A/N: Alright, it has been decided! Roran will be learning magic in this story! When? Read long enough to found out. Where? Same answer. Be sure to leave reviews, I love hearing what you guys have to say!

Magic Revealed

Natsu and Wendy stepped up to the porch of Horst's home, Wendy knocking timidly on the door, afraid that if Natsu did it, he might break it down. They waited a few moments before a middle-aged woman opened the door. She seemed surprised at the sight of the two young people, so Wendy said, "Um… Hi. Is this the home of Mister Horst?"

"Yes, I'm his wife," the woman replied. "Can I or my sons help you with anything?"

"Oh, so you're Elaine, then!" Natsu said with a bright smile. "Your husband said that it's be cool if we crashed here for the night as long as we helped out around the house!"

"He… did?" Elaine seemed wary, and Wendy could understand. "Do you have some kind of proof of this?"

"Huh?" Natsu froze. "Aw, crap. We shoulda thought of that before, shouldn't we?"

"I'm sorry, but unless you have someone who can vouch for you, I can't just let you in," Elaine replied softly. "I am sorry. If you really did speak with my husband, would you object to waiting outside until he comes home?"

"Not at all," Wendy answered. "We apologize for the trouble, ma'am."

Elaine smiled and said, "You seem like a nice couple of kids. If you really are staying with us tonight, I wouldn't mind having such polite guests." As she closed the door, Wendy giggled at the thought of Natsu being polite. She was lucky that he hadn't just smashed down the door to let himself in.

"Man, this sucks!" the boy groaned as he sat down on the porch. "Now I still gotta wait to eat something!" Before he could continue complaining, Elaine reappeared at the door with a apir of meat pies in each hand.

"I see no reason why I can't give a pair of hungry children a bit of a meal, though," she said with a smile. "Enjoy them, please."

Natsu's eyes lit up with delight and he snatched one of the pies and immediately started wolfing it down with great speed, much to Elaine's surprise. "I'm sorry about him…" Wendy said with an embarrassed smile. "Thank you very much, Miss Elaine. You're a nice lady."

"Thank you, child," Elaine said with another smile. To Wendy's surprise, she made no move to go back inside, but instead moved to I down on the porch with the two children. "Your parents did a good job in raising you."

"Oh!" Wendy exclaimed as she bit into the meat pie. She swallowed the delicious piece and replied, "Well, thank you! Gre- Er, my mother always taught me to be polite with strangers." Looking over at Natsu, who was still attacking his pie, she sighed and said, "It's a shame that Mister Igneel didn't exactly do the same with Natsu."

"Where are your parents?" Elaine wondered curiously.

Wendy's face became overshadowed as she took another bite and swallowed pat the lump in her throat. "Both Natsu's dad and my mom disappeared seven years ago. We haven't seen them since then."

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry!" Elaine gasped. "I had no business asking that of you! I deeply apologize!"

"No, it's okay," Wendy mumbled. "We've um… We were travelling with a group of friends, but we got kind of lost and wound up in the Spine. We wanted to head to Theirnsford after we stayed here for a bit, hoping to find some… distant family members." She felt bad about lying to Elaine, but if they were to tell the truth, they would either be ridiculed or feared. "Eragon introduced us to your husband this earlier today, which is how we ended up here."

"Oh, so you met Eragon, did you?" Elaine smiled. "I've always thought that he was a pleasant young man. His Uncle Garrow raised him well."

"His uncle?" Wendy asked after another bite of food.

"Yes, the poor boy," Elaine sighed. "His mother showed up one day out of nowhere, gave birth to him five months later, and then vanished the next morning. The poor boy never got the chance to meet her, and he's never known his father. Even his aunt passed away, which was quite the blow for him."

"That's so terrible," Wendy said sadly. "At least I got to be with my mother for a while before she left. Poor Eragon…"

"Man that was awesome!" Natsu suddenly cried while leaping into the air. "Oh man, I've got a fire in my belly now!" Elaine looked at him, dumbfounded at his change in attitude.

Wendy giggled and said, "Food always makes Natsu happy. If he's feeling down, a good meal will cheer him right up!"

