:Prologue:
"Can't we stop," The small orange cat whined rubbing his belly that was covered in white fur with his black paws. "I feel like we haven't had anything to eat for days. What I wouldn't give for a nice juicy carp."
"Sorry Pal but we've still got quite a trek before we make it back to Magnolia," The girl smiled as the cat groaned and shot an accusing finger towards his partner.
"We would be home by now if you didn't refuse to ride on the train!"
She shuddered thinking about how terrible traveling by train was. "Don't remind me please, in fact I think I'm going to be sick."
She caught herself against the rough bark of the nearest tree, trying to keep what little food she had managed to eat in her stomach. Her raven hair whipped out from behind her as she let out a large breath and her jade green eyes sparkled. Her hands fell to her knees as support before she stood up again. She was wearing black mid thigh shorts and a pale yellow t-shirt that only came down halfway showing her muscular abdomen and on top of that was an orange vest. She had mid calf brown boots on and the woven bracelet on her left wrist seemed to fit the rest of her style.
They had just received a whack of reward money for the latest mission they had managed to complete, so who was she to stop the team from getting a bite to eat before making the last of a days journey to her home?
"I guess we can hit up a restaurant in Hargeon," she stated as the cat's eyes widened and his mouth began to water.
"Do you really mean it Eri?" He asked as a puddle of drool formed at his feet.
"Of course Carrow. What kind of friend would I be if I let you starve to death?"
The cat's eyes grew wide with happiness when suddenly a sinister glint crossed his eyes.
"I am going to rub this in Happy's face," He laughed evilly causing the girl to roll her eyes.
Hargeon was a small port town located in the southern part of the country of Fiore not far from their hometown of Magnolia. They entered the city and nothing could have prepared them for what they saw; the majority of the city was in ruin with many of the buildings either water logged or severely charred. A type of magic destruction she was very familiar with.
"You don't think Natsu did this do you?" Carrow asked quietly as the young girls black hair shadowed her ashamed face and her nose twitched.
"This has Natsu written all over it," She whispered quietly.
Luckily the two friends managed to find a small café that managed to escape the same fate that had befallen the rest of Hargeon.
"Once piece of strawberry cake and-"
"I'll take one of those delicious looking fish cakes."
The host nodded eyeing the two newcomers warily. The last visitor to come by with a talking cat caused nothing but trouble. He brought out the two cakes and smiled at the praise he received.
"These look amazing!"
"Let's eat!" Carrow stated munching down on the fish cake that tasted better than the cat could've hoped for.
The young girl took a small forkful of her cake as a loud noise was heard at the entrance of the building and a group of male wizards sauntered in laughing at the destruction destroying the door had caused.
Carrow looked up at the girl who took a deep breath and sighed. "It's not our fight Carrow."
Just then a large amount of wind found its way through the café knocking over everything in site and knocking the delicious looking strawberry cake from the girls hands.
"That's for not paying your rent on time old geezer," The man who appeared to be the leader of the thugs laughed. He was a stout man with a scar on his left cheek and grey hair spiked around his head. Two younger looking lackeys both of whom were tall, skinny and looked as though they would topple over with ease followed him inside.
"Hey boss, what do we do about those two?" The one on the right asked brushing his greasy blonde hair out of his face.
"Ya we don't want any witnesses do we? We can just call this a natural disaster…"
The baker was still shaking in the corner of his shop terrified of the men before him, what no one noticed –besides the orange cat- was the anger resonating in the booth near the back of the room.
"I told myself this wasn't my fight and that I didn't need to get involved," She muttered before turning to glare at the thugs, the remnants of her cake scattered all over the back wall. "Then you idiots had to destroy my cake."
"Looks like this girly-wirly is upset."
"Take her out boys, we don't want any word about this getting out."
The thugs smiled evilly and cracked their knuckles. "This won't take long boss."
"Who knew there was an evil such at those that hated cake in this world? I will not let you get away with this."
"Just give up now sweetheart, it's two against one, you've got no chance."
Just then the girl smirked from under her raven hair causing the men to stop dead in their tracks.
"Never underestimate the power of a Fairy Tail wizard!" She shouted her forest green guild emblem standing out against the paleness of her skin on her left hand.
