Chapter 25: Beth's Story

"So how are we going to make this work?" Beth muttered to herself as she looked at the pillows and blankets piled in the living room. "We could fold the blankets and use them like sleeping bags. Or-"

"Oh relax about it Beth," Ken said as he patted her shoulder gingerly. "I know you're probably in battle mode, but we're home and safe and have our family back.

"How about making a fort?" Katie suggested. Beth's eyes lit up.

"Like the ones we made at our old home?" Katie nodded excitedly.

"I can't believe you remember that," Seth said as he grabbed the corner of a blanket.

"As if I could forget. Those were so fun!" The Dragon Slayer started tying the blankets together.

"How about we make the big one that spans the whole room?"

"Yes! Let's make that one!" The family started grabbing blankets and moving furniture around. Beth at one point threw a pillow behind her, hitting someone with an "umph." A second later she was hit with the same pillow, thrown by Ken. They playfully glared at each other before returning to their previous tasks.

"Toss that one over here." Beth tossed the blanket next to her to her mom, who caught it effortlessly.

"I think that's it," Seth said as they spread the blanket and pulled the edges over the chairs they had set up. Beth grabbed the excess blankets and threw them into the new fort as the others ushered in pillows. They plopped onto the soft objects and giggled, happy to be together once again.

"I dub thee Fort Giggles," Beth said in a silly voice, waving her arm around.

"Why, such an appropriate name, Queen Beth," Katie replied before everyone burst into giggles once again.

"So, story time. What happened after the kidnapping, Beth?" Seth asked. "Ken gave us the basic rundown, but only that."

"So it starts with that I hid in my closet when the Servants came, like you told me to always do," the teen started.

"It's a little girl's room." Five-year-old Beth tried to get her shaky breathing under control as she peered through the crack in between her closet doors at the two men invading her home.

"So where's the girl?" the other one asked as he checked under the bed. The first one shrugged.

"We shouldn't worry about it, it's not like we need kids," he replied as he checked her window, making sure she didn't escape out of it.

"But we do need little kids though. For that other thing," his partner reminded him.

"Oh right." Beth started shaking as one of them approached her closet. He threw the door open.

"Ah, here she is!" he exclaimed victoriously, grabbing her arm in a harsh grip. Beth struggled as he wrenched her out of the closet.

She fell to he floor with an 'oof' as she looked up at the men, fear evident in her eyes. "Mommy! Daddy!" she cried helplessly, causing the men to laugh.

"Your mommy and daddy can't save you now, sweetheart," the man closest to her said as he reached down and pulled her up. Beth fruitlessly tried to pull away as they dragged her through the house and out the door. Once outside, she froze.

Her village was in flames, the light coming through every window and door visible. In the center, she saw her neighbors and friends being rounded up into two seperate groups, adults and teens and little kids. The man started dragging her towards the little kids group. She started resisting even harder, digging in her heels and screaming. She eventually gave that up and bit the guy's exposed wrist, causing him to release her.

She didn't waste a second before sprinting off towards the forest, narrowly avoiding the second guy trying to grab her.

"Get her! We can't let her escape!" They took off behind her, a few other men coming to aid them.

Beth kept sprinting as fast as her little legs could carry her, but the men were closing in fast. She went to the nearest tree she could find, before climbing up it. She perched in the highest branches she could go, and waited.

The men ran right by her.

She heard their shouting getting fainter and fainter.

She climbed down when she was out of earshot. She took off in what she thought was the direction of the nearest town, silently crying.

-XxXxX-

"Hello?" Beth called as she walked through the forest. "Is anybody there?"

The only things that greeted her were the sounds of the bugs and wild animals. The little girl whimpered slightly, fearful of what the foliage hid. This was her third day in the forest, she hadn't found any food or water, and was hopelessly lost. She started breaking down in tears again, and fell to her knees, hugging herself. She gasped as a sound silenced everything else around her.

WHOOSH

The little girl sat stone still as the sound came closer.

WHOOSH WHOOSH

Beth squeezed her eyes shut.

THUD. She whimpered slightly as a scuffling sound came closer and closer to her.

Then silence.

"Hello little one."

Beth's eyes shot open as she whipped her head up.

And came face to face with a dragon.

...

...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Beth screamed as she frantically pushed herself off the ground, trying to run, before tripping and falling-

and landing on something soft. Beth opened her eyes to see green filling her vision. She slowly pushed herself of the dragon's tail as a soft chuckle sounded behind her.

"I'm sorry little one. I didn't mean to startle you that badly. Are you alright?" Beth looked at the dragon fearfully before slowly nodding. "What is your name?"

"B-b-beth," the little girl stuttered out.

"What is wrong Beth? Are you lost? Where is your family?" Beth was silent for a second before breaking down into tears and sobbing loudly.

The dragon's eyes widened as she nuzzled the little girl's wet and dirty cheek comfortingly. Beth hugged the dragon's snout tightly in response. They stayed like that for a while before Beth's tears finally slowed and her sobs turned into hiccups. The dragon carefully pulled away.

"My ho-home w-was *hic* was burnt down and I'm n-not sure wh- *hic* where my p-parents are," Beth said softly, answering the dragon's previous question. The dragon's eyes widened again at that answer. She purred in a comforting manner.

