On one note, I should really start watching Fairy Tail on my own time. My brother is... 'slow'... And can't read subtitles fast enough, so I've been seeing the English dub for ninety percent of my watch time. Japanese dub, I need you...

Ahem. But enough with my complaining. Now, to return to Fairy Tail!


Chapter 3 - A Perfect Blend


"I'm honestly surprised at how much information the Isdonas gave us," Lucy commented. A thin stack of papers rested on top of a nearby coffee table. "I mean, they included Irien's birthday – That's to be expected – But they also listed his allergies, his blood type, his favorite room in their old house, his most ticklish areas… Oh, and they even put down where he's got a birthmark!"

"To be fair, we did ask them to give us a thorough list of what they thought would be useful, Lu-chan," Levy replied. The corners of her mouth twitched upward. "I think it's a good thing that they had this all at hand."

"I think it's kind of weird."

"I don't. It's natural for grieving parents to be a little overboard. They probably had this stuff sorted out for the other people they've called on to help."

"That's correct, dear."

Lucy and Levy nearly jumped out of their seats when Ervana's voice snuck up behind them. The woman flashed a contrite smile.

"Terribly sorry, girls," she apologized. "It's a small bookstore. Voices tend to carry." Lucy set down the paper she was holding onto the table.

"It's alright, Ervana-san."

"So this isn't the first time you've asked for help?" Levy asked.

"It's the only time we've sent out a formal request to wizard guilds. We've hired professional investigators in the past, but they turned up dry. Maybe it's because we waited too long…" Levy blinked.

"How long did you wait to start looking for Irien…?"

"Oh, we only started two years ago," Ervana explained. "We wanted to wait until we were fully settled into a new place before trying to find Irien. That way he'd have a nice home to come back to if we were successful in our search. Unfortunately, we didn't think it would take that many years…" Lucy nodded.

"I understand," she said with a smile. "And that's the kind of sentiment that makes me glad we took this job. When we find Irien, he'll have such loving parents to come back to."

"Do you really think you three can pull through?"

"Absolutely. We'll find your son. Don't you worry."

"Ehhhhh!?" Levy's shriek interrupted their moment. Lucy's first thought was that maybe Levy had remembered something that could help them. With her amount of knowledge, anything was possible; however, the bluenette's next words dashed that possibility. "Er-Ervana-san! I-Is this true? Was Irien really a lightning user?"

"What!?" Lucy exclaimed. "Give me that!" She snatched the paper in Levy's hands away from her, and began reading it herself. True to the outburst, Cobalt and Ervana had put down that Irien's magic was lightning-based. It was there plainly in black and white lettering. Lucy's brown eyes bulged. "Holy crap… Wait a minute though; I thought Cobalt-san said Irien's magic abilities were weak! How is using lightning weak!?"

"And I thought you and Cobalt-san were different types of mages back then!" Levy added, still getting over the shock. "A transformation specialist and a Solid Script mage like me, right?"

"The ability to use lightning stems from me, actually," Ervana explained. "The men in my family were lightning users traditionally, and the females… Well, you can figure that out without much help."

"Solid Script mages?"

"Yes. According to my grandfather, it's been that way for generations."

"But what about that thing you guys mentioned about Irien being weak?" Lucy questioned again.

"He was weak because he couldn't actually use lightning. He only had immunity to it." Ervana frowned. "We found that out the hard way… He was out in a thunderstorm one night after chasing a frog onto the roof from his bedroom window. He was struck by lightning and the only thing wrong with him was a small burn where it had first hit him. Irien was almost three at the time."

"Yikes." Lucy winced. The mental image of that sweet little boy she'd seen in the pictures getting hit by lightning didn't sit well with her at all. "I can't imagine what it was like watching your only child get struck by a force of nature like that."

"It was terrifying; but at that moment, we were just glad he wasn't a born a girl. You wouldn't be here today if that were the case."

"… I still don't understand why you would call your son weak though, Ervana-san," Levy said. Her brows furrowed. "I think immunity to lightning is a sign of strength, not the opposite."

"No, he wasn't strong… My family's lightning users generally start showing signs of their abilities around that age. They have little control over the output of their magic, and make anything that runs on electricity go haywire. Not to mention the static cling and shocks other people would get when making physical contact with them. I saw it happen with my little brother. No such thing happened with Irien." Ervana stared wistfully out the store's window. "My son was definitely not going to be a wizard when he grew up; not with a pitiful level of magic like that… Even so… That didn't matter to me. It still doesn't matter to me. I just want him back."

