Disclaimer: Yo! Terevi no maino mina and whatever the hell that follows. I don't own this stuff. With that I mean, I don't own Fairy Tail. It's Mashima's, weee~. Sorry about that.

Family.

(A I.-.-.I Kuroyagi I.-.-.I original fanfiction story.)

Magnolia City…

By morning…

"I say we look for your brother first."

"Uh… he's busy… remember?"

"…cannot we try?"

"He'll get mad, like last time."

"But I don't want to-"

"Dad…"

"-to go after your mom and sisters without backup!" A pink-haired man in his mid-forties yelled as he walked side by side with a girl no older than sixteen, attracting the attention of some passer-byers and merchants on that busy street. "It's suicide, dammit!"

The small town of Magnolia grew in population over the years, getting to be one of the major metropolis of the Kingdom of Fiore, rivaling only with Crocus, the capital of the kingdom. Bustling with people from different places of the country, with more guilds than before, and a large quantity of promising wizards, the small town didn't look like its former self. Though, the man disagreed. He could still feel that nostalgic air in the streets that still made the place fitting to be called his home.

There were so many memories there.

Happy and sad, of course.

But he still loved that place, no matter what.

A bright sun to illuminate the path, a few clouds to make it bearable, the fresh morning breeze of Spring and lastly, a nice person at his side to walk on that beautiful day given by whatever deity in the skies. Definitely, nothing was missing. Nothing at all.

Or so the man wanted to think, the girl was reminding him at every turn that they had pressing matters to attend to.

"I know, dad, but they're needed for this, remember?" The girl, several inches shorter than the man, was of scarlet hair. She was getting frustrated with the man's constant complaints and turnabouts at this topic they were discussing.

Long scarlet hair that got to her knees, tied in a high-ponytail, brown eyes and a mildly stoic expression. Wearing a nice red dress given to her by the man next to her, she had some pieces of armor to keep the vital points protected, namely her belly, shoulders, forearm and shins. A pair of gloves too, specifically worn to help her handle the sword strapped to her back. And brown shoes with a rose pantyhose going all the way until it disappeared under her dress's skirt.

'C'mon, dad…' She was trying to reason with the man, given as his brain didn't want to face the obvious answer. "We cannot go after mom without those two."

"We wouldn't need any of them if it weren't because of your mom's emotional outbursts." The man grumbled a few incoherences and folded his arms over his chest, trying to think of a way to convince the young girl. 'I swear she's getting more and more emotional with each year.'

He had pink hair, spiky and slightly long, onyx eyes and a terrified expression. A black trench coat with golden trimmings over a pair of white trousers was the only thing covering his naked torso, filled with scars from battles in days of yore. A scaly scarf wrapped tightly around his neck, and aside that, a black wristband on his left arm and a pair of sandals.

He continued to look at the young girl with his mind processing thoughts at a thousand miles per hour but he still couldn't find something to say to her. There was something in her eyes that told him, to his soul, that whatever thing he tried to conjure, it would be swatted away and be ignored. Taken as the excuse that it is.

'Stubborn girl… just like her mom.' He eventually sighed and surrendered, not finding a valid excuse for the youngster. "Alright… we'll go for those two before looking for your brother."

"Yay!" The girl brightened up at the answer, jumping to reach her father's head and pat the top of it once. "Finally using your brain!"

"Hey… don't push it." The man grumbled a few incoherences more and delivered a side-glare to the girl, showing to be miffed about that little comment and pat. It wasn't that he didn't like it, per see, he didn't want to be reminded of his childishness by his own kids. He sighed again and pushed forward, towards the edge of the city. "C'mon, we gotta reach Hargeon before sunset or else-"

"Uh, but we can take the train for that, right~?" The girl sang with a small smile, pointing to the large train station a few blocks away. "We can get to Hargeon in an hour if we take the-"

"Nope! No way! We walk or forget about looking for your sisters first!" The man cried out like a child who didn't want to go to school. He sat with his legs crossed on the floor and faced the opposite direction. His stomach was growling at the mere mention or thought of a train. "Goddammit! You know I hate trains!"

'It was just a little teasing.' The girl blinked a couple of times and sighed, shaking her head at the man's antics. She walked up to his back and tapped his shoulder twice, now pointing to the exit of the city when the man looked at her. "Okay, let's go walking then."

