A/N: Sup guys! wiErD here and I got another chapter for you guys.

Hope ya like it.

Disclaimer: Hiro Mashima owns the whole franchise. Support the official release.


- New Lives and New Friends -

After all the whole ruckus that happened awhile back at the orphanage, Natsu together with his brother is called out into attention towards Elena's room to discuss the fight between the former and Gajeel. All of them were situated over to a seat facing Elena's table in which she currently sits at the moment together with the small girl who was also involved in the situation.

The two boys have been already hissing at each other with mocking expressions despite the issue being delivered. Things like these were often reported to her whenever a kid comes into bad terms with the other and eventually started causing problems for the others kids who weren't involved in it.

Luckily, Zeref was there to stop him from getting into trouble.

"I'm really sorry for my brother..." Zeref apologized in advance.

"Hey, it wasn't me! It was him, Zeref-nii!" Natsu protested as he pointed an accusing finger towards Gajeel who snorted in response.

"Give your brother a break, will ya? It was you who started it!"

But before the whole argument could escalate, even more, Elena lightly slammed her hand on the table to show her stern expression towards the two before softening her gaze and prepared to speak.

"There's not going to be any punishment being laid out on anyone. I just want to know what really happened."

"He was bullying that girl!"

"He was acting like a real piece of shit!" The two boys spoke in unison.

"Gajeel! Your words." Elena scolded. She sighed for a moment before looking back to the little girl beside her who had been quiet for the whole time. Seeing her scared expression, Elena could only lightly pat her head in reassurance, seeing that she will not get bullied afterwards despite revealing the truth to them.

It's one of the things Elena wanted within the orphanage. To have kids to learn from themselves and do the right thing. The little girl fidgeted from her seat, unable to tell the truth since she caught a glimpse of Gajeel making hand gestures of cutting his throat as a means of threat which only made her scared.

It was not long until Natsu shoved him out of his seat to reassure the girl and smiled wide.

"Don't be afraid, dear. I want to know the truth." Elena urged until the girl finally decided to speak.

"G-Gajeel is at fault..." She whispered but it was enough for everyone to hear as Elena turned towards the spiky-haired boy with a dispirited sigh.

"So it was you again." She sighed in realization.

"I-I was just helping her to carry things properly. She's been breaking cups for the third time and cannot even lift a single broom to clean the house." He tried to defend himself.

"And you can see that she's still a little girl... Can you expect her to do things that she's not ready for?" Natsu butted in with a serious gaze in which Zeref caught afterwards.

"You can't force a kid to do things that she's not capable of. Everyone has their limits and everyone doesn't need to deserve like this even though things wanted to let her experience it either way. I've experienced and seen things that I shouldn't have experienced but no matter how you get away with it, it'll keep coming back no matter how hard you try to forget it!"

Everyone was just silent as Natsu ranted on and on before finally stopping as his brother was able to understand what he just said to them.

Words aside, it just made him realize how much Natsu had changed over the past few months since the day of their parents' death. A kid like him shouldn't have experienced all those horrifying things and all the hardships he went through before settling here in the orphanage.

It just shows that he experienced worse than any other kid.

Of course, Gajeel was lost at words since he could see the seriousness in the pinkette's eyes and could only stutter in his seat which then brought another wave of silence before them until Elena finally spoke again.

"Well, I guess that wraps up all the problem here. I just wanted to know what really happened and I'm not handing out punishments since some of you were first timers in the orphanage." She paused before looking back at Gajeel.

"I suppose you should thank Natsu for that. I'm overlooking this incident once but if I catch you bullying other kids again, there can be no second chances, is that clear?" She made a sharp tone which only made him nod briefly as Elena drew back her smile and turned her attention back to Zeref.

"Well then, now that's out of the way, I think we should all get along together, okay? I'm leaving them to you now, Zeref. I still have to attend to the other kids as well so you might as well look out for them if they started another fight with each other, alright?"

"Yes, ma'am." Zeref nodded in response.

And in just like that Elena went out of the room together with them but not long before she went on the different side of the house to take care of the other children, leaving Zeref to supervise the three kids on his own.

As they made their way back to the other building, Gajeel began to ask.

"Hey, what village are you two from?"

The little girl also perked in curiosity at his question.

"We came from Hallmoon. It's a town where our village is also located." Zeref answered.

"So what happened there?"

"A dragon attacked." This time, Natsu answered before Zeref could even reply.

"So you've been attacked too, huh? A lot of towns have been attacked recently by dragons, you know. Never thought it would escalate this much." Gajeel released a nonchalant sigh.

"So what happened to yours?" Natsu asked.

