I do not own Fairy Tail.

Imagine a Fiore where Natsu Dragneel had been found, not by Makarov, but by Jose from Phantom Lord. A Fiore where the twin dragon slayers of Phantom Lord were renowned for their cruel deeds and brutal efficiency. A Fiore where Fairy Tail is not the top guild, but the second from the top.

Imagine that someone else had been found by Makarov instead. A young girl, who had no idea of the magic she possessed, and to whom things just seemed to happen…

This is the story of HER Fairy Tail.

The steady thud of his footsteps kept him company. He'd been trudging down this road for six weeks now, and if not for the constant sound of his own feet he would have been walking in total silence.

He wasn't a green adventurer, so at least there was no 'honeymoon' phase of singing and whistling before the excitement inevitably faded and the drudgery of the road took over. He was well acquainted with the monotonous road and he loved it. There was something incredibly intoxicating to him about going wherever he wanted under his own power. Of course, he had been acting on a job request, but that didn't mean he had to head straight to the job and straight back again.

Especially after that thing had happened.

Ah well. He was only a few hours away from home now. It would be so good to be home, it had been about three years since he had last set foot in Magnolia.

He stopped all of a sudden, a wild grin on his face, as he felt a flash of a very familiar magical signature. In turn, the man let out a small amount of his own magic, letting it act like a beacon.

He wasn't disappointed. Within a few short minutes, the person who he had sensed appeared at the bend of the road. Pink hair bobbed up and down as the figure ran at him. Following behind him was a person toting long and wild black hair.

"Gildarts!"

Natsu called out to his old friend and rival. It might have been a one-sided rivalry, but both men enjoyed it immensely.

"Hey Natsu, how's it going? Who's your pal?"

Natsu smirked while the black-haired man scoffed and looked away, clearly disinterested. Gildarts sensed there was something there he shouldn't pry into.

"I'm doing pretty well old man, Gajeel and I are just headed out on a mission. Bunch of Dark mages to round up. How about you Gildarts?"

Smarting a little at the 'old man' comment, Gildarts looked over at the man Natsu had identified as Gajeel. He had the same kind of presence as Natsu, which could only mean...

"Gajeel, was it? You're a Dragon Slayer too, aren't you?"

Gajeel looked straight into Gildarts' eyes and spoke in a tone that would make a lesser man squirm.

"Yeah, I'm the Iron Dragon Slayer. You got something to say?"

Gildarts shook his head, a polite and warm smile on his face. Turning back to Natsu, whose excitement was pouring off of him, the older man shrugged off his pack. This was what their rivalry was about; Natsu wanting to become the strongest, and Gildarts refusing to budge.

Taking a step back, Natsu lowered himself into a half-crouch. Gildarts spread his feet to shoulder width, and leaned forward a little, anticipating a frontal attack.

The boy's arms circled in big sweeping movements, fire spreading out from his fingers to cover his arms entirely. Then, strangely, he began to spin on his toes like a dancer, whipping around faster and faster. As the flames climbed higher and higher into the sky, Gildarts couldn't help but be impressed by the boy's progress. He was well on the way to mastering the use of his magic.

Then he remembered that he was fighting Natsu, and leapt through the flames fearlessly. His Crash magic, drawn about him in a defensive shield, dispersed the fire as he passed through it, leaving...

Nothing.

"What?" He said aloud in confusion. He glanced around quickly, not letting up his guarded senses. There! A tiny wisp of fire sat almost out of sight next to a tree. Natsu must be able to move through his fire now, the way Laxus moved through lightning.

He turned towards the flame, only to have his jaw crack as Natsu's fire-coated fist collided harshly with it. Genuine shock spread across his face, only to be replaced with a grin. He met Natsu's eye as the boy leapt back out of the way of the wild haymaker the older man had thrown in retaliation. There was a terrifying seriousness behind the playful eagerness Natsu had always shown.

Something happened to the boy' Gildarts thought, as he dodged a flaming kick. 'Something really hurt him'. The tiny moment of distraction as he saw Natsu's eyes harden at his inquisitive gaze was enough for Natsu to land a very nasty firey slash down his face. His claws left two deep, parallel cuts along the man's right cheek. At least they were instantly cauterised by the flame... but that didn't stop them from hurting.

"AAAAARGH!!" Gildarts yelled as he reflexively lashed out at Natsu far harder than he intended. His magic automatically gathered around his fist as it collided with Natsu's shoulder. The boy's eyes widened to inhuman size as his shoulder joint was rather painfully disassembled, his arm dropping to the ground. Then he dropped to his knees, roaring in pain and anger. Flames swirled around the wound, and they slowly took shape into a brand new arm.

Gildarts' expression morphed from horror to astonishment as the new arm settled from flame to flesh. Natsu's pain faded, and he shut his mouth, staring hard at the older man. Said older man stood slowly, squaring his shoulders and crossing his arms.

