Chapter I
'How many years has it been?' Percy thought as he lazily drifted on the sea. He had no need for a boat, not that he would have cared if he had gotten wet. In fact, he really didn't have a care in the world at all. He just idly drifted on the calm soothing swells, floating on his back with his ankles crossed and his fingers interlaced behind his head.
He allowed the sea to lull him into a meditative state as he reflected upon his life. A life that, unfortunately, was several times longer than it had any right to be. All because his great grandmother on his fathers side of the family decided to be petty.
A couple years after the Second Giant War had concluded and Percy had spent the majority of his time training and meditating in isolation to come to terms with everything that had happened. Tartarus, all the lives lost, his hime; he did not forgive and he would never forget, but he accepted that they had happened. And despite how desperately he wished to change them, he could not.
But he recovered. Through training and meditation and spending time with Aunt Hestia regularly, he recovered and rejoined the camps. It was when he rejoined that they all took notice.
He had not aged.
Gaea's curse held true.
But he carried on. He helped train the next generation and talked to his mother. He helped raise his baby sister, Estelle, for a few years before he vanished from his mortal family's lives. His mother was heartbroken, but she understood and he chose to watch over them as time continued forward.
He watched his friends that survived the war grow old and start families of their own, watching over them in turn. He played a silent guardian in the shadows for his loved ones and their children, then their children's children after that. Years quickly turned to decades and decades to centuries slowly becoming nothing more than a legend to them.
Shortly after the fourth century though, Olympus's time had come. They all felt it coming - the call to the void - but Percy remained. Cursed by a Primordial and forced to stay behind. The excess energy from the divine world caused a massive shift.
Land masses broke apart and reformed, millions died in the shift, and all the divine energy, including the Mist, saturated the world. He protected his loved one's descendants as best as he could, but the millions high death toll hurt him, so he vanished once more into obscurity to cope.
The divine energy mutated in that time and eventually became known as Ethernano, the building block of magic. Creatures of the world adapted to it as tenacious forms of life often do. New species of creatures that were magical in nature and capable of wielding said magic.
Demons of vile and evil intent rose, as did those legacies of the divine world that used to be who were arrogant enough to call themselves gods. And dragons came to power. Magnificent creatures torn on what to do with humanity; befriend them or destroy them.
Percy didn't sit idly forever. His true name was nothing more than a myth, but he too adapted to Ethernano and absorbed it into his body. He learned and taught himself magic as he traveled the new world.
He became the first slayer. Demons, the vast majority beyond reason, learned quickly to fear him as he adapted his magic to kill them, becoming the first Demon Slayer. Of course his affinities coincided with his heritage; sea demon, ice demon, wind demon, lightning demon, and storm demon slaying magics were born and he left his notes on the basics of the magic behind for generations to find.
His magic and abilities need not be adapted much to deal with those legacies calling themselves gods. For he had already slew gods far more powerful before and the magic turned his elements black as night.
And the dragons… Well, someone needed to teach those overgrown lizards how to speak and properly use their magics.
And while the vast power of slaying magic became known to him as he pioneered it, it came with its own risks as everything in life did. The more one used the magic, the more a seed grew within the user. Once that seed bloomed in full, the caster would slowly turn into the very thing they sought to destroy. It was something he didn't prevent.
His demon and god forms did not change his appearance much, merely growing horns from his forehead reminiscent of a Japanese oni with sharper teeth and nails, and Greco-Roman armor with a trident made entirely of Ethernano and more royal features.
His dragon form was a sight to behold however. A Japanese dragon of midnight blue and sea green scales with a deeply tanned underbelly. His mane as black as his hair with the single streak of silver flowing through it and several meter long whiskers. He had no wings in his dragon form, for he was a dragon of the seas and the skies, evidenced by his aura and his size of 30 meters long.
When his own slaying seeds grew, Percy simply faded into the whispers of legend to once again master his own mind. He could have researched the magic more to find a counter to the process, but chose to simply warn those who sought to learn it instead. It served to remind those that there was a price for doing so.
He sought to teach those that came after him that there was no such thing as a painless lesson.
Percy didn't slay every demon, god, and dragon he encountered though. Some were peaceful, or at the very least, reasonable, and so he had friends and allie's scattered throughout the world. But he never stayed in one place for too long.
Not until he met Zeref.
Zeref, The Dark Mage, was just a brat when Percy had met him with a talent for magic and while Percy never explicitly taught him any magic, he did teach him magical theory. At least Percy's version that he discovered through trial and error over the many years.
