Gajeel didn't feel like a monster,and he definitely didn't feel insane like those towns people said he was. He only felt hurt and mistreated...

How dare they kick an eleven year old out on the street like that! was the immediate reaction to the insults the townspeople spat at him. At a time like that, he couldn't help but think of Metalicana, though. He always insulted Gajeel the same way, maybe even worse than that. But Metalicana was a the Badass Dragon of Iron! He was supposed to be hard on Gajeel like that, but he ended up deserting him just like these people were.

But these were humans! They were supposed to have hearts, and help kids when they were in need.

It wasn't a full day ago that Gajeel walked into the town. All he wanted was some water and bread because that's all that he would need until he could find a guild that would take him in.

He went to the only shop in town and, as politely as he could, asked for some food, " Give me some food and water, old man." The manager of the store looked at Gajeel with his poor eyesight the best he could, " Excuse me?" He eyed Gajeel, carefully studying his early piercing and long black hair.

Gajeel tried to keep his calm, but he was quick to anger with stupid people, " I told you to get me some bread and water! Did I stutter!?" The man with his already receding gray hair, cleaned his glasses and sadly looked at Gajeel, " I'm sorry, son. I'd love to help you, but this little town doesn't have a lot of money. So I'm afraid I can't give you free supplies." He turned around to talk to his employees leaving a frustrated Gajeel nothing but his thoughts.

He didn't know what to think, this was the 10th store he'd gone too, and t hem!

" Iron Dragon's Club!" Gajeel's arm grew into a 9 ft. shiny gray pole that blasted into the shopkeeper's stomach and knocked him into a few aisles. All of the employees just stared dumbfounded at the kid that just sprouted a pole from his arm.

The Iron Dragon Slayer calmly walked through the paralyzed men snickering at each one about how pathetic they were. He got his water jug and searched for the bread. He later found the area, and saw the shopkeeper unconscious holding a loaf, " I think I'll take that!" He picked the bag out of his hand and proceeded to exit the store.

In his whole campaign on the store, Gajeel failed to notice the women and children that exited the store in a rampage after he blasted the shopkeeper. And he hadn't remembered that until he was mobbed by them after he exited the store. " What are you doing!?" , "How dare you!" , "Are you insane!?" , " You monster!" . They were only words, but each time the kids got physical and verbal, "Freak!" , "Outsider!" , "Spikey- Haired idiot!" But somewhere in there he heard, " Black Steel."

That made the biggest impact on him where he stopped moving altogether. Finally, the mothers' onslaught stopped when a woman slapped him across the face and stripped him of his supplies, " You don't need these!" She walked back into the store and walked back out spitting on Gajeel.

The kids' onslaught lasted much longer than that. They uttered insults first, then, they started beating and kicking him, and when they got tired, they spat on him and left, stoning him on their way leaving.

Gajeel could have easily fought back, he would have mopped the floor with those chumps, but something was holding him back. Something was keeping his frustration and anger in, and when it was finally clear that they were gone, he wandered through the town.

The moon was a Waxing Gibbous that night. The only reason Gajeel knew that it was because Metalicana said that the growing light meant that their power would grow weaker: the power to use the darkness to make themselves stronger.

But that didn't matter to Gajeel at the moment. There was a dark feeling that was surrounding him, but he couldn't figure out what it was so he kept walking. He walked until he was met by a large water fountain that loomed in front of him blocking the view of the moon. It was there that Gajeel looked into the clear water for his mirror. The moon provided the perfect light for him to thoroughly analyze his condition.

His ear was all bloody, his nose was covered in dried blood. His right eye was getting puffy and swollen. He was also pretty sure someone cracked a tooth, but other than that he was physically fine. But he could visibly see something else: loneliness. If Metalicana ever saw Gajeel like that, he would have beat him half to death to let him know there was someone else in the room. The Iron Dragon Slayer shook off the feelings of the weak, and sat down at the base of the fountain to rest.

It wasn't five seconds he'd closed his eyes, until he woke up in broad daylight. He was sore and aching from the beating he suffered the previous day. But he wasn't worried about that, he just wanted to get out of town; there was nothing there for him.

But he noticed, a baby blanket was covering him, and a small child was watching him, " Howdy! Noticed you were cold so I gave you an extra blanket!" Gajeel just shrugged it off and got up to leave, but the boy wouldn't have any of that so he got up to follow him, " Wait as second there, Aren't you gonna say, " Thank you." ?"

" I don't say " Thank you." Gajeel continued walking, " Who are you anyway?" The kid puffed his chest out, " I'm Ryos, and I'm 6, so what!?" Gajeel smiled which was rare, " You've got spunk, kid. I'll give you that."

Ryos still wasn't satisfied, " You still haven't told me your name!"
" My name doesn't matter."
" So it's Gajeel, huh?" Ryos gave Gajeel a funny look.
" Wait, how did you know that?!" Gajeel slightly blushed.
" It's on the back of your hoodie." He pointed to Gajeel's brown hood and noticed there was a name tag on it from his earlier childhood.
" Damn it..." Gajeel sighed, " I'm 11."

" That wasn't so hard was it? Now, where's parents?" This six year old was getting on Gajeel's nerves, " I was raised by a dragon, ok?" Gajeel swiped an apple off of a passerby cart when the owner wasn't looking, and took a bite.

" What a coincidence! I was raised by a dragon, too!" Gajeel did a spit take and crazily looked at Ryos, " Wait, there's more like me!? Where's your dragon now!?"

" Ummm...He left me! Yea, did yours do that, too?" Gajeel just shrugged and kept walking, " Yea, I have no idea where he is now..." He looked at the ground, but quickly looked back up, " What type was your dragon?" Ryos seemed to wonder the the thought, " He was the Shadow Dragon, and to prove it, watch this!"

Ryos disappeared into a black 2-D puddle on the ground and stretched to a nearby kid that had just dropped his fresh ice cream. Before the frozen treat could hit the ground, he absorbed into his shadow and instantly he was back standing next to Gajeel licking his new ice cream cone, " See?" Gajeel had to stop himself from laughing, he was utterly impressed with this kid. Maybe he could stand to stick with this him!

" Nice! But that name..." Ryos" it just doesn't suit what you can do!" Gajeel figured if he was going to have awesome powers he'd need a cool name to match.

The kid spoke up, " How about Rogue?!" Eureka!" That's just perfect!" He wrapped an arm around the newly named " Rogue", " We're going places, you and me! "

" Hey, let's be brothers!" Gajeel shrugged, " Oh, I'm not into that kind of thing. Let's just call ourselves traveling companions." Rogue just sighed while Gajeel continued, " Oh, I can see it now! We are the ' Iron Shadow Dragon!' Sounds cool doesn't it!?"

" Totally!" Rogue was visibly excited and Gajeel liked that, " Let's get out of this town."

A.N: See Fanfiction readers? I can do more than Percy Jackson stories! I am also very interested in Anime one of my big three favorites is Fairy Tail! So I hope you all enjoy my take on Gajeel's early life. He is my favorite Fairy Tail character after all!

Enjoy!

Kawind OUT!