Summary: A Character Study of the first real Fairy Tail Orphan… Makarov Dryer.

Pairings: Parental Yury/Makarov, implied Yury/Rita, parental Purehito/Makarov, implied parental Warrod/Makarov, lots of friendship feels, implied Makarov/OC, parental Makarov/Ivan, parental Makarov/Gildarts, parental Makarov/Cana, and many, many other implied family feels.

YouTube Prompt: Fairy Tail Tribute to 'Anything Is Possible' by Journey.

He was six years old and alone in the world.

His mother died the day he was born. He never knew her, or the sound of her laugh, or what she looked like when she was cross or sad, or what it felt like to be held by her, or even what she smelt like. To him, Rita Dryer was a smiling picture that his father would speak to. He would greet her in the morning, say goodbye to her as he left the house, wish her goodnight before turning in, and occasionally Makarov had heard his father speak for hours on end about him or his friends to the smiling picture. So it never bothered him that he didn't have a mother because he never knew any differently.

It bothered him entirely that he now no longer had a father.

His Dad had been his whole world. The one that taught him everything, the one that made him laugh and smile, the one who comforted him when he had bad dreams, the one that ruffled his hair when he was proud, and the one who told him stories before bed. His everyday life was filled to the brim with his Dad and now he was gone.

"Don't worry about me son", he had said with that easy grin and laughing eyes, "it's just a simple job. I'll be back before you know it."

Liar! The liar! It hadn't been a simple job. He should have never gone alone or he should have been more careful but wasn't, it didn't matter, at the end of the day Yury Dryer was dead and Makarov was all alone.

He sniffled.

A large, warm, hand curled onto his shoulder comfortingly. "Don't cry, boy," Purehito growled, though his own one eye was suspiciously watery. "Your father wouldn't want to cry for him."

"I'm not crying for him!" Makarov snapped angrily as he furiously rubbed his eyes. "I'm crying for me. I have no home. No family. I'm alone in the world with no money to feed myself and-"

Makarov's eyes bugged out when Purehito suddenly smacked him over the head with his staff. He collapsed onto the muddy ground and rubbed the back of head numbly. What the hell was that for?! He wanted to bellow but Purehito beat him to it by leaning in. "What do you mean you have no home and no family?!" he spat out. "What are we, chopped liver? Fairy Tail is your home and family, it always has been and always will be. That's the whole point of a guild. To look after one another when the going gets tough. So don't give up on us because we're never giving up on you. C'mon," he said gruffly as he held at a hand, "get up. It's time to go home. Your father wouldn't want you sitting out in the cold like this."

And that was it

The moment that defines him. Purehito holding his hand out to him after shouting at him for being so stupid to think he was alone. The idea of Fairy Tail being his home and a place for people to turn to when they needed help was so firmly cemented in his mind as both Purehito and Warrod bundled him up and fed him up as they talked about his Dad all night long, and then the next day he had breakfast shoved at him and was asked to help out at the bar, and then the next he started to learn magic, all under the guidance, and love, and friendship of Fairy Tail.

He devotes himself to his home.

He grows up working hard and learning quickly so he could help and in return he was loved and cared for and cherished. His family grew bigger each year as more and more mages began to flock. Sometimes they became permanent, and sometimes they vanished onto something more, but during the time they were there, they were his family.

He meets new people, sees exciting things, but he always goes back to the same, old, building that is always in need of repair.

And then he starts bringing people home. Rob, Goldmine, Bob-san, and Porlyusica, all become his main family. His brothers and sister at arms.

"I have no home anymore," Porlyusica had admitted in a rare moment of vulnerability, her eyes shining suspiciously, her face closed off, and her body trembling, "I am forever lost to my family."

"No you're not," he, "you're right here beside them. Fairy Tail will always be your family and home. Let us take care of you."

And for a moment her lips twitch into a smile and she brushes against him. The extent of physical affection that she could actually bring herself to do…..it's enough to let him know that he had helped. And it is this that enforces his belief in Fairy Tail and something inside him shines with pride that he could continue Fairy Tail's work by offering his hand of friendship.

And he continues to build, and fight for, and laugh with, and love, his family and home. He has adventures, he becomes an S-Class mage, he drinks himself silly, and lets Porlyusica scold him, and he defends Fairy Tail's name to his last breath.

"You should settle down boy," Purehito said, "you're forty now. You should find a wife and have a family before you suddenly find yourself a lonely, old, man like me."

"I have a family!" Makarov snapped defensively, "Fairy Tail is my family. And you're not a lonely, old, man. You're a father to the biggest family in the world!"

Purehito eyed him for a long, disturbingly, amount of time before his lips twitch slightly into a dry, amused, smile that Makarov knows to mean that he was very touched and proud of him. "I think you're ready," he muttered, and Makarov blinked, not sure what it means, until the very next day when he is shown the basement, and is suddenly made Master of Fairy Tail.

"I'm not ready!"

"Oh you're more than ready, boy," Purehito said mysteriously, "I couldn't leave Fairy Tail in more capable hands."

And in a sense nothing changed at all because Makarov always believed Fairy Tail to be everything important in the world. So suddenly having to devote himself to his guild was nothing new for him….but the paperwork, the complaints, the expenses, the never-ending allegations of destruction, the actual emotional state and well-being of each and every guild member, was all new, and everything changed there.

He loved Fairy Tail all the more now.

