Chapter 54
Aegis glanced at his sister.
In the few months they had been alive, they had learned exponentially through her Magic.
When they were alone, supposed to be sleeping, Melina could create a Rune barrier and he worked out the offensive side of their Magics.
Mostly they stayed quiet all the time because they observed everything.
Melina used her Creation Magic to link them both in to learn Archival Magic, so they had access to knowledge through a young man named Hibiki. He seemed to have no idea who they were, just knew their persona as Mirror.
He had unknowingly linked them into the entire Archive collection and every Mage who had come into contact with any form of Archive Magic.
Aegis didn't let his parents fight.
He showed them that he wanted to be a Metal Creation Dragon, that he would focus on his Metal arts before tapping into his Creation Magic and learning the other Elements. While focusing on his Telepathy and Imagery.
Melina focused through him and showed that she wanted to focus on the Creation Magic running in her. She wanted to work with the Ancient lost art.
His mother sighed.
"You really want that?" His father asked.
Aegis nodded.
Melina smiled at them.
Their mother looked up at their grandfather.
"Can you find Anima?"
Grandfather Meta frowned. "I'd have to hunt the records and his trail. He kind of disappeared when my father died keeping the rest of us safe from Acnologia's Magic. But I think I can."
Aegis looked at his sister.
She looked extremely happy.
"I'll start in the morning by seeing if Mort can widen his connection and track down every Dragon."
Melina sent him a wave of happiness and Aegis reflected it.
They would be able to learn and finally communicate what they had done.
In order to advance this far, they had given over certain amenities to their Inner Dragons.
They had lost the use of their voices in exchange for the power they could use.
As Aegis had feared that he'd be lost without the ability to ever speak, Melina had assured him that being able to do the things they could now would be better. Plus, there was an out clause.
All either of them had to do was find their Mate.
Of course, there were cases like great grandfather Astatine where they might never have Mates.
Melina seemed confident that they would find that one person.
He just had to trust his sister.
And keep her safe until she decided to learn physically offensive magic.
For now, he'd be the brawn to her brains, just like their parents.
xXx
Metalicana grumbled as he scaled the cliff.
Damn Anima, damn his father, and damn Magic.
The barrier around the huge ice covered mountain had taken him from huge Metal Dragon to fragile human man the moment he crossed it.
His body was freezing and nothing he did made it better.
He couldn't use Magic.
Even if he could, he only knew how to use and manipulate metal.
Which did him no should have done more than a couple days of research.
But he didn't want to let Melina down.
He cursed his head off as he climbed, his fingers numb.
It wasn't as if he had much farther to go.
"Stupid god damn bastard." He growled. "Making up barriers to prevent easy access, changing me into this dumb state. Least you could do is call once in a millennium."
His hand came into contact with a flat surface and Metalicana looked up again.
The wind caused snow to whip around the mountain, but he was close enough to see the flickering ball of light above the door in the mountain.
He scraped his knee, tearing his pants, as he pulled himself up to the ledge.
He let out a snarling hiss as the blood flowed for a moment.
More at the cold against his hot wound than the pain.
Pain he could live with.
He hated cold and wet.
Metalicana shuffled to the door and beat on it.
Surely the man had to hear it.
He slid down the door, keeping his side to it and balled up.
Hell, if the stubborn old Dragon had keeled over in the past couple days, he'd dig his corpse out and see if Grandine could use Milky Way on him.
It was a restricted Air Magic due to the ability to bring a once dead thing back to life.
Maybe this would fare better than poor little Wendy at the Games.
He raised his hand to hit the door again and realized it was metal.
He braced his hands against it as he stood and heard the shriek of splitting metal as he carved a new opening in it.
He heard alarms go off as he shut the gap he had created.
He turned to face a lit up hallway as it began to fill with glittering Magic.
"You here Anima?"
As the Magic flowed around him, it cocooned him.
He was yanked down the hallway and around five corners, past at least two dozen rooms with several open doors showing a collection of books that would make Levy faint.
Doors opened in front of him and he tumbled to the floor as the Magic dropped him.