'Ha-hah~! You fell for my act!' The man looked at her as if she was trying to pull a prank on him or something. "Really?"

"Yes, really." She sighed again and to further prove her good will to the pink-haired man, she started walking towards the edge of town, turning to give a reproachful look to her father when she noticed he wasn't following her. "Hey! C'mon, I'm not walking that long path alone!"

The pink-haired man stared at his daughter for a second, marveling at how much she grew over the last couple of years.

Oh, it seemed as if it had been yesterday when she was born and muttering 'dada' whenever he was around.

Just remembering her baby voice saying that was enough to bring the strong wizard to tears.

But now, those joyful days were gone.

Farewell to his baby girl, his little pride and fountain of love, and hello to this miniature version of his wife.

He really wanted to cry now.

Why the need for all of them to be like his wife?

This was some sick joke of the universe that wanted to see him squirm and cry.

Now his little girl was turning to be like the rest of the females in the family.

As if his other two girls weren't enough.

As if his wife herself wasn't enough.

'I miss the old days, dammit.' Wiping the tear from his eye, the pink-haired man, wizard of Fairy Tail, Natsu Dragneel, stood up, dusted off his clothes and ran after his daughter. "Hey! Wait up!"

Hargeon Port…

That afternoon…

Hargeon, another town that grew out from its former shell and was now as bustling as any other city of its caliber. The port received goods from all the countries around Fiore and had also a large number of immigrants from the same, making it the most diverse port city of the Kingdom.

A super power in commerce, the Port City of Hargeon also attracted the attention of many mages, powerful and not so powerful ones, that wanted to get a slice of the large amount of jobs and missions that came, not just from the locals, but from the travelers of distant lands. The Port City was not only an opportunity for those looking for wealth, but also for those wanting to see more of the world, beyond the borders of the peninsula.

Now, in between those guilds, there was one located near the outskirts of the city.

And in the training grounds of that guild…

"Alright, at the count of three."

"I accept, but Happy will be the referee this time."

The blue cat raised a pawn to show his approval, sitting over an old wooden barrel and raising his slightly gruff voice to be above the screams from the spectators of the local guild that were cheering for the contestants. "Aye sir!"

"Okay, deal… now, ready?"

"Ready!"

"1…!"

"2…!"

"3!"

"Rock, paper, scissors and who loses trains with brother!"

A pair of hands were swung forward to the center of the ring and the place went quiet.

"…"

"…"

"Hihihihihi~!" Happy snickered quietly but gleefully at the last result from the hour-long match of 'Rock, Paper, Scissors', using his aged paws to cover his growing smirk. The people witnessing the match did the same, especially when noticing the grimaces on the two beauties' faces that were at the center of the ring. "Another draw~!"

"…impossible." The beauty to the left murmured, holding her hand with two fingers extended and the rest on her palm.

"…no way." And the beauty to the right also murmured her words of disbelief, holding her hand in the same fashion.

"Alright, people, get away." The blue cat yelled to the public, knowing well what was about to happen. He still saved the money from the bets in his little green bag though, and since it was a draw, he was going to keep all of it. Another low snicker from him told everyone what they already knew. He was going to eat first class fish tonight. "It's about to get dangerous now!"

"You cheater!"

"Damn you, sister!"

He has been doing this for a year now; after the twins matured and Natsu gave his approval, both decided to move out from home and to Hargeon were a friend of them was starting a new guild and needed strong wizards to give the place a healthful kick start. Where was him in all of this? Well, but of course Natsu wouldn't give his approval so willingly –they were his little girls, after all, maturing or not– so he sent Happy with them to keep them in check.

"I'm burning you to a crisp!"

"Hahaha! I'd like to see you try!"

And since he was like an uncle to them, or another sibling, they didn't object. In fact, if Natsu were to see this situation now, he knew the pink-haired man would scream at him for letting the girls get out of control under his supervision. A shiver ran down his spine. If Natsu were to yell at him for that, he didn't want to imagine what the mother of these girls would do.

"Happy! What the hell is going on!?"

"Oh damn! Save me, Charle!" The blue cat cried in fear when he heard the voice of his foster-father behind him. Flying all the way to hide behind some trees around the clearing…

…or so he thought.

"Hey, stop squirming." Natsu held him tight by the tail and kept him from running away. When the cat stopped his futile attempts to escape, he narrowed his eyes at the blue ball of fur and pointed towards the two girls wrestling in the middle of the area. "And explain what's the meaning of this."