Because now it rested on his shoulders to continue the legacy left behind by his predecessor. He had to make sure that Fairy Tail remained that safe haven for all of those in need of a home and family. He had to take care of everyone and encourage them to follow their dreams like a father would….

And then everything changes again.

Bob starts to lose his hair, Rob gets up and leaves one day and is never seen again, Gold Mine starts talking about his own guild and then Bob does too, and Porlyusica is spending more and more time in the forest than she ever did before.

And then Makarov meets someone. Unexpectedly and surprisingly, and she was suddenly in his life. She is warm, and sweet, and nurturing, and gave him the respite of having to care for everyone else. They marry, they have a child, and everything is great until it becomes apparent that neither she nor their son could cope with him being in Fairy Tail all the time.

It hurts because Fairy Tail is him, and soon enough his relationship with both his wife and son is strained.

It coincides with the discovery of a magical boy who is all alone in the world. And not like Makarov was when he was six and surrounded by his father's friends. No, this little boy was literally all alone, abandoned because of his magic, and terrified of hurting someone.

Makarov had to offer him a home. He had to help him. It would go against everything Fairy Tail stood for if he was to leave him behind in the cold with no food or help or love or support.

And it takes months of gentle words and kind acts before the boy could agree to come to Magnolia, and when he does he jumps at everything, and because he doesn't know his own strength (let alone control it) he accidentally destroys things. Makarov devotes the time to help, to defend the kid, to teach him control, to comfort him, to negotiate with Magnolia's town council to build some defences against the kid, so accidents could happen less and less.

"Why though?" the boy demanded to know. "Why do you keep helping me?"

"Because Gildarts," Makarov smiled, "Fairy Tail looks after their own. We're family, you and I, and there is nothing I wouldn't do for my kids."

"He's not your kid," Ivan muttered, "I am."

And this leads to another argument between Gildarts and Ivan (they could never get on, his two boys), and then Makarov tires to put an end to it, and reminds Ivan that Fairy Tail is his family too, and he should be kinder to his brothers and sisters.

Ivan looks at him with the utmost disgust and their strained relationship worsens as Ivan could never accept there was more to their family than just him and Makarov.

They grow up. They spread their wings. Makarov has many children who come and go. Ivan gets married and has his own little boy. Gildarts disappears for a few years only to come back, distraught about hurting the woman his loves by accident, and then comes and goes as he takes as many dangerous jobs as he can. Fairy Tail's love and support isn't strong enough for either of them, and Makarov begins to wonder if he had failed in continuing the legacy that has been his entire life.

It's then, with him in his seventies, that he begins to consider retirement. To find a worthy successor that could keep Fairy Tail as the home and family for all, as it should be….but no one fits his standards and then suddenly there's a five year old girl, parentless, homeless, and unsure what to do with herself.

Cana brings a new lease of life into his beliefs and principles.

He takes her in, supports her, loves her, guides her in her learning of magic, and ensures she has the safest jobs as she makes her first, adorable, steps of independence.

With Cana he reaffirms everything he had believed about Fairy Tail since he was six and it makes him want to continue working in the defence of such a wonderful place.

And then the orphans come in thick and fast, the Strauss Siblings, Levy McGarden, Ivan's cruelty leaving Laxus in a desperate need of a home, Gray Fullbuster, Erza Scarlet (who brings with her the tragic news of Rob), Natsu Dragneel….and so many more.

He loves each and every one of them and each new day he grins proudly down on his little brats as he's sure that this was exactly what Purehito had in mind when he told Makarov that Fairy Tail was a family and home for all.

So when he stands there guarding Tenrou and all of his little brats from Grimoire Heart and suddenly meets the eye of his old Master. The man that taught him everything he had ever believed in. The man that he had looked up to for his entire life. The man that set the very standard that Makarov had lived his whole life to. The man who had been the very definition of Fairy Tail. That man was the man that was attacking the very shores of Fairy Tail's sacred island.

(He was attacking the place that he called, himself, sacred because this was where Fairy Tail got its origins from. This was where it all began. They should treasure this place because if it wasn't for this island and its rare jewel, there would have been no Fairy Tail. That was what he said to Makarov when he was young, and stupid, and just about to take his own S-Class exam….Make me proud boy, he had said….)

Makarov finds himself losing far too quickly and easily as he cannot fight. His own beliefs, his morals, his ethic in life….it was all gone in an instant.

I leave it you, my successor, he called out mentally, hopefully…..but what successor did he have?

None of his brats had been ready for the task, still too young and carefree, Ivan had been an utter disappointment having craved power more than family, and Laxus had been sent away before he ended up on his father's path.

And to what ideology? The one that he had believed in, had taught to others, had been taught had just been shattered into little bits his own predecessor.

Makarov's whole world, heart, and very spirit is broken as he lies that in the cold, salty, sear water. His father figure continuing the plan to attack his children, Purehito's own family, and he was utterly defenceless in this wake of heart break.

He allows the darkness of unconsciousness consume him before he gives up entirely to this earth-shattering heartbreak…

..He stands in a circle, clinging to Laxus' hand as tears of joy and the utmost heartbreak runs down his face. His belief is renewed as his children fight in the defence of what he had taught them and stand side by side, supporting each other to the very end.

Purehito's might have lied but the legacy Makarov had worked for his entire life still stood strong.

Fairy Tail was a home and family to all.