He was barely to his feet when a man stepped forward.
His hesitation before touching bare skin from his wind torn shirt sent a shiver down Metalicana.
"Metalicana?" The man mumbled, his silvery blue hair falling back out of his face as he looked up at Metalicana.
The jolt Metalicana felt at seeing his face was not expected.
This was the same man who had cared for him like a mother hen as a child.
The same man his father had shown so much affection to that others questioned both his fathers orientation and sanity.
But there was no denying that Metalicana remembered this face.
He dropped to his knees and pulled the man against him to hug him.
"Ani." Metalicana buried his face against Anima's neck.
He felt Anima hold him again.
"Meta, my little boy." Anima laughed. "All grown up."
"You left me." Metalicana grumbled.
He flinched.
Now he knew what Gajeel had felt when Metalicana left him.
The loss of the person you loved so much hurt more than anything. Anima knew that, and Metalicana should have used that knowledge to not inflict the same pain on his son.
"I'm so sorry. I just...I couldn't bear to see you. Or anyone. But especially you. You look so much like Astatine that it hurt."
Metalicana laughed as he stood, wincing at the pain in his knee.
"Yeah, we tend to have that trait in this family. Sons looking like their fathers."
It hit Metalicana as Anima backed away from him.
"You said I look like dad."
Anima looked to the side.
The unease that came off him in waves had Metalicana reaching out to grab his arm.
"Do you know something I don't Ani?"
"Always, but that will never change."
Metalicana held tight enough to make Anima wince.
"Meta, please." Anima pried at his hand.
"Let him go Metalicana."
Metalicana instantly dropped his hand at the sound of that voice.
It couldn't be.
He looked towards the origin and stumbled back.
The man looked aged, his once jet black hair had a few silver streaks, but it was a face he saw every day.
Metalicana fell back against the wall as he felt like a child again.
He looked up as the other man knelt in front of him and cradled him.
Was this how Gajeel had felt?
He felt a little anger, sadness, happiness, and fear all at once.
He wrapped his arms around the man he had long thought dead since four hundred years ago.
xXx
Astatin held his son and looked at Anima.
"Is your arm alright?"
Anima nodded.
"He's just a bit upset." Anima said softly.
He was still rubbing the point on his arm though and it worried Astatine.
"You suck. I hate you right now." Metalicana mumbled.
"I know. I'm sorry."
Astatine felt his son sink into unconsciousness and realized how frozen he was.
He moved to pick him up and found it was a lot harder than when he'd been little.
He carried him into the room he shared with Anima and laid him on the bed.
Anima helped bury him in blankets and Astatine started up the fire to roar.
He turned to face Anima and reached out to him.
He took his arm gently and pulled up the loose sleeve.
There was bruising forming around his lower arm where Metalicana had grabbed him.
"It's nothing to worry about Asta. Your son is just like you, but he was angry with me."
"That is no reason to hurt you."
Anima reached up with his other hand to touch Astatine's cheek.
He leaned into his touch.
"Like you did much worse when I first brought you back." Anima teased him.
"That was different. I had died protecting my people from a monster, who still roams around mind you."
"And you nearly broke my arms and spine."
"I didn't mean to." Astatine looked away.
Anima forced him to look back at him and pulled him down a little to kiss him.
"I know you didn't. And Meta didn't mean to hurt me either. It'll heal up."
Astatine nodded.
"Now, Meta needs warmth, so you make sure he stays warm and I'll work on getting food going." Anima slipped away from him and Astatine watched him leave.
It was hard to explain to others what had initially attracted him to the Creation Dragon.
His relationship with Metalicana's mother had been cold at best and downright subzero at worst.
The woman had never wanted him. What she wanted was the prestige of bearing a child of his line. Being mother to the future King.
Honestly, he was glad she killed herself shortly after Meta had been born.
He sighed as he moved to lay on top of the blankets beside his son.
His son had been grown the last time he had seen him about four hundred years ago.
He could see how during the nearly hundred years Anima had been recreating his body for his soul, it would have killed him to keep contact with Meta.
