Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail and all that noise. Only thing that's mine is the plot or whatever.

To Kriim-Sauce786: I'm glad you're enjoying the story. As for your comment about Natsu being dumb or dense after four hundred years: that's really just how his character development is going to work. Natsu avoided human contact since his dragonification, only meeting with Anna, Zeref, and the slayers because he needed to. He didn't want to make connections at first but in the end it's Natsu and he ends up doing it unwittingly. But, because of his isolation, he never has the chance to interact with people and do normal things, which is why he's not as bright as you'd expect. It's also why he'd actively trying to improve himself now so things like Gajeel buying him a new arm doesn't keep happening. As for a 'serious Natsu,' you'd really need to specify what you mean by that. If you're looking for something similar to the stories tagged with 'Smart Natsu' or whatever, then you're not going to find that here. In my experience, those stories are incredibly dull, and they might have well just created an OC to write a story around because that's just not Natsu anymore. He'll be more serious in the sense that he has kids he needs to care for and he wants to be the best dad possible, but unless you say what you mean by 'serious' then I really don't know what to tell you.

To Pixie Duck: I already messaged you a while back, but I figured I'd just address this in here so everybody knows. This story is not, nor will it ever be, Jerza. Because, gross. Jellal is icky. I don't predict focusing on most of the children's romances, but as it stands now it will most likely be Gajeel/Levy and Erza/Mirajane, because not gross.

To Everybody Else: Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad everybody seems to be enjoying this story so much! I'd taken quite a big break from writing while I finished up in undergrad, but things are winding down now and I'm getting back into the swing of things. I actually hadn't meant to write anything for this story for a bit longer but I reread one of the chapters and just got inspired again so here we go! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 6: Stories of the past, hope for the future.

Year 781: Two years after the first council meeting on the Alvarez threat.

"Hey, Natsu?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever liked anybody?"

The dragon slayer looked up from the fish he was dangling above a pouting Happy's head. "Huh?"

Mira pressed on, fully aware that most questions needed to be repeated multiple times for Natsu to bother even beginning to consider thinking about answering somebody. "Have you ever liked anyone?" She was drumming her fingertips against the booth, her head propped up on a fist as she watched him torment Erza's cat. (It kinda made her want a cat too. Erza has a cat. Wendy has a cat. Sting has a cat. Rogue has a cat. Elfman doesn't have a cat. But he has a bird! So that's kinda like a reverse cat! The only people without cats were her, Lisanna, and Gajeel. She felt left out!)

He paused to think about it. Not for very long (it wasn't a very hard question, after all), but long enough for Happy to jump up, snag the fishy, and make off with his prize. Huffing slightly in disappointment, Natsu turned his entire attention to the little goth.

"Of course, I like lots of people. Why?"

"Not like that, Natsu. I mean like like."

"Like like.. what? I can't answer if you don't finish what you're saying."

Mira stared him down with a perfectly deadpanned look, unwilling to believe somebody could possibly be this dense. But the evidence was right there in front of her, Natsu really was that dense.

"Do you like like anybody?"

Natsu watched her for a count of five before speaking up again, and when he did he made sure to keep his voice nice and slow. Insultingly so. "I like lots of people, Jane. Why?"

Yeah. He was clueless. Absolutely clueless.

Clapping her hands together, Mira grinned sweetly, the kind of smile that would send fear coursing through the hearts of lesser men.

Natsu was no lesser man.

Natsu was also not a man to begin with, he was a dragon, and dragons do not fear goth children in crop tops and miniskirts. Dads certainly do (which is why Natsu refuses to buy Mira anything smaller than XL sweaters), but dragons do not.

"Natsu~" Her voice was sing-songy and pleasant and Natsu didn't pay it any mind, simply returning the (apparent) greeting with a joyous 'Jane~' of his own.

"Do you love anybody, Natsu?"

Naturally, that was the exact moment a lull had happened in the guild. It was one of those weird things where everybody mysteriously stops talking at the same time and half the people will turn to the other half and whisper 'why'd it get so quiet in here?' before everybody starts talking again at once.

Except, nobody started talking again.

They all just stopped.

And turned.

And stared.

Natsu stared right back at them, wondering why they were all looking at him so intensely all of the sudden. "What?" He patted himself down. "Is there something on my face?"

They just kept on staring him down. Especially, the women. What was up with that?

Putting it out of his mind, Natsu decided to answer Mira's question. "Well," he tapped his chin in thought, "I love my family."

The she-demon let out a disappointed and unimpressed 'your family?' She was really hoping for some juicy information on Natsu's love life. She knew he loved his family; everybody knew that.

"Of course! I love my family! You kids have made me happier than I've ever felt before!"

Mira wished (she wished so badly) that she could wipe that stupid little grin from his face. He knew exactly what he was doing.

Muttering an annoyed 'asshole,' Mira crossed her arms and turned away from the pink-haired dragon slayer, trying her best to hide her flushed cheeks.

Where the hell did he get off saying something so embarrassingly sappy? He knew she hated it!

Chuckling softly to himself and deciding to stop toying with the poor girl, Natsu stood up and made his way toward the stage. Quickly before anybody could question him, he hopped up onto the edge and sat himself down, facing out toward the guild. He raised an eyebrow pointedly at the group of children he knew damn well were listening in from the start and gestured to the open floor in front of him. "You all going to sit or what?"

None of them moved.

Natsu sighed. "Storytime isn't going to be as fun if you're all standing the entire time. Come along, get comfortable."

There was a flurry of movement as each of the kids dove for a spot closest to his feet. From the far side of the guild, Wendy came running, only to stumble a moment later and come crashing down. She did her best to protect the small bundle of cat fur in her arms, but by the age of two, Carla was already adept enough at escaping one of Wendy's tumbles to save herself.

A few of them tried to play off a disinterested facade, mainly Mira and Gajeel. Conveniently though, neither of them put up even a token resistance as they were dragged to sit at Natsu's feet by Lisanna and Levy respectively.

