Dragon Family Values
Disclaimer – I do not own Fairy Tail
Summary: Parting is such sweet sorrow. Modern/AU
Author's Note #1 – I'm using the 100 Theme Fanfiction Challenge for this collection. I thought it'd be something different.
Author's Note #2 – This one I am rating M.
Author's Note #3 – These drabbles are pretty much one-shots and are not related to each other in any way unless otherwise indicated.
Sorrow (Rated M)
Magnolia – Year 1817
"You can't do this!" screamed a woman.
"It must be done! In order to save ourselves from the Beast, sacrifices must be made!" dictated the leader of them all.
"But they are only children!" shouted another.
"It does not matter. We're doing this now!"
Everyone watched helplessly as their leader, as well as a few of his men, grabbed their torches and headed for the small house near the edge of town, with all of the town's children trapped inside. Slowly, they set fire to the house, the cries and screams from the town's children rising into the air with the smoke and flames.
Magnolia – Year 1917
"If we do this, all is lost."
"I know. But it may be the only way to save us—all of us—and our future generations from the Beast."
"We cannot simply burn our city to the ground and our children, too."
"We can always have more children. But we must put an end to this. All of this."
"But if we destroy the city, how will our future generations know what is to come when the Beast arrives?"
"If we succeed, they won't have to."
Magnolia – Year 2017 – August 15
Day 1
Wendy shot up in bed, having the sudden urge to cough. She grabbed a tissue from her bedside table and began having a coughing fit.
"Are you okay in there?" asked Natsu after knocking.
"I'm fine," Wendy replied quickly. Her heart had quickened its pace when she noticed blood in her tissue. She was coughing up blood?
"You sure? You don't sound too good."
"Really, I'm fine." There was no need to worry her brother. He had plenty to worry about already. "I'll be out in a minute."
"Okay."
When she heard Natsu walk away from her door, she got out of bed, feeling a bit shaky in the process. But she shook it off. Getting dressed, she made sure to flush the bloody tissue down the toilet before heading into the kitchen.
"Can you believe this shit?" Natsu said upon her entering.
"What?" replied Wendy when she spotted Natsu's eyes glued to the television screen.
"Some kid's gone missing. The parents said he went to bed, but when they tried to wake him up this morning, he was just gone. They just put out an alert."
Wendy looked at the picture of the boy plastered on the T.V. It was Chiro Makio. And he was one of her classmates.
Suddenly, the urge to cough came upon her again. Excusing herself, she rushed to the bathroom, where she coughed up more blood.
"Wendy?" Natsu asked, horrified by what he saw. Then she passed out.
Magnolia – Year 2017 – August 16
Day 2
Romeo clenched the sides of his laptop while he watched T.V. with his brother during breakfast. Another child had gone missing. A girl. Her name was Aera Rose. And she was one of Romeo's classmates, much like Chiro Makio had been.
She'd disappeared the same way. Her parents had sent her to bed, and the following morning…she was just gone.
"Are you all right, Romeo?" asked Gray, looking concerned.
"Huh? Uh…I guess?"
"Is that a question?"
Romeo sighed. "It's just…I'm scared, Gray."
That caught the teen's attention. "Of what?"
"You know those two kids who've gone missing the past two days?"
"Yes."
"They're my classmates," he explained. "Doesn't that seem kind of strange to you? Two of my classmates in two days have disappeared. Not to mention Wendy's really sick."
"The pinky's sister is ill then?" Gray inquired.
Romeo cringed at the nickname. "Yeah," he replied softly, his voice catching. "She, uh…Natsu found her coughing up blood yesterday. And the doctors don't know what's wrong. I'm just really scared. She's my best friend. I don't want anything bad to happen to her. And I'm just…afraid."
Gray got up and pulled his brother into his arms. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you," he said.
PSHSSHKSDKSHSHSKSKDHSSSHHH!
"What the hell?" Gray got up and went over to the T.V., which had suddenly gone snowy as if the channel had gone out. He picked up the remote and turned to a different channel. And another, and another. But everything was snowy.
He shut off the T.V. and turned back toward Romeo; however, he paused when he noticed Romeo's ashen face.
"Romeo?" he began cautiously.
"Look," his brother replied, pointing at the screen of his laptop.
Gray stepped behind him to see, needing a double take as he did so. The laptop's screen was snowy, much like the T.V. had been. But that wasn't possible…was it?
Placing his hands on Romeo's shoulders, he gave a gentle squeeze. "I want you to stay home from school today…all right?"
The small boy nodded fervently, unnerved by all the strange things that were going on. Just what on earth was happening?
Magnolia – Year 2017 – August 17
Day 3
Another girl had gone missing. And Natsu definitely knew it was one of Wendy's classmates. Her name was Kiki Thomas. Both girls spent a good majority of the time either texting or chatting online.
