1. Merry Orthodox Christmas, Kristina (AO3) and anyone else who celebrates!

2. I'm super sorry for the long delay. My depression has been acting up, but I've got a psychiatrist appointment on Wed. so it'll hopefully get fixed then. For now, updates my slow down. Expect a chapter a week from now, maybe, for me to get back into the grove?

3. Also, thank you IceHound (Fanfiction) for pointing out what the Wikia says about Rogue's name.

Chapter Ninety Four - Dragon Slayer Boot Camp, Part One

It's a lot easier to beat the shit out of Natsu than I thought.

Of course, this is probably because I was mentally comparing him to the Natsu of my time, vs the small, ten-year old he is, while I myself am impervious to fire.

I forgot about that.

I went for Natsu first. While I was a bit more worried about Gajeel (considering where he ended up), Jose Porla was occupied with the other guilds at the Grand Magic Games, and Gajeel was a bit older than Natsu.

Natsu, however, was going to cause trouble, especially if Makarov isn't there to find him like in the last timeline.

I came across him right as he was waking up.

"Igneel…" the pink-haired kid said quietly, before waking up more suddenly and springing to life. "Igneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel! IGNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL! WHERE ARE YOU?"

I sighed and teleported directly in front of him. Natsu jumped immediately and came at me, fists blazing and screaming.

I batted him away, and he crashed into the ground.

Oops.

I winced and pulled him out of the hole, settling him down.

"Calm down, Natsu. I'm a friend, alright?" I said. "Now let me heal you."

He wasn't scratched up very badly, but using Saturn's Healing Winds helped him, and also helped him gain some trust in me.

"Who are you?" the ten-year-old whined. "And where's Igneel?"

"My name is Eleanor Rigby," I said. "Though I tend to go by Elle. I am a member of the Fairy Tail guild, a magical guild that functions as a family. As for Igneel…he had to go away…"

Tears began to pop up in Natsu's eyes. "When will he be back?"

I hugged him. "It will be awhile, Natsu. A few years."

He let out a sob, and I rubbed his back.

"Igneel loves you very much," I said quietly, rocking him a bit. "And what he's doing is to help everyone, but especially you. No matter what happens, just know that Igneel is here," I tapped his chest, "watching you. So make him proud, okay?"

Still sniffling, Natsu wiped away his tears and backed away from me, wrapping his hands into fists and jumping excitedly. "Yeah! I'm all fired up, now!"

Well, that actually went a lot faster than I thought.

I smiled at him. "Now…are you ready to pick up your cousins?"

Natsu cocked his head. "Cousins?"

I nodded. "Igneel is a dragon who raised you as a dragon slayer. But he isn't the only dragon that adopted a slayer. And all of the dragons had to leave for this important mission, alright? So your cousins are out there, wandering, and alone. You ready to help me find them?"

"Yeah! That's awesome!" Natsu shouted, jumping with a small burst of fire coming from his mouth. "Let's go, Elf!"

"Elle," I said, glaring at him. "Like the letter. Got it?"

He nodded immediately, his eyes going wide. "Yes, Ma'am!"

By the time I found Gajeel, his fists were bloody.

I caught one of them before he could punch another tree. "What the hell are you doing, kid?" I asked.

He glared at me. "None of your damn business."

I sighed and took both of his hands in mine, beginning to heal them. "Natsu, give us some time alone, okay?"

"Okay, Elk!"

"What was that?" I growled.

"Sorry, Elle!" he screeched and ran.

I turned to Gajeel, who was still glaring at me.

"What do you want?" he growled.

"Sit," I said.

"Why?" he countered.

"Because I'll give you some iron," I said.

He hesitated but finally sat down.

I sat down across from him and ignored the sounds of Natsu fighting something.

Probably a forest Vulcan.

He'd probably lose soon.

"Gajeel," I said quietly.

"How do you know my name?" he demanded.

"I'm getting there," I said quietly. "For now, I want you to think of me as a messenger, alright? Metalicana didn't leave you because he wanted to; he left because he had to. But he will return within a few years, alright? He's on a very important mission right now with some other dragons. Natsu, the boy who was with me? His dad disappeared today too; Igneel, the fire dragon. Your dragon will come back to you, alright?" I said softly. "But for now, I want you to join my magical guild. It's a place where you can get stronger, and you can get work, alright? Please."

He glared at me, before looking away and scoffing. "Fine."

I wanted to shout 'VICTORY' but that wouldn't be good, so instead I smiled and stood up. "Come on, let's go save your cousin."

"He's not my cousin!" Gajeel muttered as he followed me.

"Your brother, then."

"NO!"

After finally rescuing Natsu from the Vulcan, while Gajeel sat back and laughed (which lead to those two fighting), we continued on our journey, and I went to pick up Sting.

He was still crying.

I scooped the five-year-old up and hugged him. "Shhhh, it's alright Sting."

