Hi there and welcome to chapter 7! Apparently my Author's forenotes are just going to turn into 'apology notes' since I apologize every time for how long it's been in between updates. T-T So sorry about the wait. I've been really having to plan out this story and the job, and so most of my days dedicated to writing this story have been spent sitting and planning. Foxtail-chan is trying. XD

Also I was planning on doing a little fluffy scene with Natsu and Lucy but when I saw the length of this chapter I decided I'd throw it into the next chapter instead. So look forward to that! Haha!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy! :D


Chapter 7: Isis and the Village of Peace

I watched silently as the small girl leaned back in the chair, rocking back and forth slightly with a satisfied smile on her face. The Language of Dragons? I'd never heard of it before, however I wasn't surprised. The day I met Natsu was the first day of my life I had been introduced to the possibility that dragons did in fact once exist, and not long ago. I found myself fascinated by them, and every spare chance I got I would sneak off to the library with Levy to try and find any mention of them in the literature there. I found little to none, but that didn't stop my curiosity about the beasts. I didn't know much about dragons beyond what Natsu had told me, so it didn't surprise me much that I'd never heard of their language.

Natsu bolted forward, vaulting off of his stool and sliding down to sit on his knees in front of the little girls' chair. "The Language of Dragons?" he questioned, his eyes bright. "I didn't know there was such a thing," he nearly whispered.

The room was completely silent as the girl studied Natsu up and down. We were all waiting with baited breath to hear more. I wasn't exactly sure why, but the girl fascinated me. She had just seemed like a normal kid, but now that she had woken up, there was a certain feeling about her that made me want to ask her questions. The fire in the fireplace crackled and the girl took in a quick breath, looking around to all of our faces and pushing herself back into her chair. We were intimidating her.

"Where are our manners?" Shagotte spoke up, waving a paw in the air. "Hello," she said, her features softening, "My name's Shagotte, and this is Natsu, Lucy, Gajeel, Levy, Happy, and Lily," she said calmly, gesturing to each of us as she spoke our names.

"And you are…?" Levy asked, leaning forward.

I slouched slightly. We had been so rude to her. This poor girl had basically popped up out of nowhere, scratched and bruised, just in time to faint, and here we were bombarding her with questions before we she had even gotten a chance to introduce herself and find out who we were. She had seemed so grateful out on the battlefield when we had opted to save her and let Raven Tail go, but she didn't know us. For all she knew we were the bad guys.

"I-I'm, Isis," she squeaked, her big green eyes darting around to all of us. "Nice to meet you," she added slowly, bringing her hand up to her mouth and slowly biting on her index finger's nail.

We all let out a collective sigh when we were convinced we hadn't scared her off for good, and that maybe with a little coaxing we could learn a little more about her and the language she spoke of.

"U-Um," she stuttered, "I don't mean to sound rude but…," she trailed off, glancing up at the ceiling. "Where am I?"

"Oh, of course, dear." Shagotte beat all of us to the punch and slid off her chair, slowly walking toward the girl, whose name was apparently Isis. "You're in our little village." Shagotte made a slightly embarrassed face, "We haven't come up with an official name for it yet, so I guess you could call it an Exceed village. You're only a few hours away from Magnolia."

Isis's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion, "Magnolia?"

"You've never heard of it?" I asked, a little bewildered. Magnolia was the one of the biggest towns in the region; hardly anyone from hundreds of miles away hadn't heard of it.

She shook her head, "Never heard of it."

"Well then, dear." The Queen once again spoke up before any of us had the chance. She had such a natural instinct to nurture. "Where are you from?"

"Almia!" Isis beamed, bringing her hand down from her mouth and sitting forward quickly. "You heard of it?"

"No dear, I haven't," Shagotte sighed, "I think you're a long way from home."

I shook my head. I had never heard of Almia either. Exactly how far away was it? How long and far had this girl traveled to get here? Her parents were sure to be quite worried by now. Was it really right to use her for information for our job when she was so small and so lost?