"So," Natsu clapped his hands, "where should I start?"

A flurry of questions burst to life, not isolated to just the small group of children. In fact, most of the guild seemed to be getting into it. It was rare, if ever, for them to learn anything about Natsu's mysterious life before Fairy Tail, so if he was giving them a chance then there wasn't any doubt they were going to capitalize on it.

"How did you know you loved her?

"Who is her?"

"Do I still have a chance?"

"What was she like?"

"Was she hot? Be honest! Ah, damn! I just know she's going to be hot! Natsu, you jerk!"

Natsu let the words wash over him like a wave, chuckling quietly as he waited for everything to calm down.

It did, eventually.

"Now that that's over with. Wendy, sweetie? What's your question?"

Lowering the hand she'd raised (polite as ever!), Wendy smiled up at her father. "What was her name?"

He smiled. "Her name," and a pause for dramatic effect, "was Irene."

There was a chorus of 'ooohs' and 'awws' from the audience and Natsu couldn't help but find the whole thing ridiculous. All he said was her name!

Echoing a question from earlier, Erza spoke up next, the blue-haired cat in her lap watching Natsu with rapt attention (enough to make the elder slayer puff his chest out a little bit with pride – he looked about as interested as he did when fish were involved). "What was she like?"

"Well," he began again, "she was very kind. I think you all would have loved her, especially you, Erza."

"Me?"

A nod. "Of course! I see a lot of her in you. The same strength, the same heart, even the same hair." Natsu's smile softened as Erza's face was replaced with an older one. The hair darkened ever so slightly, and it grew longer, but the bangs remained the exact same. The hair over her right ear shifted and twisted, instead of the straight lock of hair that framed her face, it was braided, dangling just to the side of a warm smile. "If things had been different, I could have seen you as her daughter." He imagined her life might have been a whole lot better if that were the case. The daughter of a queen rather than the sister of the black wizard.

"R- Really?" The scarlet-haired girl flushed under the praise, but a small smile spread her lips at the thought of a mother. She couldn't remember her own, the only parent she's ever known was Igneel..

.. and Natsu.

But a mother? She could hardly even conceive it. Even at the guild, most of her role models (Natsu, Makarov, Gildarts, even Gajeel to some degree) were all men.

Yeah. A mother sounded really nice.

"Really, really." Natsu affirmed.

"What do you mean by 'if things had been different?'"

Natsu turned to where Gajeel's voice came from, the iron dragon slayer seated at Levy's side with a look of forced disinterest. The pinkette's smile dimmed slightly as he answered the question, but he didn't let it stop him from sharing her memory. After four-hundred years, memories were the only legacy she had left in this world.

Well, memories and Natsu's family.

The last of the dragon slayers were (in a way) her last children too.

(She was the Queen of Dragons and Mother to all Slayers, after all.)

Still, as soon as the memories of her leave Natsu, that's the day she will finally die. Telling her story was just another way for him to keep her spirit and kindness alive just that much longer.

"Because she's no longer with us."

The memories washed over him like a wave. The battles waged on Ishgarian soil as the Western dragons swept down from above and their flames outglew even the stars in the skies. The day Queen Irene, first of her name, made a miracle happen. When she enchanted herself with the powers of their kingdom's protector and became the very first dragon slayer, taking the name of the sage dragon who'd helped and becoming Irene Belserion.

He remembered the day she enchanted him with the power as well. Back then, not all dragons knew the art of enchantment magic, so Irene was the catalyst that started all slayer's journeys. Igneel stood proudly at his side that day. The King of the Fire Dragons picking a side and choosing to fight his fellow dragon-kin. He was the first King to do so.

And he was also the only King.

It had been years afterward that Irene married somebody else, a foreign general from a neighboring country. It'd been to solve territorial disputes, a way to prevent discord between the united human fronts and preserve their tenuous peace. Natsu had smiled for his friend then, because even if he wished it had been him, and even if he wished that she'd been able to choose who she married. She looked happy on her wedding day, and that was enough for him.

It was in the years to come, when they seemed to be nearing victory, that tragedy struck.

Acnologia. His name was feared nowadays, a legendary black dragon that could burn countries to ashes on a whim. Nobody alive knew what it was really like, what he was really like. Natsu remembered him first as the doctor, the man who worked tirelessly to treat all of the soldiers who came through. (He remembers him as the exhausted man who stayed up late to teach Natsu healing magic just because he'd asked.) The man before Acnologia wasn't originally a citizen of Dragnof, only having moved there after his home, the Montes Secreta were razed by dragon fire. It was no wonder that after so much loss the man would snap.

The first slayer to turn into a dragon. The curse brought on by the nature of Irene's gift.

And the first step that in the end of the cycle.

It was Belserion, the draconic protector of Dragnof that made the first step, alongside Irene, in ending the war in favor of the humans.

And it was Belserion who was there for the last step.

When Acnologia descended upon Dragnof and burned the Sage Dragon in arcane fire until not even ashes remained.

And a week later, a week after Belserion died and the war ended, that Irene, a woman he'd been cursed to love from a distance but never have for himself, went missing.

And it was less than a month later when an assembly was called in the center of the city. An assembly meant to be the first step in a week of mourning.

A week of mourning for the death of Queen Irene.

The citizens of Dragnof wept openly for their lost queen, a woman who'd given everything so that they would be protected from the dragons who wished to see them fill their stomachs. The high enchantress who created the art of Dragon Slaying Magic and single-handedly turned the tide of the war.

Every person in the city loved their queen dearly, and the news of her death only a week after the bells of victory rang out through the open skies of Ishgar tore a hole in all of their hearts.

None more so than Natsu.

"She.. died?"

Natsu turned once again to the new speaker, this time taking the form of a small, blonde, spiky-haired seven-year-old.

"Yes, Sting. She— she died."

There was a silence after that, most of the guild members trying to reconcile this new image of Natsu with the boy they thought him to be. Before today, most of them likely would have doubted that the boy had ever loved anybody in that way. Much less that he's already loved and lost.

