Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.


"Yeah right, Levy," he guffawed. "Yer about as likely a dragon slayer as Reedus."

The young girl widened her stride to match his - he was only three years older than her, but his legs seemed to get lankier by the day and she was…seven and tiny. She couldn't help but smile to herself when she caught him glowering at her out of the corner of his eye; it was all part of their routine by now. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and slowed his pace.

Levy leaned forward to catch his eye, throwing her arms out to highlight her point. "Wendy's a dragon slayer and she's only two!"

Gajeel scoffed and rolled his eyes, keeping his focus on the stretch of forest in front of them. "Wendy's different. Grandine found her when she was a hatchling. I'd hardly consider her a dragon slayer, she's just starting to get more than four teeth."

Levy quirked a brow up at him and smirked. "You do know humans don't come from eggs, right?"

He blushed, scowling at her before whipping his head away as he hunched his shoulders forward. "I know how it goes!"

She laughed before gently catching his elbow to stop him, watching as the two piercings in his ear glimmered in the sunlight. Levy angled her head around to be in his line of sight. "I'm just teasing you, you know." Her smile only grew when his blush spread to his ears and he growled a 'whatever' through clenched teeth. "I know I don't have dragon for a parent, but what if I asked nicely?" She stepped back and wrung her hands in front of her under his scrutiny. "Metalicana likes me."

The iron dragon slayer snorted, "Okay, first - Metalicana thinks yer about the funniest lookin' thing he ever did see." She punched his arm and he laughed. "Second, it's not as easy as pickin' another kind of magic. Yer being trusted with a weapon that could take its originator down. Why hell you'd think they call 'em dragon slayers?"

Levy blinked owlishly. "You said a bad word."

He threw his hands up in the air, growling into the treetops. "You've gotta be-!"

His frustration didn't deter her - she simply raised that know-it-all finger of hers and rocked back on her heels. "Master says you're not allowed to talk like that."

"Oh ple-." He figured she was about the only one their age that would happily quote their elder. Besides, he knew Cana and Mira and Erza got away with a lot in Fairy Hills, despite the stern lectures handed down by their guild master on what they should and shouldn't do.

She furrowed her brow and frowned, marching forward down the path. His heart rate picked up as she plowed through the thickets and he felt the tell-tale rumble of an iron mountain roll over as he awoke from slumber. "Not to mention what Grandine said she was gonna do if she heard of you speaking like that. Again."

He swore he could hear the tinny croak of his old man, the weird laugh muffled into his powerful forearms. "And why would they just automatically know yer tellin' the truth?!"

It was her turn to whip her head back around and roll her eyes, as if he'd just asked her what 2+2 was. "Your heartbeat changes when you lie and dragons can hear that, duh."

He muttered under his breath, kicking a stone out of his way into the tall grass. "Yer not helpin' yer case, half pint."

Levy's mouth pressed into a thin line as she folded her arms over her chest, glaring at the dirt path under her feet. "I just want to make sure I choose right."

The young boy sighed, walking back to her, making a point to ruffle her hair enough it stuck out in funny directions. "Nobody said you had to get it right on the first try, y'know. And sure, Grandine's plannin' on teaching Wendy dragon slayer magic, but she's not gonna make that Wendy's only choice. Igneel and Metalicana were the same way and if I walked up to him right now and said I wanted ta learn something else, he'd let me. Nobody's committed to any one type of magic."

Levy hummed as she threaded her hands through her hair, in a vain attempt at smoothing the locks back into place, and rocked back on her heels. "You sound like him, only with a smaller vocabulary."

"All right, that's it!" He lunged, baring his barely pointed teeth at her. She shrieked and dove out of his way, winding through the trees and ducking under low hanging branches. Every time he got within distance to snatch the back of her shirt, she'd suddenly pick up her pace and have him falter in his own steps. "If yer so worried about it, just make words yer magic and leave mine alone, half pint!"

Her laugh floated through the trees and rolled along the flowing stream to the east.

The sound was cut short as she tripped over a tree root and he didn't have the time to stop, barreling over her and right through the rest of the bushes into the clearing his father laid curled up in. The large dragon opened his eyes and raised his head, the sun glinting brightly off his scales. Metalicana's brows rose in interest as Levy beamed up at him from where she lay sprawled over Gajeel's legs.

The iron dragon snorted, his shadow encompassing them as he lowered his head. "And I had hoped I had claimed the more peaceful corner of the forest."


A/N: The extremely happy AU where the dragons move toward Fiore with their charges instead of abandoning them and they all find Fairy Tail at a young age.