"Don't you think you went a little over board Erika?" Carrow asked hanging his head in defeat at the destroyed entrance of the shop and the thugs that were piled across the street completely unconscious. "Master wont be happy about this."
"Ya Gramps is probably going to be pissed, but look at the bright side Carrow," She laughed her eyes glittering with delight. "We have got a whole cake to share!"
:The Year X777:
The young girl laughed playfully as she ran through the forest her yellow sundress flowing behind her. Her black hair was pulled behind her and her jade eyes sparkled in the sun light.
"Come and find me Dai!" She shouted hearing the footsteps behind her growing closer.
"I've got you," Dai shouted, which would've scared any normal person for there was one thing that set Dai apart from most others around the area; Dai was an Earth Dragon.
As dragons go, no one really knew what they looked like or where to find them. Dragons rarely made contact with humans, so it was extremely rare that she had found a young human girl to raise for many years. Dai had found the young girl sitting under the large tree in the middle of the forest, soaked to the bone with no family to be found, so she took her in teaching her the lost and forgotten art of dragon slayer magic.
"You got me!" The girl cried wrapping her arms around the large brown-scaled leg of the dragon now beside her.
Dai was covered in dark brown scales that were hard as rocks and three small horns adorned the top of her head. Her nose was quite long making her sense of smell one of the best amongst the dragons and although she was larger than most buildings she was a caring mother to her adopted daughter.
"We should head back soon Erika," The dragon stated earning a pout from her charge. "Okay you can play for a few more minutes and I'll meet you back at home."
Erika grinned giving her mother another hug before running into the meadow, her mother already gone in the distance.
The meadow was one of her favorite places to play as it held the nicest flowers in all of Fiore and because of that it smelt the nicest of anywhere she had been. She picked a group of sunflowers, magnolia's and blue bells hoping to give them to Dai when she returned home.
The sun began to set and she began to run home having not realized how much time had passed. Reaching the entrance to the cave she was surprised to find the cave empty. "Dai? Mom are you here?"
She searched every crevice, nook, and cranny in the cave and knew that it was unlikely a large dragon like Dai would be hiding there, but she was worried. It wasn't like the Earth Dragon to leave her alone for this long.
"Where are-"
She was interrupted by a loud crash outside the cave door, her eyes widening in fear at the site. There was her mother, a terribly strong dragon, with large wounds and blood covering her once gorgeous and shiny scales.
"Mother?" Eri asked slowly approaching the downed dragon. "Mom!" She ran towards her tears streaming from her usually glowing eyes.
"Er…Erika, I am sorry," The dragon muttered as blood poured from its mouth. "I am sorry to do this to you. I had hoped that I would be able to explain all of this to you when you were older, however," The dragon coughed, "That is no longer foreseeable."
The young girl sobbed into the dragons scales, not caring that she was now covered in the blood of her mother. "What do you mean Mom?"
Suddenly it was as if one thousand thoughts were rushing into the young child's mind. "One day this information will be important to you, however until then you will have no memory of this."
"What do you mean Dai!" The girl screamed as the dragon used the last of her energy to wipe the girls memory.
"I love you Eri."
Erika snapped awake to find herself alone in the cave with a blinding headache. "W-What happened? I was on my way back here from the meadow to bring Dai-"
Her eyes widened as she noticed her clothing was covered in blood that had the undeniable scent of her mother. "Dai!"
She wasn't sure how long she had been traveling, but after she had managed to find some fresh clothing she had began her search to find her mother, but whenever she brought up dragon's the residents of Fiore thought she was either crazy or telling a lie. She knew the truth though.
'Why did you leave me Dai?'
Erika managed to reach the wizard guild in the town of Magnolia known as Fairy Tail. Since she had no money she figured she could make money while taking wizard quests and hopefully find some clues about Dai's disappearance on the way.
Opening the door to the guild almost cost the girl her life as a large man was thrown out the door, barely missing her head. "Get back in here Maccao!"
The man known as Maccao was still lying cold on the tile as she was met face to face with a boy who looked no older than her, and who wasn't wearing anything but underwear.
Blushing Erika began stuttering, "Um e-excuse m-me…" The boy then turned to her with a confused look on his face.
