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Chapter 23 soundtrack:
1. Listen to some Bluey music idk
"Have you ever thrown a bowling ball onto a trampoline?"
"Yeah, but it was all Gray's idea and we totally had no idea that window had just been put in. Silver linin' though, we were told that those cats were expected to regrow most of their fur."
"Elaborate on that."
"No."
"So you have thrown a-"
"Again, yeah, but what does this have to do with the dumbed down recap I asked for?" Natsu interrupted Edo Levy gently, staring down at her as she helped re-button his duster for him.
One too many failed attempts as he tried to apologize for being cross with her up in the loft was too much for Edo Levy to take, diving in to do it herself.
Natsu had no idea who Sterling was, but according to her soft mumbles, they both had the inability to work a button properly.
Edo Levy retreated a pace back once she was done, "Think of the trampoline as the fabric of spacetime, and the bowling ball as mass, energy, whatever, they are typically the same thing."
"Man, how'd ya do that?" Natsu rasped as he surveyed himself, scaled fingers tracing over the buttons she had hooked with ease.
"Focus!" Edo Levy chided as she forced his hands into retreat with a feather light swat.
The bathroom hallway they stood in shivered with the echoes of Edo Natsu's snickers, who stood at the far end where the narrow corridor opened back up to the chaotic buzz of the main hall.
To Natsu though, this place probably didn't keep the rafters dust free from the shake and tumble of brawls quite like his Fairy Tail did.
If anything, it had been so quiet, and everyone had been so weirdly nice to him.
"I am listening; bowling ball is energy, trampolines are space time!" Natsu protested, Dragon Force turning his whine to a rumble.
"The bowling ball presses down on the trampoline, energy, matter, presses down on the fabric of spacetime. This is where gravity comes from, which in turns keeps just about everything together." Edo Levy elaborated.
"That woman, she had already created a portal through space time, yes?"
Natsu took a beat before nodding, "It probably didn't go where she said it did, but yeah, she had been messing with this sort of stuff the entire time she had been fighting me."
"Well, it doesn't matter where she wanted it to send you, she clearly wanted you out of the way, so she created a portal. Think of that portal as a rip in the trampoline," Edo Levy said, "and you choosing to blow it up as you providing the bowling ball."
Her petite shoulders bowed up as she spluttered to herself, "To be frank, I'm still baffled that is your go to."
Natsu's head ducked, pointing his angled horns right at the light fixture that dangled from the ceiling, "Sorry."
Edo Levy's bronze gaze softened with something nurturing, something Natsu hadn't seen in his Levy until their run in at the library.
Shifting her notepad from one armpit to another, Edo Levy reached out to try and palm away a dirt stain on the bicep of Natsu's sleeve, "What I said up there in the loft, I was failing to take into account that portal, that little rip in the trampoline means we don't need nearly as big a bowling ball. I'm sorry."
Natsu hummed back, the sound dulcet in intention warped into a grumble, "No, it's okay, I'm the one who should be sorry for asking for a dumbed down refresher, I know explosions, but this is outside my wheelhouse."
"Hon, it's barely in mine," Edo Levy's words bounced along her chuckle, "it's been years since I've had to think about any of this stuff. Besides, if you can't explain something in the simplest terms, you don't fully understand it."
"You did jog my memory though, the Anima is exactly like the process that just happened to you, but far more precisely."
Natsu rubbed at the ache behind his brows, "What happened to me was like, the opposite of precise, but I also popped up at the same place in the time flow or whatever, so what's the point of this Anima thing again?"
"The Anima doesn't control the initial trip. Our dimensions, while separate time spaces, flow the same, act the same, implying they may be close together in the higher grand scheme of things."
"Kay', but, what does that all mean?"
Edo Levy's hand moved from Natsu to the pony tail, long and loose, curled over her shoulder.
Longer than he had ever seen it on his Levy, Edo Levy gripped the cerulean tassel of fabric hard in thought.
"Ending up in our dimension was the closest possible location in space-time for you after you were ejected, so it's no wonder why you showed up where you did. The Anima changes nothing about that process."
Natsu stared hard at the movement of Edo Levy's slender fingers cleaving through her own hair until his breath hitched in a shrimpy gasp, "It changes the trip back!"
Edo Levy's soft features came alight with surprise and pride, "Y-yes, among other things, but yes, that's it!"