But now she had disappeared, just like the others.
And he was going to have to tell Wendy.
Crash!
He jumped when he heard the glass break in the other room. But when a sob accompanied it, he pushed all his fears aside and made his way toward the sound.
When he reached the living room, he found Wendy sitting on the floor surrounded by glass.
"Wendy?"
"How did I get here?" she asked suddenly, eyes seeming blank.
"What?"
"How did I get here? I don't remember how I got here."
"Here in the living room?"
"How did I get here?" she screamed before breaking down and crying. "I don't remember how I got here. How did I get here?"
Natsu raced toward her and knelt by her side, careful to avoid the glass. He placed his arms around her, trying to comfort her as he hummed.
But then she began coughing up more blood.
Noticing she had a towel clenched in her hand, he fumbled for it. Bringing it to her mouth, he rubbed her back as she coughed. "It's okay. I'm here. You're fine," he said. But deep down, he felt that it was untrue.
And that began to break his heart.
Magnolia – Year 2017 – August 18
Day 4
Creak!
Romeo's eyes popped open when he heard his bedroom door creak. Pulling the covers down from over his head, he gazed at his doorway.
In it stood what looked like the silhouette of a man. A long and lanky man at that.
Romeo tried to scream, but no sound came forth. It was as if he were mute.
The man then took a step forward, which only made Romeo shrink backward. Then he raised his hand out to the small boy. And when Romeo made to jump out of the bed and run, an unseen hand wrapped itself in his hair and yanked him back, holding him firmly in place.
Romeo thrashed in the bed, but the hand holding his hair just clenched more firmly.
Suddenly, the man rushed toward him—
"AAH!" Romeo screamed as he shot up in bed, his heart racing.
"Romeo?" Gray shouted as he burst into the room. When he just saw his brother sitting up in bed, he felt himself calm.
"G-Gray?"
"It's okay, Romeo. You were just having a nightmare," said the teen as he sat next to his brother on the bed.
"No. I felt it. He wouldn't let go. He's coming for me, Gray. He's going to get me," Romeo began muttering hysterically.
"Romeo, no one is going to get you. Everything that's happened over the past few days has just gotten to you, that's all," said Gray. "How about I stay here for the night? We'll watch a little bit of T.V. for awhile to take your mind off things then go back to sleep, all right?"
Not waiting for a response, Gray grabbed the remote and turned in the T.V., only for it to land on a news channel. It showed that another child had disappeared. Another boy…named Chris Colton.
"I know him," Romeo said quietly. "I sit next to him in math. Well, not anymore, I guess."
Gray immediately shut off the T.V. "Let's just go to bed."
"It doesn't matter what you do. He'll still come for me."
"Who?" questioned Gray, sounding unnerved. "Who'll come for you?"
"…the Beast."
Magnolia – Year 2017 – August 19
Day 5
Natsu knocked on Wendy's door before pushing it open and stepping inside. He gasped when he saw the condition of the room.
Somehow his sister had gotten hold of a marker or something, because every inch of her wall space was covered in circles with Xs through them.
"Wendy?" Natsu started, trying to get the marker away from her. She just pulled back and continued drawing the symbols on her wall. "Come on, Wendy. Let's get you away from there and into bed, okay? Come on."
He was finally able to pry the marker away from her fingers. Helping her up, he led her toward the bed and assisted her under the covers. Kissing her forehead, he said, "I'll see you in the morning, okay?"
She didn't reply, but closed her eyes and turned on her side instead.
Sighing, Natsu left the room, but not before ensuring that the door was open a crack…just in case. Walking down the hallway, he headed for his own bedroom until he heard a slam. Spinning around, he noticed that Wendy's door had slammed shut.
Quickly making his way for the door, he turned the knob, only to find it locked. He banged on the door. "Wendy! Let me in! Wendy!"
He received no answer, so he began ramming into the door in order to bust it open. When he succeeded, he stumbled into the room. "Wendy?"
She wasn't there.
"Wendy?" he cried anxiously. He scrambled about the room, looking everywhere. But she wasn't there. She was gone.
"She's gone," Natsu cried, breaking down into sobs. "She's gone."
Magnolia – Year 2017 – August 20
Day 6
Wendy had disappeared. She'd been the fifth child to disappear within five days. And after receiving an urgent call from Natsu, gray wasn't going to take any chances when it came to Romeo.
Which was why the two of them were standing outside of Lucy's house.
"Let's go, Romeo," urged Gray as he guided his listless brother inside.
"You're here," said Lucy, sounding surprised. "Anyway, we're in the living room."
"…we?"
"Me, Levy, Gajeel, and…and Natsu."
