Unknown Location, Four Years Later

Natsu looked up at Grandeeney and smiled. He had wandered alone for nearly six months, looking for Igneel with no luck before he had ran into a hoard of dragons, the leader of which was Grandeeney. There weren't many dragons in it, Grandeeney herself was the lone female, but those who were in it were special. All of them, like Igneel, had taken in a lost human child. Grandeeney had a daughter named Wendy, Metalicana a son named Gajeel, while Weisslogia and Skiadrum had sons named Sting and Rogue.

Ironically, all of them had Exceeds that they cared for, Happy was thrilled to hang out with Panther Lily, Frosch and Lector and he may have a small crush on Carla, though he wouldn't admit it to Natsu. The sixteen year old's mind was pulled back into the present as Grandeeney stated, "Whenever I see that smile on your face, I know you are up to something." "Pfft, me? What would I be up to?" Natsu asked defensively, smile still intact. Grandeeney sighed and didn't bother to give him much of a response other than "Be careful of Wendy and the others, whatever it is."

Natsu glanced at his pseudo younger sister, then looked back at Grandeeney and nodded. He then hollered for the others to join him. Gajeel, who was two years older than him and Sting and Rogue, who were both a year older then Natsu, grudgingly followed while Wendy happily skipped behind them. Since Natsu was technically the son of Igneel, adopted though he may be, that made him a prince among the dragons and they insisted that the boys and Wendy treat him like their leader. Not that it was a bad thing, Natsu was fun, but he could get them into trouble. Only Grandeeney was considered above Natsu, mainly because of his youth, but also because she had taken over the care of him in Igneel's stead.

Once they were far enough from the dragons that Natsu knew they would not be overheard, he turned to the others and said "So do you want to know what I think we should do today?" "Let me guess, try to reach our dragon forms?" Gajeel answered sarcastically. Natsu grinned deeply and said "Yep!" Everyone sighed and there was a moment of silence before Wendy timidly started speaking what they were all thinking. "Um, Natsu. What if we can't reach it? Just because our parents can take a human form doesn't mean we can take a dragon one."

Natsu's grin switched to a determined look as he replied "We will, we've got to." "Why?" asked Rogue, "I mean, don't get me wrong, being able to fly and all sounds really cool, but why are you so bound and determined to do this?" Natsu didn't reply, he just gripped his hands into fists and looked down at the ground. Sting was the one who pushed him to answer by saying "Look, you may be the prince of the dragons, but we don't have to follow you on some fairy tale quest for fun."

"It's not for fun! I need it!" Natsu yelled angrily at Sting. "Why? Why do you need it Natsu?" asked Gajeel. "Because, because… because it's the only way I will ever find Igneel!" Natsu shouted, before letting loose some tears, trying to turn and hide them from the others, but all of them caught them as well as their scent. All of them briefly imagined what they would do if they were in Natsu's shoes, if their own parents had gone missing. Wendy was the first person to reach out and put a comforting hand on Natsu. The ten year old said "Don't worry Natsu, you can do it."

"If one of us can figure it out, we can teach it to the others." Rogue added. The other two males just nodded, even though Natsu's back was still to them. Natsu didn't turn around, didn't want them to see just how broken he was inside over Igneel's disappearance, but he steadied his voice enough to say "Thanks guys." Finally able to get his emotions under control again, he turned around with a grin and said "So, let's get to it." The rest of the day was spent with the children of the dragon's trying to reach their dragon form. Their Exceed friends came and went, having been fishing when the group left that morning and finding the whole process too boring to watch once they arrived.

It was a defeated feeling group that arrived back where their parents were waiting for them, none having made any breakthrough in their dragon form, if such a thing even existed. They didn't know it, but their parents had watched them from afar and they silently hurt to see their children so dejected over something that just might very well be impossible for them.

As Natsu settled in for the night, staring up at the stars from beneath the safety of Grandeeney's wing, he thought about his father, about Lucy. Why someone he had only known for a day was so important to him, he never really understood. Perhaps it was the way she had accepted Igneel for who he was, or maybe it was the amazing gift she had given him with Happy. Natsu gently shook his head, no, while those things were awesome about her, it was just her accepting him and giving him her friendship that had sealed her away in his heart.

Sure, he had Gajeel, Sting, Rogue and Wendy, but it wasn't quite the same. Except for Wendy, if it weren't for them being fellow dragon kids he wasn't sure they would have been friends. Sometimes he felt like the only reason the guys put up with him was because he was Igneel's son so they had to. But he would admit that it led to some fun sparring times. Wendy didn't really take part, being younger than them all and Grandeeney's protective nature towards her, but the boys roughhoused often, just like dragon babies would do.