"I knew it." Natsu muttered to himself, golden eyes pinched in a errant corner's direction
Edo Levy leaned back into his view, a splayed wave of fingers drawing his gaze, "You did?"
"Yeah, I mean there had to be something I was missing doing something funky." Natsu began, "Edolas is kinda a blur, but with all the time we spent here back then, no time had passed in my place. Mir' and Elfman had left to see Lis' grave, and they had only just got there when we returned."
Edo Levy shared a sullen glance with her Natsu, who cleared his ragged throat into a leech white fist and kept his head turned towards the main hall.
"But here I am now," Natsu said, "and the same amount of time has gone by for both us, right?"
Edo Levy swiveled back to him, nodding, "Hm? Oh, yes, that's correct."
"I was thinkin' about it, and all that didn't add up, so the only thing that would make sense was if there was something else I ain't smart enough to really get was affectin' everything." Natsu finished.
"That's… that's genuinely amazing Natsu, the Anima was used, and can be used, to send you back to the moment you were taken, give or take half a minute." Edo Levy praised with a coo.
Natsu found the melodic murmur unwinding the pressure that had wound up into a knot in his skull.
"Wait," Edo's Natsu's voice was hoarse as he finally chimed in, "so it's time travel? We could got back into Earthland's past?"
Edo Levy swayed her head back and forth, unsure, "I mean, technically, to a very, very limited degree. This quirk in the Anima was created when it was first built if I'm recalling correctly, it was to save power, maximize efficiency for when the gateway would be used for transport rather than ethernano harvesting."
"Why create a new tear for the trip back when you can use the one you already created? The Anima was programmed to detect and create breaches in our dimensional walls, and when a breach is formed, so is a unique signature that the Anima locks onto."
"How far back can you go?" Edo Natsu pressed.
Edo Levy resumed gnawing on the edge of her pen, "That's a complicated question, a-and it's been so long since I read the declassified reports on the Anima King Mystogan released to the public. I remember that you can only go back as long as a breach signature is detected, and those fade over time."
"Plus, there was a limit to how long a signature could be detected and locked onto, regardless of its strength. The Anima itself needed every last bit of power it could get, so detection systems would shut down to preserve power after a certain amount of time."
Edo Natsu motioned to his Earthland counterpart with his chin, who wobbled as if dizzy at the new information, "So time is still sensitive for him then."
Natsu steadied himself, "I was assuming that since I could be sent back to the exact time I left by the gizmo, the lady who sent me here wouldn't be back home with free reign of my world."
"She's strong, she could do a lotta damage," he confessed, "she probably knows who I am, bout' Fairy Tail too."
"Is there no one else from your world that can stand up to her?" Edo Levy asked.
Natsu's fingers dug into his waist as he grimaced, "I mean, maybe, she's got so much crap to throw at ya, overpowering her straight on is probably the only way to win."
Gildarts made huge leaps in power all the time for seemingly no reason, so it was a safe bet to say he had gotten a lot stronger since their rematch before the war. Plus bulldozing through opponents was his specialty.
Sting and Rogue.
Natsu felt the cruel curdling in his gut stop.
He didn't want anyone fighting that lady, but if had to choose, he'd choose the twins.
Plus, they would be on a whole different level after recovering from their spar.
He had faith in them.
In fact he felt kinda silly for not thinking of them first.
"I got people to hold the fort down if the worst comes t'pass," Natsu stated firmly, "but I mean, if it's possible, I'd prefer to get sent back right when I left. She's hurt a lot of people, and she'll probably hurt a whole lot more if she ain't dealt with."
Everyone had just fought for their peace.
Natsu didn't care what he had going on, as long as he was around, he wasn't going to let anything disturb it.
"Okay, that settles it. That means we have to find out how long those time wimey signals last. Innocent people's lives could be at stake." Edo Natsu summarized.
Edo Levy growled to herself and slinked past Natsu, gently tugging him along by the duster tail, "Boys, follow me." she told Edo Natsu on her way back to the main hall.
The two Natsu's followed Levy's quick stomps with matching headaches.
On the brief trip over, Natsu was still a tad baffled by the lack of soaring furniture and bodies.
The place was far from quiet, but not a single person had shattered a chair over someone's back.
Natsu also saw that Edolas Gray had on two sweaters but wasn't actually wearing either of them, one tied around his shoulders, the other his waist, so there was that.