The lack of facial piercing was the only real difference between them.
He brushed his finger over Meta's brow.
His own brow had several studs, rather like the image of his grandson he'd been able to acquire.
Gajeel was a good boy. Misled and abused, but a good boy.
He had loved his family and raged when he lost them, as any Metal Dragon would.
Meta shivered under the blanket and Astatine moved closer.
"My poor little boy. Made a leader far too soon. Barely six hundred and taking over as King."
xXx
Anima looked from the doorway where the two he had loved most in the world were laying.
He watched Astatine stroke his hand over Meta's face.
It must really hit him that in the past three hundred years he had never once told any of them that he was alive.
Even the books said he was dead. Because his body was dead.
The body he lived in now was nothing more than a fabrication.
It had taken him decades to collect all the shattered pieces of Astatine's soul.
Decades longer to fully study the biology and all subsets of Dragon form.
Then ten years storing Magic in parts of his body until the entire thing ached from being so full of energy.
Finally, in two straight days without sleep, food, or water, he formed the body of the man he loved. He had to recreate everything from memory, make everything fit perfectly for Astatine.
Nothing could be allowed to be imperfect.
It had taken nearly a hundred years, but he had done it.
His old body was gone, his new one created.
Everything was smooth again.
He had Astatine back.
Then came the rejections.
It had taken almost two hundred years to get the reactions to settle.
The body had tried to decay, reject the soul, even absorb him. Anima had worked through everything. Now he could honestly say he knew what he was doing.
Reanimating the dead wasn't easy, which was why Milky Way had been forbidden. It drained a user just to pull a soul back into the original body.
Great if the body was able to be brought back to life too, but not so much when one was dealing with nothing more than a ghost.
Anima smiled as he watched Astatine.
He couldn't rightly define what it was that had first brought him to the Metal Dragon's door.
Something in him had just felt like he had come home finally. After losing his last family, his cousin Camilla, becoming the only Creation Dragon left, he had been lost. Her family was Human, every generation becoming more and more fragile and weak until they blended in.
He kept track of them. The last two remaining of her line were very powerful.
Freed Justine was in a team with the new Lightning Dragon Prince and could hold his own for the most part. A wonderful Rune user taking right after Camilla herself and her love of riddles and challenges.
Then dear little Levy McGarden, her wild heart and love for everyone she considered hers. A beautiful soul mirroring his own gentleness. He could almost have sworn she was his child if not for her habit of standing strong in the face of danger.
He'd hidden behind Asta for so long he wasn't sure if he could stand against a threat without running to hide behind Astatine's power.
His running away from conflict had been how he had gotten that picture of Astatine's grandson for him.
He had spotted them in a village outside the desert where he was double checking the Rune barrier on Rai's holding.
He had quickly taken a short mobile image of them and sealed it in a viewing Lacrima of his own blood.
Astatine had broken down, happy that his son had found a Mate and had a child of his own. Sad when he found out what happened to his daughter-in-law. Bound and determined to keep the souls of every Dragon and their Mate safe until Anima could reanimate them.
Anima turned back for the kitchen and focused on the food.
No, he honestly couldn't have explained how he just knew Astatine was his Mate.
xXx
Metalicana sat at the table, still a bit chilled, but definitely worlds better than before.
Anima set a bowl of stew in front of him and he frowned. Then laughed.
"I never thought anyone would ever make this for me again. I made it all the time when Gajeel was little, especially around the anniversary of Silvana's death. I just made it the other day because Aegis and Melina were upset over their father being gone for two days."
Metalicana watched Anima smile as he put down another bowl in front of his father.
It hadn't bothered him as a child to see them together, because he hadn't known their relationship. In almost six hundred years, they had actually managed to hide it extremely well.
Until Anima had a breakdown similar to Acnologia at his fathers death.
No one else had seen the way the man hovered over the edge. Sometimes literally and Metalicana would have to pull him back and hold him and let him cry.
It had killed them both to lose his father. He hadn't been ready to be the King. He had barely gotten through with accepting that he would never be able to surpass his father.
