Chapter 3

Zahar felt as though he was floating through water, so much water that it drowned out the light of the sun. Every part of his body was still in pain, especially the center of his back and strangely enough a new sensation.

Loneliness, something Zahar had never faced up until now and it was eating him up inside.

"Zahar!" He heard the small voice wade through the water. There was a small white dot in his vision, but that small white dot grew far larger causing Zahar to shield his eyes from the brightness.

"Zahar wake up!" the voice was pleading and was a little clearer now, it was familiar. The light grew closer and the water faded away.

The green haired boy finally opened his eyes to reveal the same purple as before. While his vision was blurry he could see Yume, the purple haired creature he found in the forest.

"Y-Yume, what…happened?" Zahar exhaled as he began to wake up. He could see the little creature's big sad eyes weep as he came in for a hug.

Yume nuzzled his face into the side of Zahars neck and began to blubber out his answer, "You started screaming, and-and." As Yume began to sob harder, Zahar found the energy and began to pet the creature on the head.

"It'll be okay." Zahar's voice was hoarse and his throat was dry. He managed to sit up and placed Yume just in front of him. For some reason, the young cub looked scared when he looked at zahar. No, what was behind him.

Zahar craned his neck to the side and looked at what Yume was seeing, and he too mimicked his expression.

"Yume?" Zahar asked.

"Yea?" Yume replied.

"Do…do I have wings?" Zahar asked as the color started to drain from his face again.

"Yea." was all Yume said in a less than horrified voice. Zahar wanted to vomit, that was his first thought anyway. The green haired dragon slayer began to put the pieces together, he may not have been the smartest one around, but even he could add one plus one.

'That's what all that pain in my back was.' he realized. The color began to come back to his face as he looked at Yume. The image of that strange crystal Zirconis showed him also flashed in his mind.

'Whatever that crystal was, it did this.' Zahar gave his arms a few test rotations before realizing there was no pain. However pain aside, there was one thing his body was desperately craving.

"Please get me some water." Zahar breathed out as he seemed to become as thin as paper and floated to the ground. Yume stopped his mildly terrified behavior and ran with his little legs to Zahars backpack.

He rummaged around inside before pulling out an animal skin filled with water. He rushed back over and handed it to zahar who in one fell swoop, tore off the cap and drank the entire contents of the water skin.

That seemed to do the trick as he took a deep breath after his swig. He coughed a little before settling with a small frown. "Jiji…what the hell did you do?" he asked himself. Yume wanted to answer, but even the young cub had no idea what happened. All he saw was a really bright pink light, before he heard zahar start screaming like he was crazy.

Zahar stood from the ground after slight trepidation and reached his full height. Confusion spread across his face as he looked at Yume again. "Am I taller?" He didn't wait for the cub's reply as he began inspecting his body. In the sunlight, he could see his new wings clearly.

They shone with an emerald glow, one that was eerily similar to his fathers. They weren't a set of small wings either, they just like Zirconis' wings, were large and powerful. Zahar's face contorted with effort as he tried to move his wings like he would his arm.

The result was failure as the feeling was still too new and he could barely move one let alone both. He sighed as he looked over the rest of his body noting no other differences other than the sharpening of his canine teeth. Upon finishing his inspection, the dragon winged child looked to yume, who was a little sad it seemed.

Crouching in front of the little cub, his face showed nothing but confusion. "What's up with you?" Zahar asked the purple cub.

Yume was shy before answering and small tears came to his eyes "I couldn't help you." was all he said with a mixture of anger and sadness on his face. While a small smirk spread across Zahar's.

"You hatched, literally yesterday. You can't beat yourself up for it." Zahar gave a playful poke to the young cub's tummy, who unconsciously giggled a little and grew red with shyness. "Besides, the only way from here is up Yume." The small cub looked into the hypnotic purple eyes of Zahar matched with his determined smile. Yume believed him. 'The only way…is up.' He repeated in his head.

Zahar stood back up and began to look over his home, or more apt would be the remains of his and Zirconis' cave they lived in. "Damn." was all he said at the sight of the collapsed cave. Yume waddled over dragging the backpack after he put everything back inside. Zahar grabbed the backpack and slung it between his new wings.

"That's really gonna take some getting used to." Zahar sighed. Yume hopped up on his arm and climbed to the backpack, getting comfortable inside.

"You think I can get wings too?" the cub asked, innocence filling its voice.

"Who knows? I don't even know what you are." zahar chuckled a little that yume matched. Looking away from his collapsed home and to the horizon in the distance with Yume's head just peeking over his shoulder as well, Zahar saw nothing but possibility. The memory of a trio of white haired children crossed his mind and the things they had introduced him to.

"Hey yume, is there a notebook in there?" He asked the resident of his backpack who looked around before popping back up with a notebook. Zahar grabbed it and looked inside, going to the most recent entry.

