A/N: So sorry for posting late! But today you get two chapters to make up for it PLUS the one at the end of the week. Dio is now 15-ish.

When you see (*) it means whatever's contained inside it is an author's note.

I stepped off the boat and dragged it onto the sand. This island was barren save for the ruins of a long abandoned town. My eyes wandered down to the flyer in my hand. This was definitely the place. I sighed and began wandering the ruins in search of the monster that I was supposed to be hunting. How a beast could bother or harm anyone from all the way out here I had no idea, but that had been the request and so here I was. When I started to hear growling I ran towards it.

"N-no. For your own good, please stop." a man spoke. At first I thought he was speaking to me, but as I peeked around the corner I realized he was talking to the beast that was closing in on him.

I froze at the sight of the man. He appeared only about a couple years older than me, and had jet black hair with eyes to match. He looked so incredibly lonely that it almost broke my heart, but he was beautiful. He was easily one of the best looking people I'd ever laid eyes on.

The beast pounced at the stranger who whispered, "I'm sorry." The beast had entered the air pulsing with life, and landed stone dead. A gasp caught in my throat as I watched this. What exactly had just…? The guy kept apologizing and telling the dead thing that he had told it so and it would've done better to listen. He looked so distraught. Before I'd even realized what I was doing, I was walking towards him. "Stop!" he cried, "Didn't you see what happened?"

I felt my blood magic stifle and nullify his and nodded, "I'll be okay." (*I wrote this series out of order. Have I told you about blood magic yet? If not, it'll be explained in this chapter.)

"Don't! Please! … I- I don't want to kill you." I continued to walk towards him when a massive wave of his deadly magic passed over me like a hot wind.

I was completely unaffected and asked him like nothing had happened, "What's your name?"

His eyes widened and he looked taken aback. "You're alive…" he whispered, "You're first one to… How…?"

I kneeled with him on the rocky ground. "You've spent a lot of time alone, haven't you?" When he nodded I took his hand in both of mine. "Now that I'm here, you don't have to be alone." He suddenly pulled me into a hug and buried his face in my hair.

"What's your name?"

"Dio. Yours?"

He hesitated for a moment, and then replied, "Doesn't matter. You said you wouldn't be leaving me alone, right?" In response, I hugged him back. I knew it probably wasn't the best idea to be holding powerful, mysterious strangers on remote islands – but I didn't sense any danger. Judging by the absolute blandness coating my tongue, he'd just been left alone for far too long.

I tasted something else, too. Guilt. (*Remember how Dio can taste the emotions of those around her? Blood magic, and we're so close to the flashback that explains it.) Guilt for what I couldn't say, but it was potent and yet hardly there at all. I didn't understand in the slightest.

We left the street and ended up in one of the few buildings that still had a roof. We were seated at a rotting table in the kitchen, and began to talk. He asked me about my guild tattoo, and I told him all about Fairy Tail. He asked questions about cats, and stripping ice mages, and the reasons behind my hatred of lightning mages. He asked a lot about Natsu, and everything else under the sun about Fairy Tail. When speaking, I could be nearly laughing one second and fully fuming the next. My mood never dropped, though, and to this the stranger remarked as he smiled sadly down at the wood, "Your life seems to have always been happy."

My reflections of the past six years at Fairy Tail were silenced and my gaze instantly turned to ice. My hand balled into a fist so tight that my knuckles went white as I corrected the stranger, "You're wrong." When he looked up, the faint smile on his lips disappeared at the sight of my expression. "Do you believe in dragons, stranger?" A flash of a bad memory gleamed in his eyes before he nodded. I then proceeded to tell him a story that no one knew but me; I'd never even hinted a word of it to Fey. "I wasn't born evil – no one is – but I was raised that way. When I asked Ricardio – my first dragon – (*Now there are twodragons: Shintag and Ricardio.) what happened to my family, he said he killed them. Ricardio is the blood dragon, and an evil dragon. He told me he'd destroyed my whole town, killing everyone in it but myself, and that I'd only survived on accident. When I asked him why he'd decided to take me in and teach me magic, he said he thought it would be entertaining. He said it would be like teaching a circus bear to dance." I bit through my teeth.

FLASHBACK: (*Yes, I know it doesn't tug heart strings, but that's because Dio has desensitized herself to the event.) "So I'm like, your pet?" a four-ish year old me asked. There were no streaks in my hair then, and I was dressed in fine yet functional clothes; no property of the mighty blood dragon should ever look like a beggar.