"Wait," Levy chimed in, "Almia? You don't happen to mean…," she trailed off, frowning. "We call it Ancient Almia but I suppose if that's where you're from it wouldn't be correct for you. Here," she said, quickly grasping the tiny scrap of paper and leaning forward to hand it to Isis. "The place that this is from?"

The blue-haired girl took the paper, all the while eyeing Levy before reluctantly looking down at the parchment. The minute she did her eyes grew bright and she nodded quickly in excitement. "Yeah! That's where I'm from. The staff belongs to our King."

I froze. This little girl was from the town that the staff came from? If I remembered correctly Levy had told us that it was an Ancient Civilization, and that its people had gone extinct. The staff had appeared months later but no people were ever found. The staff had since then been split up into pieces and stored in the museums. There was no way this girl was from Almia unless their people still existed.

"Although, I don't know how you got this," Isis added, turning the paper over to look at the back side of it. "It's usually attached to the staff that the King always has with him," she paused, slowly looking up to us with wide eyes. "You didn't steal it did you?!" she asked quickly, once again trying to back herself into her chair as much as possible.

"No, no, no," Levy said quickly, holding up her hands in defense. "We didn't steal it, we found it," she clarified. Isis looked her up and down frantically for a moment before looking down at Natsu, who was still sitting at the foot of her chair, his mind undoubtedly still stuck on asking the girl about dragons. The small girl nodded slowly, relaxing again.

"Where did you find it?" the girl asked quietly, crumpling up the paper in her palm.

"A museum! I'm technically the one who found it!" Happy chirped, hopping high in the air and waving his paw around, not wanting the credit to fall on anyone else.

"Museum?" the girl asked, pronouncing every syllable with care. She cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"Yeah, like those buildings that have really valuable stuff," I answered, trying to keep my explanation as simple as possible. Isis' look grew even more confused.

"You know, those big buildings," Levy said, holding her arms aver her head, "where really old and important things are kept, and the public can view them?" she said, her statement trailing up at the end when she realized that the little girl was still far beyond confused.

"Oy," Gajeel grunted, "Those fancy-shmancy places with old crap in 'em?" It seemed everyone was trying to help out, but Isis was just as confused, if not more, than when we had started.

Just as Levy was about to speak up again, Shagotte interrupted her. "Hold on," she said, slowly padding over to stand next to Natsu. She smiled, reaching out and taking one of the little girl's hands and turning it over in her own paws. "What year is it, sweetheart?"

The little girl made a face. "It's X213 of course. Why?"

We all froze, our mouths dropping ajar and our eyes wide. There was our problem right there, and our answer. This odd little girl believed she was in a world over 500 years ago. Of course she wouldn't know about Magnolia, and of course she'd think that the King of her home would still have the staff and the little message with it. She had no idea why we were asking her these questions or why she was away from Almia. She had no idea.

Shagotte took in a small gasp, "I was right," she whispered.

"Right about what?" Isis asked, her face contorting with confusion as she looked at all of our shocked faces. None of us made any move to speak up. I didn't want to, that was for sure. I didn't know how much she knew and how much she didn't'. Did she know that her village had gotten completely wiped off the map for unknown reasons? How would someone even react to receiving information like that?

Luckily Shagotte took the bullet and continued, "Isis, dear, it's X791."

I bit my lip, my eyes traveling to the girl's face with nervousness. How would she react?

Isis paused for a moment, before shaking her head slowly. "No it isn't." She smiled slightly, as if waiting for us all to burst out laughing and to tell her we were just playing. But as our faces stayed serious, and Isis' head began shaking faster and faster, I could tell she was in denial. "C'mon, no it isn't," she said, her smile slowly fading, "That makes no sense, it's X213, I swear it is," she nearly pleaded, her eyes wide with panic.

"No, it doesn't make sense," Levy sighed, her eyes softening as she watched the girl begin to question herself. "We don't know what happened to you either."

Isis shook her head more violently, pulling her hand from Shagotte's paw and pulling her knees into her chest. "What happened? How far away is Almia?" she asked, her voice going higher and her chin beginning to quiver.

