A/N: Hey to anyone reading this, I might actually make this a new book! I don't know what to call it yet though or if I should make this its own separate thing from the one shots hmmm I also have a yandere Juvia story that's not published here, should I post it here too?

Acnologia looked out of the window as the police car rode back to the prison, eyeing those same heavenly peaks from earlier in the day. The sky had turned from a crystal blue to a pale orange; their visit had taken longer than what was originally expected. Primarily because none of them anticipated what had gone down on their little field trip.

"So, would you agree to working with the academy?"

The silence was loud. Everyone in the room eyed the prisoner, awaiting his answer. His expression was unreadable, though, and Mavis found herself biting her nails and waiting for him to speak. This silence created a thick tension–so thick you could cut her with a knife. The guard to his left took a quick glance at him, also curious as to what his answer would be.

Acnologia stares down at the woman in front of her, his mouth opening to speak, "How soon would I be able to start?"

~

"I'm so glad you decided to work with us, Acnologia." Mavis says as she walks beside him down a specially made hallway. Both sets of guards accompany them as they move, continuing to ensure he does not try anything. Again, the man found this wildly unnecessary; if he had agreed to the terms of the founder, there was no need for them to take this many precautions.

The sound of their boots clicking on the tiles of the floor contrasted the sound of the blue-haired man's bare feet slapping against it as they approached a door at the end of the hallway.

Mavis turns to him again, a smile on her face, "There are 6 children in total."

He didn't expect there to be so many, one given how rare the disease was, and two, she made it sound as if there were only three or four. But he supposed that there being so many was the reason she called to him for help in the first place.

"The oldest among them is 17, and the others range from 11-12. Most of them have been here since they were little kids–I'd say around three to four years old, so they are already accustomed to each other; they should get along just fine, so you do not have to worry about them quarreling…too much."

Her hands clasp around another set of extravagant metal door knobs, mirroring the ones on the door to her own office. As the doors open, he is blinded by the light coming through the large windows at the back of the room. Immediately, the sound of feet scurrying around the carpet rings through his ears, and his eyes dart around the room. Just as soon as Acnologia entered, a silence fell amongst the children, and time seemed to slow down for them.

A particular pink headed child's heart thumped in his chest, and an overwhelming fear pumped throughout his blood, the same could be said for the other children. The child's eyes widened as they looked up to meet the gaze of the man looming over him. The prisoner's magical presence was unreal, even despite his magic being sealed by cuffs, which also bound his hands behind his back.

His voice cracks as he speaks, "I…I-I'm not s-scared of…" his knees begin to shake, and his eyes begin to sting. Acnologia takes a step closer inside the room, and five of them shriek, cowering together before the aforementioned older child steps in front of them, shielding them from the prisoner that had just stepped inside the room. His teeth gritted, and his hands shook as he met his eyes.

Mavis, needing to diffuse the situation, pops out from behind Acnologia with a smile and waving her hands, trying to calm the children down.

"Relax! Relax…" She calls to them, hoping her soothing tone of voice would calm their nerves.

The oldest speaks, though it comes out sounding as more of a bark as he addresses the founder of the academy, "What the hell is he doing here?", his voice wavered.

"Laxus," she calls out to him, "Calm down, I invited him here."

He looks at her with a bewildered expression, and his mouth opens to speak once more, but he is cut off by the older woman, "He's here to help–train you guys. You know as well as I do that none of the staff here can provide you guys with the kind of magical guidance you need and…" she looks toward the criminal cuffed in the center of the room, "He is the only one with enough experience to be able to do that." Her eyes falter to the floor. If she was being honest, she was about as scared as the children were. Despite her being the strongest staff member at the academy, her prowess pales in comparison to that of the criminal. Unfortunately, he was her last resort.

She gives him a pleading look, and he scoffs, turning to face the floor as well. The teen moves to the side, revealing the shorter ones behind him. Reluctantly, they arrange themselves in a line, all of them trying to hide their fear as much as possible. They seemed to look up to the older one.

Mavis breathed a sigh of relief and stepped in front of the children, smiling at the man as she used her hand to refer to the ones behind her.

"Acnologia, these are the children I was referring to earlier in my office."

"This here is Laxus, the oldest one of the group." she says as she points to the boy standing at the front of the line. His hair was blonde and spiked up in various directions. He wore a pair of purple headphones, with spikes coming out of them around his head, the wire falling to the pocket that held his phone. He wore a yellow band T-shirt, with a long-sleeved white shirt underneath it, and pants so baggy Acnologia had trouble discerning where his legs were. He scoffed and looked away, refusing to face the criminal. Mavis sweatdropped as she moved on to the next child.