For Natsu, the quiet was suffocating, and he really, really wished somebody would speak up to fill that void.

".. that's sad."

".. Frosch thinks so too."

He would take it.

"It is." Natsu agreed easily, of course it was. It was sad that Irene had to die.

But he preferred it to the alternative. He wasn't a fool; he knew what would have happened if she hadn't.

He wouldn't wish the maddening pain of dragonification upon his greatest enemy, much less his closest friend. So, he was sad that Irene died, but he was glad she was freed from the curse that took the rest of the former slayers.

Acnologia had killed them all, in the end. Natsu was simply one of the lucky transformed who had escaped into hiding and the only one to be lucky enough to be found by Zeref.

Taking a look around the circle, Natsu saw despairing looks shared across all the little ones faces and that just wouldn't do.

"Cheer up, little ones. Irene passed a long time ago; her loss doesn't hurt me anymore."

It wasn't a lie. Four-hundred years was enough to heal any hole love could tear in somebody's heart. Anna had helped with that too, for a time. Natsu never had much contact with humans – bordering on zero except when he was hurt more than he could personally heal, so Anna was just about his only friend during the years they spent with the young slayers back in the fourth-century. For a time, he might even have been convinced he could fall in love with her. Who knows, maybe he would have.

He didn't think the same way now.

Somedays he wondered what he would say if Anna just turned up out of the blue now, what he would do if the doors of the guildhall opened and a flash of her blonde hair came through. He still wasn't quite sure. Yell at her? Scream out his anger and betrayal to the heavens? Would he forgive her for abandoning the kids to their fates? That wasn't the plan, this wasn't the plan, she was supposed to stick with them and keep them safe after the portal. They both were.

But Natsu had been the only one who'd searched for them when they'd gotten split up. Not Anna. Natsu.

So, he didn't know if he would forgive her. But he did know he wouldn't— couldn't— shouldn't love her. That ship had sailed and with his newfound motion sickness? Natsu never planned to try riding it again.

"So, who was she?"

That question came from an adult standing a distance away, tucked behind a canvas as he painted the scene before him. Each of the children staring up quietly with wide-eyed expressions as they waited for Natsu to tell him even a little bit about this mysterious love of his, even the rest of the guild watching on with quiet smiles. And of course, it was hard to forget Natsu himself. Seated on the edge of the stage with his legs swinging idly through the air. He was reclined backward, his upper body propped up by two arms: one human and the other metallic. It was a simple scene, but Reedus liked it.

"She," and oh how he couldn't wait for the reactions to this, "was a— " Natsu cut himself off, deciding to hide that little tidbit of information for later. "She was my friend."

".. "

".. "

".. "

".. "

".. eh?"

Natsu smiled up toward the ceiling, shutting his eyes as he let the general feeling of disappointment wash over him. All that lead up for nothing, hilarious!

"She was.. your friend?"

"Yep!"

"That's it?"

"What? Did you expect her to be the princess of the kingdom or something?"

By the looks on their faces, they did not, in fact, expect her to be royalty. Yeah. Natsu was all-the-more-glad that he was saving that reveal for later then.

Natsu waved his hand through the air, dismissing their countless questions in favor of answering a few of his own. "She was from the same place I was, or there abouts. The kingdom Dragnof."

"Wait, where?"

"Dragnof?"

"Why have I never heard of it?"

"Besides the fact that you're a child?"

"Yes."

"I've got nothing." Seriously. The only people who know about his homeland are those who rival himself in age, and they were few and far between.

Levy was, evidently, not satisfied with his answer. "Why haven't they," she gestured vaguely to the equally lost adults in the background, "heard of this?"

Natsu just shrugged lamely. "How should I know?"

That was a lie. He knew exactly why they haven't heard of it.

"Shouldn't there have been some record of an entire country falling? I think we would have heard about it." Levy crossed her arms and frowned up at the dragon slayer on stage. It wasn't that she didn't trust Natsu, or that she thought he was purposefully lying to them, but things just weren't adding up.

"It wasn't a very large country, so I'm not surprised you hadn't heard of it." Well, that and the fact that Dragnof fell into ruin centuries ago. "But any records that might have existed burned when the kingdom collapsed." He shrugged again. "I had already left by the time it happened, so I don't really know for sure what caused it, but the capitol is little more than rubble and ash now."

Another lie. Or, well— mostly a lie. It was true he hadn't been there when it happened, he'd actually still been a dragon at that point, just as he would continue to be for the next few years. All he knew that by the time he returned to his city, it had been nothing but rubble.

He'd heard rumors as he passed aimlessly from town to town. Some say it was a slow inward collapse after the loss of Irene, the country unable to sustain itself without her leadership. Others speak of dragon fire, flames borne of the dying embers of vengeance, stoked by the last wing beats of Acnologia's prey.

As years went on, the stories got more and more bizarre, enough to where he simply stopped paying attention on the rare occasions he entered a town.

Whatever it may have been, the lack of answers looked about as annoying to Levy as it had been disturbing for Natsu all those years ago. "But I want to knooooooooooow!" She looked just about ready to start pulling her hair out.

"Sorry, Levy. I'm not sure what happened. I wish I could tell you, but.. " He shrugged, causing Levy to pout and cross her arms with a disgruntled huff.

"It's just not fair."

Rolling his eyes playfully, Natsu smiled down at the little bookworm. "However will I make it up to you?"

That seemed to do the trick because she immediately perked up and acted like nothing happened. "Tell us the story!"

"Which story?" There were quite a few.

"The one where you fell in love!" She said it like the answer was obvious – not in a mean way, mind you, more of an 'are you kidding' sort of thing – which, honestly, it kind of was. That was mostly on Natsu for not figuring that out.

"You went to know the story of how we fell in love?"

The answer was a resounding 'yes,' one that the entire guild had no issue stating.

"Hm." Natsu thought about it. He'd have to change some of the elements up to hide his own true nature, but he could certainly do it. Plus, it wasn't like it would matter if he changed a few things, the story was the same, and he would know. He would know. "Alright, sure."