I didn't peg myself as being an overly motherly figure. Of course I'd thought, just like any girl, about having kids when I was older. I'd never made up my mind about it, since I assumed I wouldn't be very good at taking care of something, especially if I was stuck taking care of Natsu and his cat for the rest of my life. They were a handful enough. However as I watched the small girl's eyes slowly begin to tear up, something kicked in inside me and I quickly rushed to her side, crouching down on the floor next to Natsu and looking up at her with a pleading expression.

"No, it's alright," I cooed as quietly as I could. I didn't want to frighten her any more than she already was. "Here, I'll explain our side," I said. She seemed pretty bright for her age; hopefully with a little explanation she could calm down enough to begin to process it all.

I shifted so I was sitting criss-cross on the floor and began. "We're all mages," I started, motioning back to Levy and Gajeel and then patting Natsu on the head when I brought my arm back down into my lap. "I assume you know what mages are?"

The girl sniveled, tears still on the brink of trickling down her cheeks as she nodded.

"Good! Well, we're all a part of a guild," I said, slowly reaching out my hand to her and showing her my pink guild sign. "So we all have to go out on jobs to make a living." I pulled my hand back when Isis had inspected my insignia. "We took a job two days ago that was requested by a man who runs a museum…" I paused. She didn't know what a museum was, but surely she knew enough from our little explanations. "That museum held a bunch of things, including pieces to a staff that belonged to your King. There had been these really bad guys who had been stealing the pieces, and our job was to stop them from taking the last one, and to get back the other ones. So when the thieves came to steal the last piece, we were there to stop them!" I sure hoped that I wasn't making it sound too childish, and that she was somehow comprehending it.

"So we had a big fight with the thieves and right in the middle of it, you showed up," I said, gesturing to her, "We had no idea where you came from; it was almost as if you just poof popped into existence," I smiled. The girl seemed a little more intrigued. "So we don't know a thing about where you came from. But my personal guess is that maybe something happened when they took that final piece of the staff and somehow you appeared," I frowned. "Doesn't seem like a good guess but it's the best I have," I sighed.

I looked up to Isis with hope as she studied me, blinking and sniffling. That had been my shot. If that didn't work we were all up a creek. Someone else would have to try and calm her down. But much to my relief she slowly nodded, bringing up the back of her hand to wipe away the unshed tears in her eyes.

"So you're just as confused as I am?" she hiccupped.

I nodded, "You bet. I mean, we're not the ones who suddenly woke up in some strange place, but we're pretty confused."

The girl smiled down at me, blinking a few more times before nodding again. "So you think maybe this is all because of my King's staff?" she asked. I had a feeling that if it wasn't for the fact that something she knew a lot about was involved she'd have been a pile of tears by now, her mind breaking down slowly and unable to comprehend or handle what all was happening to her. But at the mention of my hypothesis regarding the staff, she seemed a little more eager, like perhaps she believed I was right.

I nodded vigorously and had the feeling that Levy and Gajeel were nodding behind me. Natsu bobbed his head slightly as well, his eyes still unwavering. He just couldn't wait to hear about the dragons.

Isis clasped her hands together, her eyes tearing up again. "Do you think you could help me? I mean, I don't want to live here, I want to live in X213 where I belong," she sniffed, "Please help me."

I was surprised how well she was taking all of this in.

I glanced back over my shoulder at Levy and Gajeel who both had the same look on their faces as I did. I wanted to promise this strange little girl that we would help her somehow, but was that a promise we could really make? We had no idea how we'd even begin to find out how to get her back to her time, let alone how she had gotten here in the first place. It was a promise we couldn't exactly keep, and yet I felt the need to promise it anyway.

I turned back to Isis and nodded, "We'll do everything we can to help you. Although our only lead would be that little slip of paper you're holding, and even then it isn't a strong one. But maybe if you help us a little, we could help you in the end!"

Isis began to nod to herself even before I had finished. "If it has to do with Almia or the staff I know a lot about them," she grinned. Slowly she unclenched her hand holding the slip of paper and handed it down to me. I took it and she smiled again. "What was your name again?" she asked quietly.

