I've grown tired of shorter chapters with the story that lasts 30 weeks, so I'll be posting two chapters of this a week to hurry the pace alone. Some graphic depictions of transformation in this. Enjoy~


Ace looked in the mirror, touching his eye with soft fingers, pulling down the lower lid wider. He closed them tightly, and opened them again. But it was still there. He went to the sink and washed them out, hurrying back to the mirror, gritting his teeth. What was wrong with him? There was a knock on the bathroom door, and he dropped the toothbrush holder that shattered on the floor.

"Ace, are you okay?" Gray asked.

"I had to poop!" the six year old shouted.

"...Ok," he said, and left. Ace picked up the bits and put them in the trash bin and then went to the kitchen, peeking around corners, and got a plate, putting the kids' toothbrushes on it and laying the paper towel over them on the bathroom counter. This area was all of the children of the guild.

Ace was still the youngest. He tiptoed to his room and hid under the blankets, managing to fall asleep eventually. When he woke up, it was to the alarm lacrima screaming at him to wake up. He jerked up and ran to the closet, rummaging through things until he saw the mirror he'd decorated, and looked at his eyes.

Still, they were brown with black slits for pupils. If his eyes were a darker brown, then maybe nobody would notice. He put the mirror down and put his hands out, trying to summon any magic. He twisted his expression, trying to imaging sending anything out of his open palms. But it didn't, and he pouted, starting to cry.

But he controlled how loud he was, and just sobbed into his pillow quietly. He locked the door when someone knocked on it. "Ace? Are you ready to go to breakfast?" Erza asked lightly. Ace told her to go away. "Are you okay? What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"I'm not!" Ace protested, though he definitely was. For sure. Erza broke the doorknob easily, and Ace hid in the closet. The twelve year old slid the door open, looking stern. Ace scrunched his eyes, and she hugged him. Didn't know why he was so upset, but he was upset, so she gave him comfort.

Ace hugged her back, and started to cry harder. She moved them to the bed, and pet his hair softly. "Will you talk about it? I'll listen, no matter what it is," Erza said in a soothing voice. Ace sniffled, and said he was ugly, didn't want anyone to see him. "Why not?"

"Cause I'm ugly now!"

"You're not ugly. You're very adorable. I don't think you'd ever be ugly." Ace mumbled that his eyes turned ugly. "Can I see? Will you show me?" the red head asked patiently. Ace shook his head. "Hang on, then." She stood up and left, but quickly came back with some sunglasses. She set them on Ace's head, who was still having his eyes closed. "We can say you woke up with a headache. How about that? Now you don't need to show anybody."

Ace held the sunglasses to his face and nodded, wiping his nose on a tissue, but she suggested they wait to go out for a bit so his red face will fade. "You can tell me anything, okay? I won't judge you, Ace." The youngest smiled and nodded. Erza was the best big sister ever. Ace got dressed out of his pjs, and the two went to breakfast.

Of course everyone thought it was weird Ace was wearing bright red sunglasses, but believed them when they said Ace had a headache and the light made it worse. He kept up the lie all day, and Erza didn't press him again. He was distracted, and bummed. He had no magic still. All the other kids had their own magic by Ace's age and he didn't. What if he ended up being the only one in the guild who had no magic power?

He'd be the only one, the loser, the boring one. He brooded as he watched guild members come and go, getting new jobs or receiving their compensation. Natsu and Mira, Elfman and Lisanna were gone, too. Ace drooped, and laid on the table top, his upper body draped across the wood.

"Ace, are you alright?" Reedus asked. Ace nodded and didn't speak. But Ace was silent in the corner booth, so he didn't take up attention as Cana and Gray argued. Gray took his pants off again. Sometimes Ace watched him just to see how fast he lost them and if he really didn't notice. What if he lost consciousness for a moment, and his body wasn't in control when he took the pants off. What if there was a curse on him?

When Ace had asked him that in front of everyone, they all laughed and Gray got irritated with him. It hadn't been fun. Ace went to the bathroom and took the glasses off, and saw they were back to normal! He had the light turned off so nobody saw him with them off, but when he turned them back on, his pupils shrunk back into the slits from the sudden light.

Flicking the light on and off, his pupils changed with the amount of light. He frowned and clenched his fists. "Ace, I'd like to talk to you," Makarov said, startling Ace, who turned the lights off and put the glasses back on. But now his excuse of a headache was out the window since he was just violently flicking the lights over and over.