"This is Gajeel." she pointed to the next in line–which was a boy much shorter than the previous, with short black hair. His face was littered with piercings–specifically around the bridge of his nose and his eyebrows. His red eyes held the same distrustful glint as Laxus, and his body language suggested that he was scared. He wore a sleeveless brown top paired with a pair of baggy green shorts that were held up by a black studded belt. His hands sported a pair of fingerless gloves, the likes of which sporting the same studs as his belt.

"Here is Eric, but he only responds to the name 'Cobra'" The child in reference wore a simple black shirt and red shorts, Acnologia couldn't quite tell what he was thinking, as he didn't seem to show very much outward emotion.

"These two are twins! The blonde boy is sting, and the one with black hair is Rogue." The two stood close to each other, both giving the same mistrusting looks to the criminal standing before them. Sting's hair stuck up in a similar fashion as Laxus, but his hair was a paler yellow. Above his right eye was a small scar, and on his left ear hung a crystal earring. He wore a black shirt with a white jacket over it and the same green pants as Gajeel. His counterpart wore a large, dark blue hoodie and khaki shorts. His hair was longer than the rest, reaching to his chin.

"And lastly," She looks at the boy and smiles, "This is Natsu." His hair was pink and spikey, matching the spunky attitude he displayed when Acnologia looked at him again. He appeared to be trying to hide his fear by putting on a brave-looking front, but the prisoner knew. It was quite obvious, after all. The first thing he took notice of was the white scarf wrapped around his neck. It puzzled him as it was the middle of summer. "Isn't he hot?" he wondered to himself. His shirt was a deeper pinkish-red than his hair, and he wore a pair of yellow shorts.

"I-I'm not scared of you…!" he exclaims, finishing his statement from earlier. Acnologia gives a small chuckle at his statement, drawing the attention of everyone in the room, "...Sure you're not…" he responds, making the boy growl at him.

Mavis gives a small laugh of her own as she turns to face the man once more, "We look forward to having you work with us! We can have you get started as soon as tomorrow. You'll be moved here into one of the dorms where you can watch over the boys and train with them every day. I'm sure it will be-"

"I refuse to let him stay here!"

The outburst makes everyone look in Natsu's direction. He takes a stance similar to that of an attacking dog as he continues to yell.

"There's no way someone like HIM should be allowed to stay here!"

Mavis, flustered, goes over to the boy in an attempt to calm him down, "Natsu! Please treat him with respect. He's, only here to help-"

"No I don't care!"He retorts, pushing past Mavis and pointing an accusatory finger at the criminal; he showed a lot of bravery for someone with such a small stature, "He's like a super dangerous guy and we don't know if he's gonna stay true to his words at all!"

When he finishes his little rant, there is another silence that falls over the room, Acnologia stares down at him the whole time, making him nervous, but he keeps his stance nonetheless.

"...Listen, Kid." Acnologia finally starts. A smile spreads across his face, surprising everyone, to say the least. He bends forward to be at more of an eye-level with Natsu and continues to speak, "You've got guts, I'll give you that. You're here yelling at me, knowing full well who I am and what I'm capable of, I commend you."

Natsu's finger falls to his side, and he gives him a stare–a stare that was a mixture of several different emotions. He was confused as to what he was getting at, but at the same time, he wanted to hear what he had to say, but he didn't want to make that fact known to him.

"Can you use your magic yet?" The blue-haired man asks, making the child huff.

"'Course I can!", he crosses his arms and avoids eye contact with him.

"I don't believe you."

His retort makes the child angrier, he lets out an agitated growl, and without warning, he blasts the man with fire emitted from his mouth, startling Acnologia so much he stumbles backward. The attack does virtually no damage to him, however, and the only evidence of it even happening are the slightly singed hairs surrounding his face.

"Natsu!" Mavis yells, scurrying over to him and pulling him up to her by his ear and scolding him, "That is in no way how we treat other people, especially authoritative figures!"

"Ugh, but he started it!"

"No…It's fine." Acnologia reassures the founder as he resumes his stance.

"Fire magic, huh?" he nods to himself, "You've got potential, but you're still incredibly weak, and you'll never get anywhere at the rate you're going at."

"Ugh I don't-"

"But if you let me help you, I can change that." he interrupts, "That goes for all of you." he says as he scans the other eyes in the room.

"I'll tell you this: If you all can beat me in a fight, I'll leave you be, but if you lose…" his eyes meet Natsu's once more, "If you lose, I'll train with you to become stronger. How does that sound?"

Natsu stares his hands, the words of Acnologia ringing inside his head. He looked at him again, specifically the area he had hit him with his attack. The extreme lack of damage was soul crushing to him, and the tremendous gap in their power was made extremely evident to him. He never actually responded to his question. And when he didn't, Mavis stepped in to speak for him.

