Author's Note: This is the first story I have had the courage to post to this site. Feel free to give me suggestions. Enjoy.

He was running. Flames in front of him, visible through the trees. His small legs taking him as fast as he could go. He had to get to the village, he had to find her, no matter what. He dodged the sight of whoever was there, not wanting to be seen. He was almost to his family's hut when he heard a terrible roar from a huge creature that he could not see but can be heard for miles as if it was right above him, making him cover his ears. Once the roar passed over, he ran full speed to his hut.

"Mother!" he yelled into the small building. Flames already engulfing most of the straw hut, cracking can be heard above his head as the roof was weakening. "Mother!" he yelled once more. Maybe she wasn't here.

He turned toward the door when,"Gajeel!" Finally an answer. A part of the roof had already caved in and landed on his tiny mother. With all his strength, and the building adrenaline, he lifted as much as he could off of her and pulling her out of what remained.

"Mother, are you alright? Is she ok?" Tears were running down his face, pulling as hard as his little body could.

"She is coming, we have to get out of here." She tried to stand but her legs her badly hurt from the fallen roof. Gajeel, with all his might, tried to carry her on his back.
"Where do you think you are going?" A deep terrifying voice boomed behind them. He looked back...

Gajeel woke up in a cold sweat. What was that?, he thought. A bad dream? A memory? He shook his head, trying to clear it, hair falling on his face and sticking to it. He decided to go to the near by stream to wash the sweat.

Gajeel and Lily had been helping their old friends at the council rebuild after Tartaros destroyed everything while trying to find the secret to the FACE Project. After nearly a year, they were still not finished. It was the least they could do. He wanted to do what they could to help, not only for the help they have given in the past, but giving him the power to arrest people has been a blast.

Since the death of Belno (the council member that looked out for him), he started to think more about his future. As of late, he has been having strange dreams. A burning village, him as a little brat running toward fire and helping...her. He hadn't thought of his mother in a long time. He didn't even remember her till the dreams started. And that roar. Only one thing could roar like that. Acnologia. The same black dragon that nearly killed everyone in Fairy Tail many times before. Why? Why would he be in my dreams? What did he want with that...my village? He looked at his reflection in the water lost in thought.

A hand on his shoulder jerked him out of what ever thought he was thinking. "Are you alright?" Lily in his large form, as he prefers lately, sat beside his friend, concerned, moving his hand from his friends shoulder to wash his own face. The heat on his black fur isn't exactly cool on his skin.

"Yeah. Bad dream." Gajeel scooped up some water and rubbed it on the back of his neck. He looked up to the clear blue sky, nearly cloudless.

"You have been having a lot of those lately. Are you sure you are ok?" Lily followed suit and let water drip down on his neck. He let out a satisfied sigh at the cool feeling.

"I've been thinking about the future a lot lately...but it seems that the past is starting to come back to me."

"The past?" Lily looked to his friend. "What part?" Lily nudged Gajeel with his elbow, trying to make a joke.

"Before Metallicana. My mother." Gajeel was watching what little clouds that were going by.

"Oh," was all that Lily could muster.