"Come with me." They went to the basement, to Ace's fort area. It had grown to an actual fort, not just pillow and blankets and chairs. Makarov was more than small enough to fit in the tight space. They sat down and Ace continued to wear the glasses, hugging a pillow to his chest. "Has something happened to your eyes? May I see?" He didn't give the option to not see, like Erza had. And he was the Master. Ace didn't want to, though. "Please."

Ace bit his lip and took the glasses off, but kept his eyes closed, which defeated the purpose of taking them off in the first place. "I promise you I won't be surprised about whatever you're hiding." Master didn't lie, even when it was tactful to do so, or would get them in better water legally, since many caused messes when on jobs.

Taking a deep breath, Ace opened his eyes, blinking a couple times. "That's not so bad at all," Makarov said honestly. The youngest frowned, and asked if there was something wrong with him. Makarov said, "There's nothin' wrong with you, Ace. If anything else happens, you can tell me or Erza. If you want to continue hiding your eyes, I won't stop you. But you're in our family, regular eyes or not." He sounded sincere, and Ace nodded.

He was sure Makarov would be disappointed when Ace put the glasses back on, but he just smiled at him, not a negative look on, and they walked out of the basement and back into the main room. Ace was taller than the old man by at least a foot by now. Ace grew taller, but the old man did not. So he had the glasses on the rest of the day, but felt better knowing that the Master wasn't angry or didn't like that Ace's eyes were that way now. At least at the moment. He didn't tell Erza either. Maybe they'd go away and things would be fine.

-x-

"Ace, are you okay?" Lisanna asked, everyone looking concerned over Ace, who was still wearing sunglasses, as he stared at the stone floor. His mouth was watering excessively, so a thick trail of drool was pooling on the floor. "Ace?" she gently touched his shoulder, he gasped and pulled away. "I - sorry, I thought you heard me."

Even Mira looked worried. Ace was acting odd. Erza came walking into the main room with the Master trailing behind her. "Everyone, leave the building," Makarov said, startling them all. Unsurprisingly, they were all against this. Something was clearly wrong with Ace, they had to help someway. "Help him by getting out of here!" he snapped. The large crowd of guild members left, running out of the main doors.

Once the building was clear of anyone but Ace and the Master, Ace started screaming. His head hurt, his mouth hurt, everywhere hurt. He wanted someone to help, but only screams came out. Over his own cries he could hear Makarov saying kind and reassuring words as Ace felt his skin rip apart, leaving blood on the floor around him.

The world went black before everything came back as if through a fish eye lens, and all the colors were vibrant and made him dizzy. Everything smelled too strong, he could hear all the others outside freaking out, but not seeing through the windows. "You're 're safe, nothing is going to hurt you."

Ace threw up everything in his stomach just from the complete sensory overload. He opened his eyes when everything went dull again, but it just a blanket over the cowering, cold and hurting dragon. He heard the sounds of footsteps, which stopped in front of him. There was a bowl of ice shavings and he tried to eat it, only his body didn't work right!

He finally looked at himself, looked down, and saw his hands were thick and black, huge talons on each finger. He was scared and started crying louder, only now they were deeper, and less childlike, less humanlike. Eventually, he fell asleep under the blanket, and didn't realize he shifted back into a human form. Makarov wrapped him in the blanket and took him to the backroom infirmary, and laid him on the bed. Despite now being back in his human body, it didn't mean he hadn't lost all of his human skin and hair. His teeth and fingernails too. Right now, he was like a bloody lump.

But when a bottle of thick liquid was dripped down his throat, everything regrew painlessly. Very different than how it had just been just moments ago. Ace opened his eyes, and everything was too bright. The sunglasses were put back on for him, and the light dimmed. A pair of earmuffs were slid over his ears, too.

Finding he was naked, he was immediately given some clothes. "What… what happened, Master?" Ace asked, thinking it had all been a painful, scary nightmare. Makarov asked how he was feeling first. "I- numb. I don't feel anything. But it hurt really bad!" He knew that had been real. There was no way a dream's pain could be that bad.

"I know. You turned into a dragon, Ace."

"Is Natsu gonna kill me?"

Makarov looked surprised at this before he realized, and assured his youngest would not be killed by the dragon "slayer". "He doesn't actually kill dragons. He was raised by one, remember?"

