..." Keira's sharp meow filled the air, scolding Layla.
Layla growled, "I was hungry ok!" She said and then looked back at Natsu and Happy, completely ignoring Lucy. "These are my exceed friends, Keira and Lyle, they are twins, I found them a couple years back. I see you have one too," She said looking at Happy.
Keira and Lyle walked over to Happy, sniffing him, "I haven't ever seen another Exceed..." Lyle said and Keira huffed, "Come now brother, you must have known we weren't the only ones."
Natsu suddenly nodded, "I've decided, you are coming back to Fairy Tail with us!" He said.
"What?" Lucy, Happy and Layla all said in unison.
"You said you stole the food because you were hungry right? And you don't have a guild mark so you're not in a guild. You should come with us!" he said.
Layla laughed, "You're being serious?" she asked and Natsu nodded, even Happy nodded.
Keira looked at Layla, "It's better than living of thievery... Eric would wa-" A sharp glare from Layla cut the small black cat off. Lyle's eyes started to water up, "Eric..." he whispered sadly and Keira looked away.
"Sorry..." She whispered, hugging the white cat tightly.
Layla nodded at Natsu, "Fine... I will check out your 'guild'."
Natsu grinned, "And since we have three Exceed, we don't have to take the stupid train!" he said and Happy nodded "Aye Sir!" he agreed, picking up Natsu.
Lyle picked up Layla and Keira sighed, "Gee thanks for sticking me with the Celestial Wizard..." She hissed and roughly picked up Lucy.
"What's you guys's problem with celestial wizards?" Lucy demanded and Keira looked down at her, lowering her voice to a whisper.
"Layla was taught to dislike your kind, to condescend to rule to stars is akin to blasphemy to her." The cat explained.
"Why?" Lucy asked, dropping her voice as well.
Keira looked away from Lucy, "That's for her to tell... should she decide too."
A few hours later they found themselves at the guild entrance, Layla marveled at the large guildhall. Once inside, Natsu announced that they had found a new member, and that she was a dragon slayer. Everyone in the guild immediately turned to stare at Layla, who blushed uncomfortably under their gazes.
"Um... hi..." She said quietly. Wendy and Charle where the first to walk up to Layla.
"A dragon slayer?" Charle inquired, looking at her curiously with sharp eyes.
Keira walked over to Charle and the two cats looked at each other, "Finally another Exceed with class" Keira finally announced after inspecting the white she-cat. Charle grinned and shook paws with Keira, "I'm Charle, Wendy's exceed." She explained and Wendy smiled brightly.
"I'm Wendy, the Sky Dragon Slayer" She introduced.
Then Gajeel and Lily walked over, upon seeing the black tomcat, Keira blushed lightly, "Hello" she said to Lily, who just nodded at her.
Gajeel looked over Layla, who stood up to about his shoulder in height, his arms crossed with a hard expression on his face. Layla didn't flinch, but instead held his inspecting gaze with determination in her two toned eyes.
"I'm Gajeel... The Iron Dragon Slayer."
Layla nodded, "The name is Layla, Dragon Slayer of Sound" she said.
Mirajane smiled, "Would you like to join Fairy Tail?" She asked and Layla shrugged, "Yea sure, why not." She said.
Mirajane stamped the guild mark onto Layla's right-side waist, visible under the halter-top half shirt she wore. The mark gleamed emerald green against her tan skin.
"Welcome to Fairy Tail" Mirajane smiled happily.
•••••••
Later that night Layla had Lyle and Keira lift her to the roof of the guildhall. Layla stared up that the glittering stars, lying down with her arms folded behind her head as a pillow, Lyle and Keira sitting next to her, leaning up against her side. Lyle sniffed, looking up at the stars, tears pooling in his eyes, "Layla..." he said and she sat up, looking at the small cat. "I miss Eric..."
Tears collected in Layla's gold and green eyes, "Me too... me too..." She looked back up at the stars, her eyes found one constellation. She could always find this one, no matter where she was. The long coiling shape of the celestial dragon.
"Hey dad..." She whispered, "Is Eric up there with you? If so... tell him Lyle and I miss him..." she said.
"I miss you Draco," she added quietly before lying back down, pulling the two cats close to her, and fell asleep.