"U-uh…" Happy looked in the direction that the finger was pointing and saw the two red-haired beauties wrestling in the middle of the clearing. No crowd around them now, only another red-head was with them, the little girl cheering both on to see who would be victorious in this sisterly match.

"Go go, sister!"

Oh, that's so cute it hurts.

"Ow! Hey! No kneeing!"

"Then stop pulling at my hair!"

Yep, it hurts.

The cat looked back to his foster-father and scratched the back of his head. "Uh… cat-fight?"

A vein appeared on Natsu's forehead and a forced smile made its way to his face. "Oh, really? I didn't notice that."

Fire appeared from nowhere.

"Save meeeeeeeee~!" And with a swift movement of his arm, Natsu sent Happy flying to the bushes, throwing a small fireball to emphasize how angry he was at this finding. Really, he sends the cat to keep the girls under control and he finds them all doing whatever they want without his knowing.

'If she were here, she'd be scolding them and me as well.' A sigh escaped and his façade turned harsh. 'But since she's not here… that's up to me.'

A couple of loud footsteps to make his presence notorious and he stared down at the two wrestling beauties on the grass, seeing by the corner of his eye how the youngest one retreated at the obvious dangerous situation that was soon to happen.

"Eris… Elis…" Calling their names out loud with a tone as cold as the magic of his rival certainly did the trick in stopping them, for now both girls were frozen in place with their head slowly turning to see him, wide and frightened eyes staring helplessly at him from the ground. He didn't let the sight deter him though, it made his blood boil a little hotter. His eyes narrowed even more and with a calculated kneeling from his part to have their faces closer, he murmured. "What did I say about fighting?"

"E-eh!? H-hmm… u-uh…" The one on top, pulling at her sister's hair and keeping one arm pressed against the grass, flinched a little and tried to gather the words for an answer.

Meanwhile, the one against the grass already knew the answer, yet, the sight of her enraged father was making her falter in voicing out her thoughts. "H-hmmm…"

"It was a ritoric…" Natsu stopped and blinked, making his own daughters blink as well.

'Well… there goes the intimidating act…' The youngest daughter thought at one side of the scene, carrying a burnt Happy on her arms and a small sweatdrop behind her head.

He shook his head and tried again, keeping his cold façade in place. "It was a rhetorical question."

"Oh…" The twins voiced lowly, suddenly not knowing what to do. Not because of the fear, that is, but because of the sudden and unexpected fail their father had when trying to scold them. Really, that was lame.

"T-that was lame… even for you… Natsu…" Happy moaned from his position, still seeing fire before his swirling eyes.

"…shut up." Standing up with a small blush dusting his cheeks, the pink-haired man coughed on his fist and glared at the two girls from above, reminding them that, failure or not, his words were still to be listened to. Oh dear, he needed to remember and thank his wife for those lessons in how to scold people. Well, not that they were actual lessons, he just followed her for a couple of days while she was in a scolding streak and took notes. "You two, let go of each other and stand up."

"Aye, dad…" The one on top murmured in a bored fashion, sighing to make her point clear that she didn't want her fun to be stopped. Now their father was here, woo-hoo, no more fighting or random brawls with her sister and guildmates.

Of scarlet hair like the other two girls, she had it as long as them, but more wild and spiky at some parts, tied in a lose ponytail that still wasn't enough to leave her hair controlled. It combined well with her more wild behavior and magic. Then her clothing was also to punctuate this, seeing as from the three girls in that clearing, her clothing was more casual and daring –if her father's opinion were to matter-.

An unbuttoned white coat over a black vest were the garments the upper part of her body wore, while a pair of black leather jeans kept the skin of her legs hidden. There was an opening on the left leg's thigh that showed a healthy amount and several belts strapped around her waist. For footing, a pair of high-heeled boots. And a pair of black, fingerless gloves on her hands.

"I'm sorry, father, I didn't know you were here." As for the one against the ground, she spoke with respect to the man in that clearing, failure or not. From the two, she was the most cordial one, even though she was prone to hearing on her twin sister's teasing and end up fighting with her like just now.

Same color of hair and length, the difference was in how it was displayed. As her attitude, her hair was kept in top-notch conditions, running all the way down, freely and with nothing holding it back, except for two braided bangs at the sides of her head that she knotted at the back to give her some style and not a dull look.