"Same as what happened to other towns when a dragon attacks. Dead people everywhere, debris and rubble piled up like you've never seen before. I was the only one who got out alive in that until the army arrived."

"You don't sound like pissed or anything."

"It happened to most of the kids here, newbie… You're not the only one who lost their parents in those damn dragons."

"And you don't give a crap about it?"

"How could I? I'm a kid without magic or anything to fight those monsters. What good will I do if I just go out there and mock some dragon who could easily squash you like a fruit?" Gajeel hissed.

"But are you just gonna let it slide like that?" Natsu asked.

"I'm not saying that I'm overlooking this kind of thing. I'm just stating that I'm powerless to do something about it. The only thing worth doing for me is to live and work as I grow."

But before Natsu could even reply even further, Zeref tapped his shoulder before shaking his head to let the spiky-haired boy be right now. He knew that he was stepping out of the bounds and Gajeel is also sensitive to talk about these kinds of things.

It didn't take them long as they reached the building as Gajeel went in on first without saying anything but not long before he left a glare towards the pinkette and went on his bed to rest with the others.

It was already late and the group had wasted so much time being lectured on the office with Elena after the incident. So far, the two brothers grew to like the place despite having some rough situations from the beginning.

The kids have already gone to sleep and only a few others are still awake from their beds doing their things.

It was then Zeref knelt in front of the little girl who was also with them.

"So where do you sleep?" He asked and the girl simply pointed at the very far corner of the room in which the two traced their gazes at and eventually found a spare bed. They could assume that it was the girl's bed.

"I see… Well, I'll see you around tomorrow. I hope you get along with my brother too if you got the chance." He paused.

"And sorry for causing such trouble."

"I-It's nothing! I-I was at fault!" The little girl meekly replied.

"No, not really. It was that stupid Gajeel's fault. He was the real culprit here so don't blame yourself." Natsu tried to cheer her up with a wide grin on his face which somehow made the little girl relieved at his words.

"C-Can I m-meet you again, mister?" She asked.

"Of course, just tell me if Gajeel is still bullying you and I'll send some fists right into his face." Natsu laughed.

"Natsu. What did Elena just say about fighting?"

"Oh, sorry but if he started it first, I'm returning the favour, alright?"

A depressed sigh came from the black-haired teenager afterwards.

"In any case, we should all head back to sleep. I still got some work from the factory but I'll be resigning soon since I was requested to go to an academy." Zeref explained as the two children looked at him in curiosity.

"Academy?" The little girl asked.

"Yeah. It's where people learn things about the history of the world and also magic itself. Elena just gave me the offer to enroll in an academy."

"Cool!"

"In that case, I won't be around most of the time with you Natsu so I advise that you stay out of trouble, okay?" He warned.

"Yes, Zeref-nii." Natsu nodded in response.

With the three finishing up their business with each other, they soon parted ways as Zeref and Natsu went in their direction where their beds are located apart from the little girl. It was not long until the latter started to call out the little girl one last time.

"Hey! I didn't get your name by the way."

"W-Wendy… Marvell." The little girl muttered but Natsu was able to hear it clearly as he placed a thumbs-up towards her with a smile.

"I'm Natsu Dragneel! Nice to meet you, Wendy. Let's play some other time soon, okay?"

Although he didn't hear any reply from her, he could see that she was quite happy with what he said and could only nod in response before heading back to her bed to sleep.

Eventually, the two also went on their way and slept in their beds to rest for the night.


The next day...

"Naattssuuu~" The teary-eyed Alice ran from her bar counter as she saw the pinkette along with Zeref who just recently came to visit the bar. The news about two boys being abused by the knights went all over town and Alice could not help but worry since she hasn't got the time to talk to them after that incident.

Yet seeing them alright and okay surely lifted her big worries and simply ran over to them with a smile.

It didn't take long as Natsu was simply tackled from the ground while being hugged by the older female which kinda hurts actually.

"A-Alice-nee. My back hurts!" Natsu tried to tap the barmaid which somehow caught her attention and finally decided to break up the hug.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I just wanted to see you two okay. I learned what happened yesterday. Why didn't you inform me?!"

The pinkette turned towards his brother for answers who only sighed for a moment in order to start his explanation right back to the very start.

"Well, things happened after that and we're kinda invited by a knight-"

"You're going to the army?!" She shrieked in horror.

"No! I haven't finished yet…" Zeref deadpanned but continued soon afterwards.

"As I was saying, we were invited to stay at an orphanage since she found out that we're homeless and have no parents. I got a request from the owner of the orphanage to study to an academy while being provided all the things we needed to live from now on. This is maybe the last time I'm ever going to work at the factory. After that, I might have to accept the offer soon."