The massive, black and red dragon beside me gave a throaty chuckle, "I suppose so. But at the time I'd never realized you could be such a useful tool. You keep me comfortable, clean my scales, and even take care of yourself! I've never seen such a capable human." he brought his face lower to examine my small form that was made miniscule in comparison to his giant one, "Especially a human so early in its lifespan." He straightened again and announced, "Now come. I've been teaching you for a year and I believe you are ready to lay waste to your first village!" I merrily ran beside him out of the rubble of the town that Master Ricardio had just destroyed. I loved watching my master end entire human settlements, and now I could finally try it out for myself!

I walked up to the edge of a small but bustling town, looking as innocent as any little kid who had just materialized from the underbrush could possibly seem. An incredible amount of air filled my lungs, and I chanted, "Roar of the… BLOOD DRAGON!" A massive magical screech filled the air and leveled all the buildings two blocks in front of me. This was what a year of harsh, daily training under the blood dragon could allow you to achieve.

I suddenly knew why Master Ricardio had asked me to do this. Dragons 'eat' whatever they are of. For instance, the water dragon eats water to power up and survive, and the fire dragon eats fire to power up and survive. The blood dragon was a bit more metaphoric. The blood dragon ate emotions, and the emotions it ingested influenced the nature of the dragon. The savory flavors of fear, panic, and disbelief coated my tongue and were without a doubt some of the greatest things I'd ever tasted. However, there was also a musty taste that didn't please me. I didn't know how, but I instinctually knew the emotion for every taste. The mustiness was dread. Fear, panic, disbelief, and dread were all feelings that arose when most people made contact with a dragon, or when an unforeseen disaster suddenly erupted. Since these are all emotions that lie behind evil, the blood dragon became evil – and so did I. It sucks, really. A dragon that can't even decide the path of its own heart.

I felt my body grow stronger as I feasted on everyone's sudden fear, hate, anger, sorrow. "WING SLASH OF THE BLOOD DRAGON!" I leapt into the air and delivered wing slash after wing slash to the defenseless town. Were there no competent wizards or warriors? I had been hoping for a bit of resistance. Suddenly, I tasted an emotion I hadn't expected: pity, directed towards me. Another questionable thing directed towards me that didn't come from my master's heart: hesitant pride. I looked down to see a woman with almost white blonde hair and violet eyes that matched my own.

At the time I hadn't seen my reflection very often and usually forgot what I looked like. If I had memorized my reflection, I would've realized that this woman looked almost exactly like an older version of me. I sensed recognition and inexplicable sadness from her, and a drop of pride. This woman didn't know me, and I didn't know her. She seemed painfully familiar but I couldn't place her. The only memories I had retained from before Master Ricardio had taken me in were sounds. Maybe I'd been too traumatized to remember, or maybe I just hadn't cared enough. In any case, the woman started pouring love and gratefulness the instant she recognized me. Love was new, and delicious like everything else. I relished the taste and thought of sparing her when an enormous wave of anger was emitted from the rest of the town.

Impulse on anger is one that you usually regret. In the midst of all those boiling emotions, I had no will of my own. I channeled all that anger into my iron fist and brought it down to pulverize the woman who looked like me. In later years, I would often look at my reflection so that I could remember it, and every time I would it would nearly break my heart.

Two more years of my time with the blood dragon went on like that. I would end innocent lives just to feed myself and my master, and we had large appetites. Then, a day came that spun my life on the head of a pin.

Master Ricardio and I were scouring the remains of a city in the mountains that we had annihilated for survivors. Then something happened that I didn't know if anyone had ever seen before: another dragon. The new dragon sparkled and shone in the light as if its scales were made of gemstones. The diamond dragon. Master Ricardio sent a fearsome attack at it which was dodged, and the new dragon landed. "What do you want, Ricardio?" the diamond dragon asked.

My master smiled, showing razor teeth, and responded, "You're on my territory. Apprentice, kill him." This was it. I was going to see whether I was worthy of my title as a dragon slayer.

A/N: Cliffhanger! Dun dun dunnnn! Flashback to be continued in the next chapter where the smut begins! The only reason I keep going on about smut is because that was the concept focus of this series, and I'm happy to finally be getting to it. I'm also kind of excited about the first man in the series. I can't wait until she learns who it is. Dio's gonna shit a brick. XD