Then Anima had seemed calm and rational just before leaving without a word.
Now he understood.
They were Mates.
His father, the once noble King of Dragons, had a fragile, male, Creation Dragon as a Mate.
How people would have mocked them during their lives had they known.
It was unheard of to be Mated to someone of the same gender. Almost freakish.
He watched Anima sit with his own bowl.
His father took Anima's closer hand and nuzzled his wrist.
He remembered doing the same to Silvana when they were courting.
A loving, gentle gesture meant to ease.
He swallowed his soup, it meaning so much more to him now.
Anima had taught him this recipe as a child and they made it whenever any of them had felt down.
Sometimes Metalicana would watch his father leave feeling great in the morning before going to see to daily Dragon problems. Anima would head into the kitchen shortly before his father got home, never once seeming to use a Bond, and make the stew. As if he had known without a Bond that Metalicana's father would need it.
"Our relationship scares you, doesn't it?" Anima asked as he took his bowl and stacked it with the other two.
Metalicana sighed.
"It's not that. I've known you for decades Ani, and I honestly love you like a second father. You were the only mothering figure I knew as a child. It's just...Mates?"
His father reached to ruffle his hair.
"It wasn't something either of us expected. And Anima hid his affection from me for years fearing I'd hate him." His father kept his hand on his shoulder. "In truth, after your mother died, I was relieved that I hadn't had her as a Mate. She was straight and clean, a bitch. Cold on a good day and only wanted to be mother to the future King. Never mother to a hatchling who needed her."
Anima sighed. "I lost my cousin, the last in my family, and I wandered for years searching for a place to call home. I finally just let my Dragon take over and found myself at your door."
Metalicana frowned.
"I didn't understand it then, but I was never a fighter and Asta took me in. You needed a nurturer and I could do that. I loved you Meta, as if you were mine, and in my heart you were. Then years passed and Astatine drew into himself and was hard on you. I finally came to realize what both of us needed."
"Please don't." Metalicana said as he shrugged his fathers hand off.
"Meta, we didn't hide from you all those years because we were afraid for us. I never wanted the elders to look at you like a freak. You were weak then, not like now. I just needed someone who understood my desires. Anima knew how much I loved you and wanted to make you a good man, he helped me build you up the way I wanted but didn't know how. And he healed that hole in my heart that your mother ripped from me. Until I Bonded with him, I never thought there was a thing called love." His father said.
Metalicana sighed. "Look, things are different now. Most of the older Dragons have let go and moved on to the new age I run. They would accept you now. Both of you. You don't have to justify to me. I will always love you both as my parents. Nothing will change that. But I didn't come looking for Anima for me."
Anima frowned.
Metalicana looked at his father. "You are a grandfather, as well as a great grandfather. And it is for my son and his children that I came here. Melina is a Creation Dragon, like her mother now. Aegis also has some in him, and they both need guidance from a master of Creation Magic."
Anima looked shocked.
"You want me...to be a parent again?"
"Not so much a parent, but I think between the three of us, whenever Levy and Gajeel go on missions they'd be covered. I just want you to come and teach them. Be there for your grandchildren." Metalicana looked down. "And maybe me too..."
His father went quiet. "It'll shock everyone and maybe throw in some chaos to know I'm alive again."
Metalicana nodded. "They'll be confused as to who is King, but I will let you come back if you want it."
"No. I'll stick with being your advisor. And if my cranky ass is still around when Gajeel takes over, I'll advise him too."
Anima nodded. "I'll come and train the children and their mother. Levy is of my family after all, I should have known her already. Freed too."
Metalicana looked at them both. "So when can we leave?"
"Lets sleep here for the night and tomorrow I'll remove the barrier so we can fly out." Anima said. "That way I can pack as well."
They all agreed it was best.
Anima settled him in a side room and Metalicana sighed as he closed his eyes.
It had been such a long day.
He could only hope it hadn't been a death dream from him falling asleep in the cold.
xXx
Astatine took a steadying breath and felt the hand on his arm.
Anima reassured him and he hugged his Mate.