Unfortunately, Zeref didn't heed Percy's warning of life and death and that, no matter how much we wish to change it, the dead should remain as such. So when Zeref lost his little brother Natsu and revived him by turning him into a demon, gaining the Curse of Contradiction for himself, Percy called him a foolish brat and left him to clean up his own mess.
Similarly, Percy stayed neutral in the Dragon Civil War, had met the young doctor who would later take the name Acnologia and become known as The Black Dragon of Apocalypse, and was a mentor to the brat before he lost himself to revenge.
He too did not heed Percy's warnings of the Dragon Seed and turned into the very thing he sought to eradicate. Percy sent him into hiding after a fierce battle in their dragon forms, giving Acnologia several jagged scars across his torso from shoulder to opposite hip. Acnologia returned the favor by giving Percy three that went diagonally across his left eye.
He even remembered briefly teaching a human-turned-dragon named Irene how to control her mind so she could change back to her human form. She had had a child at some point too that Percy had made sure to look out for as he didn't like the distaste Irene had unfortunately festered for the little girl.
Percy then smiled softly as he was still drifting in the sea when that brought his thoughts to when he saw an old friend.
Zeref and a Celestial Spirit Mage by the name of Anna Heartfilia worried for Acnologia's rampage and since Percy had decided to remain neutral out of the selfish reason that Acnologia was one of the one beings to give him an entertaining fight, devised a plan to send five dragon slayers 400 years into the future. Zeref and Anna invited Percy to see them off through the Eclipse Portal.
When he arrived, before he could even greet them, there was a flash of silver light and the sound of a doorbell ringing. The light had cleared and before Percy stood Zoe Nightshade in a similar garb as she had died centuries before Earthland came to be. The only difference was her once obsidian eyes were molten silver pools like her mistress long ago.
It brought tears to his eyes to see his old friend again, but their reunion was a happy one. So much so that Anna allowed Percy to own Zoe's celestial key so they could travel together and with Percy's absurd amounts of Ethernano, he could keep Zoe on Earthland with him with ease.
They traveled together from that day onward, never staying in one place for too long and hunting across the lands like they both had with Artemis (Percy's hunting excursions happening in the decades before Olympus faded and included Thalia as well).
One of the main groups they came across was the Dragon Gods consisted of Ignia, the Fire Dragon God and Igneel's eldest brat, Mercphobia, the Water Dragon God who became a good friend, Selene, the Moon Dragon God whom neither Percy nor Zoe liked at all, Aldoron, the Wood Dragon God, and Dogramag, the Earth Dragon God and a weak runt. Apparently they had one other in their little group, but he was a recluse it seemed.
Percy didn't think much of them and simply let them do as they pleased so long as it was reasonable. He only had to get involved to give Ignia a good smack down every few decades.
Thinking of his old friend who was resting in the Celestial Spirit World allowed his mind to drift to his little fairy.
Tenrou Island was a steady home for Percy that he would return to often after traveling even before Zoe joined him. Unfortunately, during one of his absences, a guild war sparked and killed everyone on the island except for an intelligent little girl.
Mavis Vermillion had been alone and scared when Percy and Zoe returned to the desolate island, but with time and gentle compassion, opened up to Percy and saw him as a father figure and Zoe as a mother. She was far too smart for her own good which reminded Percy heavily of Annabeth, so she quickly put together that Percy was not all he seemed and Zoe was a Celestial Spirit.
They told her everything. The truth of the word, the origin of magic and how they had both lived their long lives, but such was Percy's curse. How he created slaying magics and left notes behind for others to learn and how Zoe joined the hunt and all the adventures she had over millennia. She loved their stories the most even if she felt great sadness for her father figure's life.
The three made a dysfunctional little family, but it mattered little to them because they were happy and that was all that mattered. Eventually, treasure hunters came to the island and Mavis outsmarted them, earning a promise to bring her on an adventure. She had been off of Tenrou before with Percy and Zoe, but only briefly and she understood that the two of them (mostly Percy) couldn't stick around in one place for too long since he doesn't age.
She got their blessing to join them though she knew they were always keeping an eye on her from the shadows to make sure she was safe. Percy was less than thrilled that she had not only met Zeref, but had fallen in love with him and they had a child, yet he never did anything about it. His little fairy was happy and that was all that mattered to him.