To the attire she had, the man knew the mother of this girl was from where she got the idea for this. A black and white dress with sides and back colored red, the back going all the way to her knees but leaving the front open yet covered by a white skirt that didn't go beyond the mid of her thighs. A black belt was keeping it all close to her waist. Then, the most obvious influence from the mother in the girl's attire, the armor parts. She had metal gauntlets, high-heeled boots and shoulder pads. All of them with wing motifs at the ends, to further emphasize his point.

Both had brown eyes, wide and lively, yet the pink-haired man knew that the eyes of the first girl had something of a spark in them. A fiery flame hidden beneath that made him proud to his core.

"Sigh… don't sweat it… I guess part of me was expecting this." Natsu mumbled after his short sigh, giving the girls a disappointed look that didn't go unnoticed. "You two can't keep away from each other's throats not even for two full minutes."

"Sorry, father…" Elis, the most respectful one, apologized in a heartbeat, closing her hands into fists at her failure. She wanted someone to hit her because of this, to punish her for what she had done wrong. Surely, her mother would try to do so, only to be stopped by her father, but then…

"Aw, c'mon, you know you like it when we fight!" Meanwhile, Eris, the rebellious one, grinned widely and jumped to her father's side, swinging and resting an arm over his shoulders while the other one raised her hand to be at eye level. A spark flickered over her gloved palm and before the man could say anything, a flame was shown to him. "You're probably hungry from the long trip, so, whatcha say? Want a snack?"

"Uh…" The pink-haired man struggled with himself at this proposal, sweating bullets at the small yet delicious fire presented to him. No, he needed to be strong! He needed to be a good father and show his girls some discipline! He couldn't fall to the temptation of this bright, delicious and very edible fire before his eyes! 'I-If it's only a bite it won't hurt, right?'

'Yes~! Victory~!' Eris's smirk widened when her father leaned his head closer to the flame, opening his mouth shyly and slowly to eat the very tempting offer she had. 'Just a little more~ C'mon~.'

"Stop corrupting father, Eris! He's not like you!" But the yell of the other twin made both wizards snap to attention; the first one to heave a sigh of relief at being saved from something that would've spoiled his kids while the other was burning in rage at her plans being foiled. Elis stood closer to the two and shot a threatening glare to her twin, warning her not to try that again. "Father is better than you, accept it for once! He won't fall to such petty tricks!"

'I'm pretty sure I was about to eat that fire though…' Natsu thought since he didn't want to voice out his obvious failure.

"Tch! Stop talking so highly of dad! And stop calling him father!" Eris yelled back, much to the pink-hair's discomfort. Thanks to his strengthened hearing, that loud scream just now almost left him deaf in his right ear. The rebellious girl let go of her father and marched up to be face-to-face with her twin, grinning mischievously at her while meeting her glare head-on. "You're just jealous because dad loves me more!"

"W-what?" Elis's eyes widened, catching through the corner of her eyes if her father was listening to them now.

'And what will you say to that? I wonder…' Much to her disgrace, he was, even if partially, and staring at the two, mainly at her, with some expectation in his eyes.

"L-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-lies and slander! T-t-t-t-that's not true!" Her face started to burn and not because of some fire. This was also accompanied by some stuttering too, making it all the cuter in the older man's eyes. His little girl still had some feelings for him! Oh, the end of world is not so close after all! "Y-y-you know I love father, yes! B-but with the respect he deserves!"

He sweatdropped at the girl's comeback. 'Heart-warming, my little girl… but you made me feel a century older…'

"Oh~? Are you sure you're not jealous?" Backpedaling to be next to Natsu again, Eris summoned the flame back on her hand and swung her free arm across her father's shoulders again, leaning possessively against his right side. "I mean, I have dad's magic and you don't, and you know how much he loves to eat my fire~."

'Okay… it made sense but it sounded wrong too… really, really wrong.' The grown-up thought with sweat falling from every single pour of his body. Really, one thing is for his girls to love him like any girl should love her father, but this was another level. A very disturbing level.

"T-that may be true…" Elis muttered under breath, shaking a little and lowering her face to look at the ground. She clenched her fists at her sides and made up her mind, remembering something that was sore for her sister as well. This was something that needed to be fought evenly, no matter the consequences! She raised her head and glared at her sister, slightly throwing her off-balance, and called a massive claymore to her hand. This, I note, surprised everyone. "But I resemble mother more than you! Ergo, father loves me as much as he loves mother or even more!"