All these years together had been almost a miracle.
Most Mates had been separated by death over the years. Contrary to popular belief, the Dragons could die. Of heartbreak. Even when Bonded to a healthy love. Loss of family to misfortune, sudden destruction of homelands, and worse cases of death of their children.
Children were precious to their kind, being so rare.
That Gajeel had even had a child with a Human had been miraculous. His father just as much.
It was a sign their line was strong.
Astatine felt the hand on his shoulder and turned to face his son.
"It'll be alright father. You're not going to get hung out to dry." Meta said. "They are your family. Trust in them. Levy will surprise anyone."
The oldest Dragon nodded.
He reached for the handle of the door.
To a jewelry shop of all things.
That alone made him raise a brow.
But Meta assured him it was good.
He pulled open the door and stepped inside.
"Hello." He heard a voice.
"It's me." Meta called out.
"Ah, Uncle."
Astatine watched a younger man come out from a side room and he froze.
It couldn't be. He called Metalicana Uncle, but Meta had no siblings.
He took a whiff of the air.
No, this boy wasn't related to him like that. Close enough.
This was the grandson of his baby sister who had joined into the Dark line.
He had a twinge of Dark Magic in him, but his love for metals made him a Metal Dragon at heart.
He stared at the young man who stared back.
"You're joking, right Uncle?"
Metalicana laughed.
"I was pretty shocked too, so don't worry Morte."
Astatine stepped forward again. He reached out to touch the boys cheek.
"You are hers, aren't you?"
"Uncle Astatine?" Morte asked.
He nodded.
He was pulled into a hug and was startled.
Never in his life had he met this child, having died before he was born, but his niece must have told Morte enough stories.
"How are you alive? You were dead. They saw you get obliterated by taking in that blast yourself."
Astatine shushed him.
"I'll tell everyone. First I want to see the rest of my family."
Morte pulled away and went to lock up the shop.
The door had been Runed by one powerful little Mage to allow Dragons to go right through it if they wanted. Without destroying it.
Metalicana led him to another door.
"Are you ready?"
Astatine and Anima nodded.
Out of all the Dragons in the world, they had been cut off from society the most.
This would be the first step among his people in a long time.
xXx
Gajeel knelt on the ground with Aegis.
His son had showed a lot of promise in just the hour he'd been working him.
Gajeel had created a slew of different metals.
Drake just sat back and stared in wonder.
"Good grief, make me feel like an idiot why don't you." He sighed.
Gajeel could mirror the sentiment.
His son had nibbled the different metals, looked at his sister for a moment seeming to speak to her.
His daughter's eyes had glowed slightly like Levy's did when she tapped into her Creation Magic.
Then Aegis would face him again and recreate the exact metal just like his own. Down to the balance of Magic in it.
He sat back as he heard the gate open.
He tilted his head back and looked at it upside down.
His own son was going to kick his ass someday.
For now, Gajeel had the strength and experience over him, and of course he had full control of his Dragon.
Aegis had shown a lack of restraint when the blue silver had stumped him for a moment. Then Melina did her thing and those tiny gold scales and claws had shrunk back away and he focused and duplicated the metal he had tasted.
Gajeel fell back as he saw his father walk through the gate, with a man who looked just like both of them and a smaller man behind them both.
Morte looked stunned as well as he followed through with them.
Gajeel pushed off the ground as his children looked up and frowned.
Melina touched his pant and sent her images and a couple words through to him.
She sent an old painting of the King of Dragons that he had seen before.
But it was the words that floored him.
'Astatine.'
Grandfather Astatine.
The one Dragon he had wished every once in a while wasn't dead.
Well, he wasn't.
xXx
Melina pushed to her feet with Aegis beside her.
They wobbled for a moment, getting their balance.
It was hard being advanced physically due to Magic.
She had been working slowly on the curse that had sunk into them before they were born.
The counter she had worked out would stop the rapid growth of their bodies. Hopefully.
But she didn't have the Magic to apply it. And it was hard to show to her mother because she was just learning about the Creation Magic herself.
Their father couldn't do anything about it.