"Fairy tail." He said aloud, testing the name.

"What's a fairy tail?" yume asked. Zahar closed his notebook and handed it back to yume.

"That's where we're heading, I have some friends there." Zahar fastened the bag and secured it to himself before once again trying to stretch his wings. Marginal success had, there was little chance he would be taking flight though. So he resorted to the tried and true method of climbing down the mountain.

He found the journey down the mountain to be far easier now, he was stronger and had far more agility than before. Zahar came across a familiar pass where a previous landslide wiped out this portion of the mountain.

With a mighty leap, Zahar crossed the path with surprising ease. He landed on the other side and looked at the gap he crossed in a single bound. 'I wanna know what else I can do.' he thought to himself. He looked over the side of the mountain and saw nothing but forest and clear skies.

"This'll do." Zahar said that perked Yumes ears. "I gotta see somethin' Yume." Zahar got himself in an all too familiar stance and took a deep breath. He gathered an incredible amount of magic within his lungs, far more than what he ever did before.

The boy was coated in a magenta colored magic and his wings spread out wider than before. Yume saw the magic circle that appeared behind Zahar and saw the face of a dragon staring right back at him.

"Jade dragon's roar!" Zahar exhaled every single drop of gathered magic at a single moment releasing in a caustic wave of magenta colored energy. It was quickly apparent just how strong this spell now was just by the size alone.

Yume looked on with widened eyes as the spell slowed to a halt and left a trail of destruction in its wake. A piece of the forest looked to be carved out and almost melted at point of contact. The smoking, hollowed out chunk of earth left Zahar amazed as a big smile came to his face.

"Holy crap, that was awesome!" the boy breathed out as he used a little too much magic and was left a little dizzy. He regained himself after a time and heard yume agree with him, and also gained a great idea.

"Oh hold on!" The young cub could be heard rummaging in Zahars bag, coming back up with the notebook from before.

"Hey what the-" zahar began before he saw the cub with a big smile writing something down in the book. His tongue was out with effort as he was gripping the pen in the base of his paw.

"There! Ta-da!" He showed the book to Zahar, who only saw scribbles. Chuckling at the sight of it, he handed the book back to Yume who was proud of himself.

The two began on the path once again, all the while Zahar trying to gain control of his wings. Yume noticed the constant flexing of the wings and asked him

"What's up with your wings? They're kinda freaking out." Yume asked, while Zahars face fell.

"They're not freaking out. I'm trying to learn how they work. It's like if you suddenly grew two extra arms." Yume stared at Zahar with a questioning appearance as they continued to walk.

"Well, I already know how to use my arms. It's the same thing isn't it?" The innocent enough response made zahar stop. 'Wait, he's right.'

What used to be erratic movements from his wings, slowed down a great deal and were far more stable. If Yume could see Zahar's face, he would see it twisted with concentration. Moments turned to minutes of the sound of Zahar's breathing and the controlled movements of his emerald wings.

Before long, Zahar stood up and straightened his back. Yume saw his wings spread out wide and had a horrible feeling. That was before the large wings on his back began to flap, kicking up dirt and rocks, sending them tumbling down the side of the mountain.

"Please don't do what I think you are." yume said, a little fear crawling into his voice as he buried himself deeper in the backpack. The green haired slayer said nothing in response as his standing posture evolved to a crouch.

"Hold on tight yume." Zahar added with a smirk as his legs tensed. With another mighty leap, he launched himself and Yume into the sky. The duo began to fall with Yume starting to scream with fright while Zahar was far more worried about maintaining his wings flapping.

The screaming cub realized they had not gone splat against the ground and mustered the courage to poke his head out of the backpack. He saw the flapping of the emerald wings and the gentle hover they were producing.

Yume couldn't believe himself, "You did it! You're actually flying zahar!" the wind from up here pressed heavily against the cub who shivered in response. Zahar had been silent all the while, still unbelieving himself.

The green haired boy looked at his hands that were now larger and stronger than what they were a day ago and tightened them into fists. He repressed the emotions welling up within himself as he shook his head and remembered the path to Margaret town. He had one detour to make before setting off in search of Fairy Tail.

Today was any other day for Mrs. Maple as she stood guard over her book stand, watching the citizens pass her by. It was on days like this where she found her smile falter, if only slightly, then the image of a smiling, green haired child came to the forefront of her mind and brought that smile right back.

Mrs. Maple looked to the sky, wondering where that boy went off too. As she looked to the sky, the elder woman found herself confused and squinting up in the air. "What is that?" she asked as she saw a black dot grow larger. Her eyes, as aged as they were, were not able to make out the true shape of the object so she stayed looking at whatever that black dot was getting closer.