Slicing through the main hall and back to the loft steps, Edo Levy quickly bound up them and was swallowed into its depths.
"She moves fast for someone so short." Natsu remarked, stiffly waving when a few passing guild members gave him jolly greetings and wide smiles.
This was the tenth time someone asked him how he was holding up.
Even stranger, every person without fail had asked him how Lisanna was holding up.
Edo Natsu climbed out of his own thoughts, and threw a mingy chuckle his counterpart's way.
"And everyone here is weirdly nice too," Natsu awkwardly scratched the gap between his horns, "Edolas is wild."
The modest smile that chuckle had brought plummeted from Edo Natsu's face, "What do you mean weirdly-"
"Boys! Up here! Now!" Edo Levy's demand had them both bolting up the stairs.
Edo Levy was pacing erratic paths near the corner of the loft where a neglected desk sat, framed by two towering bookshelves that valiantly fought against the weight of their stuffed shelves.
Faded blueprints clung to the few remaining pins that kept them to the wall over the cluttered desk. Squinting at them, Natsu found that they looked like that weird machine Edo Levy used to teleport Edolas Fairy Tail around.
"Sterling and Griege took my step ladder again!" Edo Levy hissed.
Natsu retreated back down a few steps while Edo Natsu snickered, "Yeah, for their little wrestling matches, no biggie. What do you need it for?"
Edo Levy glared at the very top of one of the bookshelves, a wire basket filled with files the subject of her ire.
The gap in height between her and the files was too vast for her to jump
At the sound of a giggle, Edo Levy whirled around to find Natsu had ducked out of sight. The giggles still continued.
"The last decommissioned Anima reports are up there, those are our best bet at finding out how long the signal Earth Natsu's breach created will last." she groused.
"So you need a piggy back?" Edo Natsu assumed.
"Don't patronize me, I'll do it myself." Edo Levy huffed as she roughly swept her desk clean of its mess and moved to climb atop it.
Natsu peeked back up, and gasped at the sight.
"Wait, no!"
Neither Edo Natsu or Levy saw him move from the stairs over to the office in the loft corner.
"Don't risk it," Natsu gently plucked the kneeling Edo Levy off the desk, "I'll hold you up so you don't fall."
Edo Levy squeaked as she was effortlessly hefted on Natsu's shoulder, the boney pointed tips of his dragon horns locking her waist in place he looked up at her.
With a soft fangy smile, Natsu announced, "There ya go, get what you need, I got ya."
Edo Levy found the embarrassment from being manhandled fleeting, as she couldn't help but break out into a laugh.
She leaned over to look back down at Natsu past the curve of her chest, "Chivalry is chivalry I guess."
She reached out to snatch the wire basket and sort through the countless files, her balance kept unwavering by Natsu's hands gripping her sides.
"I already like you more than my Natsu." Edo Levy commented as she scanned the endless lines of worn text before her.
"You know I don't have to carpool Sterling and Serena," Edo Natsu snipped, "heck, I can just start tying Sterling to the roof."
"He started asking you to do that too, huh?" she replied absently, "Plus, we both know you'd adopt Serena if you could so that threat is empty."
"Ah ha!" Edo Levy finally clamored after she traded one basket of files for another and pulled one out after nearly a minute of searching, "Here it is."
More wordless reading followed as she flipped through page after page.
Edo Natsu interrupted the silence with a series of chuffs, "Why are you still on his shoulders?"
"Because I get to be tall for once!" Edo Levy snapped, "Now zip it, I'm trying to focus."
"You can always ask Gajeel for a shoulder ride." Natsu chimed in, trying to be helpful.
Edo Levy gave his scalp an affectionate stroke, not taking her eyes off the file, "Unfortunately his broad shoulders have been emphatically claimed by Serena, so I'm out of luck."
Before Natsu could ask who that was, he felt Edo Levy's belly against the back of his head pucker as she sucked in a sharp breath.
"The last breach signature the Anima recorded was when it drained Edolas of the last of its magic. The moment the signature faded, the Anima went kaput." she translated the text she scanned into something understandable.
"How long did it last?" Natsu said.