'…somehow, that made more sense, even if it's as disturbing as the other fact.' Natsu stared bug-eyed at the girl and the massive weapon she held and later went on to see what the other one would respond to this proclamation. He knew that this made the matter all the more complicated. 'And now, let's wait for the answer of contestant number two!'

Eris stood dumbfounded for a few minutes, mulling over the facts thrown at her and only reacted when she noticed her father's expecting eyes on her. He had a raised eyebrow, showing his interest in what she would answer to her sister's words.

"B-b-b-b-bullshit! Y-y-you know that's bullshit!" Another girl with a burning face and Natsu was left alone, finally. He sighed after the rebellious girl let go of him and watched with a small smile how the twins started a bickering over who was more loved by him and whatnot.

'You both are like your mother…' He thought, since he knew that voicing his internal words would only amplify the argument even more, and moved towards the little one of the group. She was left aside, tending to the burned blue cat and out of the argument of the older sisters, which was good in Natsu's opinion. He approached her, a small smile on his face as he saw her sitting on the ground with a smile as she tended to her foster-uncle. 'And even though you both are right, this little one here is the winner.'

"Is that true?" The little girl asked to the blue ball of fur on her legs, a bit curious over what she was hearing. Her smile never faltering.

"A-aye… Natsu used to be rowdier than he is now." Happy told to the giggling little girl, using his paws to express how the pink-haired man used to be. Said man chuckled quietly at the memories of his best friend. "He would go swuuush! Paaaf! Booom! In every job we went to or whenever we fought someone strong…"

"But dad still does that when he's on a job." The little girl thought for a second, remembering whenever her father returned home after a job was completed, only to be scolded by her mother for all the destruction he caused. "Mom's always scolding him because of property damage and other things."

"Oh! But he used to do lots more! It usually involved entire cities burning!" The cat explained further, grinning in amusement when the pink-haired man in question appeared on his line of sight with a small smile on his face. "I'm pretty sure he got whipped!"

Natsu flinched, the smile he was carrying vanishing from his face. 'W-why, you little-!'

The little girl quirked an eyebrow at the word. "Whipped?"

And Happy was sent flying towards the end of the world when the pink-haired man grabbed his head and threw him as a living fireball towards the horizon. "YOU'RE MEAN, NATSUUUUUUUUUU~!"

Sweatdropping at the sight of the burning, flying cat, the little girl turned slowly to look at her father and found him with his gaze shadowed, looking towards nothing in particular before spinning on his feet and heading to the city's downtown. "D-dad…?"

"Call your sisters and follow me, Erza." Natsu ordered without a hint of joke in his voice, letting his trench coat billow with the soft breeze of the afternoon. "We still have to find your brother."

'I guess he got moody over what Uncle Happy said…' Erza, named so because of her mother, nodded slowly and stood up, dusting off the hems of her dress as she watched her father disappear down the road. She narrowed her eyes in thought, a bit of pain in her chest at the lonely image. 'He really misses you, mom.'

"O-ouch! Elis! Time-out! Time-out! Dad's leaving!"

"W-what!? W-where-!? Wait for me, father!"

"Wait for US! I'm going too!"

"No! You won't taint father with your presence!"

"Stop saying I'll taint him, dammit! I'm not a disease!"

"You should be!"

"I heard that, bitch!"

Little Erza sighed as she followed after the path of destruction of her sisters, looking now at the setting sun.

There was now one person more to be found before heading to wherever her mother was.

And that person was at the capital, Crocus.

'Lotus-nii…'

To be continued.

A/N: Derp, I forgot that an Author's Notes goes here. Sorry, mid-terms are frying my brain. Quite literally with the blazing heat that's going on around these parts. *coughs* Anywho... this story is something that came to me after fantasizing a little about those Family/Future Fics and possibilities, you know, something aside the usual "boy gets the girl" or the opposite. This is more to see how things would be in the future, after "boy gets the girl" or the opposite and how their lives are after some years pass. Yep, pretty interesting and funny. Considering some characters seem to never change.

Would you care to accompany me in the three chapters that will make this story? *uses sad-puppy eyes to charm you into saying 'yes'*

Saludos.