"L-Lucy," I answered, a bit surprised by her inquisition.

"Lucy," she said slowly, mulling over my name. She bowed her head slightly, "Thank you, Lucy," she whispered, before straightening herself up again and smiling down at me.

I couldn't help the relaxed look on my face and the warming of my heart. She was so sweet, and I truly hoped that with a little give and take for the job, we could help her.

"Alright," I sighed, figuring I was going to be the one to initiate the conversation. I had somehow just connected with the small girl and hoped that she'd be a little more responsive. "So, you said the Language of Dragons?" I asked, "What's that?"

Natsu's ears perked and his body tensed again as he looked up at her with pure enthrallment.

"Well," Isis started, bringing her legs down and slowly moving them so she was sitting Indian style. The excited and curious look on her face that had been there when she had first woken up was back again, and she seemed more than eager to help answer our questions. "The Language of Dragons was a language used in my village. Not everyone could speak it, usually just the elders, but they used it to communicate with the dragons."

"Dragons?! You know about dragons?" Natsu nearly shouted, gripping onto the girl's chair firmly, his eyes ablaze with curiosity.

Isis jumped slightly but nodded, an amused look overcoming her face. "Yeah sure, we used to communicate with them all the time. Of course they wouldn't just speak to anyone, again it was usually the elders, but yeah we had dragons," she explained, her eyes flickering to all of us.

I knew my expression was far past confused, and I assumed everyone else's looked the same as Isis continued. "Well, Almia was known as the Village of Peace. I'm guessing you guys don't have dragons now… by the looks on your faces…," she trailed off, pursing her lips. "But back then we had dragons all over the place. The dragons used to fight with each other all the time over all kinds of issues, and it was usually our King's job to keep the peace amongst the dragons, and to help settle their disputes so that nothing would get destroyed."

My mind wandered for a second. I couldn't imagine a world where dragons roamed freely. The only real dragons I had met were the ones released at the end of the Grand Magic Games through the Eclipse project, and it had been complete chaos. Terror ran through my veins at the memory. Those beasts weren't anything like Natsu described Igneel to be. I couldn't imagine having tons of those monsters running rampant around the globe.

"Do you know Igneel?" Natsu asked. I had assumed it was an inevitable question.

Isis cocked her head to the side, "No, but then again I never really spoke with a dragon. And even if I would've, I can't speak or read the Language of Dragons so it would've been pointless."

Natsu relaxed, letting go of Isis' chair and sighing to himself. I felt my heart sink for him. Would he ever find his dragon? Would Natsu ever finally have his reunion with the beast he considered to be his father? I sure hoped so.

"Which reminds me," Isis said, her mood completely chipper. She sure took well to bad situations; I was impressed. "You said you could read it," she said, pointing down at Natsu, and then over to Gajeel. "How?"

Natsu shrugged, his face slightly prideful, "Just can," he said, crossing his arms and puffing out his chest.

I rolled my eyes, smacking him in the arm and not waiting for Gajeel's answer. "These two are both Dragon Slayers," I explained. "I'm no expert but I'm guessing that's why they can read it."

Isis drew in a long gasp, pulling a hand to her mouth. "You're Dragon Slayers?!" she nearly yelled. "That's insane! There was only supposed to be one Dragon Slayer! And that was our King!"

I flinched at the volume she achieved, and flinched again when Natsu bellowed out even louder. "YOUR KING WAS A DRAGON SLAYER?!" he yelled, a puff of smoke flying out of his mouth in the middle of his question.

"Wait a second," Levy said quickly, scampering forward off of her chair and in between Natsu and I on the floor. I heard Gajeel grunt and figured he was feeling a little bit left out. "If your King was the only Dragon Slayer, would it be safe to bet that he was the first Dragon Slayer… ever?"