"Huh who are you?" He asked not realizing that another guild member was coming up behind him.
"Take this Ice Princess," The other member called. He was also around her age, with pink hair and a white scarf tied around his neck. There was something vaguely familiar about this boy Erika noted. "Fire Dragon Iron-"
"Knock it off you two," Yet another member stated causing the two boys to freeze in their tracks. "Can't you see we have a guest?"
The boys snapped out of their frightened looks to finally take a look at the new recruit standing before them. She seemed nervous and was using her hair to shield her face.
"Well then who are you?" The red head demanded. Eri had to admit that she was quite intimidating for a young wizard, however she held nothing to Dai when she was angry.
"My name is Erika Van Zoran and I am looking for the guild leader Makarov Dreyer."
The members eyes blinked at the girl as the armor clad red head led her inside the guild doors. She wasn't sure why but for some reason that name had just appeared in her head one day and she knew that this was the wizard guild she needed to join.
The members all sat by idly wondering what the outcome of having this person at the guild would mean, but when she returned from the masters office with a forest green guild emblem on her left hand they knew she was one of them.
"Welcome to the guild Erika, my name is Erza Scarlet," The red head stated as Erika smiled at her.
"Ya and I'm Mirajane!" the white haired wizard stated with an evil tone. In fact Eri had to admit she was also a little scary looking. "Looks like we've got some new meat!"
"Come on sis, that's not nice," A young girl that looked almost identical to Mirajane stated, behind her stood a man who looked a little shy, but no one could deny the family resemblance. "I'm Lisanna and this here is our brother Elfman."
"It's nice to meet you all," Erika replied as the two boys that she had met earlier approached, however they were both fully clothed which was a change from before.
"I'm Natsu Dragneel and the stripper over there is Gray Fullbuster," The pink haired wizard grinned.
"Who you calling a stripper fire breath?" The dark haired boy called out.
"You remind me of Igneel," Erika muttered under her breath so softly she was sure that no one had heard it, until a pink haired wizard grabbed her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes.
"What do you know about Igneel?" He growled not realizing that the girl he was holding was starting to grow short tempered as well.
"I don't know okay, it's just something that came to my head. I've never even heard of Igneel before," She cried out pushing Natsu off of her roughly.
"Wow you're pretty strong, but not as strong as me!" Natsu cried. "Fire Dragon-"
Erika smirked as her own cheeks puffed out to the sides. "Earth Dragon-"
"ROAR!"
Suddenly the two dragon slayer techniques impacted as the fire breather was sent flying.
"Oh no," Gray stated. "Now there are two of them."
:Year X778:
"I can't wait to show you to everyone Carrow!" Erika cried as the small cat perched itself on her shoulder.
On the way to her first S-class wizard mission she found an abandoned egg on the side of the road. Thinking it housed a baby dragon she took it along on her journey and at the end of the quest, she found herself with a flying baby cat.
The cat was orange with black paws and a black tuft of hair on his forehead and white fur on his stomach. The name Carrow just seemed to suit the little guy and she couldn't help but fall in love with him.
'I mean how many people have a talking cat?'
She giggled seeing the city of magnolia come into view. Carrow was still fast asleep on top of her head as she reached the guild hall. "I'm back!"
Suddenly all eyes were on her as Wakaba's eyes widened "You have one too!"
"Huh?" She asked but soon realized that on top of Natsu's head there was another cat with wings, however this one was blue.
"You have a cat?" They both cried causing Lisanna to giggle.
"This is our son Happy," The girl stated causing Natsu to blush and Erika to smirk. "What's your friends name?"
The orange cat was finally starting to come to and his bright blue eyes widened seeing that the whole guild was staring at him. "This is Carrow, Carrow meet my friends Natsu, Lisanna and their cat Happy."
The two flying cats met in the middle of the floor and began to size each other up, at the end they finished with a handshake and a smile.
"I see this being the start of a beautiful friendship," Lisanna laughed.
:Year X782:
"What's got you both so down in the dumps?' Erika asked seeing Natsu and Happy sulking near the river.
"Big sis, when did you get back?" Natsu asked as Erika grinned at the nickname he had given her.