Melina looked up at the Dragons coming towards them.
Father looked stunned as great grandfather Astatine came to him.
"I thought you were dead." Father said.
"I was. But it is a long story that I would rather not repeat too many times. Meta tells me you all need Anima, so we came."
"Anima..." Father looked at the smaller Dragon.
Melina couldn't find any record of this Dragon in any Archive.
It was as if he had never existed.
Anima knelt in front of them and Aegis moved between her and Anima.
Melina touched her brother.
'He is fine.' She said.
Aegis turned to her.
'You trust him?'
'He is...family.' She frowned.
She stepped forward and the other Dragon held out his hand.
Melina touched his hand.
'Hello.'
"You must be Melina. Such a strong Dragon you already are."
Melina frowned. Had her words not gone through?
She was sure they had.
"Before I can work with you, I must work with your mother."
Melina moved back as he stood and turned for the house.
Father frowned after him.
"He's a bit odd." Father said.
Grandfather Meta shrugged. "You get used to him. Though this is a little odd for him. Must be because Levy is his family. He wants to see her. She and Freed are the only blood family he has left. Diluted blood, but it was his too."
Melina allowed Grandfather Meta to pick her up as Father took hold of Aegis.
She looked over Grandfather Meta's shoulder to see her great grandfather picking up the different metals on the ground.
"Oh, sorry. I was working with Aegis to identify and recreate different metal." Father said.
Astatine frowned. "At his age?"
Father laughed. "It is hard to think of them as babies still. Melina is a right genius after her mother and Freed, and Aegis is...well lets just say when he gets old enough to be king, I'm stepping down instantly. Hell, I might not even step up. Aegis can take it from dad."
It was good praise and Aegis grinned.
She watched Astatine nibble on each of the metals.
"Which ones are yours?" He frowned.
"Funny, isn't it? He duplicates my own Magic using the Creation in him, but I can eat it. It's mine, but it isn't. He can't remove his own traces of Magic, but he can alter his own signature to match mine. And he's not even a year." Father grinned.
Grandfather Meta laughed. "Aegis is probably the first prodigy since you father."
Astatine held up the blue silver that had been Fathers. She could tell the difference even if they couldn't.
Fathers Magic through Creation eyes was of a kind of dark red color with a particular pattern to the energy of his Magic.
Aegis was a vibrant fire red. But the same pattern.
Her own was a bark blue to their mothers light blue.
There was a reason that hair color appealed to their mother.
Father had been right to criticize their choice in streak colors. He just hadn't known that the colors he was thinking of were in fact theirs.
It was all so hard to explain.
She felt Astatine's flare of silver Magic and then she stopped looking at him with her Creation Magic.
He held up another chunk of blue silver and Father took it.
xXx
Astatine watched as his grandson licked the metal sphere.
"This is...just like mine too."
He held it for his own son to taste.
Little Aegis scrunched his nose at the familiarity of it.
He had duplicated the exact quality of the ones they had made.
Anima moved to his side.
"They are all a lot like you you know." He said.
"How so?" Astatine frowned at him.
"Your patterns. Colors are different, but you all share a pattern."
Anima smiled at him as he started to eat the different metals he had picked up.
He hadn't eaten in hours and these were all so pure. It was like a buffet of metals.
He followed his grandson into the house.
"Hey, Levy, dad brought us home some gifts." Gajeel called out.
Astatine and Anima both laughed.
"Us?" He heard a voice from upstairs.
She had a soft voice. It was nice.
He sat on the couch as Gajeel showed them into the living room.
He set Aegis down as Meta let Melina go beside her brother.
Anima sat beside him, and he reached to hold Anima's hand for a moment.
"I'm sure she'll love you." He said quietly to his Mate.
"It's just that I should have done this a long time ago. Her family died because of me. My whole line has been hunted since Camilla ruined us all. If I had just protected them..."
Astatine squeezed his hand.
"There was nothing you could have done against such a mob."
"I could have brought you in. You could have, no, would have saved them if I'd asked you. Right?" Anima asked.