"Does Natsu have anything to say about this?" Alice asked.

"Well, he's totally fine with it. I think he'll do well enough in the orphanage while I'm away." He reassured.

"I see… So this is goodbye, huh?" She frowned. Upon saying that, the two looked at her with confused looks.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, since both of you have a place to stay, I might never see you, boys, again."

"Huh? We can always visit here anytime we want. We're not going anywhere." Natsu reassured.

"R-Really?" She cried comically in tears.

"Yeah!"

And in just like that, the two boys were wrestled down to the ground once more as Alice cried in the joy of their stay. For sure, she thought that they would be taken into the army to train and fight those dragons but I guess they're not part of the army and she wanted it to stay that way since she valued those two like real brothers despite not entirely related to each other.

Eventually, the three broke apart their embrace and Alice began to ask in another topic.

"So did you two found any new friends in the orphanage?"

"Well, not exactly. We did get a rough start, no thanks to Natsu by the way." Zeref sighed in depression though he could catch a glimpse of his brother slightly pissed at his reply just now.

"It's Natsu, alright. Always going into trouble, young man." She teased.

"It was that stupid spiky-haired kid's fault! He was bullying Wendy, dammit!" He had enough of being scolded and being made fun of.

"I know but that doesn't mean that you should pick a fight! You should've taken that matter to Elena, right?" Zeref suggested.

"I don't know. I just acted out of instinct to help out! Is that bad?" He asked doubtfully.

"No, it's not that really bad. I think it's quite the opposite of it. It's a good thing for others to have kids like you helping out without hesitation. That sort of personality and attitude draws them closer to you and feel happy together. Having yourself to be looked after by those around you makes you feel safe in their hands and that they always help you whenever you're in trouble." Alice spoke softly.

Whenever one of them felt troubled, her sisterly side always comes out to comfort them when needed. Aside from her usual comical actions towards them, she sometimes also displayed seriousness towards the situation whenever she can.

Looking at the troubled face of the pinkette, she couldn't help but soften her gaze at him and tried to reassure him from his doubts.

It was one of the things why Zeref and Natsu became friends with her and lived together like close siblings.

Meanwhile, Natsu's face eventually lightened up as he hugged the white-haired barmaid affectionately who returned the same gesture.

"Thanks, Alice-nee!"

"You're welcome. Always remember, whatever obstacle lies your way, don't hesitate to help others when they needed help. But don't always resort to violence, alright? That's what your brother was trying to remind lately." She suggested.

"Okay!"

On the other hand, Zeref watched the two for a moment before noticing the track of time.

"I gotta go. I still have some work at the factory but I'll be resigning soon so I'll meet you two later in the afternoon."

"Take care and also be careful out there." Alice advised to which he nodded in response.


"So you're quitting huh?" Arthur voiced out in realization as he faced Zeref who seemed to be finished with his things in the factory.

"Yeah. I got a request to attend to an academy from a knight so…"

"It's alright. A kid like you should learn more than to work in a place like this just to keep living. Honestly, I'd like to thank you for standing up to those guys. Not many of us here dare to lift our voices against those people." Arthur frowned.

"I just had to point out their mistakes and abuses. I suppose that doesn't work on this part of the kingdom."

"I agree with you boy. Anyways, you should go. You have a bright future ahead of you, Zeref. The others are gonna miss you here."

"Don't worry. It's not like I'm leaving this place entirely. I can always come back to lend a hand." He smiled.

"I'd appreciate that but I think we'll handle fine from here. You focus on your own things and help that little brother of yours. Both of you are quite special, you know."

Zeref could only plaster a sheepish laugh before smiling back towards his manager.

"Well then, I'll be going."

"Yeah. Take good care out there. And be careful with those guys again, especially on that Tellus guy. You know he won't try to let it down after what you did to him." He warned.

"I will. I'll see you around, sir." Zeref bowed.

"Good luck out there, Zeref." Arthur bade farewell on the lad as he packed up his bag and left the factory to head back to his little brother.


The next day... At the orphanage…

Natsu and Zeref sat on one of the chairs at the far corner of the table as they receive their own breakfast from eating in the morning. The flow of children lining up from the dining hall continues to pour out as more of them came from the other house to take their meals as well.

Natsu immediately dug right in with his food and ate silently while Zeref slowly ate beside him with a new set of clothes.

Of course, the pinkette also recognized the outfit and could not help but ask.

"Did Elena gave you a new pair of clothes?"