He and Zoe even met the little brat, August, a handful of times, but never explicitly revealed who they were.
He and Zoe even got the Fairy Tail mark, Percy in black with a sea green outline over his heart and Zoe a silver with black outline on her dominant arm, when they stopped to visit every so often.
Naturally, Percy's thoughts then shifted to Mavis's death.
They didn't stay in one place for more than a week after that and always visited Tenrou on her birthday and the day she passed. Things stayed like that for the two of them for a couple decades.
Eventually they slowly blended back into society, appearing all across the continent of Ishgar once more as they went meeting new interesting people, hunting and creatures that had their fancy, and helping those they came across.
That was how they came across the illegal experiments being performed by the magic council and saved two young girls named Ultear and Meredy. They made sure that the two were healthy and back on their feet, but they couldn't bring them with them.
Another disgusting surprise came from the slave ring that was run to build the Tower of Heaven. Percy and Zoe arrived in the chaos of a rebellion led by a tenacious red-headed girl named Erza (who Percy recognized as Irene's daughter instantly) and proceeded to observe, only stepping in to save a life. Percy didn't deny that he enjoyed cutting the decrepit tower in half.
They made sure that the children all ended up somewhere safe and even personally escorted Erza to Fairy Tail. It was how the tenacious little red-head took an interest in swords.
Unfortunately they arrived to stop one of Zeref's demons, Deliora, a little too late, but ensured that the two boys left behind were taken to a safe place to grow rest and live on.
The years continued to drift on and Percy and Zoe operated as silent guardians, mostly to Fairy Tail, forever watching and waiting for the moment one of their self appointed charges may have gotten in over their heads. The only indication that they existed were the scant few that had met them in person, and the legend parents told to their children about the Dragon and the Huntress. The story never failed to make the two smile softly.
'And all that led us to the here and now. Nearly a millennia of life and against all odds, I have yet to grow tired of it,' Percy mused in his head and chuckled aloud.
"With Mavis's brats around, things are always entertaining. 'Horribly depressing, at times, but never boring.' I finally understand what you meant, Chiron," Percy spoke, his voice rich and deep, but with a sardonic undertone.
A surge of magic rippled through the sea about a half a kilometer to his right and his eyes snapped open.
'Speak of the devil,' he mused with a faint smile.
He had been waiting patiently for seven years after the debacle with the S-Class trials the guild held. Precht, whom Percy never quite liked in the first place, had left the guild only to form a dark one that attacked the island because Zeref was on it. Percy had spoken with his wayward student briefly, but knew that Zeref was only there to pay respects to his late love.
The ghost of his little fairy asked him if he planned on helping, but he declined, knowing that Mavis's brats were strong enough to win. And they did.
Unfortunately, Acnologia decided to show up because Zeref was present.
Percy let the three and a half (he doesn't consider the brat with a lacrima a real dragon slayer) dragon slayers attack Acnologia so that they could see just how large the gap in strength was. It was when Acnologia was going to wipe out the island that he finally acted.
The moment the Fairy Sphere spell activated, Percy shifted into his own dragon form and countered the breath attack with one of his own. With Zoe riding on top of his head, the two of them fought the Apocalypse Dragon and drove him off. It was one of yet another skirmishes that Acnologia realized he would lose, especially with the Huntress Spirit serving as the True Dragon King's rider.
Once that was done, Percy and Zoe spent the seven years the spell lasted checking between the guild their little fairy created and Tenrou Island, but it seemed that the time had come.
LINEBREAK
"Guys! I found Natsu!"
"Over here! It's Master!"
"Wendy!"
After seven long years, Tenrou Island rose from the depths of the sea and Fairy Sphere was dispersed, allowing the members of one of the countless search and rescue teams Fairy Tail had sent to do as they had been wanting to since members of their family had disappeared.
Slowly, but surely they had spread out and we're finding the missing members of the S-Class trials scattered and in various stages of consciousness. They were just so happy and relieved that their family was alive - a little beaten up, but alive.
Three figures watched over them without any of their notice. The first was the ghost of a woman with the appearance of a little girl. She had a cute, flowy dress that reached down to just above her ankles, leaving them and her bare feet on display with blond hair that was nearly as long. Her emerald green eyes shone with happiness and fondness as members of the guild she had founded were celebrating simply being alive.
The second was a woman dressed in silver hunting garb with a bow slung across her back and knives at her waist. She was much taller and appeared older than the first with a sterner demeanor that for those who did not know her well would be hard pressed to notice the same fondness in the molten silver depths of her eyes.
