Flexing my creative muscles for this fandom for the first time.
Credits to Mashima Hiro for the characters
Chapter One
Being alive for a thousand years took a toll on one's mentality, in the best and worst of ways depending on perspectives. For the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse, it meant feeling indifferent to every living and non-living things. However, occasionally he would stumble across a few beings that would either intrigue him or elicited a strong urge for him to want to end the whole world for good. The only reason why he hadn't opted for the second choice was that then he wouldn't have the entertainment to pass his time. Time was nothing but a subjective measure, and it was something he could do nothing about due to his immortality. He gave himself the permission to remember the dates and years so he could keep track of how many times he had been around the sun. Otherwise, it was a measurement for the short-lived creatures.
Sitting on the small plastic blue seat intended for toddlers or children under the age of seven, Acnologia became painfully aware of the seconds that ticked by as he sat staring down at the young Human creatures that sat on the carpeted floor of the daycare centre. One of the children, a boy with jet-black hair and red eyes, were looking at him with curiosity. Honestly, all of the eyes were on him as he clutched the open book in one hand while the other formed a fist into the crook of the other arm's elbow.
"Mr. Blacksteiger, why does the elephant not drink through his trunk?" A red-headed girl asked.
"Because it has a mouth," Acnologia replied.
Acnologia glared at a hand that was waving in the air trying to get his attention. The small boy took it as his cue and spoke,
"Mr. Blacksteiger, I can drink milk through my nose."
A round of awed noises resounded in the room, and Acnologia briefly closed his eyes at the stupidity of it all. It was a mistake, an insufferable torture for him and he was bearing the consequences right now. The contradictory emotions flitted through his mind, as Acnologia contemplated in scorching the entire daycare centre for the little Humans that wouldn't stop with their insistent chatters and questions. How he ended up in this predicament was the one reason why he chose to be indifferent in all things, allowing his emotions to get the better of him always had him ended up in a scenario in which could have avoided if he had stayed firm.
Acnologia felt a small tug on the fabric of his trousers, glancing down to meet a pair of emerald-greens that held the innocence and wonders of any six-year-old living being.
"Mr. Blacksteiger, I need to pee," she said.
"You know where the bathroom is," Acnologia replied, sternly.
"But Miss Daisy said I couldn't go alone because monsters will appear if I do."
Acnologia stared at her heatedly. The ridiculousness of dealing with small Humans extended far beyond and to the adults that help look after them. He shut the book with one hand, not that the noise startled any of the overly hyperactive children here and set it down on the floor next to him with a muffled plop. The girl continued to stare at him, fidgeting between her tiny feet, demonstrating the urgency of the situation.
"Please, Mr. Blacksteiger, I really need to go," She whimpered and started tugging at the bottom of her red dress. "I don't want monsters to kill me."
"Do not be ridiculous. There are no monsters in the bathroom," Acnologia said and got up to stretch his legs.
Suddenly, the small girl threaded a hand through his and tugged him to the door. Acnologia froze in place and glowered at the tiny hand barely wrapped around his pinky and ring fingers. The child didn't give up and was now using both her hands attempting to move him. Finally, Acnologia relented, and the girl nearly tripped over her feet at the sudden movement. He reflexively reached out and caught the back of her dress before she could face-plant onto the floor.
"Thank you, Mr. Blacksteiger!" She said cheerily over her shoulder and hurried to open the door. "Come on! Mr. Blacksteiger, you're so slow!"
The girl bounced and flounced in the corridor as Acnologia dragged his feet reluctantly towards the tiny bathrooms for the small children at the daycare centre. Being a Dragon Slayer their reactions and senses were honed to its peak, so when she suddenly zipped down to the left wing, he caught up to her in nano of second and blocked the path. She arched her neck all the way up just to look him in the eyes sheepishly.
"The bathroom is the other way," Acnologia seethed.
The girl giggled and ran under his legs, not before he caught her by the scruff of her dress and carried the lightweight down the right path towards the bathroom. His ears suddenly pricked, picking up sounds of several footsteps pattering around the corner. To his utter disgust, the children from his class came squealing and screeching down the hallway, twittering around him and the girl still suspended in mid-air clapping her hands in delight. It was not the first of the antics during his time here, and he knew his low grumble did little to gain their attention.
