So to recap, Igneel is Natsu and Lucy's son, Colin is Gray's son, Liam is Erza's son and Kappa is Gajeel and Levy's daughter. Laxus is now the master of Fairy Tail (to clear that up a little). Feedback is my friend! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed thus far, I send you all my eternal thanks (^.^)

"Hunter's Arrow?" Laxus flipped open a registry of guilds and perched his glasses on his nose, "I think they're probably not a dark guild, but just in case…"

Natsu nodded and pushed his sleeves up his arms. After the twins had been born, he had slowly begun to go from pink to a patchy red and white salt and pepper look. He could still pack a punch and it was still a stretch when Igneel sparred him, but he was happy he was as tall as his dad finally.

His mother pulled him away from the conversation. "Come on now, Igneel, let them talk without you breathing down their necks."

He couldn't get used to looking down at her, in his mind she would always be towering above him either yelling about something broken or laughing. Lisanna had told Igneel that the reason Lucy kept her hair short was because he used to pull it as a baby. Both she and Natsu had stayed in shape, but the pictures of her from a younger age showed that Lucy had lost some of her curvature over the years. Mira had told him that he had Natsu's face and Lucy's common sense with intelligence absorbed from Fairy Tail itself.

"Come on, Igneel, just a little fire." Carmen looked up, pouting slightly. She knew that she could pout better than Leila could. "Pleeeeease."

"You girls know better," Lucy put her hands on her hips, "Leila, go over to Levy and Carmen go to Cana and practice your magic instead of bugging Igneel for his."

Both of them were promptly gone, their startling red hair vanishing in the crowded inn. Igneel always worried when they did that, but he put it out of his mind as Colin sat at the table in front of him.

"Sit, fire eater." He had all of Gray's tactful conversation openers in his blood, "We have to plan."

"Only if you stop embarrassing me, stripper." Igneel slid into the seat and leaned back onto two legs, then instantly regretted it.

His mother's hand slammed his shoulders forward and his nose hit the table. "Sit properly, Igneel. You're representing Fairy Tail."

"Yes, Mom." He glanced up to make sure she had walked away before sitting up. "So, what's up? Is Liam back from the inspection with Erza yet?"

Colin shook his head, his mini black ponytail flopping back and forth obnoxiously. "No, we just need to have a plan to deal with what happens if the B team beats us."

Igneel shuddered and ran a hand over his guild mark on his right shoulder. "I don't even want to think about it."

Several girls from Mermaid Heel were openly checking Colin out as they exited the inn and Igneel rolled his eyes. "Please, Colin, at least so we can talk in peace."

He sighed dramatically and took the proffered shirt. Neither Igneel or Colin were as much eye candy as their fathers had purportedly been, but they still attracted too much attention for Igneel's liking around other guilds. As Colin was sliding the shirt on, an iron fist came flying around the corner and caught him in the stomach.

"Colin, 0. Kappa, 2."

"Kappa, please," Igneel groaned, "Lay off during the tournament. We need to work together, do you know what that means?"

She vaulted down the stairs and sat backwards in a chair. "Fine, relax. We'll call it truce, for now."

Kappa had inherited only her love of books and petite stature from Levy; all the rest was clearly Gajeel. Her spiked black hair with half her head shaved, shirt with ripped off sleeves and numerous facial piercings gave her the dream look for a punk band. She didn't like it when people told her that, and Colin was the worst offender.

"So is Colin making us plan for the worst again?"

"It is just contingency planning," Colin raised his hands slightly, "If you want to be caught off guard if they beat us-"

She leaned forward, eyes steel bright. "I, personally, don't plan on losing."

A silence descended on the Fairy Tail delegation as Erza stepped through the door. Igneel had heard that she used to keep her hair long when it was red, but once it turned white she decided it was too much trouble and kept it pixie short. In recent years lines had begun to appear around her eyes and mouth, but no one dared tell her that, not even Jellal.

As she and Jellal went to join Natsu and Laxus, their shadow detached himself and silently wended his way through the tables. No one guessed that Liam was Erza's son because the contrast between the two was so stark. Liam had hidden from Erza for a week when he began training with his magic, and only when Erza had terrified the guild into submission had Reedus confessed that Liam had come to him about Picture magic.

The only distinctive part about Liam was his mottled blue and grey hair; otherwise you could walk right by him and not notice he was there. He slid into the last seat at their table and put his sketchpad on the table while all eyes were still on Erza.

"I have a complete events list." Liam opened his sketchpad to a picture of the poster at the arena, "The first event is something called 'Uncage'."

"The Master is gone, I wouldn't be surprised if they took her away to make sure they could distribute us among the guilds of their choice!"

"Quiet! We need to assume all of us are a target, but we cannot let anyone else know and yelling about it inside an inn where at least two other guilds are staying is not helping."

Kappa angled her head towards the door and put her finger to her lips. Liam got out his pencil and turned to a fresh page as Colin and Igneel pretended to have a silent conversation. Igneel glanced over Colin's shoulder and saw the distinctive purple and green hair from earlier with a taller boy half facing inside. All three of them were looking towards the second speaker, a female just outside the view through the doorway. Her voice had lowered to a whisper and it was hissing so rapidly that he could barely catch what she said.

"Pia, you optimism is generally appreciated, but here we need to be realistic. After what happened we need to assume the worst."

Mona gasped. "You can't mean-"

"I always say what I mean, Mona. Divide up into essential teams, three at the most. All of the older members are gone, so we have to protect the young ones. Watch your guild mark and wait for the signal to run."

Pia burst into tears and Igneel saw the four of them beginning to walk away. As they walked away he saw a petite girl with a hood up step forward to lead them, the Hunter's Arrow mark emblazoned on the back of her coat. Liam looked up from his sketch, grey eyes in their usual state of emotionless curiosity. It took a lot to rile Liam up; especially since he stood up to Erza's rants all the time without blinking an eye.

"I take it you've seen them before."

Igneel nodded, watching them around the corner. "They were looking for their master earlier, near the sign in area."

Kappa frowned. "It doesn't look like they found their master, but that seems like an overreaction to me."

"Do you smell that?" Everyone turned to look at Natsu, "Who was that who just walked by? Was it Gajeel or Wendy?"

"No, Dad, just a team from another guild, why?"

Natsu looked troubled. "That smelled like a dragon slayer."