"Um, pardon me for asking…" Elaine said as she peered closely at Natsu. "But when you said you were travelling with friends, were they perchance a trader's guild?"

"Uh…" Wendy balked, not sure how to describe her friends in Fairy Tail without stretching the truth too far.

"Nah, we're a wizard's guild!" Natsu grinned happily. At first Wendy nearly had a heart attack, but then he added, "We did all kinds of tricks, and if somebody needed our help, we never turned 'em down!"

"Magic tricks?" Elaine asked with a confused expression. "What kind of tricks do you do?"

Oh no… Wendy thought. Please don't, Natsu! Don't do it!

The pink-haired boy grinned and said, "Well, if you have fire on a stick or something, I can show you my tricks! Wendy here was our acrobat- sometimes you'd swear that the wind itself was helping her!"

"How so?" Elaine wondered aloud.

"She can show you now!" Natsu grinned as he winked at the petrified girl. "Can't you, Wendy?"

"Uh… That might not be the best idea…" Wendy said hesitantly.

"Please, do show me," Elaine said with a smile. "I'd like to see what kind of trick you can do, Wendy."

"Well, okay…" Wendy got to her feet and handed Elaine her pie. "Just so you know, my stage name was the Sky Dragon Wizard, so don't get freaked out when I pull out my stuff, okay?"

"I promise I won't," Elaine smiled wider. "Sky Dragon, hmm? Sounds interesting."

Wendy took a deep breath and crouched slightly in the middle of the street. Then she shouted, "Magic of the sky, lend me your power!" Her body glowed slightly just before she leaped up high, and came down in an arc to land on the roof of Horst's two-story house.

Elaine gaped at the sight while Natsu laughed and said, "Nice work, Wendy!"

"That…" Elaine gasped. "That was amazing! How did you do that?!"

Wendy leaped down and bowed at her waist before she straightened with a smile and said, "A magician never reveals her secrets." Behind Elaine, Natsu gave her a thumbs-up. I guess he's smarter than he looks sometimes, she thought to herself. Telling her it was a trick actually worked somehow...

"Elaine?" a deep, familiar voice said, catching the attention of the three people outside. "Is everything alright?" Horst asked.

"Oh, nothing!" Elaine said with a smile as she embraced her husband. "These two were just showing me a trick that they used to perform- Wendy here is quite talented!"

"Is she now?" Horst said with a raised eyebrow. "So they used to be entertainers, eh? I suppose that would explain the strange hair color and symbol on their shoulders…"

"You got a problem with my hair?!" Natsu cried, instantly angry.

"Natsu, calm down!" Wendy begged as she held him back while he rambled angrily. "He didn't mean anything by it!"

"Dad always said my hair looked great!" he shouted, still angry, much to the older people's bewilderment. "He said it made me look like a Fire Dragon Wizard he could be proud of!"

Elaine whispered something to Horst, whereupon his gaze softened and he said, "I apologize, Natsu. I didn't know it meant that much to you. Why don't I show you where you'll be staying the night so we can get to dinner?"

I'm gonna- Food?" he suddenly stopped yelling. "Well why didn't you just say so?" he grinned happily.

Again, Horst and Elaine were taken aback by his rapid attitude change. When they looked at Wendy as he walked in the house, she sighed heavily and said, "I'm so sorry… I know he can be a bit much, but I promise he means well."

"Don't worry about him lass," Horst chuckled. "I'd rather deal with him than Sloan any day of the week. And besides, I'll make sure he's good and tired out after I put him to work in the forge tomorrow."

The meal was delicious, and the two young wizards found Albreich and Baldor, Horst's sons to be very nice people. In a way, the manner in which they would bicker with one another in a friendly banter reminded them of team Shadowgear.

They were made to sleep in the same room- as far as Horst's family knew, they were cousins, and they only had the one spare room- but Natsu simply took a pillow and slept on the floor, saying that he never got cold because of his fire dragon magic. When she tried to overcome her embarrassment and insist that he sleep on the bed, he simply grinned and said, "Nah, I've had rougher nights out in the field. I'll be fine." And so they had spent the night thus, both of them exhausted by recent events.