Before Lucy could attempt to console her female client again, the sound of the front door's bell chimed throughout the store. Gajeel made his way across the room at a leisurely pace.

"We'd better head out now," he said. "The old man said if we wanna get back to Magnolia soon, it's better to leave on the first train outta' here. According to him, that's at midday sharp."

"Midday sharp?" Levy asked. "As in, twelve on the dot?" A glance over at the wall's analog clock sent her to her feet immediately. "Oh no! We've only got ten minutes to make it to the train station!"

"What!?" Lucy followed suit, practically leaping off her chair. "We've gotta leave now, then!" Quickly, she and Levy bundled up the papers they had been given and shoved them into a backpack Levy had bought at the store. A brand new, blue-bound book followed. Both girls bowed to Ervana.

"Thank you so much for everything!" Levy exclaimed. "And thank you for the book on Solid Script magic!"

"We'll get right to work as soon as we get back to the guild!" Lucy reassured her. Ervana smiled.

"I wish you all luck. Now, you'd best go catch that train, or you'll be stuck here even longer."

"Right!"


They made in into their seats with barely a minute left to spare.

Gajeel instantly positioned himself in a way that would not move the entire train ride. Levy sat next to him, which was across from Lucy.

"How long do you think it'll take Reedus to come up with a good sketch?" Lucy inquired, crossing her legs and leaning on them. Levy hummed in thought.

"I don't know… Reedus is very skilled, but I don't think he's ever been asked to do something like this before… Then again, how hard could it be?" Levy reached into her new blue knapsack and pulled out one of the photos they had been allowed to take. "I mean, I'm no artist or anything, so I wouldn't know… But even at age four, Irien seems to be a perfect mix of Cobalt-san and Ervana-san. He couldn't have changed that much as he got older." She handed the photo to Lucy, who took it eagerly.

The photo was of Irien and Cobalt on a dock somewhere. Cobalt was holding up a bass on a fishing line, something he had obviously caught. Irien was, of course, smiling like the child he was. Lucy found herself giving a smile of her own.

Levy was right – Irien was a complete blend of his parents. They had red and white hair, and he ended up with pink; Cobalt was very darkly-tanned and Ervana was very pale, so he had come out with a nice, normal-looking skin tone; the smile and shape of his eyes were all his father's, but Irien had obviously inherited his cheeks and eye color from his mother.

Lucy didn't know if that was genetically possible or not, but to her, it was kind of odd. Usually a child looked more or less like one of their parents. Heck, she herself didn't get any of her looks from her father. Someone being the perfect mix of both parents seemed… a little unnatural, to say the least; but who was she to question nature? Especially when concerning the bloodline of magic-users? The genetics were probably even more complicated for wizards than it was for normal people. She didn't want to think about it too hard, so she pushed the thought to the back of her mind with the intention of keeping it there.

"I just hope we can really pull this off," the blonde mused quietly. "I'd hate to disappoint the Isdonas. They've been without their son for such a long time, never knowing what happened to him… They deserve closure."

"And they're going to get it," Levy insisted with a determined smile. "After all, we're Fairy Tail wizards! We can do anything! And besides…" With a wink, she added, "Who knows family better than Fairy Tail?"

Lucy was happy to hear her best friend speak those words.


For once, the guild wasn't being torn apart by one of Gray and Natsu's rivalry-induced battles. Granted, their absence made the difference, but it was still nice to see the chaos to a minimum when they got back.

Mirajane greeted them, asking the trio how the meet with their clients went. Lucy and Levy explained the situation as best they could to the female bartender, leaving her with a sympathetic smile on her face.

"Those poor people… For their sake, I hope you guys will be able to complete this request." Lucy and Levy hoped for the same outcome. They said good-bye to Mirajane and went to go talk to Reedus. Gajeel stayed put because he wanted to order some food.

Reedus was sitting at a table with Wendy and Charle. The latter two were sitting on either side of him, watching him paint a portrait of Alzack and Bisca. The Sky Dragonslayer was giving him compliments here and there. Charle was silent.

"Excuse me, Reedus?"

The Picto Magic user looked up from his canvas. Lucy and Levy slid into the seats on the opposite side of the table. Wendy smiled at them.