"Carrow and I got back this morning and went for a cake date with Erza. Honestly though why do you both look so gloomy? In fact it seems like the whole guild is down in the dumps, Erza refused to tell me what was going on, and I couldn't find Mira to ask either."
"Mira and Elfman have been spending almost all their time at the cathedral lately." Happy said solemnly.
Erika's expression was confused and Carrow's eyes narrowed. "Why would Elfman and Mirajane be at the cathedral? It doesn't seem in Mira's character to be there…"
Carrow was surprised to see the tears brimming in Happy's eyes as Natsu punched the ground. Natsu's body shifted just enough to show the hut that Lisanna had built them both when they were trying to hatch Happy from his egg, and in front of the hut was a large rock- no a headstone, and a grim feeling enveloped Erika.
"Where is Lisanna?" She asked as her the boy she affectionately thought of as her little brother choked back a sob.
"Lisanna didn't come back with Elfman and Mira, Lisanna is…Lisanna is-" He stuttered out but that was enough for Erika. She fell to her knees enveloping Natsu in a hug.
"I'm so sorry Natsu," She cried her jade eyes wet with tears.
"She's gone Eri, and she's not coming back."
The two just sat there crying, both understanding what losing those close to them felt like.
:Present Day:
"Are we getting close? All that cake we ate it starting to wear off," Carrow stated as Erika laughed.
"I can practically smell the guild hall from here only a mile left and then we'll be home," She replied noticing that she too was starting to get hungry. "But that cake was delicious."
Magnolia was as busy as ever with kids and adults a like wandering the streets. When the Fairy Tail guild sign came into view Erika finally knew she was home. "See Carrow we finally made it."
"Finally I can get something good to eat! I wonder what's on Mira's menu today," The cat drooled as the raven haired girl rolled her eyes. Carrow always had food on the mind.
"We're home!" She cried pushing the door open as the cheers began.
"Glad to see you made it back in one piece Eri," Mira stated as Carrow took off hoping to find Happy. "Erza's not back yet so looks like you won the bet."
Eri's eyes glazed over at the thought of 100 cakes soon becoming hers. That was her and Erza's bet when they both took jobs last week, whoever made it back first was the winner and the loser had to pay for 100 cakes of the winners liking. "Still though I'm surprised Erza's not back, she's not one to lose a competition so easily."
"I'm sure she's fine," Mira replied as she turned to see Gray standing behind her.
"Gray!" She cried trapping the man in her arms causing him to blush; of course this only made her giggle more. "You're getting along with Natsu I hope?"
"As best as one can get along with that hot head," Gray muttered and Erika laughed. "I take it you were able to complete you're job?"
She nodded as the young man began stripping. "Yup Carrow and I are one million jewel richer, um Gray, clothes?"
"Not again!" He cried before trying to find where he placed his pants.
"I guess I'll go bug the little brother," She stated taking a quick glance towards the second level of the guild; the level that was off limits to all but S-class wizards.
'Seems Laxus isn't back yet either…'
She placed a bright smile on her face as she approached Natsu, completely aware of the new face that happened to be at his side. "Little bro!"
"Eri!" Natsu cried as they hugged each other. "How was the job?"
"Piece of cake," Eri stated turning to the blonde that appeared both confused and embarrassed at what was going on. "I'm Erika, and you are?"
"Y-You're Erika Van Zoran? The S-class Wizard?" She asked as Eri nodded.
"Yup that's me."
"That's way cool! Natsu why didn't you tell me you knew Eri Van- Wait! Little brother?" Lucy asked confused as she looked between the two wizards.
"We're siblings by heart, not by blood," Eri stated.
"Ya Looney, it would be too weird if we were actually related."
"Its Lucy!" The blonde stated as she held her hand out. "I'm Lucy Heartfilia, Fairy tails newest and only Celestial Wizard."
Erika smiled, "Well it's nice to meet you Lucy. The orange guy over this is my friend Carrow, but he's obviously too busy trying to one up happy to introduce himself."
Lucy turned to see a cat that looked identical to happy just a different color. "Does he fly too?"
Eri laughed and gave Natsu a smile. "I like you Lucy Heartfilia, welcome to the family!"