If possible, the kids huddle in even closer, squeezing in so that they were pretty much shoulder to shoulder with one another. Those who had talking-cat-friends (Natsu was still trying to work that out two years after the eggs hatched) had them situated in either their laps or on their heads. Natsu chuckled softly at their eager expressions and smiled warmly down at all of them. Not even Cana or Grey, who for the most part didn't interact with Natsu as the others, were ready and waiting.

Natsu tapped his chin a few times in thought, muttering a quiet 'where to start, where to start' to himself on repeat as he did. It honestly was a hard decision.

Still, easy decision or not, it wasn't a reason not to toy with their emotions a bit.

"Actually, on second thought, nah. I'm good."

"What?"

"Yeah, I just— it would take a while, y'know? That's a lot of talking." He shrugged. "Guess I'm just not feeling it. Well, guess I will see you all tomorr—oh!" Natsu yelped in surprise as he was roughly pulled back into his seat. It wasn't so much that it happened (he knew it was going to and he let it), it was more of who was the one man-handling him.

A pair of brown eyes narrowed dangerously at him. ".. Papa.. "

"W- Wendy?"

"Finish the story."

Natsu saluted, still too surprised by his seven-year-old daughter to do anything but what she asked.. "A- Aye, sir!"

Satisfied with his answer, Wendy nodded once and smiled brightly up at him. A big toothy grin that highlighted all of the little gaps in her teeth where her adult ones were growing in. "Thanks, papa!"

"S- sure thing, Wendy.. "

She really flipped back quick..

Feeling rather awkward, Natsu hooked a finger around the edge of his scarf and loosened the fabric from around his neck. "R- right! Okay, so just.. give me a minute so I can figure out where to start."

They would, but they certainly didn't look happy about it.

Natsu rolled his eyes at the guild's seemingly collective decision to cross their arms and tap their feet impatiently. Children, the lot of 'em.

While they stewed, he considered his options. They wanted to know about how he fell in love, but when exactly had he realized he'd loved his queen a bit more than what was considered acceptable? There were so many moments shared between the two that it was hard to say. Was it during their usual spars? The day-long marches from Dragnof to neighboring villages and towns? Or perhaps when they were fighting side by side under the shadows of dueling dragons? Or could it have been whilst dueling foreign gods to on the Straights of Ranvier?

And he was meant to pick out when exactly he fell in love with her during all of that?

He didn't know if it was possible.

So, he went from the easiest starting point.

The start.

"Dragnof," he began, ignoring the way Levy immediately brightened up, "was a small kingdom to the north. Tall, stone walls lined its borders, protecting the city within from foreign invaders, though they were hardly necessary."

"Why?"

Sighing, Natsu shook his head with a small smile. "I was getting there, Gajeel. Be patient."

"You were taking too long!"

"No, I was taking a breath."

The iron dragon's only rebuttal was a scowl. Natsu counted that one as his win.

"The reason is rather simple. Dragnof was a peaceful nation." He stopped after that, taking in the reactions of those around the room. The children at his feet simply nodded along in response. It made perfect sense to them, after all, if they were a peaceful country then nobody would attack them! The adults on the other hand were giving him dubious looks: raised brows, rolling eyes, and faint snickers of disbelief were common among them. They understood the ridiculousness of the statement. Preferring peace hardly meant having peace. "Of course," he amended, "the dragons that lived amongst us in the city were a good deterrent as well."

And there was the uproar he was waiting for. He didn't even bother seeking out individual statements this time, already knowing that everybody was going to be just as disbelieving as they were when he made the announcement of his and the kids' magics. They'd come to accept it in time, it was the truth.

Then, when the guild began to quiet at last, Natsu continued on, not addressing even a single one of their concerns. "Outside the city there stood many tall statues of dragons, made for a rather imposing image, not one many marching armies wanted to cross." A pause. "The kingdom itself was nestled in a valley, towering cliffs surrounding it on two sides some distance away. It was cold there and the ground was mostly clay, making the earth hard and the people harder still."

Gajeel's snicker was cut off by the back of Levy's hand.

"The city itself wasn't much to speak of. It looked nice the first time you see it, but," he shrugged his shoulders, "gets old quick if you ask me. Just a lot of stone, not very appealing unless you're an earth dragon or something. Now if they made the houses out of fire?" A little bit of drool spilled out of his mouth at the thought. Yeah. Fire houses sounded delicious.

"You can't make houses out of fire, Natsu."

"And why not!?"

A sigh. "You just can't. It wouldn't work." Then, in a quiet grumble that Natsu surely wasn't meant to hear (but did), "Nobody would want to live in that besides you, anyways."

Natsu glared the man down for a count of three before looking pointedly looking over at Erza who was still off in dreamland, imagining a peaceful in her fire-laden cabin. The only thing in her dreams that wasn't made of fire was (of course) the strawberry cake. It truly did sound wonderful, a home and delicacy combined into one? Sign. Her. Up!

"Anyways! Before I was so rudely interrupted, the houses were made of stone. Boring. Whatever. There was a palace too, big place, tall, wide, you get it." He waved a hand through the air, already moving on from the palace as a whole.

Natsu clapped his hands together. "The day I met Irene was.. well, it's hard to forget – even for me." He rapped on the side of his head and grinned at the children. "You see, King Hal, was not a very pleasant man. He did what he had to in order to keep his kingdom safe, but it wasn't him who actually brought us peace. Under his reign, Dragnof – or.. well, it was Belaren or something back then. Bel-ar-en? Bela-ren?" Natsu's nose scrunched up as he sounded the name out before shrugging and moving on. "Whatever. Different name. Who cares?"

Levy's eye twitched.