"The more magic involved in the breach, the stronger the signal, the longer it lasts, yadda yadda yadda," Edo Levy skimmed impatiently, "okay, last breach involved the remaining pockets of ethernano on the planet as well as Earthland Fairy Tail, which lasted…"
She paled, "Seven seconds."
Edo Natsu, who had taken to cleaning the mess Edo Levy had ripped off her desk, jumped up from one knee, "That's not good."
"Shit." Edo Levy blurted, quickly pursing her lips tight, "Sorry for the blue language, I just… all the magic left on the entire planet, plus Earthland Fairy Tail, and all we get is seven seconds."
"If all that magic only buys you a whopping seven seconds, then how did they ever send anyone back in time in the first place?" Edo Natsu muttered as he righted a fallen umbrella stand stuffed with rolled up blueprints, "Heck, how did Earthland Fairy Tail even get sent back to the time they left?"
"Hey Levy?" Natsu chimed.
"What is it?"
"I don't know anything about the thing, but did the Anima doodad power itself with the magic it sucked up from my world?"
"It was a self-replenishing system, yes, a fraction of the magic it hauled in was used to power it-ohhhhh…" Edo Levy drew off at the realization.
She felt herself bounce atop his shoulders as Natsu shrugged, "Yeah, the signature thingy might've lasted only seven seconds because the thing recording it ran outta juice. Like ya said, the Anima sucked out all the magic from this world."
"Does that file have anything on when my guild got sucked here to begin with?"
Edo Levy's eyes crawled back up the page before she chortled, "You're right! Look at you, taking us to school! The signature created from bringing Earthland Fairy Tail to Edolas lasted at least 37 hours!"
"At least?" Edo Natsu prompted.
"The signal was still probably hanging around when the Anima ran outta gas. So like, it could've lasted longer, right?" Natsu reasoned, which earned a proud coo from Edo Levy as she ruffled his scalp.
"Exactly that," she surmised, "although…"
Both Natsu's gaze ate away at her silence until Edo Levy sighed, face folding into something solemn.
"First off, from what I read the signal was on its last legs, so I wouldn't bank on us having that much more time. A few hours more, at most." Edo Levy began.
"Secondly, this entire time we've been basing everything as if the Anima is just ready to go right now. King Mystogan decommissioned it nearly four years ago, and stopped putting any resources or manpower into it." she explained, tossing the wire bin she held down to Edo Natsu.
"Yeah, he mentioned something about that once," Edo Natsu murmured as he caught the bin of files, "turning that thing into a highway between worlds wasn't high up on anyone's priority list, not with way more popular solutions to our energy crisis being developed at the time."
"Who knows what condition the physical components of the Anima are in now? Or where King Mystogan reassigned the team who maintained it to?" Edo Levy said as swiped a few loose and scattered files from the top shelf.
Natsu still remained steady beneath her, his scaled stacked shoulders falling slack by just an inch.
"All the sudden 37 hours isn't as huge-"
"We have more time." Natsu cut his Edolas counterpart off.
Feeling a pair of confused stares pin him from two directions, he continued, "If the signal is stronger the more magic is involved in the big boom that transports ya here, then we got time."
Edo Natsu set the wire bin down on the desk he had just cleaned, "Bud, that 37 hours came from the combined magic of nearly all of your guild."
"I know," Natsu insisted with soft shame, "you could take the magic of my entire guild as they are now, sooo much stronger than before, and… and I-i…"
"The signal I created back there, I was in Dragon Force, s-so… it's gonna last a while, trust me."
The implication turned Edo Natsu's as pale as bones as he let loose an awed whistle.
"As true as that may be, remember the detection systems will only track signatures for so long before they shut down to conserve power. So even if everything else miraculously goes our way, we can't bank on having way more time to work with." Edo Levy but in.
Natsu cringed at that, while Edo Natsu scoffed, "Oh, fantastic."
"Hey, did you expect every cut corner in the Anima to be convenient to us?" Edo Levy remarked as she scanned the lower shelves before glancing to the other bookshelf on the opposite side of the desk.
She gently tapped Natsu's scaled cheek and pointed, "Hey, over there Natsu, let me see if I can find how much time we have at most."
"Enjoying yourself up there?" Edo Natsu mused, watching as Natsu carried Edo Levy past him.
"Stay in your lane." Edo Levy's lightning fast snip lost its bite even quicker as she handed the loose files she had in her hands down to Natsu, "Hold these for me hon."