Ace said, "But I'm not a dragon! Is that my magic? Did that just come? Why'd it hurt me!" Makarov patiently told him to slow down, and he'd explain what he knew of. Ace listened through the earmuffs, and wondered where everyone else was. He was a bit out of it, really. So processing the Master's words was a bit difficult.

"I'm… cursed? To be a dragon?" Ace asked in slow confusion. That's why he hurt! Because he was cursed! He never wanted that to happen again.

"No, the opposite. You were originally a dragon, but you've been cursed in a human body." Ace blinked widely, and said he didn't ever remember being a dragon. "You don't remember anything before the age of four. You don't remember that time," Makarov said kindly. "But with medicine I had made, I think we could negate the side effects. You don't want to go live as a dragon."

"But… I'm not magic, it's a curse?" Ace asked in a dumb voice. Makarov nodded. "Then get the curse to make me a person!" The old man told him it didn't work that way. Even he didn't know a way to remove the curse.

"I do not think it was a curse made by a human, so that means we cannot help you. I don't know the specifics or details, but you were cursed to be a human by a dragon. I assume it was a way to protect you from the human world, to blend in. But it's a good thin you ended up here. We'll take care of you. I'll make sure you're safe."

Ace finally started to cry over the situation, feeling things would never be the same again.

-x-

"Oh, wow," Gildarts said, holding the sleeping Ace in his arms. Ace had been asleep the whole day, and the guild's main room was sealed off, for very obvious reasons. The floor was covered in blood, teeth and skin. It needed to be cleaned up. Makarov said he was going to clean it up. "Not… not manually, right?"

"No. I just had to stay with him all day and couldn't leave to do it." He raised his hand, and the remains of Ace's terrifying transformation disappeared. There was nothing left that could look that way. "But everyone knows something big happened."

"Poor kid."

"Take him to his room, I need to explain some things to everyone." Gildarts agreed and brought Ace to his room, stepping over the mess of clothes and books and laying him on his mattress. Ace wasn't awake when Gildarts left and the whole guild got a brief explanation of the situation, and what they needed to do to help Ace in this time of need.

But they were all family, so they agreed to everything without hesitation.

-x-

"Hey, hey, do you know where Igneel is?!" Natsu asked the moment Ace walked out of his room. He was waiting in the hallway. Erza hit him on the head, and Gray dragged him away.

"Here, take this." Oh, it was the pill the Master told him about yesterday. Ace took it and swallowed without hesitancy. It was from Erza, it was safe. "How do you feel?"

"Eh… my- confused." She asked if he remembered, sounding a bit worried about that. Ace looked at his hands, and sniffled. "It- it hurt. And there was blood all over! I don't want to do it again!" Erza hugged him to her, rubbing his back. She told him that, as long as he stayed there, then he wouldn't hurt.

When they left the kids' area, Ace noticed that all the shudders were closed, and things were a bit darker. There were no open windows, and he was confused. It was also more quiet there. More than usual. When they made it to the main hall, Ace noticed the lights were mostly off and everyone was speaking quietly.

It seemed like someone had died. "Did someone die?" he asked in worry. "It's all dark and quiet."

Makarov came over, and said it was to help Ace cope with his new senses. "It won't last forever. But some peace and quiet would do you good in your recovery. Your injuries are healed, but that doesn't mean it won't have side effects. You'll just need to take it easy for the next week or so so your body can go back to it's normal healing rate. After all, a lot of wounds were all healed at the same time. It'll take a lot of energy, since you have no magic power," he explained honestly and patiently.

Ace looked around, but saw nobody was glaring at him or in suspicion. They were all accepting, and he walked to the bar counter. A juice was made for him, and he sat at the counter in silence. It was too quiet, but too loud. Everyone were talking quieter, but it wasn't silent. He was a bit dim and easily confused for the first day. Sudden noises made his head pound, and any bright light did even worse. It was just generally not a fun time.

He hoped things would go back to normal soon.

-x-

"Let's team up, this time," Cana said to Lisanna. "Mira is busy and Elfman is sick." Lisanna said she didn't want to, so Cana moved on to someone else, and Ace watched from his table as they gathered their things and headed out to a job. Ace felt like the guild pet, or the guild grandpa. Everyone doting on him but him not being able to leave the place at all.