"Now, I would apologise for, uh, destroying your arm, but you seem to have a new one, so I don't need to, right?"

Natsu continued to stare for a long moment, then burst out laughing. He looked at Gildarts before pointedly glancing at his discarded limb. They watched in tandem as the limb disintegrated into tiny red scales.

"It's a handy little trick, more so if you're expecting to be heavily injured. I wasn't quite expecting to lose an arm, so I roared way too loudly. I did the same thing with my foot fighting a Dark guild a few months back. They ignored me 'cos my foot was stuck in a trapping spell, but I slashed it off and grew it back while they were focussed on Gajeel. Served the bastards right when we beat 'em up."

Gildarts nodded sagely, trying to keep his impressive air intact. Natsu shattered that with a single uninterested glance. Stepping forward to stand right in front of the Dragon Slayer, Gildarts placed his hands on his shoulders.

"You've certainly grown up a lot, Natsu. You have a hell of a lot of power now, and you know how to wield it. I'm proud of how much you've grown. One day you'll surpass even me! Just remember to keep all of your friends in mind, don't forget about them in your pursuit of power." He glanced pointedly at Gajeel, who huffed once again.

Pulling back from the boy, he laughed and said "Well, I'm gonna haul these tired old bones of mine back to Fairy Tail now, I'll see you later Natsu! It was good to meet you, Gajeel!"

Natsu waved jovially at Gildarts' retreating back, while Gajeel quietly took his other hand. Once the man had disappeared from sight, Gajeel turned to his partner and spoke softly to him.

"I always hate when you do that stupid trick of yours."

Natsu nestled his face into Gajeel's shoulder, his reply muffled by fabric and skin.

"I know. I didn't think I'd have to do it."

The older Slayer rested a hand atop his head, silently accepting that neither of them could change the past, that they had to live with what had happened. At least Natsu wouldn't be left with a permanent injury from the affair.

Makarov had been overjoyed when his strongest mage had returned. It meant he had his drinking buddy back, as well as someone to delegate some measure of paperwo... uh, responsibility to.

Although... the conversation he'd had in his office with Gildarts had been troubling to say the least.

"So, you're telling me that you survived an encounter... with that thing?! Holy hell, Gildarts, screw the quest, I'm just glad you're alive and back at Fairy Tail! He's the reason you have those scars then."

His eyes widened further when Gildarts shook his head and pointed to the scar on his cheek. "This little beauty came from our friend from out of town. He's gained a hell of a lot of power."

"Care to elab-"

"He regrew a limb in front of me."

Makarov stood in shocked silence for a few moments. Gildarts basked in the glory of shocking his aged master so thoroughly. He the grimaced as he realised he would have to explain why he'd had to regrow said arm.

After calming down, Makarov gave voice to the dreaded question.

"What did you do?"

Sighing, the man let his shoulders slump before answering.

"Well, we had a little fight to see how strong he was. He was fighting with a seriousness I've never seen in him before and he surprised me, cutting my cheek. I... uh... may have accidentally disintegrated his shoulder with my Crash magic on a reflex."

"YOU WHAT?!"

"Easy, easy! He grew it back! Made a whole new arm out of fire!"

"THAT IS BESIDE THE POINT! YOU DESTROYED A KID'S ARM!"

At this point, the veins in his forehead were standing out quite vividly. The shocks of the conversation were manifesting in a rapidly progressing bad mood. Having now been both stunned and angry, he would soon move on to hysteria.

Thankfully, Gildarts recognised the danger signs and headed it off before it became a problem.

"The important thing is that we report that beast to the Council. I plan to make a trip to Crocus and around a few other places, I'll stop by on the way. Just give me a few days to recover from the journey, all right?"

Makarov nodded. Thank god Gildarts actually stepped up occasionally.

"Alright. Just wait at least until I have returned from the Master's Conference. I don't want Mira to be the only S-class mage here."

Gildarts nodded.

"So you're the one I've heard about... you don't look like much, Elizabeth of Fairy Tail, but your impeccable track record and sizeable bounty are... very enticing. Perhaps I will trouble myself with your capture, after all."

The figure turned on their heel to begin pacing the room in front of the Farseeing Lacrima. Their cloak, which was enchanted by a Shadow mage from the Eisenwald guild to completely obscure their features while they wore it, hung on the single coat hook beside the door of the room.

The innkeeper would probably ask for money in the morning. They had to be gone by then. Donning the cloak and gathering their few supplies into a bag, they took one last look around the room.

As the figure leapt out of the window, they smiled, thinking about their new task.

'Oh, this will keep me entertained... Elizabeth.'

AND THAT is another chapter!

I am so so sorry that I have not uploaded anything in so long, and that it isn't even my main fic, but I've honestly been finding it hard to write that series with so little support since about chapter 7. I will continue to write a few bits and pieces, but I will NOT be posting anything more on that fic until I get some more interest.

I will be updating THIS fic more regularly though, hopefully once a week. We shall see.

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