Edo Levy sorted through binders and books, squeaks disguised as sneezes coming from her like machine gun fire at the years of built up dust she disturbed.
Meanwhile, Natsu gave a half-hearted attempt to decipher the files he had been handed.
"Hey, other me?"
Edo Natsu glanced down, "Hmm?"
"What is this? I'm scared that if I try t'say any of these words all the furniture will start floatin'." Natsu waved the open file, grimacing.
Edo Natsu squinted at it, "Those are the guild's tax reports."
"Ew," Natsu's grimace only deepened, his cheek scales practically bristling, "if you need me to burn them, I'm yer guy. Done it plenty of times."
In response, Edo Levy looked down to Edo Natsu, "You want that one?"
"I don't think so."
Edo Levy quickly went back to work as Edo Natsu confiscated the papers from his Earthland counterpart.
"Look, boys, it'll take me a while to go through all that I have. I'm going to gather everything I can so we can take it to the capital with us on the off chance it turns out I'm the most knowledgeable expert available." she announced with a sigh.
"Natsu-"
"Yeah?" the two Natsu's responded.
"No, my Natsu, goggles and leather jacket Natsu," Edo Levy clarified, "you probably have a lot of explaining to do to that hag. I'd get to it, give her a run down."
Edo Natsu gave her a flat look, "You mean Lucy? My wife?"
"Yeah, her."
Natsu gave a low rumble of realization, "Oh yeah, that's a thing here. That sucks, you two are sisters back home."
Edo Levy ignored him, "Once you are done with that, get back up here and help me load up everything I need into your car."
Edo Natsu sighed and played with the back-straps of his goggles as he stared back at the guild first floor, "Man, now I gotta translate all this to Luce."
Natsu watched him pad back down the steps before he looked back up to Edo Levy, "Whaddya need me to do?"
"Well, it depends on how you are feeling." she replied, rummaging through a few lower shelves.
Natsu's voice was soft. The growl Dragon Force transplanted into every sentence now some low gentle warble.
"It feels like somebody rubbed sandpaper on my thinkin' meat."
Edo Levy's lips locked up in a frown, "Put me down."
She felt as Natsu gently lifted her from his shoulders and over his head, carefully catching her in his arms on the way down.
She turned, still in his grasp, "Sorting through all this to find what's useful will take awhile, so why don't you go get something to eat or drink, take a little bit to let this settle."
"But ain't we workin' against the clock?"
Edo Levy untangled herself from the thick scaled limbs curled around her, reassuring,
"Yes, we are, but I seriously doubt that we are so tight for time twenty minutes will be make or break. There are so many moving pieces here, so many factors and variables, that the chances of taking a breather coming back to bite us are unlikely."
"I mean, sure, yeah," Natsu's arms slumped to his side, "but it's my mess, ya know?"
"You are a Fairy Tail mage buster, so no matter what dimension, that automatically makes it our mess. Understood?"
Edo Levy watched the ferocious gold of his thin oval eyes fix to his feet as Natsu shuffled and nodded, "Aye." he mumbled.
"It's just…" Natsu gave up building that sentence, a shrug being all he had to show for it.
"It's probably jarring, everyone being so different here, I get it." Edo Levy said for him, "But, there are a few people who from my understanding aren't all that different compared to how they are in Earthland."
"Everyone's mellowed out, but you are a lot closer to my Levy now than say this Luce is to my Luce, so kinda like you?"
"Yes, like me," she laughed, "it's been a while since we've last seen you, and life has forced us to be a bit more well adjusted. Some of us calmed down, some of us grew a spine."
"But I'm going to need to focus. I remember that our Mirajane and your Mirajane aren't that different, how about you start there?" Edo Levy suggested.
"I mean, this Mira seems just as 'Mira-y', but does she turn into a super wicked demon sometimes?" Natsu asked as he perked.
"She's a woman, we all do that."
He cocked his head, "Huh?"
Edo Levy winced, then waved him off, "S-sorry, ignore that, thought you were being high brow."
Natsu's fingers came up to trace his brows, which promptly furrowed, dragging weaves of crimson scales along with them.
"Just… go downstairs, go try to relax for a little bit. I'm sure you have plenty of stories everyone would enjoy hearing," Edo Levy told him, "and if you do run into Elfman or Mirajane, I'm sure they'd love to hear how Lisanna is holding up."