He didn't really say anything, instead clung to me and continued crying.

Behind me, I heard fighting, and turning, I saw Gajeel and Natsu rolling around on the ground.

I sighed and ignored them, still comforting Sting.

Eventually, he pulled back, looking up at me. "Who are you?"

"I'm a friend," I said quietly. "And I want you to know that Weisslogia isn't gone, okay? You'll see him again, someday."

"But…what do I do now?"

I swung him up, propping him on my hip. "For now, why don't you come to my guild, alright? You can join and practice magic and make a family of your own, okay?"

He nodded, and he turned to look behind me. I followed his gaze and watched Natsu and Gajeel continue to roll around, trying to hurt each other.

I sighed and put down Sting, before grabbing the two of them, slamming their heads together, and then teleporting the group of us to where Rogue was.

Like Sting, he was also crying, but he seemed a bit more composed.

I ignored Natsu and Gajeel as they went back to fighting each other and approached Rogue, Sting coming up next to me.

I swooped Rogue up in a hug, and after a second of hesitation, Sting hugged him too.

Though much more hesitant than Sting in accepting my hug, he finally sank into it and cried.

Not long after, he pulled away. "Who are you?"

"I'm a friend, and I want you to know that you'll see Skiadrum again someday, alright?"

He nodded.

"For now, why don't you come join my guild? You can get jobs there and increase your strength, and you won't be the only other dragon slayer. This is Sting," I gestured to the boy next to me. "His dad, Weisslogia, The White Dragon, is gone too, alright?"

I had previously thought something along the lines of… 'Well, do I have any right to interfere with Skiadrum and Weisslogia's wishes about their sons believing to have killed them?'

Yes. Yes, I do.

That's not how you fucking parent!

But, because I don't want two full grown dragons angry at me, and because I don't want the boys to think I'm luring them into some sort of stupid trick (Rogue seems a bit paranoid to me), I'm just going to allude to them not being dead.

Kinda.

"Come on Rogue; sorry, Ryos," I corrected.

"How did you know I was going to call myself that?" he asked.

I blinked. "What?"

"'Ryos'?" he repeated. "How did you know I was going to call myself that?"

I squinted at him, confused. "Is Ryos not your name?"

"No, it's Rogue," he said, shifting uneasily. "But…but I don't want to be called Rogue. Rogue can mean some …mean… things. And after what I did to Skiadrum…"

My eyes widened. "You wanted to be called Ryos because you're ashamed of your name?"

I leant down and hugged him again. "You shouldn't be ashamed of your name, Rogue. Because there's more than one definition, alright?"

He looked at me, a bit confused. "What do you mean?"

"'Rogue' can mean some…nasty things, yes. It typically means things like… 'a deviant'. Or a 'scoundrel'. But a person could also be considered 'rogue'. Someone who goes against an organization could be labeled as having 'gone rogue'. And you'll find that my guild tends to get in some trouble a lot, too. The Magic Council doesn't really like a lot of the things we do, but they can't do anything about it because we're technically not breaking any laws."

Kinda. I mean, there's always destruction of property…

"Anyway, we could all be considered 'rogues' because none of us guild members fit what Council would like as a legal mage. They just don't like how we do things, because we tend to cut through the paperwork, and get straight to action rather than sitting around planning. But I don't think you should change your name, okay?"

He looked at me and then nodded. "…Okay…"

I smiled. "Good."

I turned back to Natsu and Gajeel, who, to my surprise, had stopped fighting to listen to me talk about my guild.

"So we break the rules, gihihi?" Gajeel asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, you could say that. Anyway, as I've also mentioned, there are some more dragon slayers at the guild. And we've got one more dragon slayer to pick up, but I want to make sure that you guys have gotten most of your destructive shit out of the way, so we're going to practice to see how in control you guys are of your powers."

And also because I want Wendy to bond with Mystogan.

After settling down the boys, I gave them all some elements to eat and they introduced themselves.

Naturally, it devolved into a fight.

Rather quickly, Natsu and Gajeel fell into the sort of relationship they had had previously, and Sting latched onto Natsu as a big brother, while Rogue latched onto Gajeel. The two five year olds also became partners almost immediately.

I banned Gajeel from picking on Natsu, because he was three years older than Natsu, at thirteen (only a year younger than me) and he had more time training with Metalicana.

Speaking of which, I had all boys practice one of their Roars, and of them, Gajeel's was the most powerful, knocking down several trees.

Natsu didn't knock down several trees – instead he ended up setting several on fire, and I had to use Neptune to stop the forest from being burned down.

Probably should have seen that coming, to be honest.

Sting managed to fire a hole through a tree, and nearly managed to knock it down.

When Gajeel made fun of him for not destroying the tree, Sting ran at it, trying to kick it over himself.

He knocked himself out.

Rogue seemed to have the most difficulty with it; his shadows weren't going where he wanted them too, and he seemed to merely be burning out most of his energy instead.