"Oh," Gray replied, unsure of what to say. "How…is he?"
"He's holding it together as best as he can," said Lucy quietly as they made their way into the living room. "I think the possibility of saving Romeo is the only thing keeping him going."
Gray spotted Natsu sitting o the couch, staring off into space. He didn't even acknowledge his or Romeo's presence, let alone anyone else.
"Good. You're here," said Gajeel.
"Why are we here? Do you know what's going on?" questioned Gray.
"I'm afraid I do," replied Gajeel. "But you also need to believe it's true. There is magic involved in this."
Magic. Normally the teen would scoff at the idea, but after everything that had happened, he was ready to do anything to protect Rome.
"So what's going on?"
Gajeel took a deep breath. "There is a curse on magnolia. Every one-hundred years, this creature called the Beast comes. Over a period of seven days, he takes seven children. They are never seen or heard from again.
"As the legend goes, when the Beast arrives, the Magnolia children exhibit a series of symptoms. They cough up blood, suffer memory loss, diarrhea, vomiting, nightmares, drawing certain symbols, and in more recent times, faulty technology."
"Where did you get all this from?"
"That would be me," said Levy, pulling out what looked like a singed book. "This is a diary, one that was found during the construction of Magnolia in 1917. It catalogues a catastrophic event, one where the townspeople burned the city and its children to the ground in order to destroy the Beast.
"The knowledge was passed down over the centuries, but in 1917 they believed that by destroying the city, they would eradicate the Beast. In doing so, they felt the future generations would never have to worry about the Beast ever again. But it's obviously not so."
Gray would have loved nothing more than to disbelieve all of it. But as soon as they had spoken of the Beast, the teen felt it must have been true. Romeo had referred to it as the same thing.
"And you think it's coming after Romeo?" he asked.
"Yes," said Gajeel solemnly. "He's exhibited some symptoms, correct?"
"…to an extent, but—"
"No buts, Gray," Natsu interceded. "We have a chance to save Romeo here. We need to save Romeo."
Gray sighed. "And how do we do that?"
"The Beast is said to be weak against fire," said Gajeel.
The teen glared. "It's not like we can burn the city down."
"I know that! But we can use it to ward off the Beast. And if we keep watch over Romeo, especially after the seventh day has passed, he'll be all right."
"And the Beast will just go away. That's it?"
"We assume that's it," said Levy.
"But it's worth a shot," added Natsu. "Losing…losing Wendy is…you have no idea what this feels like. I can't…I have to save Romeo. I couldn't save her, but we can try and save him."
"Fine. We'll do it your way," Gray conceded. What other choice did he have?
"Excuse me," Romeo blurted before racing off. He burst into the bathroom and shut the door. By the sounds of it, he was exhibiting another symptom.
"Oh, no," Lucy said suddenly. "Another child's gone missing."
Everyone turned their attention toward the T.V. Another boy had gone missing. Kyle Kyoto. And he was also a classmate of Romeo's. They'd done a science project together last month.
Six children, six days.
They had one more day to go. Then it would all be over.
Magnolia – Year 2017 – August 21
Day 7
Nothing had happened. No child had been announced missing in the news. Nothing. And they had about an hour left until midnight. Then the seventh day would be over.
Romeo was curled up in Gray's lap sound asleep. Gajeel, Lucy, Natsu, and Levy were gathered around Gray's living room, anxiously waiting for something to happen.
If it even would.
They'd surrounded themselves with lit candles, set a fire in the fireplace, and kept watch, all in hopes of saving Romeo.
It seemed as if all of their preventative measures had worked, because nothing happened at all. And when midnight came and went, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"I think I can put him to bed now," announced Gray, picking Romeo up in his arms.
"It seems we've succeeded," said Gajeel.
"Yeah," agreed Natsu. He walked up to Romeo and brushed the hair out of his eyes. "Take care of him, Gray."
"I will," he replied. When it looked like natsu was content with that, he walked upstairs and toward Romeo's bedroom.
As he put his brother into bed, he smiled before kissing his forehead. "Goodnight, Romeo," he said before stepping out of the room and closing the door behind him.
Gray went down the stairs and veered toward the kitchen. He froze, however, when he spotted the clock. It read 11:16 p.m.
Whipping out his cell phone, he checked its time. It also read 11:16 p.m.
The clock in the living room was wrong! There was still time before midnight!
"Romeo!" Gray shouted as he raced up the stairs.
He clambered down the hallway until he reached his brother's door. Ripping it open, he charged into the room.
But Romeo was gone. He was gone.
And they had failed to keep him safe.
The Beast had claimed its seven victims once more.
Author's Note – My brain hurts after this one. Please review!
*Next Theme – Happiness*