Acnologia opened his mouth to shout when three high-pitched screaming sent him wincing painfully. Human children and their so-called angelic voice were more of something straight of Zeref's Book of Demons; it was possible that his sensitive eardrums would become damaged if not for one of the teachers scuttling out of the staff office.
"Kinde, Yori, Juna!" She shouted above the noise.
The little spawns immediately stopped, and all of the small beings ran up to crowd around her instead. The little girl in Acnologia's hand struggled to get down, and he dropped her at a reasonable height, watching her scramble back onto her feet completely disregarding the fact that she was dropped like a sack of potatoes. Or the fact that she needed the bathroom in the first place. The chants of "Miss Daisy! Miss Daisy!" were grating on Acnologia's last nerve and was about to leave when the woman called out to him.
"There's a package for you at the desk," Miss Daisy said.
"I will retrieve it later." Another small Human wrapped his arms around one of his leg and Acnologia glared at him. "I am not a tree trunk, release me at once."
"Mr. Blacksteiger, I wanna see you open it! Please!"
The last word was quickly parroted back at him by the rest of the tiny beings. He looked up and met Miss Daisy's gaze who looked at him helplessly. Acnologia took a deep breath, bracing himself for another round of idiocy that these short-lived mortals had in stored for him. Watching them skipped through the threshold of the staff room, which was off-limits to anyone but the employees, they crowded around one particular desk with a large brown package on it. Acnologia sniffed and immediately recognised that it was food.
"Open it Mr. Blacksteiger!" One delicate child squawked.
Acnologia looked around him and saw the rest of the staff heads down going about their businesses. His hands hovered slightly on either side of the box and hesitantly lifted it off the table when he spotted something familiar underneath. The sound of party poppers cackled around him and Acnologia stared down at the handmade cake.
"Happy Birthday Mr. Blacksteiger!"
The children squealed and started to huddle around him once again, many of them eagerly eyeing the birthday cake with his name on it. A lone candle was lit by Miss Daisy and he quickly blew it out, earning a round of applause from everyone in the room. Acnologia didn't miss the slightly harder thump in his heartbeat when he saw the surprise present for him, the last time he celebrated he was knee-deep in corpses fighting off a bunch of Mages hundreds of years ago.
"Can I have some, Mr Blacksteiger?" A child with green hair asked.
"Have it all."
Leaving Miss Daisy to control the tiny mortals, Acnologia made his way out of the room, noticed that his shift had ended. He smelled her before she came into view and whirled around, annoyed, wondering what the woman wanted now that she had set him up for this. Miss Daisy was a whole head smaller than he was, let out a small squeak in surprise by his sudden movement. Shyly, she held up a paper plate with a slice of cake on it.
"It's your birthday, Acnologia, you should have some," Miss Daisy said gently and then quickly added, "there's plenty to go around for the kids."
Acnologia glanced down at the dessert in her hands, noticing the small trembles and he flicked his glance back onto her face. He could smell apprehension rolling off her, and he smirked, in his mind, all mortals were afraid of him something about his unsmiling face put him on the list of being approachable. Acnologia didn't mind as it meant fewer beings would bother him, but occasionally there were ones that were daring enough to. Finally, he took the plate from her and watched her shoulders relaxed.
"Dragneel will be back next week, say goodbye to the rascals for me." Acnologia turned his back on her and made his way to the exit of the daycare centre. "I will be expecting the past three months pay in my account by the end of this week."
He didn't miss the shimmer in Miss Daisy's eyes and could smell the unshed tears as he left the building. The light breeze of Spring greeted him as he walked home since turning into a Dragon caused more curious stares and unwanted questions and answers. They had been ushered into a new era of modern society, and the majority of the country's landscape had shifted, paving the way for steel and concrete for tall infrastructures shooting up high into the sky. Even flying in his Dragon form was becoming quite difficult, with the airplanes and other air transportations taking up the majority of the space.