"Still, as the king there were certain expectations of what he should do, certain traditions he had to uphold to stay in the people's good favor. One of those things was visiting a little, run-down building tucked away in the city slums. A home for orphans. My home. Hal, of course, hated the very thought of being anywhere near people like us. We were dirty, loud, and didn't so much care for authority." The guild decided that one, Natsu sounded far too proud of that fact and, two, nothing had changed since he was a child. "The king arrived early in the morning when the sun hadn't even begun to rise over the valley's edge. The other children rushed out to meet the royal procession while I.. " Natsu closed his eyes and drifted off into his memories, describing the day as it happened.

Snores echoed through the room, drowning out the excited chatter of the other orphans. The chorus of restful breathing was muffled only be the abandoned blankets and mattresses spread throughout the room. Natsu himself was the last remaining child in the room and—

"How do you know that?"

Natsu's eyes opened only to narrow at the blue cat that dared interrupt his story not even a minute in. (If the poorly concealed snicker was anything to go by, Happy knew damn well what he was doing.)

"How do I know what?"

"That you were the only one sleeping in the room."

"Because I was there."

"But you were asleep."

"So?"

"So, you couldn't have known you were alone if you were sleeping. That's like saying you caught the biggest fish when really you didn't!"

".. "

".. "

".. "

".. "

"So, I was sleeping.. "

The heel of a foot dragged its way across the wall as Natsu pivoted, grumbling in his sleep as he shifted around to bury his face in his pillow.

Or.. he would have buried his face into his pillow if his head wasn't dangling over the side of his mattress, the tips of his spikey hairy just faintly ghosting over the rough clay of the home's floor. His position looked the furthest thing from comfortable with his one leg propped vertically against the wall, both his hands clenching the fabric of his mattress as his body (unwittingly) tried to prevent him from sliding onto the cool floor.

Truly, the picture of comfort.

The clamor from outside increased tenfold as the bedroom door creaked open, a small body silently slipping inside before slumping against the wooden surface and breathing out a sigh of relief.

".. got away.. "

The newcomer took a few seconds to suck in some heaving breaths before opening her eyes once again and peering wearily around the room. Brown eyes took in the dozen barren, thatch mattresses and scattered blankets throughout the room before settling on the snoring boy in the center. To her eyes, the boy couldn't have been more than twelve. It was hard to tell, really, everybody aged differently, but she liked to think he was close to her age.

Still, she'd never been very good at guessing how old people were by appearances alone..

.. perhaps a closer look would help?

Tucking some hair behind her ear, the girl took a few tentative steps forward, her shoulders slumping with relief when she noticed there was no need to worry about creaky floorboards in the orphanage – mostly because the floors weren't wooden, but also because the boy would surely sleep through it regardless.

Emboldened by the pinkette's lack of a reaction, she crept closer still, the soles of her shoes dragging across the floor and sending small flecks of shattered clay skittering about aimlessly through the room.

Then, all too quickly, she was at the boy's bedside. She leaned down to get a closer look, taking in the slight pitch of the boy's brows, the paleness of his cheeks, the trembling of his lips. Without her mind's consent, she kneeled down upon the floor beside his head, reached out, and brushed through one of his hair's many spikes. She pressed the lock between her thumb and the side of her index finger, curling it gently around as she observed him curiously.

"Pink."

She'd never seen pink hair before. Black? Definitely. Brown? Obviously. Even less common colors were present in her country: blonde, orange, her own color of red, but pink? It was such a novel concept yet one she'd never even considered before.

Though, she supposed she truly hadn't met that many people outside of the company her father keeps, so it could have been more from a lack of exposure than any true testament of rarity.

The girl was pulled from her musing as the boy fidgeted and whimpered, squirming in place and tightening his hold on the thin fabric that covered the thatch beneath. It hardly looked a comfortable place to sleep, she didn't know how he managed to sleep so late into the day on something so coarse and—

She prodded the straw that poked through one of the many holes in the mattress with the hand not busy tossling the boy's hair.

—and pointy. Seriously, the mattress was weapons-grade.

Sighing quietly, she removed her hand from the pink locks and swiped her palms over the skirt of her dress, dusting away the clay stains and stray straw that clung to it. She was fully prepared to stand up when she heard a whisper cut through the air, a pained voice calling out for help and—oh.

The boy didn't look uncomfortable because he was uncomfortable, he was having a nightmare.

She shifted her weight from her toes back to her knees, settling down fully beside the boy. Then, beginning with a soft, barely audible hum, she began singing the same lullaby she remembered from sleepless nights of her own.

As she sung, her hand returned to his hair, fingers carding through spikey pink locks and trying (in vain, she would later come to learn) to get them into some semblance of order. His shallow breath ghosted across the underside of her chin, deflecting up along her cheeks, as she leaned over him. Her own hair cascaded down over one shoulder as she tilted her head to the side, peering over his face as his panic quietened.

She was only getting to the end of her lullaby when the pinkette finally seemed to withdraw fully from his nightmarish dreams and relax into his bed. There was only a single moment of time for her to appreciate his peaceful face before a shout rung out from the streets, jerking her back to reality.

"What do you mean she slipped away!?"

Her eyes flew wide as panic set in. She'd been hoping to sneak away with the guards outside being none the wiser, but if they were close enough for her to hear—

She didn't get a chance to finish the thought, too busy nursing the sharp pain in her nose as the boy across from her clutched his eye and groaned.

"Eugh—! What the.. "

He sat upright, still cupping his hands over his left eye as he spun around to glare at whoever dared to poke his eye out. No matter what the fishmongers in the market say, eyepatches are not cool! He was far too young to go around galivanting as a pirate! His glare, however, faltered the moment he met two tearful eyes.

"Ow, ow, ow!" The strange girl tried removing her hand from her nose only to hiss in pain and shock at the glistening spattering of red over their surface. With his own pain momentarily forgotten, he settled into his reflex reaction to seeing any girl crying.

He panicked.

"Oh no, oh no! Are you okay? Please don't cry!" His arms waved frantically through the air as he tried to calm the stranger down from hysteric tears. "I didn't mean to hit you, I swear! Somebody just shouted and it woke me up and then I opened my eyes and you were right there and I just freaked! I didn't mean for any of this to happen, I promise, it was just an accident, you have to believe me!"

