Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters belong to Hiro Mashima. Kai is a character of my own creation.

This takes place in the time that Natsu and Gray are trying to revive Kai after they rescued him from Acnologia. Words in italics are from Chapter 33: Stronger Together

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Choose To Live

Kai looked around the darkness that surrounded him trying to figure out where he was. He noticed a patch of light further up ahead and began to move towards it. Whatever that light was it felt peaceful and Kai welcomed it after all the fighting he had just done. He was so tired.

"I'm disappointed in you. I was hoping I wouldn't see you here.", a voice came out of the darkness.

"Igneel?", Kai asked with hope as he recognized the voice.

The dragon grunted in acknowledgment.

"What's at the end of the tunnel?", Kai asked sounding nervous.

"The Dragon Eyrie. I will be headed there myself soon. I just wanted to make sure you didn't do anything stupid."

"Can I go with you?"

"You need to go back, it's not yet time for you to be here. You have a long life ahead of you."

"I don't want to go back.", Kai said quietly.

"Why not?", Igneel asked curiously, "What happened?"

"I fought Acnologia and lost. It was….. painful."

"So Acnologia survived after all.", Igneel said with sadness. All of their planning had been for nothing.

"I don't know what happened exactly, Tiamat was fighting him when Father and Gray rescued me from Acnologia's fangs. I don't remember anything after Gray covered me in ice, I was just here."

"Tiamat fought Acnologia? I told you she would surprise you,", Igneel didn't want to say it out loud but she had surprised him as well. After what he had seen he had not thought she cared enough about the boy to bother coming to his aid. He wondered what changed her mind. He tried not to let himself dwell on the news that the dragon had managed to maul Kai.

"You are still connected to the world of Earthland, you can still return if you want to.", Igneel noted, "The question is, why don't you?"

Kai sighed, "They're better off without me."

"Why would you say that?"

"I can pretend that Tiamat's not my mother all I want but that doesn't change the fact that she is. What does that make me? Am I evil too? Will I turn into the next creature they have to fight?"

"That's a stupid excuse.", Igneel snapped.

Kai flinched. He had not expected that response.

"It doesn't matter whose son you are, what matters is who you want to be. Good and evil, they are both choices anyone can make and neither is the product of any one choice. No one is born being either. Tell me, do you want to be evil?"

"What? Of course not."

"Then what are you so worried about?"

"What if they realize they shouldn't love me?", Kai said nervously.

"Kai, both your fathers already love you very much. They don't care how you came to be. If you could see them right now, I bet you would see that your choosing to be here is hurting them more than anything you think you might do ever could."

As if on cue Natsu's desperate voice could be heard echoing through the tunnel.

"Come on Kai, fight! Don't go. Stay with us, please."

Kai could hear the pain in his father's voice and his resolve began to falter. Was he doing the right thing?

They suddenly heard Gray, the pain in his voice tearing at Kai's heart.

"There's so many things we want to do with you. So many places we want to take you. Please come back to us."

Igneel could see the uncertainty in Kai's face and realized there was something else he wasn't being told. Something else that was really bothering the boy.

"Why don't you tell me what the actual problem is?"

Kai sighed, Igneel knew him too well.

"When I came out all I wanted to do was to help. I wanted to save you from Tiamat and I did but I was too weak. I needed saving and I ended up draining Father of most of his magic which made him unable to fight like he normally would and that hurt everyone else too. Then because of my recklessness I did nothing but make them worry about me. I couldn't survive out there on my own power. I made Uncle Zeref crazy because he thought I was Father, and I purposefully hurt Tiamat because she wasn't who I wanted her to be which caused her to try to kill Father. When Silver tried to kill Father I wasn't even able to do anything to help and then I let my rage control me and I attacked Silver with my strongest roar. I tried to fight Acnologia with the dragon slayers using everything you taught me but we weren't able to do much of anything and then when I tried to save one of the dragon slayers I got myself mauled in his place."

"I failed at everything that I tried and I brought nothing but pain to the people I love and after all that I wasn't even able to save you. I am supposed to be this all powerful being and that was the best I could manage. I don't deserve to be out there."

Igneel listened with growing horror at what Kai was telling him and all he could think was. 'My fault, this is all my fault. Kai should never have left Natsu's body.' He tried to pull his thoughts together to try to fix the mess he had created.

"I think you're being too hard on yourself, youngling. You're barely a month old. Let me tell you what I heard. You went up against a very old and powerful Dragon Deity and managed to keep her from killing me with one of her strongest spells. You discovered an ability that neither one of us knew you had and used it to protect yourself and others. You managed to give hope to someone who lost it long ago, he might have gone crazy but Zeref now knows that there is someone he can be close to even with his curse and someday you might be able to help him with that. Tiamat is not easily hurt but you somehow impressed her enough to make her think you worth saving. I agree you probably should not have attacked Silver that way but you saw your family in danger and you protected them and you led the dragon slayers together to fight and enemy no one expected you to defeat. You did all that with almost no power available to you. If you were able to do all that, don't you think that you deserve to live out there, with them?"

Kai looked uncertain, not sure how much of what Igneel had said was true but wanting desperately to believe it.

Igneel sighed, "Kai, I can't make this choice for you but I think you're acting out of fear and that's never a good thing. If you are just hiding here because you're scared then you didn't learn anything I ever tried to teach you. Don't you want to go back with them, to live the life you dreamed of with your family?"

"Of course I do.", Kai yelled in frustration.

"Then stop hiding and fight for them. Now get out of here, don't keep them waiting any longer. Someday, hopefully far in the future it will be your time to come to the Eyrie. I promise I will be here waiting for you. Until that time I will be watching."

"Igneel?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks."

With that he let himself be drawn back to the sound of his father's cries.

"Damn it!"

Kai began to absorb his Father and Dad's magic power. He wasn't sure he had made the right decision but he allowed himself a smile, he would get to call Gray Dad after all.

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A/N I had envisioned this happening when I was writing the last chapter of To Kill A Dragon but it didn't really fit into the chapter and it would have been weird in the Epilogue as it had already happened.