"You'll get a hang of it," I reassured him, giving him some more shadows to eat.

Inwardly, I worried about the effect shadow magic might be having on him. I know that I have weird effects from using Pluto, and there was the whole thing with Future Rogue and shit.

That night we laid out on some of Cana and Aries's fluff which I had stored, and the kids all slept.

During that time, Sting and Rogue didn't let go of me, and Natsu rolled over and hug me pretty quickly in his sleep.

I looked over at Gajeel, the last one awake other than me. 'No one will make fun of you,' I mouthed.

He 'hmphed' but moved closer to the little dragon pile and curled up with the rest of us.

I awoke to a crash.

Of course, I did.

I woke up and glared at Natsu and Gajeel, where were fighting – or more like Natsu was attacking Gajeel and sometimes getting some hits in but ultimately failing.

"Rogue, let's fight too, just like Natsu-nii!" Sting said cheerfully.

I turned my glare on them.

Sting didn't notice, but Rogue did. "I don't think Nee-san wants us to fight," he whispered.

"I can hear you," I told them, before turning back to the other boys. "Gajeel! What did I say about picking on Natsu?!"

"Hey, he started it!" Gajeel retorted, throwing Natsu off of him and into a tree. "It's not my fault! I'm just defending myself."

He punched Natsu again before he could get up.

I sighed. Hitting someone when they're done doesn't really count as self-defense, but considering it was Natsu, maybe it kinda did in this case.

Gajeel was thirteen (the same age as Freed, Evergreen, Nab, etc), and Natsu was only ten. Gajeel also had several more years of training with Metalicana under his belt, so I told him to stop picking on Natsu in fights.

"Come on," I said, pulling Natsu out of the ground and waving some fire under his nose.

He woke up immediately and slurped it down.

"Where are we going?" Sting asked, still excited.

"We still have one more slayer to pick up, remember?" I asked.

"Why did we wait?" Rogue asked quietly.

"I want to make sure you wouldn't scare her off," I said.

"Wait, she's a girl?" Natsu asked, shocked.

Gajeel laughed. "Gihihiii, is she strong?"

I glared at him. "She's five and she doesn't know any offensive magic. You will behave."

He scoffed. "Fine."

I rolled my eyes. "Come on guys. Make sure you aren't leaving anything behind."

It took another twenty minutes or so before we were finally able to leave, because Gajeel hid Natsu's scarf.

Which lead to those to fighting, with Sting cheering Natsu on, while Rogue searched for the scarf and I tried to separate the little bastards.

Finally, we found the scarf and I teleported them to where Wendy and Mystogan was.

The two of them were still sleeping, curled up on a mat.

"She's a dragon slayer?" Gajeel whispered.

"She's also the one who achieved Dragon Force at the youngest age," I hissed at him.

Okay, to be fair, we don't know if that's true. We don't know when Sting or Rogue got Dragon Force, but we do know that Wendy got it at twelve, during the Tartaros Arc.

But they didn't need to know that.

"Really?" Sting asked, shocked. "That's so cool!"

I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to wake them up, but once again, the choice was taken away from me.

Because (you guessed it) Natsu and Gajeel started fighting again.

I sighed.

"Wha...what's happening, Jellal-nii?" came a whisper.

Mystogan was up and had put Wendy behind him, protecting her from the unknown factor of tiny chibi destructive slayers.

"Just stay behind me, Wendy," he said.

I approached the two of them. "Hi, guys. For now, ignore those idiots. I want to talk to the two of you."

Mystogan didn't seem too keen on trusting me, but he still nodded and he and Wendy stood side by side as I explained things to them.

"Wendy," I said, starting with her. "My name is Eleanor Rigby, and I'm a member of the Fairy Tail guild. I tend to go by Elle or other nicknames. I'm here because I'm acting as a messenger for now. Grandeeney will return, I promise, but right now, she has a mission to accomplish. She didn't want to leave you, but she needed to, in order to keep you safe. All of these boys behind me," I jerked my head towards the rest of the slayers, "are also dragon slayers. Their dragon parents disappeared yesterday, too, on the same mission as your mother. We also have two more dragon slayers at the guild, though they weren't raised by dragons themselves, rather implanted with the magic. I'm gathering you guys so you know how to use your powers properly. I'd like for you to join our guild, so you can learn your magic, work jobs, and make friends and a family. Okay?"

She nodded, and hugged me. "Okay, Ella-nee!"

Ella-nee? I thought.

"Yay, let's hug Ella-nee!" I heard Sting shout, and I was tackled by a bunch of dragon slayers.

"Guys, off!" I commanded.

They finally let me breathe and I turned to them. "I want you guys to discuss your powers, special abilities, and how long you were training with your dragons, okay?"

There were nods, and I pulled Mystogan over to the side to talk to him privately, hoping that by turning my back for five seconds I wouldn't be dooming the forest.