He probably would have gone on longer if not for the faint, but pained, giggle that cut him off. "Please stop talking. You're embarrassing me and it's only making the bleeding worse."

Nodding quickly, he shut his eyes to block out the sight of blood leaking through the space between her fingers. (Of course, that also meant he missed the healthy flush of the girl's cheeks at the boy's rather overzealous worrying.) He was squeamish and the image would only make him feel worse – equal parts of nausea and guilt combining to make one uncomfortable orphan.

But the silence that followed left him with too much time to think and all his mind could conjure up were memories that his nightmares could never do justice. So, he opened his eyes (just a tad) before they flew wide in surprise.

The newcomer – he really needed to ask her name – had her eyes similarly closed, that wasn't the shocking thing, but rather the faint bluish-green light emanating from beneath her palms. Where blood once decorated the flesh between the cracks, the light now shone through. The back of her hands, the thickest portion of blood, muscle, and sinew, was glowing faintly red, the light being just bright enough to be seen on the side.

"W- what the.. "

He couldn't make heads or tails of what he was seeing, it was like nothing he'd ever witnessed before. He'd seen light before, because of course he had, but light coming from somebody's hands? And blue light at that?

He just didn't understand what was happening.

The girl seemed to sigh, for what reason he couldn't tell. Maybe the light was warm and felt nice like the sun?

The girl removed her hands from her nose and.. yeah. The sun definitely never did that.

She smiled over at him amicably. "See? Nothing to worry about, I'm okay!"

Natsu didn't dare blink and with his eyes as wide as they were, he could feel them quickly drying out.

Of course, the girl had a solution for that.

(Apparently.)

His eyes snapped achingly shut as she blew over his face and he recoiled back in shock. "H- Hey! What's the big idea!"

"You were staring! It's embarrassing!"

"You're the one who was glowing! You can't blame me for staring!"

"Yes, I can!"

"No, you can't!"

"Yes! I can!"

"No! You can't!"

"Yes! I c— !"

She was cut off by a third voice, this time far closer (and far louder).

"I don't care! Find that girl!"

The orphan whirled around to glare at the curtained window (though it would better be described as a hole in the window thanks to the rather glaring lack of glass in the opening) and crossed his arms with a huff. His nose crinkled up disdainfully as he regarded the bodiless voice. "Hmmph! Don't they know its rude to be so noisy this early in the morning? Some people need to learn common decen.. cy? H- Hey.. what's wrong?" He'd turned around mid-sentence to find the girl (small smears of dried blood still decorating the skin above her lips) glancing around the room nervously as she backed up. He blinked once before coming to an understanding. "Oh.. they— the guards are after you, aren't they?"

She nodded.

"O- oh.. uhm.. you're.. you're not a thief are you?"

She shook her head.

He smiled and sprung to his feet. "Great! You didn't even look like you were lying when you answered!"

"What are you— "

"I know a way out the back, but we've got to go quick! The guards always check here first, so no time to wait, let's go, go, go!"

She shook her head frantically. "N- No! Just wait a minute, I'm oka— "

The boy grabbed her hand and started tugging her along, leading her around the corner to a doorway in the back. The room they arrived in was full of crates – full of what, she had no idea – and he wasted no time darting across the room to the back corner and squirming his way behind one of the wooden boxes. She didn't have to wait long for it to start to move, sliding easily across the clay underfoot before coming to a rest a foot away. The boy popped back up again, smiling and waving her around to a hole in the foundation. "Quick, I'll slide it back into place once you're through."

Deciding to just go along with him for now, she dutifully followed and allowed him to drag the crate back to cover his escape route. She took a moment to wonder just how many times he'd used it in the past before finding she really didn't mind one way or the other.

He popped back up to his feet and didn't even bother brushing the dirt and grass from his ragged pants, too busy leading her to some precarious – and certainly not safe – scaffolding. Yet, the conditions of the building materials hardly seemed to phase him as he kept on chattering even as he wiggled to and fro through the support beams. Occasionally, he stopped to grab her hand and drag her up further, but still his mouth just kept on moving.

"It's still morning, so— "

It wasn't. The sun was already moving westward past its peak, but she doubted the strange boy understood that. If he thought afternoon was morning, there truly wasn't much hope for his ability to tell time.

"—I'm guessing you stole something recently."

She tried (keyword: tried) to protest, but he hardly let her get a word in edgewise. "I didn't— "

"Yeah, yeah. You're not a thief." He glanced back from where he was dangling from a horizontal pole and winked before swinging up to the next platform. She had only a few seconds to scurry around – with far less grace – and try to keep up. "Anyways, only place open this early is the fish cart, which you should definitely avoid. At least for a few weeks, that is."

"Why?"

He paused for a moment before throwing himself bodily to the top of the building and disappearing over the edge. A few seconds later he appeared over the side and reached an arm down for her to grab onto. "Well, they may have.. misplaced a few fish the other day, so they're going to be on their guard for a week or so. You should try again after that." He grinned. "Wouldn't want you getting hurt!"

Grumbling to herself, she accepted his hand and allowed him to pull her all the way up to the roof. Once up, she shakily moved across the shingles and made her way to where he'd sat down. "So.. you stole from the fishmongers?"

His onyx eyes flicked over to her from the horizon before he grinned – wide and proud – and chirped an all-too-merry 'nope!' He nudged her with his elbow and winked. "Weren't definitely not thieves, remember?"

Her cheeks flushed indignantly. "I'm not a thief!"

He chortled. "You're really good at that?"

"At what?" She retorted hotly.

"Lying!"

"Wha— ! I'm not lying!"

"Well, if you're not 'lying,' then what is your name? I'm Natsu!"

She glared at him for a few moments before sighing, rubbing her sleeves across her lips, and grinning toothily right back at him. "Irene."

"Ooooh." He nodded. "Same name as the princess? That's pretty cool! I think it would be cool to be named after the king if he wasn't such a big, mean, butt-head."