In the morning, Baldor woke them up, starting with Wendy. But before he could wake up Natsu, Wendy grabbed his hand and said, "No, wait! Let me do it!"

"Why?" the young man asked, confused. "Does it really matter who wakes him up?"

"Yeah, uh… Just let me do it," Wendy grinned nervously. "He gets kind rowdy in the morning… Just watch." Taking the pillow off of her bed, she proceeded to crawl to the edge of the bed and then hit him with the pillow while shouting, "Natsu! Gray's gonna eat your breakfast if you don't get downstairs!"

"WHAT?!" the boy shouted, instantly awake and on his feet. "I'll kill that jerk! No one gets to eat me breakfast before me!" Wendy hit him in the face again with the pillow.

"Natsu!" she shouted. "You were dreaming."

"Huh?!" he said, looking around, realizing that he wasn't in the guild hall. "Oh, right! Well, gotta get downstairs anyways! Maybe there's a job we can do around here today!" And he bolted out of the room, happy as could be.

Baldor had watched the whole thing, dumbstruck. "Is… Is he always like that?" he asked.

"Most of the time…" Wendy sighed.

"Why did you need to wake him up like that, though?" the young man wondered aloud.

"Trust me, with Natsu, you learn pretty fast that you gotta be careful in your approach," the girl mumbled as she climbed out of bed. "Just ask Eragon about what happened when he tried to wake him up."

Later, Horst had Natsu in the forge while Wendy worked on house cleaning with Elaine. "All right, boy," Horst said as he showed Natsu the furnace. "We need to get this thing nice and hot. The wood is already inside, so let's-"

"Oh, you need a big fire, huh?" Natsu grinned devilishly. "That's my specialty. Get me a stick with a flame, and I'll get that little oven of yours going in to time flat."

Before Horst could come up with a reply, Baldor walked in and said, "I have the torch father. Sorry it took so- Oei, what are doing?!" His cry was drawn out as Natsu snatched the flaming brand with a hungry eye.

"Alright!" he laughed. "Just what I needed!" And then he stuck the fire in his mouth before anybody could stop him. Horst and his son looked at the boy, dumbstruck as he swallowed it, then belched a bit of smoke.

"All right!" he laughed with a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Not much, but then I don't need much for this!" Aiming his body right at the forge, he shouted, "Fire Dragon ROAR!" A roaring fire shot from his mouth, instantly lighting the furnace with an intense fire that made the other men wince in shock.

Turning to the dumbstruck smiths, he grinned and said, "Ha! Still got it! Fire-eating champion, Natsu Dragneel at your service!"

"H- H- How…?" Baldor gaped.

"Wizard trade secret," Natsu grinned wider. "Can't tell you that."

"Was that… actual magic?" Horst asked in shock.

Natsu shrugged and said, "I guess you could say that, though mine's a special kind." For a moment, neither men said anything in response.

Then Baldor grinned and said, "Amazing! If I could learn magic like that, I'd be a master smith in no time! Why didn't you tell us you were actual wizards?!"

"Eh, Wendy thought you'd be scared of us or something," Natsu shrugged. "I dunno why we had to hide it, really."

"Well…" Horst said, rubbing his beard. "I don't have a problem with it, as long as you don't hurt anyone with it… But your young cousin was right, you shouldn't go flaunting that about- I've no fear of you, but if that was your first impression on someone, they might become very frightened of you."

"Yeah, you shoulda seen Eragon the other night!" Natsu laughed. "He was totally freakin' out, man!" He doubled over laughing.

"Wait, Eragon knew?" Horst mused. "Ah well, it doesn't matter. We've got work to do. Baldor, show Natsu how to manage the fires and where to chop the wood." He cracked his knuckles and moved to fetch the materials he needed for a set of horseshoes.

By the end of the day, Natsu was still full of energy, and he was bored. "Man, isn't there a place we can go to kill time?" he grumbled as he hauled the last of the wood with Baldor.

"We could go to Morn's tavern for dinner if you'd like," the other young man offered. "I was going to meet a couple of friends there anyways. Would you care to tag along?"

"Sure, why not?" Natsu muttered. "It'll be something."