Isis nodded, "Oh of course he was. When our village was first discovered by him, it was because a dragon had given him that staff and granted him a new type of magic. Apparently," Isis said, taking a deep breath and repeating herself, "Apparently that was what happened; that's what our King said anyway. And he also said that the dragon had told him to create a town of his own, dedicated to keeping the peace amongst dragons. So that's what he did, and then Almia was born." Isis smiled, looking almost nostalgic. "A lot of people never believed him that a dragon would do something so nice, and willingly give a human magic to destroy them. Dragons were nasty creatures and usually attacked any human they saw," she added quickly, "But according to the King, the dragon he had talked to was beyond nice and had only wished to keep the peace in the dragon community."

Natsu's eyes were sparkling, "The first Dragon Slayer; we're practically brothers!"

I couldn't help the smile on my face and I heard Levy giggle. Natsu did a small little dance in place while scooting around and chanting happily to himself. Levy and I had to clap our hands over our mouths to keep from bursting out in fits of laughter.

"What significance does this staff have anyway?" Gajeel interrupted us all. I looked back over my shoulder to see his arms crossed, an uninterested look on his face. However underneath that mask of indifference I could see his eyes shining with what I knew to be complete awe. I wasn't sure why he wanted to hide his excitement over hearing about the first man to have the same magic as he had. We wouldn't have blamed him if he would've started dancing around like Natsu.

"Oh," Isis chirped, "Sorry, I guess I never mentioned it. I'm not completely sure what it does; I'm not sure anyone in my town knew except for the King. But what I do know is that it is extremely important for some reason, and he never went anywhere or did anything without it. It was rumored that he'd use it to contact the dragon that had given him his magic, but I don't know if there's any truth to that," she sighed, stretching.

I nodded to myself, "If what Natsu said the paper says is true, that "Under the power of a King, either great destruction or joyous harmony will follow", is that referring to your king?"

Isis shrugged, "I'm assuming so. He was the only one who ever had that staff and we all lived in complete peace, so maybe that's about him."

Levy scooted forward a little farther, "So if this staff is so important to your village, maybe it has something to do with your appearance?"

Isis shrugged again, a look of sadness flashing across her face for only a brief second. She was acting so chipper but I had a sneaking suspicion she was still panicking on the inside. I couldn't blame her; I knew if I'd suddenly woken up surrounded by strangers that claimed it to be over 500 years in the future I'd be inconsolable and I knew for sure I wouldn't be able to talk so casually about the past like Isis was doing. She was awfully strong for such a small girl.

"And what about this "great destruction" stuff?" Natsu asked, "If Raven Tail has all the pieces now, and they put it together, wouldn't that mean that something will probably happen?"

Isis froze, "Raven Tail? Are those the bad guys you were talking about, Lucy?" she asked, her eyes searching me frantically.

I nodded and she squeaked. "Yeah that's a problem. Our King always said that if anyone who didn't have a connection to the dragons possessed the staff that bad things would happen. He never said what, but I think we all believed him," she said softly, her eyes wide with fright.

I gulped. Not only were these Raven Tail members not connected to the dragons, but they were more corrupt than just your average Joe off the street. I could only imagine what would happen if one of them got ahold of it, if Isis' king was worried about someone in the Village of Peace possessing it. I mean, it was in their village's name that they were all peaceful.

"Then what're we waiting for?!" Natsu yelled, scrambling to his feet, "Let's go find those Raven Tail bastards and get back that staff!" With that he stomped off to the door, yanking it open and marching through.

"Oy!" Gajeel growled, "That's great Salamander but we don't know where they went," he snarled.

"Gajeel's right," Levy piped in, slowly pushing herself to her feet and brushing off her clothes. "If Isis doesn't know, we sure don't. We have no idea where they went. We'll have to start from scratch with tracking them," she sighed in defeat.

"What?!" Natsu yelled, whirling around in the doorway and catching the door with his hand. "We have a map! I mean, I don't know where it goes, but it's a map nonetheless!"

Everyone in that log cabin looked at Natsu with exasperation. A map? What kind of crazy land was he living in these days?