"Why don't you come with me, and we will try to see if your parents are still around," the dragon suggested, before scooping the little girl up with her tail and depositing her on her back. Beth looked at the dragon in awe, before clinging to her neck.

"Wh-what's your name?" Beth asked.

"My name is Naymmi," the dragon responded. "Hold on tight now." Naymmi spread her wings and took off, staying just above the treeline. She glided at a steady pace towards Rosemary Village, already knowing where Beth was from due to her having the village's sent on her. They arrived a minute later.

There was not a soul in sight when Naymmi landed. All the houses were reduced to cinders, and the smell of smoke lingered in the air. Beth's eyes widened as she took in the scene around her. Naymmi didn't let the girl off her back.

"Hello?" Beth yelled into the silence, getting nothing in return.

Until a branch snapped.

Beth and Naymmi's heads snapped to face the direction the sound came from.

A man emerged from the forest.

The same one that Beth bit.

The little girl squeaked and clutched Naymmi's neck tighter, and Naymmi put two and two together. She spread her wings a bit and lowered her head, growling softly. The man chuckled.

"I knew staying around would be useful," he said as he took out a necklace and broke it.

Shouting came from the surrounding forest, as his comrades came running into the scene. Naymmi took off without warning, Beth squeaking before hanging on even tighter. Naymmi faulted a little in the air as a gunshot rang out, before turning and sending a Roar at the men. She sped out the clearing, staying silent the whole way.

They eventually landed in a small clearing far from the village. Beth slid off of Naymmi as the dragon took a look at her injured wing. It was a clean wound and the bullet went through the wing, so she didn't have to try and remove it. But it was bleeding quite a bit, and Naymmi quickly hid this fact for Beth.

The little girl had curled up a little ways away, and was crying again. Naymmi sighed before walking over.

"I'm sorry little one," she said, nudging Beth a bit. "Come now." She started walking away, and Beth followed her.

Naymmi led her to a crystal clear stream, and lowered her head to drink. Beth quickly followed suit, using her hands to cup the water and bring it to her mouth. Beth sighed when she had drank her fill, leaning back onto her arms. Naymmi swept her up again and placed the girl on her back once more, before returning to the clearing. Naymmi jumped onto one of the lower branches of the trees, climbing steadily higher. She tried to use her wings as little as possible. Naymmi stopped when they reached a split in the tree's trunk, creating a little platform, the perfect size for the dragon and girl. The dragon reached one of her front legs towards a hollow in the wood, and stuck it in. She pulled it out, and apple on her claw. She handed it to Beth, who ate it ravenously. Naymmi also gave her sweet wild berries and other fruits until the girl was satisfied, also eating alongside her.

Beth yawned, it was nearing sundown and she had hardly gotten any rest the previous few nights. She curled up in the branches, and pulled Naymmi's leaf-like tail over her like a blanket, the spread fins barely big enough to effectively cover her. Naymmi lightly chuckled and laid down as well, soon snoozing alongside the girl.

-XxXxX-

It was a week later that Naymmi told Beth that she would be teaching her magic and survival skills in the wild. Naymmi started with showing her simple spells, like the Roar and Shrieking Mushrooms. She caught on really quickly for a five-year-old.

As Beth grew, so did her skills. By age six she was learning how to sword fight with her blades and grow plants on her vines.

By age seven she was basically a monkey, climbing trees with ease and find food and water with the same difficulty.

At eight, the two of them found out that Beth didn't get motion sick while riding Naymmi, despite knowing enough Dragon Slayer Magic for her to.

When she was nine, Beth was learning more advanced spells like Solar Cannon.

During the time she was ten, she was able to grow all sorts of food, and grow her strength by touching plants she hadn't before. This was also the year that Naymmi had given Beth her pendant as a present, which she never took off.

She learned more explosive spells when she was a preteen, and they had to practice by the water as to not damage the surrounding forest.

When she became a teenager, Beth was easily able to survive on her own, and Naymmi told her that she would soon start learning Secret Arts.

When she was fourteen, Naymmi had started teaching her healing spells.

And then, a little over half a year later, Beth ended up at Fairy Tail.

"And then I teamed up with Team Natsu and freed everyone at the mines where you guys escaped form, found Uncle Ken while training in the forest, did a month of small jobs, got this place in that time, and you know the rest," Beth finished as her parents and Ken looked at her in shock.

"So what happened to you guys?"

This took a lot longer to get out than I thought it would guys. I'm sorry. Life has been pretty busy, and it's only going to get busier as performance season for the arts come, which is going to take up a lot of time. Thank the stars for off days of school. I wanna sleep and dance and fix my jerk of a SoulSilver game. That one was my favorite game too... and then it crashed and wants me to start over from the beginning. NOT HAPPENING, I know that save file is fine, you just won't play it. Too bad I can access the stuff to fix it, I'm so sorry game. I just need time... Don't we all, honestly.

But first I have a shoutout, too:

Goku275! Thanks for the follow and fav!

Well, hope you all have a good weekend, go get 'em fey!

-ThinMintE