He knew rationally that it was for his safety, and that they all wanted him safe, and he wasn't a burden since the guild wasn't losing money or anything, nobody was, but he felt trapped. Or like an invaid, who couldn't ever live on his own.

It felt lonely, and hopeless. Erza tried to cheer him up, and the medicine Makarov was getting from someone worked. But things were just different. It wasn't everyone wanting to keep him safe because he was the baby in the guild, the youngest. I was because they were worried over his safety.

Sure, it was nice to have that, but it also felt bad. Just bad, and lonely. And he hated it. So, he got some things packed that night, discreetly gathering things like money, medicine, food, supplies. He did it secretly, not all in the same place. So, once everyone was asleep, late at night, he grabbed his things and put a hood on.

He took a sword with him to be in place of any sort of useful magic. It was too big, but it should be fine. Late into the night, he left out of his window, dropping down the side of the building into the bushes. "Oof!" he made, but covered his mouth with his hands to be quiet. He knew he'd get in a boat load of trouble later, but everyone went on missions at his age. He'd be fine.

Besides, he had super senses! And the task he chose wasn't hard at all. Wouldn't even make that much money, or lose them much. Ace would be the only one getting in any trouble. It would be fine. He bustled away and down the streets through the shadows before running off and to the train station.

The six year old got on his seat, and was on his way, all by himself. He smiled, looking out the window. He was going on a job! He kicked his feet, and nobody bothered him, as it was late and many were sleeping. Ace wasn't going to sleep, he wasn't dumb. Well, maybe this was a bit dumb, but he wasn't an idiot.

When they sun rose, he arrived at his destination. It was at a big farm. He just had to find their missing herd of cattle. It sounded easy, and he had super senses! And he could do it on his own. Hiking his backpack up higher, he left the train station and headed to the street, able to see just fine in the moon light, not needing a lamp or lacrima of any kind.

He walked down the long road, and came to the silent farm. He didn't hear any cattle, but the property was very big. He would find them. What made them go missing? What if they all died? He arrived at the house, the entrance lit by a dim lamp. He walked there, and knocked on the door.

He heard a woman inside coming, sounding excited and nervous. Maybe knowing who Ace was. The door opened, and showed a woman with white hair, looking at him in a confused way. Ace lifted his arm, showing his forearm had the guild mark in bright orange. She turned to a more in disbelieving look. Maybe that they sent a child.

"Can I help you?" she asked stiffly. He pulled out the flyer and held it up, saying he was there to fulfill the job. She sighed, and let him in. it was annoying, but now he was even more determined to succeed. Maybe he didn't need magic to do jobs! He wanted to prove that, until he got some of his own magic some day. He didn't like to think of that never happening.

Ace asked what the problem was. "I have a whole herd of cattle that up and disappeared. I've looked everywhere, searched everywhere with all of my neighbors. We have no idea where they've all gone! My business is dying, and my husband has left to find new work in case they're gone for good."

It was worrying, if he failed this job, he was hurting her business, and being a waste of time. Maybe he couldn't do this on his own. And he was just being stupid. No, he had to try and be brave. He had to do his best or his guild would be so angry and not trust him to do another job without magic or help.

"Um, where were they last?" Ace asked. His things were put down in the living room. It was early morning, and Ace had slept a few hours before leaving the guild. He should be alright. Bay, as her name was, lead him outside and to the cattle shed. "How long has it been?"

"Four days." So not long at all. Though four days should be a bit long to not come back to eat. Ace said he'd do some investigating. "Don't break anything." Because he was only six, he wasn't too credible. Hopefully he changed that. She left, and Ace stayed at the stables. There weren't any horses, only a place for cattle.

He looked around, found that most of the food was gone. He wondered when the last time she filled the bucket was. He inspected the food, putting his fingers in it. It felt crunchy and fresh in a way. Had they eaten it lately? Hopefully they weren't starved or dead already. Hopefully they got food somehow.

The place smelled pretty bad. Like poop, cow poop, but he ignored it as best as he could. There was no point in lingering on the smell, he tried to move on. He went walking along the pasture, trying to smell and listen for anything alive, but nothing came until he made his second round. He heard the heavy breathing of something and headed there.

He had the probably useless sword on his back. It was lucky Bay hadn't asked him about his magic, because he would have said he just had super senses and that was it and didn't seem too dependable. He was possibly very durable, but nobody tried hurting him to see if the rock on his head was just some miracle fluke or not.