Judging from its appearance, his clothes consisted that of a white long-sleeved uniform with golden trims located on the edges. A symbol similar that of a dragon was seen on the pocket located on the left side of his chest. He also wore a pair of black pants and a pair of black shoes to fit on his lower part.

Zeref placed down his utensils before looking back at him.

"This is the uniform for the academy I'm enrolled at. I'll be wearing it every time I get to the academy, you know." He said.

"Why can't you just wear anything? I mean, you could just put on any clothes, right?" Natsu replied innocently which only made his brother smile in response before patting his head.

"When you grow up, you'll understand it."

"Okay. I can't wait to grow up!" Natsu shouted in delight.

The two brothers continued their meal as soon time passes which resulted with Zeref heading out first to attend his first days as a student in his academy.

Elena was beside him, acting as his guardian on his first entry along with some other kids who were the same age as him. They all stood outside the orphanage with several children seeing them off as Elena gave them their farewells to each other.

"Good luck, Zeref-nii!" Natsu shouted from afar as the figure of his brother walked ahead before glancing back to give him a wave at the distance.

This will be the first time he will be alone without his brother's help. Although it's sad, he'll have no problems adapting to the new environment since it's much better than being left alone in the streets. He can always come around when he comes home and tell about amazing things he learned from the academy.

With a renewed gaze, Natsu smiled as his brother disappeared into the far distance and quietly went back to the orphanage to spend his day there.

With a couple of children running around the building, he stayed at one table holding one of the books Zeref borrowed from Elena to help him learn.

He waded through the crowd of kids and sat himself alone in the table to read.

"U-Umm–" A shy voice resounded from his back, prompting him to glance back and widened his eyes at the figure.

"Oh, good morning Wendy." He spoke in a casual manner but the little girl could only squeak at his reply.

"O-Oh, g-good morning, Natsu-nii." She shyly spoke.

"Nii?" For some reason, Natsu felt dumbfounded at greeting but regained his composure afterwards.

"I-Is something wrong?"

"U-Uh, no. Not actually. I'm just surprised that you called me Nii-san since I was used being the little brother. Natsu's just fine." He reassured with a toothy grin. His reply surprised the blue-haired midget but decided to keep it and tried to act as normal as possible to him.

"What brings you here by the way? Did you eat your breakfast?" He asked.

"Y-Yes…"

"Hmm… I see."

It was Wendy's turn to speak.

"W-What are you doing here, Natsu-san?"

"I was just reading some book my brother borrowed for me. I was about to read it, though. Do you want to read?" He offered.

"I-uhh–I'm not sure." She frowned a bit.

"It's fine. It's not like I have anything to do today. Plus, I've read it a couple of times so…" He scooted over a seat for her. Wendy hesitated at first but ultimately decided to accept her offer and sat beside him and began to read it herself.

"A dragon story?" She looked at him in curiosity after looking at the title.

"Yeah. It's a story of a man who became a dragonslayer to save his family from the dragons. You can see how he battled one of them here…" He flipped the pages, explaining every bit of the story in it. Wendy carefully listened to his words like an obedient child.

As minutes passed, the two started their normal conversation. Wendy giggled every time he tried imitating the character in the story and tried making some funny sounds that caught the attention of some other kids in his vicinity.

Her shyness disappeared in an instant after getting to know him better. They continued to talk to each other about their own lives.

"So what was your village like?" Natsu asked.

"Well, it's in a windy place because we live high in the mountains."

"Is that so? That's sounds pretty cold." Natsu shuddered at the thought.

"Yup. But you could get used to it when you live long enough. The wind is nice and everyone was happy." She smiled momentarily before recalling all the events that transpired after that.

"What happened?" Natsu asked.

"Well, there were two dragons fighting near our village. I don't know much about it but our village was destroyed the moment they started fighting each other. I was the only one who managed to survive and everything is just…" Wendy suddenly trembled in fear, unable to continue her story any further.

"I-It's alright if you don't want to continue. Sorry for bringing up such bad memory." Natsu apologized but Wendy simply shook her head.

"Mhmm… It's alright. Most everyone here shared the same thing so I had to tell it."

"It seems like it."

The liveliness seemed to have come back between them until a voice interrupted them from behind.

"So this is where you at, huh?" Natsu doesn't need to turn around to know the person since the voice was familiar to him.

"What do you want, Gajeel?"

The black haired kid smirked at the mention of his name and ignored his glare.

"Yo, it seems like you got yourself early today."

"It's my routine. Plus, I got to see my brother off since he started his days in the academy."

"So you're alone now, huh?" The smirk on his lips made the pinkette glare at him even further. Gajeel noticed his gaze and simply raised his hands as if surrendering.