And so they headed off down the street while Wendy stayed behind- Baldor said that the tavern was no place for a young girl. Wendy told Natsu to be careful and not to cause any trouble while he was out. "Hey, I never cause trouble!" Natsu shouted as Baldor dragged him away by the scarf like Wendy told him to do. "It's always those idiots Gray and Gajeel!"

The tavern actually kind of reminded Natsu of the old guild hall as he looked around. The crowd was a little older, and there was no job request board, but it still reminded him of Fairy Tail. He sighed heavily and sat down at a booth, telling Baldor that he would catch up in a bit.

His eyes wandered around the place, only lingering on certain spots every now and again. Mostly, his mind filled the place with his memories of days past, days spent with Lisanna, Erza, Mira, Elfman, Gray, and even Lucy. His eyes glinted with tears as he remembered his white-haired friend.

"Hello there!" a burly man shouted loudly, sitting across from Natsu, uninvited. "Care to drown yer shorrowsh?" From his flushed neck and slurred speech, it was easy to tell that he was drunk.

"Not interested," Natsu replied sourly.

"Not intereshted?" the man repeated. "Thatsh pwetty wude of you…" He belched and giggled, further adding to Natsu's disgust.

"Lay off, pal," he snapped. "I'm not in the mood."

"Eric, leave the boy alone," Baldor said as he was flanked by two of his friends. "He said he's not interested in your company, and I wouldn't mess with him."

"Ish that sho?" the man said, staggering to his feet. "I think… hic… that you should… go home… boysh… Thish ish fer men… only." And then he shoved Baldor over with surprising force, sending him reeling into his friends. They all collapsed, and several of the customers started laughing.

They stopped when Natsu shot to his feet with fire in his eyes and- literally- in his fists. "I said to knock it off!" he roared as Eric stared at the fire, wide eyed. "Fire Dragon IRON FIST!" The powerful blow smashed into the man's stomach, sending him flying into a table, breaking it instantly. He advanced on the man, snarling, "Next time you wanna pick on one of my friends, you'd better make sure I'm not around to hear about it!"

"Natsu, stop!" Baldor called out. "It's not worth it!" The pink-haired boy growled softly, then ceased using his fire.

Walking out the door, he said to Baldor, "I'm going back. Sorry about this, pal." And he left, shoulders slumped and head hanging.

He was on his way to the house when he ran into the old man from before. "You," he said in surprise.

"You have some explaining to do, boy," Brom replied shortly. "Like who you really are and where you come from. And don't bother lying to me- I know the presence of magic."

"You've got some explaining to do yourself," Natsu grinned savagely. "Eragon told me that dragons haven't been around for over a hundred years. So why do you still smell like one?"

Brom's eyes widened and he stepped closer to Natsu, hissing sharply, "What do you know about that?"

"You wanna know where I come from, I wanna know why you smell like a dragon," Natsu replied, still smiling. "I'll start by telling you that Wendy and I are not from this world as far as I can tell. Now, your turn. Why do you smell like my dad?"

"Your father?" Brom asked, bewildered.

"Yeah, Wendy and I were raised by dragons where we come from," Natsu replied. "Now spill it: why do you smell like a dragon?"

"Hmm…" Brom scowled. "This is not a conversation for outdoors. Come to my house. I will tell you what I can."

"Fine, but I'd better get the answers I'm looking for," Natsu answered.

"Come then, and I will tell you the tale of how our world came to be without dragons and their riders, save one," Brom said as he started walking back to his home. "Allow me to tell you why those with any real knowledge of dragons are exterminated in Alegesia."

Makarov: Natsu, you idiot! How could you just use your magic like that?!

Mirajane: Master, calm down. He'll be fine- he's Natsu, after all!

Makarov: Still, he shouldn't be making such bold moves when he's got wendy to take care of! What all these people think that they're some kind of demons like in Edolas?!

Mirajane: Well, from what I can see, Mister Horst and his family seem pretty down-to-earth. I think that they'll be fine!

Makarov: One family isn't the entire town... Ugh, I hope Mataras knows what he's doing with those two.

Mataras: You doubt my abilities?

Mirajane/Makarov: GAH! When did you get here?!

Mataras: Again, I'm always here... In any case, you can all relax, they'll be fine. I promise.