"How about this: I'll give them till tomorrow to get their feelings sorted out. We'll have you come back here once they've made their decision."

Acnologia nods in response to the founder's proposal, and the guards escort him out of the room. His eyes wander around the space but land on a golden yellow that seems to be briskly moving down the hallway. Her brows are furrowed, and her mouth is slightly curved down, but when she sees him, she gives a small smile, a smile that he'll come to remember

Blood splatters onto the dirt, and a young Acnologia falls to his knees. His nose bled, and his cheeks and knees had been cut and scraped. His left eye swelled due to bruising, and he coughed up more blood onto the ground. Over him stood a group of boys, their attire and cleanliness clearly symbolizing their status.

"Look at him groveling on the ground like a little worm!" one of the boys shouted, pointing to him as if he were some kind of foreign animal. He had to deal with this almost every day of the week; since they went to the same school, avoiding them was almost impossible.

His eyes stung, and not just because they had thrown dirt in his eyes. Tears welled up from the ducts of his face, and they fell between his hands, causing the dirt to muddy on the ground.

"Damn it…!" He thinks, frustrated at the fact he couldn't stop them from flowing. Showing them that he's weak would only make them go on that much more of a power trip. The boy lets out a few sniffles, and his shoulders begin to shake.

The so-called "leader" of the group of boys steps forward, putting his foot on Acnologia's head and pushing it down into the ground below them.

"Are you seriously crying?" he laughed, causing the others around him to follow suit, "Bottom-of-the-barrel bugs like you don't deserve to even be in the same building as people like us. I almost feel bad for you."

He throws a pile of quarters at the boy, and they laugh harder seeing him scramble to collect them, despite still having the weight of the bully pressing down on his head. This, however, makes him put his foot on the ground again, and him and his clique walk away.

The blue-haired boy struggles to rise to his feet; he feels light-headed. It was likely due to him losing so much flood. Somewhere though, he finds the strength to stand, wavering, but standing nonetheless. The boy had thrown about 5 dollars worth of quarters at him and made sure to pick up every single one.

He hated it.

He hated taking the money they threw at him. It felt dirty–it was dirty, but it was money all the same; he gritted his teeth as he stuffed the coins into his pockets.

Sand kicked into his sandals as he made the regretful walk to the market. His legs felt weak, and every step made them ache more and more. Acnologia can barely see with the combination of his swollen eyes, flooding tears, and the lack of the sun. He gets more of his fair share of looks as he walks down the sidewalk and eventually into his local bakery.

The cashier eyes him with concern; this wasn't the first time he had served him in such a state. He doesn't acknowledge this. However, he knows the child doesn't like to talk about such things.

"The usual?" he asks, already loading a loaf of bread into a paper bag.

The blue-haired boy nods as he stuffs his hands to fish for the money. The coins clatter and roll atop the counter, and the cashier hands him his product. In truth, though, he would have given it to him for free; he knows how much he needs it but at the same time, he knew the boy's stubborn attitude wouldn't allow him to do so.

Without uttering a word, he leaves the shop, the little bell sounding as the door is opened and closed. The baker lets out a sigh and shakes his head, letting his eyes linger at the space in which the boy stands.

Moths flocked to the illumination of the street lights as he walked home, tearing off small bits and pieces of the bread and shoving them into his mouth–his hunger didn't allow for him not to. It roared like a great beast every day.

The boy opens the door to his small house to be greeted by his mother, who immediately scurries up to him, nearly tripping on the long garbs that hung down her body.

"Adam!" she shouts, her hands immediately moving to cup his cheeks. She examines the injuries on his face, tears threatening to well in her eyes, "What happened to you?! Was it those boys again?"

"It…doesn't matter…here." he mumbles as he hands her the bag containing the bread. His mother struggles for words as he brushes past her, throwing his school bag to the left of the entrance he came through.

~

"Mom…I told you I'm fine…" he complains as his mother disinfects his wounds with rubbing alcohol. He had become so accustomed to the stinging sensation that he was virtually unaffected by it anymore. She turns his head to the side to place a bandage on a cut around his cheek.

"Adam, you listen to me and listen well." she starts, her voice stern, "I don't care how poor we are or how much we may need it. You never take money from the boys. Do you hear me? It's not worth continually sacrificing your dignity for, ever."

He gives a grunt and avoids eye contact with her. As true as her words are, he saw this as absolutely necessary. He had noticed her figure had become even thinner than it actually was, despite her always telling him she was never hungry.

She forces her son to look at her, "Okay?"

"Okay…" he finally mumbles, his cheeks puffing out in the process.