"Relax, I'm not here for a fight. Though it seems like the little midget is there with you."

"And what do you want with her? If you try to bully her, I'll smack you hard." Natsu warned.

"I never said anything yet and I didn't come here for a fight. As much as I hate to admit it, you saved my butt yesterday from Elena." Hearing his reasons, Natsu calmed down but Wendy only hid behind him, tugging his clothes in the process.

"So, what are you doing here?" He asked curiously.

"N-Nothing. I just came here to see if you're still breathing, idiot." For some reason, Gajeel turned away out of embarrassment, causing the two to tilt their heads in confusion.

But before they could even speak, Sting peered over Gajeel's back with a light-hearted attitude.

"He means he wants to be friends with you. Don't you get it?"

"Wha–" Gajeel choked at Sting's sudden reply.

"Huh?"

As fast as a lightning strike, Sting was met with a sucker punch towards his face as Gajeel spun his body and delivered a right hook, sending him flying away. The poor blonde kid smashed into one of the tables.

Ryos stood out to avoid trouble as he saw his partner passed out in the process.

"I told you it's a bad idea, Sting." Ryos sighed.

On the other hand, Gajeel couldn't hide his pissed look, unable to look at the pinkette with a straight face.

"Is that all?" Natsu asked.

"D-Don't get the wrong idea, pinky. I still regard you as my rival so I don't plan to get friendly on you just like that." He tried to make a poor excuse but Natsu seemed to pay no heed to it as he reached a hand towards him.

"I never really said that we'd be rivals but I accept. Plus, if that's your case, I don't mind at all. It's more fun to have friends, am I right?" Natsu smiled which got both Wendy, Gajeel and the other two to be surprised at his response. It was such a surprise to see Sting awoke despite that punch.

"E-Eh?"

"You said you wanted to be friends with me, right? I don't mind. Besides, we're all orphans here so I think we should stick together."

Gajeel stopped in his words as he can't find anything to answer to his statement just now. Normally, kids would just run away in fear because of his mean look but this one seemed different from the others.

He did not hesitate to befriend him without complaining. He does not fear him since he knows he isn't intimidated by him but his way of approaching others is surely surprising.

Reaching out a hesitant hand towards him, Gajeel accepted him.

"S-Sure."

"See? It's not that hard now, right? Nice to meet you, Gajeel."

"Y-Yeah. Thanks, I guess." The spiked-haired boy scratched his head sheepishly.

As soon as they became friends, Gajeel eventually opened up to him together with Sting and Ryos who later introduced themselves to the pinkette and also became friends afterwards.

Their conversations started out very sour since both Natsu and Gajeel argued continuously at each other while Wendy and the rest could only watch in amusement. They both contested on who's better at things and it seems like there's no end to their competition.

However, they couldn't deny the happiness on their faces. Sting and Ryos saw Gajeel enjoyed himself in the company of others beside the two of them since he never had friends that much with the others due to his personality.

Gajeel also apologized to Wendy afterwards though the latter seemed to brush it off as an acceptance despite being treated harshly by them.

The five of them enjoyed themselves together and eventually read the book that Natsu shared with Wendy before.

"So that's your wish?" Gajeel asked.

"Yeah. I want to be the person that saves everyone. I will grow up and train harder to protect those who are important to me." Natsu declared.

"That sounds like a funny wish." Gajeel snickered.

"Oi! At least, I'm trying!" Natsu glared at him in annoyance.

"Well, I think it's a good wish," Wendy commented.

"I don't know about you but I guess becoming like one of those dragonslayers is kinda super cool. I want to be a dragonslayer!" Sting agreed.

"You're not even qualified yet, Sting," Ryos added.

"Well, there are many ways for us to become like them. I'll continue to train myself until I grow up to be like them. That's my goal!" Natsu declared.

"I won't let you get ahead of me, Pinky." Gajeel challenged.

"Then, it's settled. Let's all work hard together and become one of them when we grow up!"

Looking at his energetic nature, the four couldn't deny anything from him as they nodded altogether.

"Yes!"

And with that, their lives are now set to that one goal. There will be a lot of obstacles in the future but they're confident that they would overcome them and reach their goal.


A/N: That's it for this chapter. Next would be a four-year time-skip in which in this case, making the age for both Zeref and Natsu to be 14 and 11 respectively.

This chapter will now serve as the beginning of Natsu finally meeting Igneel and possibly the gift of fire dragonslaying to him in the process.

Well, the five kids are finally together and became friends. There's going to be some changes in some of them in the next chapter so look forward to it.

See you all in the next chapter!

- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out… … …