"Ah, Lucy-san! Levy-san! How are you?"

"We're fine, Wendy," Lucy replied.

"We just need to ask Reedus for a favor," Levy said. Reedus blinked.

"M-Me?"

"Yes." Levy slipped her bag off of her shoulders and dug through it. She pulled out one of the color photos of Irien they had brought, and passed it over to the artist. Reedus picked it up, cocking his head to one side. Levy began to explain their situation. "You see, Lu-chan, Gajeel, and I took up a retrieval mission yesterday. We need to find this boy, Irien Isdona. He was separated from his parents fourteen years ago during Discord Palette's raid on Darnacor." Reedus frowned at the mention of the town, but let Levy continue. "Irien is about four in those pictures. We need you to create a drawing of what he would look like today, if he were about our age. It would make searching for him a lot easier by having something to work with. If you need other pictures, we have three others." Wendy and Charle peered over to get a better look at the photo.

"Oh, wow!" Wendy gasped. She giggled. "He looks just like a little Natsu!"

"I didn't think anyone else in the world would have a head of hair like that," Charle commented dryly. Lucy laughed.

"Yeah, me neither. Turns out, Irien ended up with a blended version of his parents' hair colors. His dad has red hair and his mom has white, and that made him a rose-head."

"Excuse me…" Reedus piped up. All four girls turned their attention to the bashful artist. Reedus looked at Levy. "You said you had other photos, right? You wouldn't happen to have ones with his parents in them too, would you…?"

"Ah, of course!" Levy stuck her hand into the backpack again and brought out the rest of the photos, eagerly handing them over to her guild mate. "Does that mean you can do it, Reedus?"

"I… I can try." Reedus's eyes widened when he saw the one photo that had all three of the family in it. "Th-This boy… He certainly has… It looks like his defining features had already set in by then. That's unusual…" Lucy felt her own eyes getting bigger when she heard that. So I was right, she thought. There is something strange about that.

"How is it unusual?" Wendy asked. Charle floated over to her friend.

"It's unusual because someone's defining traits don't set in until they're much older," the white cat clarified. "Of course, some features can be permanent from a young age, but this isn't as common an occurrence."

"I-I see…" Reedus studied the picture a bit more.

"I'm… I'm not a genetics expert by any means…" he said. "But it looks like both of his parents had some very dominant traits. That's probably why this boy has such striking features so early on." He brought his gaze back up to the teen girls in front of him. "Either way… I'll do the best I can to help. When do you need an accurate portrayal by?" Lucy and Levy looked at each other.

"Uhh… Hmm… I don't think we have a deadline," Levy mused. "But we'd like it as soon as possible." Reedus nodded.

"I'll start working on it when I'm done with my current project."

"Really, Reedus? Thank you so much!" Reedus just blushed and scratched behind his head.

"A-Anything for a fellow guild ma-"

The guild doors burst open before the artist could finish.

"WE'RE BAAAAAAAAAACK!"

"Aye sir!"

Lucy cringed as she heard her loudest teammates make their way through the entrance. Gray followed behind, quieter than Natsu and Happy as usual.

"For god's sake, can't you ever do things quietly?" he grumbled.

"No way, Ice Prick!" Natsu laughed heartily. "Where's the fun in that!?"

"Welcome back, you three!" Mirajane called. "How did the mission go?" Gray waved a greeting to her. Natsu's canines gleamed.

"It was way too simple!" the rosette cackled. "You'd think it was that group's first time robbing a town, they were so weak!" Gray snorted.

"And more than half the Jewels we were supposed to get went towards fixing the buildings that you destroyed."

"Natsu went overboard again," Happy snickered.

"I did not!" Natsu protested, getting in Gray's face. "And what do you mean by 'the buildings I destroyed'!? Huh!? I seem to recall you knocking a few places down, so don't you go putting the blame on me!"

"Why wouldn't I!?" Gray challenged. "Everything that goes wrong on a mission is usually your fault, anyway!"

"Say that again! I dare ya, Snow Man!"

"Flames-for-Brains!"

"Frigid asshole!"

"Flaming idiot!"

"Stripper!"

"What was that!?"

"Oh, it's so good to be back home…" Lucy muttered, sighing heavily.

"These two make me miss Cobalt-san and Ervana-san," Levy giggled.