Irene choked on her spit and spun around to stare at Natsu with wide eyes. He met her startled gaze and shrugged, nonplussed. "What? He is!"

"He's the king! You can't say that about the king!"

"If he didn't want to be called a butt-head, then he shouldn't be a butt-head!"

It was really, really simple! There was only one step!

Step one: Don't be a butt-head!

It wasn't hard!

"You still shouldn't say that! Why are you even calling him a butt-head anyways?"

Natsu crossed his arms and huffed. "He wouldn't listen to me when I said the dragons should be our friends!"

Irene reared back, her voice nearly failing her as she stuttered out a 'you told him what!?'

The pinkette either didn't notice her reaction or didn't care, simply nodding in response. "I said dragons should be our friends. He wouldn't even listen to me! He just scowled, brushed past me, and told his guards to make sure I got home! It was so dumb!"

"Natsu.. dragons killed his wife, the queen. He won't ever be their friends, even if it was possible."

"Well, that's dumb."

A sigh. "Natsu.. " She didn't know what to say. It just wasn't that simple. Things weren't that simple. They were at odds with dragons, that's just how things were. You cannot settle centuries of bad blood with just a few words and promises of friendship.

They sat in silence for a while, neither party truly cognizant of the passage of time, they could have spent hours on that roof or they could have spent mere minutes. Beneath them, guards hustled about, combing through the slums with excessive scrutiny. If Natsu was paying attention, he might have found the behavior odd – the guard has never cared that much about petty thievery in the past – but he was too lost in his own memories to think anything of it.

Irene watched the people traverse through the city with an impassive expression as she thought about Natsu's pleas. Eventually, though, she sighed. She wasn't sure if she was trying to justify the king's feelings on the matter or her own, but in the end, she found it didn't matter.

The opinion doesn't change.

"Dragons killed his family, Natsu, you can't expect him to forgive them for that."

The pinkette turned and watched as Irene drew her knees into her chest before turning away again and frowning. "Yeah, well, people killed mine. You don't see me treating you like a murderer, do you?"

The bitterness in his voice was enough to send her recoiling, balking toward him with a hanging jaw. She tried to say something, anything, but her words failed her. That was fine by Natsu, it just meant she couldn't interrupt him.

One of his hands leafed through the dirt and grime that had settled atop the roof during the last storm, a finger poking and prodding a tree sapling that had somehow managed to take root despite all odds. "I'm not from Belaren. I lived in a little village. We didn't have the big walls, we do here. People came, bad people and— " He shook his head. "Mom grabbed me and ran behind a building. Somebody saw her, I guess, so she set me down and told me to run. I did. I was pretty good at running, fastest in the village."

He plucked a rock up and tossed it into the courtyard below.

"Mom wasn't."

He was silent then and Irene didn't know what to say. Well, she did know what to say, it was the same thing people told her when her mother died, the same thing she was told when she woke up from her nightmares and needed to be sung back to sleep. It wasn't like 'I'm sorrys' we're going to make anything better for him.

But, it was a start.

"Natsu, I am so sorry, that must have been awf— "

He cut her off, not even seeming to have heard her. "I was five then, or maybe six?" He shook his head. "Not sure, doesn't matter. Either way it wasn't very hard for the men to catch up to me."

Irene sucked in a breath, her heart seeming to pause with the rest of the world as their rooftop was drowned in silence because how? How did he survive? How is he here?

"They dragged me back. If I'd been just a little faster or hesitated a little less when my mom told me to run then maybe.. " He chewed his lip.

Irene thought she knew what he was going to say. 'If only I'd been faster, I could have gotten away. If only I'd run sooner, I could have been safe. Free.'

Irene was wrong.

Natsu shook his head, continuing to muse quietly to himself, his private thoughts being aired unwittingly to his company. ".. or maybe if they'd just killed her sooner.. "

She didn't know what he meant by that, but she was too scared to ask. Too afraid of what it could mean. Natsu didn't seem too keen on telling her either. Maybe another time, another date, when they were closer and better friends, maybe she'd be strong enough to ask him then.

"It was a dragon that saved me."

Irene blinked, all thoughts ceasing for the final time as she stared at the boy beside her.

"I was being dragged in front of the leader, not really sure why, they were speaking strange. They kept gesturing to me and saying stuff, I don't really know." Another shrug. "But all of a sudden the houses that were on fire started going out, the flames flying away into the air. It was night, so it was hard to see, but the flames gave enough light to see his face."

"I was the only survivor. Not really sure if I should be grateful the men who caught me wanted me for some other purpose or not, but no point worrying about it now. Igneel saved me. He stayed by me after and took care of me in that village as he waited for Belaren to see the smoke and come to help." A beat passed. "They never did."

Standing up, Natsu turned and offered a hand to help Irene to her feet, steadying her when she rocked uneasily on the shingles. The soles of her shoes didn't have quite the same traction that Natsu's bare, calloused feet did, and only served to make standing more precarious.

"The guards should be gone now, we can head back."

Irene complied wordlessly, sitting down on her butt on the edge of the roof as Natsu jumped down. She didn't even have to ask before he turned around and held his arms out, preparing to catch her if needed, something she appreciated greatly. It wasn't often (or ever) that she participated in climbing quite like this, so she wasn't all that experienced or light of foot.

It was only when they reached the ground and Natsu was digging his toes into the prickly, itchy, northern grasses that decorated the ground sparingly that Irene found her voice again.

"What happened next? With.. with the dragon?"

Natsu hummed quietly and smiled, stunning her briefly at how easily he could smile after a story like that. "He cared for me for a time, at least until the end of winter, acted as a father in every way that mattered, taught me about dragons, answered every question I had even when I was annoying and pestering. He was.. kind." He glanced up toward the clouds, as if hoping for the sight of red scales amongst the heavens. "He thought he would do me a disservice by keeping me with him, thought I deserved human company during the war. He couldn't give me that, so he brought me here. It's my dream to stop it so I can one day see him again. I just need to convince the king."