The last figure was a man dressed in black cargo pants that tapered tightly, yet not uncomfortably to his lower legs and ankles and an open Japanese haori that featured a stormy sea motif and displayed his chiseled figure and Fairy Tail guild mark over his heart. Strapped across his lower back was a katana that had been with him for over 800 years.
He too had a look of content and fondness in his expressive sea green eyes and a small peaceful smile on his lips at the sight of his little fairy's children rejoicing simply being alive.
"They're rambunctious brats," Percy teased the spirit of his daughter, whose chime-like giggle sounded from where they observed them.
"Of course. They're Fairy Tail after all; quite a dysfunctional family like us long ago," she mused with a content smile.
"At least none of the boys are perverts, even if one of them strips at any given time without realizing it," Zoe commented, earning another giggle from Mavis and a snort from Percy.
"Most of them are so dense I'm surprised they haven't sunk into the ground yet," he commented in turn.
"Shall we greet them? Or are you going to continue hiding like always, Papa?" Mavis asked as she turned to face Percy.
It was a question that Percy had been asking himself for many years. Should he continue to hide away or rejoin society in full? There were pros and cons with each choice, but instead he decided to do as you usually did since Zoe joined him and defer to her.
"What do you think, Zo? A decision like this impacts you as much as it does myself," Percy pitched the question to her and she shared a discreet look and hidden smile with Mavis before answering.
"You are rather poor company, Perseus. I could use some more girlfriends," she said and got a faux scandalous look in reply.
"Oh, how you wound me, Huntress. To think the centuries we spent together we're all for naught," Percy acted in dramatics and clutched his heart. Zoe just shook her head fondly while Mavis giggled again before she turned serious.
"Percy," Zoe intoned softly, immediately securing Percy's full attention.
"I have watched over you for over 800 years now whether I was physically present or not. You will garner attention no matter where you go as you always do, but I think it's time that you become a part of something again," Zoe said softly. Percy gave no visible reaction, but several emotions fluttered through his eyes. It looked like the tides themselves were indecisive in thought.
Finally he spoke.
"I will bring many questions and I do not know if even the truth will satisfy them. I will, as I have for over eight centuries, remain unchanging while they age, grow, and wither," he began and trailed off for a moment, both his companions content to wait for him to finish.
"But I have watched over them without them knowing. And I know that regardless of what happens they are open minded brats. So last chance Zo; are you on board with this? I've grown tired of merely observing," Percy finished and turned to his oldest friend and companion who put on a teasing smirk that would have been alien on the Zoe from several lifetimes ago.
"About time you stopped being a coward," was all she said, but the happiness that shone in her silver eyes betrayed her jibe.
Percy just chuckled before he adopted a mischievous smirk of his own.
"Let's make an entrance, ne?"
LINEBREAK
"What happened?!" Natsu Dragneel, the Fire Dragon Slayer of Fairy Tail exclaimed after they all had their wounds bandaged. He was happy to be alive as was everyone else, but he couldn't help the bitter taste of defeat at the dragon's hands.
'4 dragon slayers and we could barely even scratch it. Gramps held it off better than we did,' his negative thoughts spat in his head. A single look at Gajeel, Wendy, and Laxus told him that they had come to similar conclusions.
"I can answer that," a child-like voice chimed in and everyone whipped their attention to its owner. It looked like a little girl, but something was… off. She didn't have a scent.
"First Master?!" Makarov gasped in sheer surprise, setting off similar reactions from everyone gathered.
"Hello Third," Mavis said with a warm smile directed at all of them before she proceeded to tell them what had happened. How they successfully repelled the attack of Grimoire Heart, whose master was the Second Master of Fairy Tail. How Zeref was indeed on the island and how Acnologia showed up because of it.
"It was the strength of the bonds you have with each other that allowed me to convert them into magical power for the second Fairy magic, Fairy Sphere. You've been in it and frozen for seven years," she told them and giggled at the gobsmacked faces she received.
"The dragon… what happened to him," Gildarts asked, understandably so since it was the same dragon that had taken his arm and leg. He knew better than anyone before that day seven years ago just how dangerous Acnologia was.
It was to their shock that Mavis only giggled again before she spoke.
"Oh. Papa wasn't very thrilled that Acnologia would attack his home, so he drove him off," she said as if it was the simplest thing in the world.