"I'm not sure. I had just learned that my son lost his Mate and I hated Humans." Astatine said.
He looked up as a tiny woman came into the room.
She stopped at the sight of them all.
"Good lord, all of you in one place is a scary thought." She frowned at them.
When her eyes fell on him, Astatine felt floored.
This was the girl even Acnologia had bowed to. The monster of his people, easily one of the strongest Dragons in existence today and several millennia past, had shuffled like a child in front of her.
Metalicana was right.
Levy was extraordinary.
Astatine watched her move to the chair Gajeel had sat in.
"It's just so...disconcerting." She said.
"Levy, this is my father." Metalicana said.
"I get that. Mort said he was dead, but he looks exactly like the image he showed me." She shook her head and stepped forward.
Astatine watched her come closer.
"Sorry for the rudeness. I'm just not used to seeing anyone who looks almost exactly like Gajeel. Other than his eyes, you two could be brothers." She held out her hand and Astatine took it.
She was fragile under his fingers.
Just like Anima was.
"Levy McGarden." She said.
"Astatine. And this is Anima." He motioned to his Mate. "My Mate."
She frowned for a moment. "Just to keep sane, you are both men right?"
Astatine laughed. "Yes. It isn't very common for Dragons to Mate like us."
"That's not it, I was just pretty sure Metalicana was born normally. Well, physically normal, I,m still debating on him being all there in the attic."
"Hey!" Metalicana frowned at her. "You love me anyway."
Astatine laughed and Anima joined in after a moment.
His son was right. Fairy Tail was something else.
It didn't faze her that they were Mates. Just that Meta had been born and they were Mates.
"Sorry." He said as he stopped laughing. She moved to sit with Gajeel and his grandson held her tightly, but so very gently.
Their relationship seemed to mirror his with Anima.
"Meta was born from my interaction with another Metal Dragon female, yes. She was a bitch who used me, but I got Meta so I was alright with it. She killed herself and about a year after he was born afterward, Anima fell on our door like a godsend. I had no idea what to do with Meta. He was my only child and my first."
Anima held his hand.
"Astatine got me better from the lost creature I had been and I took to Meta like his real mother. He was such a handful, but I loved him like he was mine anyway. So in essence, yes, he is ours." Anima said.
Levy nodded. "Good to know that all Metal Dragon children are little monsters."
Astatine laughed again. "Pretty much all Dragon children are. They settle down around seven to ten, but they can still have moments afterward of insane actions."
She looked at her own Mate and smiled. "Yeah, they can."
Astatine was a bit curious how they met. He just couldn't see her running into a Dragon by chance.
xXx
Levy stood in the kitchen with Metalicana that evening.
Only several hours into his parents being there and they were a part of the family.
Metalicana cut up the vegetables for the stew and Levy sighed.
"You seem worried. What's wrong?" Metalicana asked.
"It's nothing. It's just that Gajeel was so lonely when I met him and now, he's got so many people to call family. But me...I still have just Freed."
Metalicana reached to touch her chin and made her look at him.
He leaned down to kiss her forehead and she sighed.
"Never. You have all of us Levy. We are your family too." He said.
She nodded. "I mean by blood though. He has all of you, but I have one person left from my family."
"Two. Anima shares blood with you two. His cousin was the founder of your bloodline. She died from being Hunted and all her children hid from the world, slowly killed by Humans. But you two survived. You two are strong, you're fighters. The people who've hunted you family for years will never get to you two. I'll die before letting anyone near you and Gajeel would go off the deep end if he ever had to face losing you again."
She nodded. "He does love me. Stupid as it is."
Metalicana pulled her in for a hug. "It isn't stupid. You're wonderful for my son Levy and I am thankful he found you."
She sighed again.
He stepped away as they both heard steps coming to the doorway.
Anima looked almost lost as he stood there.
She could hear Gajeel and Astatine with her children still in the living room.
"I just wanted to come and apologize to you Levy." Anima said.
"Why?"
"About your family. It is my fault that they were hunted down for so long."
"My family was hunted because our Magic is so powerful." Levy shook her head as he stepped closer.