Irene swallowed thickly as she stared at his back, her hands trembling slightly at her sides – either in fear or anticipation. "O- Or the princess."

"Hm?" Natsu turned back to her and cocked his head to the side.

"You'd have to convince the king or the princess."

A frown before Natsu turned toward the palace. "She's never left her home before. The king is too protective of her for me to meet her."

The scarlet-haired girl gave him a wobbly, nervous smile in a poor attempt to hide a wince. "Y- yes, well.. I hear she might be allowed soon?"

"Really?" Natsu stared over at her. "That's great!" Then, he was holding her hands in his and beaming up at her (younger, he was definitely younger, probably twelve if she had to guess). "Do you think she would believe me? That she would want peace with the dragons?"

"I— "

"Princess! We found you, thank the gods, your father would have had our heads! Are you hurt at all?"

Silence.

Complete and utter silence.

Not even the kids were speaking.

Not even Happy was speaking.

It was nothing short of a miracle for Natsu. (Maybe he should do big storytelling reveals more often? He might finally get some peace and quiet.)

Then: "Wait, who the hell was the princess then, Salamander? You didn't mention even 'er!"

The entire guild turned to stare at Gajeel with narrowed, bewildered eyes. He met them all steely. "What? It's an honest question!"

Levy, bless her patient little heart, patted Gajeel on the shoulder sympathetically. "Irene was the princess."

He whirled on Natsu. "She was what?"

"The Princess Irene. Daughter of King Hal. Next in line for the throne of Belaren. And eventually? Queen Irene Belserion, first of her name."

More silence broken apart only by Natsu's snicker. Man, were their faces fun to watch. He really wished Reedus wasn't equally as shocked so he could paint a portrait of it all.

Patting Wendy gently on the thigh in a silent request for her to climb off his lap, Natsu stood. She'd climbed up mid-story to quietly request he braided her hair since she'd mussed her own up too much and it was coming undone. He'd done so wordlessly, not even bothering to watch as he wove the plaits into his daughter's hair.

"And where do you think you're going?"

The pinkette raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the owner of the voice. "I'm old and can't sit for that long at once, Jane. I'll be crotchety tomorrow if I don't move around some more."

Mira crossed her arms with a 'harumph!' of unhappy acceptance. "Fine. I'll allow it." She would let him escape for now, but that hardly meant she would be deprived of the rest of the story later.

Natsu rolled his eyes (as if he needed her permission to do anything) and made sure to take special care in ruffling her hair as he passed by.

"H- Hey! Damnit, Natsu! Cut that out!"

Shaking his head and smiling, Natsu yawned and walked toward the doors of the guild.

Once he was gone, Gajeel returned to his favorite pastime of scowling at everything and nothing all at once. Levy, ever watchful, rolled her eyes and nudged him playfully. "What's got you into a fit now?"

"Salamander may have been done talking, but I wasn't done listening! There's still more to that story and I wanna know it!"

"Oh?" The solid-script mage beside him grinned. "I didn't realize you were such a fan of story time?"

"I'm not! I just want to learn more about dragons, that's all!"

He wasn't convincing anyone.

Humming softly in supposed acceptance of his claim, Levy stood up and stretched out (man, Natsu was right, sitting was hard!). "Well, if that's all then I guess I'll head down to the library. I've got a few books that I've been meaning to reread and Natsu's story just reminded me of how good they were!"

She'd only made it halfway to the hallway in the back before heavy steps quickly stomped after her. "Hey now, wait just a minute! Do any of these stories have dragons?"

"Hm.. well, I suppose some might." She blinked her eyes coquettishly, tilting her head with a mock innocence only Gajeel was buying. "Why do you ask?"

Never one to mince his words (or actions), Gajeel just stormed past her and into the hallway. "Come on, pipsqueak! I need you to show me which of these are good!"

"H- Hey! You stupid gearhead, get back here! Don't leave me behind!"

A laugh echoed out of the hall as Levy disappeared down it. "Not my fault your stride is so shor— hey, hey, hey! Get offa me you—"

Meanwhile:

"You sent for me, my lord?"

The figure sitting on the throne stared down at the kneeling woman impassively, his face propped up on his knuckle as he lounged in his seat. "Yes. I have a task for you."

"What do you request? Destruction of a rival nation? Or maybe a— "

She was cut off before she could truly begin as the king's free hand waved sluggishly through the air. "No. Nothing of the sort."

The woman stilled, confusion replacing her earlier eager. Slowly, she tilted her head up, peering at the emperor's face under the brim of her hat. "Spriggan, sir?"

"You were present for the last council, yes?"

"I wasn't, but Heine came in my stead and informed me of the happenings."

Another dismissive wave of the hand. "Fine, fine, whatever. You know of our plans for Ishgar then, yes?"

"Of course, my lord, you wish to— "

"I know what I wish to do, I have no need for you to repeat it to me. What I need is for you to travel there and collect information."

"Infor— my lord! I can do far more than some.. some.. some common spy!"

From his throne, the emperor only raised a brow at the woman, not even deigning to provide her outburst with a response. "Your ship is waiting in the harbor. You will head to Isghar right away. To Magnolia."

"I— " She cut herself off before lowering her head, nodding, and turning to leave. "It will be done."

"Good. Oh. And Irene?"

The woman paused, her hand pressed flatly against the surface of the throne room doors as she turned back to face Emperor Spriggan.

"I advise you to exercise discretion while there. I'd hate for any.. undue attention to come upon you."

The former queen of Dragnof stared at him for a moment longer, pondering his request, before shoving her way through the doors and leaving without another word.

As soon as the doors shut behind her, the emperor turned his gaze to the windows off to the side, peering out over endless seas.

"Are you sure that was wise, my lord?"

"However, do you mean, August?"

"You're aware that she will have.. history with the man there, so why send her specifically?"

Behind the guise of Emperor Spriggan, the Black Wizard Zeref smiled grimly and knit his fingers together.

"Why, indeed."

Up Next: More stories, more fathering, and more Irene!