When he arrived at the chuffing, he reached a hand out and found he was touching something. It was big and warm and stinking. He slowly ran his hand along it, feeling he distinct shape of the face and head. He found them! "Come with me," he said. They didn't come, he couldn't hear it coming.

How would he get them to come? Oh! He knew that cows liked music, right? So he started to sing and clap his hands along with it. He didn't have a good singing voice, but it was still music, and his hands beat along to it, the cows agreeing that it was music and following. He lead them back to the shed and to the drinking water, that he smelled and thought was off. Looking around, he saw the big sink, and refilled the bucket, dumping out the smelly water. "Here, come drink," he said.

The cows that he heard, not nearly as many as he had expected, didn't come over, so Ace brought a bucket of water to them. He couldn't tell where exactly they were, where their heads were, but one did come to the water and started drinking from it. But it stayed invisible. Solid, but invisible. How did he fix it? He had no magic to do so.

He brought over some cow food, too. A bucket of grains. The cows started eating, but again stayed invisible. Crap, what would he do? He'd found them, so he had to lock them up for now. Once they were done eating and drinking, Ace lead them into the pen and then closed the gate so they couldn't get out.

They were still solid and unable to leave, so he had time to try and figure out what to do next. He left to go tell Bay that he found them, but they were invisible and he wasn't sure on what to do now. "You found them?!" she asked happily.

Ace nodded. "They were far out, and now they're invisible! I got them in the pens, but I don't know how to turn them back. I think it was the water cause it didn't smell right," he explained honestly. He asked what he'd do now. She said it wasn't his job to turn them back, only to find them. "But they're still invisible. Don't you want that fixed?"

"I've placed many jobs in at guilds. You always pay for what is in the descriptions, or you risk a wizard wanting extra compensation for extra work. I'll hire another wizard to change them back, if you don't know how anyways," Bay said bluntly. "But good work, thank you." Ace still wanted to help her fix the problem, but he had. Her cattle had been missing, and she wanted them found. He did that.

She signed his flyer to get the money when he got back to the guild, and he was sent on his way. It felt unfulfilling, but knew she was right. And he did a job on his own with no magic! He got back on the train home, though it had to go through a long loop first, before he returned to Magnolia, and back to the guild.

When he entered, Erza saw him first and ran to him, demanding to know where he went, even if Ace thought it was pretty self explanatory. "I went and completed a job! See," he said, holding the flier. It was signed by Bay. It was clearly not his handwriting, so of course he didn't forge it, not that anyone expected he'd do such a thing.

Erza was not happy, and he was taken to the Master, who looked upset. Ace cast his gaze down, not wanting to have upset others. He just felt suffocated and needed to do something, go somewhere, be useful! Not stuck in the guild all day every day. "Hi, Master. I did a job all by myself!" he said brightly, trying to diffuse the situation.

"You left without saying anything. Why?"

Ace pouted. "Nobody woulda let me go if they knew! The others went on jobs when they were my age, but not me. And I'm fine," he explained, slightly heatedly. "I know I'm sick and damaged and everything but I still wanna do this, too."

Makarov's face fell slightly at hearing Ace describe himself as "sick and damaged". Even if it was brutally true. "You don't have any magic. How did you do it?" Ace said it was an easy job, but all he needed was his senses. He found the cows and lead them back to the farm. "I forbid you to taking a surprise job again. If you ever want to take a job from now on, just ask and we will see if I approve of it. It was never my intention to trap you here. I just wanted to keep you safe and healthy."

"I wanna go places, too, though."

"I know. Well, good work. I suggest you try finding a team to work with. There's only so much you can do with super senses. You have no magic, so you'll be best off with someone who has some that matches well with you," the old man said, a smile on and clear in his voice. They went to the front desk and Ace got his money for his job. He smiled at the little pouch of coins. He'd never actually had money before. He would go shopping!

Everyone that saw him was either angry or relieved. Mostly relieved, though, which was good. Ace didn't like people being angry at him, since it hadn't happened often and not in a long time. He went shopping with Cana, both going for clothes at the same time, and Cana knew the place with the best prices. After all, Ace's reward was very small.

He was only able to buy a hat and two new pairs of shorts. He'd go on another job, soon. Having money was nice! He would want more and then maybe could buy things other than clothes, like toys or books or art supplies. The future seemed fun!