"Your father?!" Many of them exclaimed, but Mavis just nodded.
"Mhm. He should be here right about-," she started to say before she was interrupted.
RRRRROOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRR
Everyone's head snapped to the sound and paled drastically and a cold shiver raced down their spines. Another dragon, bigger than Acnologia, began descending toward them but it was drastically different. For starters it was an Eastern Dragon with no wings and a long, serpentine body of midnight blue and sea green scales. Its mane was black as night with a silver streak that shone like the stars and whiskers wriggling freely from its snout.
But the thing that caught everyone's attention wasn't the scars that adorned its body, nor even the aura that outclassed Acnologia in power, but the large Fairy Tail guild stamp in its tanned underbelly.
"M-Master. It has the guild mark," Wendy stuttered in both awe and fear.
"Look! Someone's riding on its head!" Mirajane shouted and drew everyone's attention to that detail as well. So distracted, were they, that it allowed the massive and majestic beast to land before them and lower its head to see them clearer.
The silence reigned for but a moment before Levy broke it with a whisper.
"The Dragon and the Huntress."
Several of the mages' eyes widened at the legend they had heard as children standing before them, but still none had the courage to speak.
The dragon, mock irritated with the silence, huffed in annoyance and spoke.
"You can relax. If I wanted to eat you little brats, then I would've just done so," his voice reverberated across the entire island, but it had a soothing undertone that relaxed the mages enough to gather their senses.
"Little wormlings, front and center," the beast intoned and, driven by primal instincts, Natsu, Wendy, Gajeel, and Laxus stepped in front of the dragon, who lowered his head even further.
"I did not interfere immediately when that brat Acnologia arrived because I wanted you to understand just how large the gap in power is between you and a real dragon. You are but mere infants as you are - wormlings - and you never could have hoped to defeat him," Percy spoke and noticed how all four of them reacted. The three that were taught the slaying set looked down and clenched their fists, but the artificial one settled for only a clenched fist and met his gaze.
"Then what was the point of letting us fight?!" Laxus shouted and Percy focused his gaze on him only, getting closer and making Makarov and several others tense in preparation.
"The fake, yes? Your pitiful father forced a Lightning Dragon Slayer Lacrima into your body if I remember," Percy began and received a tense nod from Laxus.
"You did not ask for it. As such I will not punish you for it. Those lacrima are created from the dragon's remains and I do not take kindly to those who would do so. If it wouldn't cause so many problems, I would have eaten that bumbling idiot Serena that calls himself a God already. Unbelievably precocious little shit," Percy told them and grumbled, earning a cough from Zoe, a giggle from Mavis, and a sweat drop from the others.
"I let you fight because it was a valuable experience. The gap is much too large for you all now, but you all still have much room to grow. You were courageous - I'll give you that," Percy said, but still saw the dejected face of little Wendy.
He lowered his head so it was flat on the ground right before the little girl and used one of his whiskers to gently lift the girl's head to meet his noticeably softened gaze.
"You have the most potential, little sky wormling. You are the daughter of Grandeeney, Queen of the Sky Dragons. Where is your pride?" Percy asked gently, but with a tone that demanded she listen. Wendy straightened her back and shoulders and lifted her head proud, earning a rumbling hum of approval from Percy.
"Good. Never forget your pride as a dragon, but never let it rule you as a slayer," he told them all, even if he was talking directly to Wendy and tickled her belly with his whisker.
"Who are you?" Natsu questioned loudly, but spoke on everyone's behalf.
Percy began to rise up once more to his full majesty and announced to the world.
"I am the true Dragon King. The Dragon of the Seas and the Dragon of Storms. I am-," only to be cut off by Mavis.
"Papa, you already messed with them enough!" she said with her arms crossed and a pout on her face, dropping the guild members' jaws.
"Never let me have my fun," Percy grumbled as he started emitting a blindly light that had all gathered shielding their eyes. Once the light died down, they looked at where the dragon was and saw a young man that couldn't have been much older (in appearance) than Natsu and Gray.
They all took in his appearance, but a few of them had much different reactions than surprise and/or awe.
"IT'S YOU!" Erza, Wendy, Gray, And Gildarts all shouted and pointed at once and the others rapidly looked between them and the dragon turned human.
Percy offered a good natured chuckle before greeting them again.
"Yo Red, my little Marvel, Ice Cube, and Gildy. Been awhile, huh?"
Chapter I End