Natsu sensed our displeasure and huffed to himself, sloppily gesturing over to the chair Isis was sitting in. "That piece of paper. Those drawings. I think there's a really good chance that's a map, and if it is, it's probably a good clue as to where Raven Tail is heading," he explained.

I cocked an eyebrow. I thought he'd said that he couldn't tell what it was a picture of. Maybe more than just thoughts of dragons were running through his head while I calmed Isis down.

I saw Levy clap her hands together, "Oh good! You do understand what it means! That'll be a big help," she said, skipping over to Gajeel and grabbing one of his hands, trying desperately to pull him out of his chair.

Natsu sighed, "Jeez, I'm really offended if you guys think I'd just march off without a plan. How stupid do you think I am?"

I, with some effort, stopped myself from pointing out the fact that he'd literally just marched ahead after the Raven Tail members when he hadn't exactly had a plan rather than fighting earlier that day. He wasn't as dense as I thought he was, but wasn't exactly the brightest bulb either. I turned to Isis and helped her out of her chair. She'd be coming along with us if we planned on helping her, and if we needed any more information about the staff or the dragons.

Natsu barged out the door without waiting another second, the wooden frame banging as it slammed shut. I sighed, turning back and quickly thanking Shagotte for her help and for letting us drop by. She said it was not a problem and that she'd be more than happy to have us over any time.

Lily insisted that he come with us, as his curiosity was more than a little piqued from all the information given. If it had to do with dragons you could pretty much count anyone from Fairy Tail in, due to the fact that we all knew three Dragon Slayers firsthand.

We all shuffled out of the Queen's house, thanking her two and three times over before we finally departed, a sense of urgency amongst us all.

I took a deep breath, watching as Isis skipped after Natsu who was standing at the end of the Queen's driveway, muttering to himself about how slow we were. Our group seemed to be getting larger and larger, and the task we were given for the job seemed to be getting more and more complicated. I guessed that the gigantic reward was going to have to be well-earned after all. This wasn't some pansy job for some quick money, as I was slowly finding out. There was more than just history in that staff, and I knew we all could feel it. I just hoped that I'd still get to spend a little bonding time with Natsu, even if we were going nonstop trying to find Raven Tail before something bad happened.

And as we all quickly paced away from the Queen's house, not taking a single look back as Isis handed the sheet of paper, or now what was considered a map, to Natsu, I felt something a little more than just excitement for the rent money or bonding time with Natsu. I felt excited that maybe Natsu and Gajeel would find out more about dragons, I felt excited that maybe I could help Isis get back to her village, and time period, and most of all, I felt excited that it was going to be a challenge that we all were a part of, and that we all could reminisce on when it was over.

If we did find something out about dragons on this job, I'd be here to witness it. I'd be there with Natsu when he was learning about a subject he held dearest. I wasn't sure why, but that fact made me feel closer than ever to Natsu. His history was a vital part of him, and if I was ever planning on getting closer to him, I supposed being there with him when he uncovered more about his past as a Dragon Slayer would be important. I'd be included in his adventure. I just hoped sometime he'd open up about it all, and we could have a truly heart-to-heart conversation about it.

I smiled to myself, feeling my cheeks grow a little warmer when Natsu yelled back at me with a grin to hurry up or I'd get lost. Yes, I'd make sure this job wasn't a bust when it came to Natsu and Lucy bonding time. We could complete a task and grow closer right? Of course we could.


So there it is! Longest chapter yet for this story! I felt like this chapter was super weird, so sorry if it felt that way to you. Just a bunch of dialogue. (I just love having Gajeel say 'OY' all the time. tee hee.)But we find out more about the mystery girl and the staff! I hope all of this was easy enough to understand. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

Also! I put up a little poll on my profile about any future stories, and if you voted it would be SO helpful to see what you'd want to see in the future!

Also thank you guys so so much for all the reviews last chapter! I love every single one! I try really hard to reply to them all (my small little way of saying thank you for reviewing) but my PM inbox and outbox was a MESS so I might've missed some. So sorry if I did. T-T I love hearing what you thought of chapters! It really helps me out as a writer!

I hope you all have a wonderful week! :D