"Boys, I'd stop arguing if I were you…!" Mirajane scolded the fire and ice boys lightly. "Erza may be on an S-Class mission, but what if she came back early and saw you two fighting like two cats after the last sardine?" At the mention of Erza, Natsu and Gray froze and broke apart.

"F-Fine," Natsu grunted, folding his arms. "I don't wanna be fighting against a weakling little snowflake anyway."

"Y-Yeah," Gray begrudgingly agreed while unconsciously taking off his shirt. "It'd be no fun putting out a little match like that quickly."

"Bastard." Gray ignored the insult and made his way over to the table where his other team member sat.

"Yo, Lucy," he greeted. "What've you been up to? Sorry we left you behind like that."

"I-It's okay, Gray…" Lucy mumbled. "But can you please put your pants back on?"

"Huh?" The Ice Make wizard looked down. "Crap! Not again!"

Somewhere in the guild, Juvia was hiding behind a pillar and biting at a handkerchief. How dare Lucy hog all of Gray-sama's attention like that! She will pay!

"Phew… Thanks for that, Lucy," Gray breathed, slipping his belt through the loops on his pants. "Anyway, so what have you been up to?" He glancing at the table. "You take up photography or something while we were gone?" He snatched one of the photos from Reedus, and looked at it. An amused smirk crossed his face. "What are these? Natsu's baby photos or something? Where'd you get 'em?"

"Hey, let me see those!" Natsu yelled, dashing over to Gray's side and peering over his shoulder. He frowned. "That doesn't look like me!"

"Are you kidding, Pyro? It's practically a match!"

"Aye, sir," Happy chanted, resting on Natsu's head. "Very alike."

"Nuh-uh! I know what I look like, and I'm way better looking than that kid!" the fire-eater protested.

"Really? I'd say it's the other way around."

"That's because you're blind, you naked popsicle!"

"At least I look good naked!"

"Yeah!? Well, at least I-! … Wait, how the hell would you know what I look like when I'm naked?"

"I don't! I just know I'm better-looking!"

"Oh, hey Erza!" Lucy called. Natsu and Gray broke up their fighting once again, only to find Lucy snorting in laughter.

"Stop joking like that, Luce!" Natsu snapped.

"Yeah," Gray agreed. "It wasn't funny the first time, and it's not going to be funny any time after that."

"I thought it was funny," Wendy commented to no one in particular. Charle huffed.

"Honestly, these Fairy Tail wizards…"

"Sorry, sorry," Lucy apologized to the boys with a smile. "I needed to get you two to shut up for two seconds so I could explain. These aren't pictures of Natsu. They're pictures of a boy named Irien Isdona. His parents posted in the guilds, saying that they wanted us to find him."

"You took up a solo mission, Lucy?" Gray asked, surprised.

"No, not exactly. Levy-chan asked me to tag along because she knew I needed the rent money. I went with her and Gajeel to-"

"Wait, you went on a mission!?" Natsu exclaimed. "Without me!?"

"Without us!?" Happy chimed.

"What did you expect me to do!? Wait for you guys to come back!?" Lucy fought back. "I have rent to pay, and the clients agreed to pay us for each day we work!"

"I can't believe you took up a job without us!"

"Aye!"

"I didn't take it up, I was asked to join! Besides, what does it matter to you!?"

"We're partners, Luce! We're supposed to be together!"

"Oh yeah!? You left me behind, moron! Or did you forget!?"

"Err…"

"Hypocrite!"

"Lucy's mean…"

"Oh, stuff it, cat!"

Wendy shifted nervously in her seat as she watched the banter go back and forth between the dragon and the Celestial Spirit mage. "Umm…! Levy-san? Do they always do this?" Levy grinned.

"You mean fight? Not usually, but it's not out of the ordinary. They tend to be disagreeable when the topic of missions and or Natsu's behavior pops up. Personally, I think they need a fight once in a while to keep cool." The blue-haired bookworm chuckled. "They're like a couple, aren't they?"

"Levy-chan! We are not!"

"They llllllllllike each other…"

"I said, stuff it!"


So. Much. Dialogue.

Yeah, I don't see Reedus much in either the manga or anime, so I wasn't sure how to write his character. The most I got from Google'ing him was that he was shy. Which isn't much to go on.

And no, Irien doesn't look that much like Natsu… Everyone just loves to tease him.