"No. You were hunted because I let my cousin have her Human Mate and he betrayed the secrets of Dragons." Anima said.
"And how is it your fault her Mate was an idiot?" Levy moved to hug him.
Obviously he had felt this pain for a long time.
"I could have stopped it. I could have brought them into the safety of the Metal Dragons. Astatine would have kept your whole family safe."
She soothed him by rubbing his back.
"If my family were anything like I heard Freed tell me, then we were too proud to accept that level of help. He used to tell me my parents feared nothing. That his parents flaunted their strength in Rune Magic." She said. "Besides, it wasn't Dragon hunters who killed my parents. It was greedy Mages who wanted to use me and Freed."
Anima sighed.
"See, Levy could never hold a grudge against you. Or blame you." Metalicana said.
Anima nodded as he stepped back.
Levy watched him cheer up for the first real time since he had seen her.
With Astatine he was happy, and he shouldn't feel bad about her family. They dug their own graves by not hiding like old generations.
She watched him wash his hands and she moved to help finish making the stew Metalicana was cooking up.
"So do you know the recipe?" She asked Anima.
"Know it? I was the one who created it. I taught Meta as a boy and drilled it into him. It was our comfort food for a long time. And one of the only things that snapped me out of my suicidal state when Astatine died. I left Meta after that to work on bringing my Mate back."
"So...you know how to bring back the dead?"
"It isn't easy. Believe me. Grandine might be able to learn, but she is still young. You have the strength thanks to being Mated to Gajeel, and Melina will someday surpass us all with her power." Anima said. "I would have to do a lot of work to bring anyone back. But now that I've done Astatine's body it should be a shorter process to do another."
Metalicana looked at him.
"Could you..."
"I will. But it'll take time to rebuild her from scratch. Parts of her soul are still inside you and Gajeel, but the rest were scattered to the world. All her memories that she couldn't hang on to, her Magic, it is all gone."
"But you can bring Silvana back?"
"Yes. Let me start teaching Melina before I work on bringing your Mate back."
Metalicana nodded.
Levy helped them finish the stew and they let it sit.
xXx
Anima couldn't believe Levy could laugh over that story.
Her own Mate had done that to her.
Astatine frowned at Gajeel.
"Why didn't you listen to your Dragon?" Astatine asked.
Gajeel shrugged.
"I was in a pretty dark place. I'd been doing some bad things for a long while and I was used to just wanting blood. But it still kind of hurt to do that to her. Then the whole plan went south, Natsu snapped me out of it by making me see Jose had really been using my strength. Juvia beat some sense into me by making sure Makarov knew what I was up to. The old geezer let me join his dumbass Guild despite everything. And Levy just kind of got under my armor from then on until I gave up fighting it."
Levy leaned against him.
It was obvious to Anima that she loved him.
And hearing how he had accepted an amount of lightning that should have killed him, he could tell Gajeel loved her just as much.
He had nearly died for her fighting that Demon, all to see to it that she survived.
That was admirable, if stupid.
They were Bonded. He couldn't think she'd be alright alone after that.
"Well, we'll begin training in the morning. For now, Anima and I could use some sleep." Astatine said.
He stood up from the couch and Levy nodded.
"Yes, I guess it was a long flight for you both. You can have the room beside Lily. I'll show you." She said.
Anima frowned.
"Lily?"
"Pantherlily. My Exceed partner." Gajeel said. "He left this morning to do a quick job for the Council. He'll be back tomorrow."
Astatine nodded as they followed Levy and Gajeel upstairs.
Metalicana took the children to their room to put them to bed an hour ago, and Anima watched him stumble to his room, yawning.
That was definitely a trait he'd gotten from his father.
Exhausting himself and not showing it.
Astatine had learned to show his emotion more and his affection.
Anima looked inside the sparsely furnished room Levy showed them to.
It had a large bed and a nice closet, but still felt empty.
"We haven't done anything really with the spare room, but if you two want to stay here, it's yours." Levy said.
Astatine nodded. "We'll talk about it."