And closer. And closer still before she realized that whatever it was up there was not slowing down. Mrs. Maple ran inside her nearby home as whatever it was in the sky crash landed where she was mere moments ago. She poked her head outside of the front door and saw a figure shrouded within the kicked up dirt. The apparent man stood tall and brought his wings closer to his body and stepped out of the cloud, revealing the only set of green hair Mrs. Maple had ever seen.

She walked outside and watched the boy dust himself off as a small creature rested its head on his shoulder. "Please work on landing." the young sounding voice escaped the creature with pinwheels in its eyes and purple fur.

It took a second, but Zahar finally looked at the elder woman with the beaming smile he had when he bid her farewell. He was different than she remembered, was her age getting to her this much?

"Zahar? What happened to you young man?" Zahar looked sheepish at the question. He wore no shirt, his pants were torn at the base and he had no shoes on, causing his feet to be caked with dirt and somesuch.

"Puberty?" He offered a barely believable lie with a shrug. The elder book stand owner saw the judging stare from the cat on his shoulder who was looking at Zahar. When the cat met her gaze, it grew shy and hid behind Zahar's larger back.

The old woman sighed to herself with her smile intact, "You can't be running around shirtless, you'll get a cold!" Mrs. Maple offered the boy to come inside her home to which he gladly accepted.

The door shut as they both went inside, Mrs. Maple moved beside Zahar with some struggle due to his wings and went into a room off to the left. "I'll start some tea young man, you stay right there."

Zahar stood at the entrance, taking in the sights of the first home he'd ever seen and been inside of. There were so many pictures on the wooden panel wall, of Mrs. Maple in her twilight years with an older gentleman as well as a large collection of family photos when Mrs. Maple had color in her hair.

His vision stuck with the picture of the woman he knew and the man beside her. He took the picture frame off the wall and looked closer at it. 'Has to be her husband right?' He was a good looking man with a big happy smile that his wife shared with neat combed hair and a well groomed mustache. Trying and failing to put the picture back on the wall, he settled for just leaving it on the panel underneath it.

Hearing shuffling in the next room, Zahar disobeyed his order to stay put and went to investigate. Entering the same room Mrs. Maple left too; he saw her struggling with a cabinet from up high. "Why did I leave that stupid kettle up here?" He heard her mumble to herself. She was standing on a shaky wooden box to reach up that was wobbling the whole way.

Zahar heard a snap in the wood and saw his elderly friend begin to fall, he rushed forward and caught the old woman before anything bad could happen. Gently placing her in a chair, Zahar reached up and grabbed the old kettle.

"My dad taught me a couple things about humans, one of them being how to make tea." Zahar said with a bright smile as he placed the kettle on the stove. "Although we just put it over a campfire in a stone bowl thing." he mumbled to himself as he spoke with concentration, trying to figure out how a stove worked.

Rising from the chair and walking over, Mrs. Maple filled the kettle with water and placed it back on the stove, turning it on in one fell swoop. Zahar was amazed at something this simple, to think, a gas stove impressing a dragon slayer of all things.

"Zahar, why don't you go take a shower? It's in the room just down the hallway." Zahar looked a little confused and slightly offended.

"You saying I smell?" Zahar questioned as he put his hands on his hips.

"Yes for one." Mrs maple was a little amused from the smile on her face, however it grew scary soon after. "The other being you tracked dirt everywhere. Hmph." Puffing out her cheeks in annoyance, Zahar looked back at the path he took through the house and a rain cloud of depression began to gather over him.

Dirty footprints from the door to the kitchen marred her beige colored carpet. "I'm so sorry." In response, all Mrs. Maple did was point to the bathroom. Zahar hung his head as he walked to the bathroom leaving his backpack on a couch in the living room and the door shutting behind him with a quiet thud.

While annoyed at the boy's tracking of dirt through her home, she was thankful he was there to save her. 'Such a nice boy.' she thought as the kettle began to steam. Before looking at the kettle, she saw Zahar's bag move and rustle around before falling over and spilling out the purple cat from before.

The small thing looked up to her with shy, crystalline blue eyes and hurried to put everything in the bag. The elder woman was amazed at the cat's likeness to human behavior and got a little closer, making Yume only panic further.

"It's okay honey, I won't hurt you." The kind and warm voice made Yume stop his panic and look at the woman. She was a little scary to him but she was nice and even he could see that. Yume stepped a little closer, he saw her hand move forward in a disarming manner and he allowed the elderly woman to pet him.

He was met with ecstasy as she scratched in the perfect spot behind his ear and literally became putty in her hands. Mrs. Maple chuckled and scooped up Yume in her arms. Scratching the young things tummy who playfully swatted at her hand, she realized he was also hungry as the growl could not escape her grandma senses.

"Oh, do I have something special for you." She cooed toward Yume. Zahar took his ear away from the door to the bathroom and sighed.

"Well I guess she likes Yume." He said to himself with a smile as he turned to the shower. "Now how the fuck do you work?"