The population of Mages or Magic-wielders had dwindled significantly, urging them to move countries or across towns to Etherano-rich areas that laid almost untouched by the machines and technology. Even the number of Guilds had decreased with several disbanded for the lack of missions that could now be solved through other non-Magic means, and the buildings were replaced by apartment complex and condominiums. Acnologia stopped at a crosswalk, waiting for the little green man to signify the pedestrian's safety to move across the road. He had witnessed the changes over the years and to say he wasn't impressed by how far these Humans had come would be a lie.
Acnologia walked past a group of high school teenagers loitering outside a coffee shop, all of them females dressed in identical uniforms and on their phones scrolling through whatever Apps they were on. One of them commented on something that they saw, which quickly got a rouse out of the otherwise non-communicative group, too engrossed on their electronic devices to even be aware what was around them. Like the man that was heading steadily down Acnologia's pass, his eyes glued to the screen as his fingers flew across the surface typing something.
"Shit!" He yelped, bumping right into Acnologia's chest. The man quickly looked up and cowered at the glare sent at him. "So sorry, sir!"
The Human scrambled away and Acnologia stared after him until he disappeared into a building. He glanced back down on the ground and sighed inwardly; the cake was ruined, a colourful white and brown splat on the pavement. Acnologia bent down with his empty paper plate, scooping up the remanent and tossed it into a nearby public bin. The sounds of the bustling city central was getting to him, creating pinpricks of jolts on his senses, Acnologia quickened his pace towards the quieter part of the neighbourhood.
His skin tingled at the feeling of abundance of Etherano in this part of the city of the West, where many of the Mages had taken up residence and formed their own version of the old generation when they ran the country. Several of them stopped their business when they noticed him, stiffened as Acnologia walked past them towards another path that was reserved for the elites. A young man dared to regard his head subtly at Acnologia who didn't spare him a second glance, as he continued on his way.
The two-lane road consisted of beautiful housings on either side with various lengths of driveways, lined with neat gardening and radiated compelling Magic auras from homeowners and other residents. Acnologia took his time on the sidewalk, revelling in the quiet and tranquility as his ears picked up the rustling of the leaves and other sounds of nature. Soon enough, the familiar large wooden gate loomed into view on his left-hand side and the Dragon Slayer crest seared into the hardwood.
"Home sweet home." Acnologia muttered under his breath.
The symbol lit up in a faint white glow, prompting the gate to shift into two panels opening up to reveal a smooth driveway. The gate slid shut behind him and Acnologia continued onwards on his leisurely walk, enjoying the view and letting his senses breathe as the late afternoon sun cast its last ray of warmth for the day. The mansion came into view, a stony building with three floors and several windows dotting the front. Acnologia knew it was just a facade, as the opposite side was where he really acknowledged the architecture of his new home for the past three years, with fitting interiors that made anyone with a sense of the aesthetics swoon. And it seemed he wasn't able to find anyone that shared the same taste as him since he hardly let anyone into his sanctuary in the first place.
His nose had been twitching ever since he strolled down the neighbourhood, it wasn't until he climbed up the steps to the main doors, swinging open inwardly for him when he caught a stronger whiff it which were not meant to be in here at all. Acnologia flitted straight to the large open-planned dining room and kitchen on the right wing of the mansion, his eyes confirming the familiarity in the smells he had picked up; his temple throbbed and his fingers and throat itched at the scene before him.
"Yo, Acno!" The Fire Dragon Slayer greeted him a little too cheerfully, perching on top of the kitchen island, while the other hand was scraping off brown stuff off a tray. "Didn't know you'd be back so soon."
Acnologia disregarded the pink-head and cut a glance at the Light and Shadow Dragon Slayers who laid in the middle of the floor sprawled out, staring up at the ceiling. That was when it hit him, the other smell that intermingled with the rest. Another set of footsteps came up behind him and Acnologia didn't even need to whirl around to see who it was.
"Flame-brain, where are the broo…'kay." The Iron Dragon Slayer trailed off as Acnologia glowered at him, and then held up a lit blunt between his fingers. "Want a puff?"
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