Nothing was off limits, from nails to teeth to fists. He could tell that, so long as their parents weren't watching, the guys would go all out, sometimes even teaming against him, especially Rogue and Sting, they worked well together. Natsu didn't care, he liked honing his fighting abilities, who knows it might come in handy in his search for Igneel. He wished he could remember what his father had told him, it was something that continued to bother him. Plus the ongoing war… it made him worry for Lucy.

After his initial attack that brought his forces to the gates of Crocus, Zeref had been unable to press the army of Fiore back any further. The king of Fiore had even been able to push Zeref's men back to the borders, but still, this war had been going on for nearly 16 years and with no end in sight and tempers flaring, it could get deadly for all those involved, whether they be townspeople, soldier or king. "Stay safe, dad, Lucy." Natsu whispered to the night sky before falling into a restless sleep.

XXX

Several Months Earlier

Fifteen year old Lucy looked down at the gift her mother had given her in awe and wonder. "These keys were my mother's and her mother's before her and so on. Now I pass them on to you, my dear Lucy." Layla said as she smiled at the expression on her daughter's face, "It's time you learned to use the magic you have always possessed and continue the family tradition." Lucy looked up from the three golden keys in her hands. She had been collecting silver keys, with her mother's permission, for a time when she was ready to learn and she was thrilled that the time had finally come.

"I will teach you everything you need to know and you can start joining your friends at Fairy Tail and see if it's where you want to start working as a wizard." Layla continued, interrupted from her next words by the arms of her daughter being thrown around her. "Thanks mom." Lucy said happily. Layla smiled down at her daughter before saying "Come, there is no time like the present for starting anything." Lucy's grin widened as she followed her mother outside.

Present Time

Lucy looked around Fairy Tail, smiling at all her friends. She had been coming here for a few months now and she really liked the people of Fairy Tail, both those she had known before and those she was coming to know. The master was like the grandfather she never had, or at least that she ever knew since both sets of grandparents were dead long before her birth. Everyone was so warm and friendly. Yet… sometimes she felt like something or someone was missing. Like there was room for Fairy Tail to be livelier.

Gray had been gone for a little over a year learning from Master Ur and had also developed a weird stripping habit that he mentioned in his letters home, Erza was just as scary as ever, Levy was becoming amazing at Solid Script Magic and Lucy had to say that she herself was doing pretty well with her Celestial Magic. But still… sometimes she thought about what it would be like if the boy she had met eight years ago were to come join them. Sometimes she could envision Natsu in certain things that happened in the guild and it would make her chuckle. Her friends' memories of Natsu were dim compared to her own, so she kept them to herself, but still… Lucy couldn't help but wonder how Natsu was doing these days.

XXX

"I need more power, you have to teach me more!" "Sire, please, you can only learn so much at once, your magic and body need time to adjust." Said the lowly mage. Zeref laughed mirthlessly, "Time? Time is a commodity we don't have. This war has been going on for sixteen years, I don't want to spend sixteen more doing the same. I want to crush Fiore for what they did to my family. Now, are you going to teach me more, or shall I look for your replacement?"

The mage gulped, torn between pleasing his king and keeping him alive. Of course, if Zeref died then maybe this war would finally end since there would be no one left who cared about vengeance anymore, but who would take the throne next? Would they have a bloodlust even greater than Zeref's? The mage looked at the man who had become king at the age of sixteen and knew that even if he said he would teach him no more that Zeref would make good on his promise to search out another teacher. Sighing, he said "Very well your highness, but please don't push yourself to hard, I would not want to lose you."

Note, Gajeel and Natsu's ages are, as far as I know, unknown. So I decided, at least for this story, I wanted Gajeel to be the oldest out of the group of dragon slayers. Since Rogue and Sting are 20 in the year that Acnologia is defeated, that made them older then the age I gave Natsu (whom I made the same age as Gray because I just felt like if either of the two were older in the series they would hold it over the other's head XD) by a year so I made Gajeel two years older (ie Erza's age). Hope that all makes sense since I'm writing this note at basically two a.m. on the day I am writing this chapter. Of course all those ages are roughly since we don't know birthdays, so I basically had all of the FT members birthdays happen before the 7 year stasis and they waited until the next year to add to their birthdays, I could be off on that, but since, as far as I know/remember, Hiro Mashima hasn't said anything about ages since they returned, that's how I came up with the ages (or I may have gotten that all jumbled in my head since I did a major manga crash reading, with Rave Master, etc).

Also this was the last "setup" chapter, woot woot :D

Answers to Reviews!

I Live FairyTail: Thanks :D And sure I would love to know the name, though I can't promise when I will get to it, life is crazy right now.

Fireshifter: Thank you :D Yes, poor Natsu. While he hasn't found his friends, at least he has some family now :D

FTAnt: Oh look another time skip XD And one more coming too, lol. I can't wait for you guys to see the next chapter :D

Ushindeshi: Thanks!