Natsu was not sure he was capable of arguing with Levy, Edolas or Earthland, so he gave another small nod and turned to leave.
"Wait, wait, wait, you aren't going to try n' climb up on your desk again, are you?"
Edo Levy had swiveled to face the bookshelves, staring up at the higher shelves that still remained out of reach.
She swallowed her pride.
"Okay, take everything down and then go downstairs. And if you see two young boys with a step ladder, you take it from them and tell them they are very much grounded."
Natsu hadn't even made it down the steps when a cacophony of hurried breaths, exuberant clamors, and pattering steps rumbled towards him like a deer herd.
He turned to see Nasha leading what he was pretty sure was a cavalry charge in his direction, tiny giggling soldiers scampering alongside her.
There were more of them.
More little versions of his family.
As it turns out, having dragon horns and being able to breathe fire in a dimension where magic was no more was interesting… for about five minutes.
He was poked and prodded and tugged and wallowed over, and the rest of the guild just watched and snickered.
The first few seconds he had no idea what to do. They were all so small. He hadn't prepared for this.
Then among the crowd who watched gleefully, Natsu spotted Edo Juvia.
Other than the messy bun she had her hair up in, she looked just like his Juvia.
Her serene smile was familiar too, a delicate blend of mirth and trust.
When Natsu looked down at the sea of little faces, he was willingly wading waist deep into their energy before he knew it.
He lost track of how many pairs of tiny raring hands found his horns to be perfect handles, some hands gentler than others, but none held them without soft wonder.
He braved the withering onslaught of questions and squeaks, humored every last vye for his attention, and in the end, could not disappoint the endless calls for his fire.
The spread of gold he breathed from his mouth into the air harmlessly above his head was loud, Dragon Force made his flames snarl, but their delighted symphony was far louder.
The eager whirlwind swept him up and threw him into the area right under the loft he had yet to notice, where a mosaic of brightly painted walls just about blinded him.
Their play area was a minefield of stuffed animals and dolls that Natsu found himself able to navigate without thinking, in spite of the ever ending tugging on his duster or the weight on his arms and shoulders.
The plush rugs that stretched from corner to corner turned their little footfalls to soft plashes against the fabric as they rearranged their menagerie of clutter and toys in seconds to accommodate him.
That took the form of practically dragging him down to sit in a bean bag so that they could shower him with questions about what Fairy Tail and their parents and their friends were like in Fairy Tail.
Being able to breathe fire gave him five minutes, being from an alternate world where half of everyone was the opposite of how they were in this world bought him almost ten.
The questions slowed, somewhat, as they dispersed to entertain themselves while still being within earshot in case one of his answer's reignited their interest, where they'd restart their bee hive bustling all over again.
More happened in those fifteen minutes than in the last month or so.
Natsu loved every last second of it.
His chest hurt. Bad. He knew why.
But right now just being among them, their laughter, their faces, gave him the strength to fight off the pain he otherwise wouldn't be able to.
Natsu was looking over the gallery of youthful masterpieces tacked to the adjacent wall when Edo Asuka snapped him from his gaze.
Upon finding out she was the only one who existed in Earthland at the moment, she had not stopped singing some boastful made up tune about how Earthland her was going to get to tell everyone else was to do because she was the oldest.
The rest of the children jeered and blew raspberries at her every time she got too loud.
Natsu looked over to the rest of them, the children.
He had finally managed to identify them all through familiar features and demeanors before asking their names outright.
His stare lingered on Edo Asuka and Nasha as they attended a toy kitchenette in the corner, trying to figure out what from their array of plastic food would be enough to fill a dragon's belly.
It didn't matter how many times he corrected them, 'dragon slayer' went in one ear, 'dragon' came out the other.
Natsu managed to drag his gaze away from Nasha to the largest of the children who sat close by, cocooned in a castle of building blocks that his bright blue eyes constructed with patience and precision.
Elfman, for all his size, was never a bull in a porcelain shop.
It seemed that it didn't matter which dimension, because neither was his son.
Ronson had the size of his father as a boy, tan skin stretching across his gentle frame that was far wider and taller than his peers.
The intensity in his stare as he built his castle block by block however was all Evergreen.
Edo Elfman took a lot longer to break from his shrinking violet phase than his Elfman did, so it seemed Edo Elfman's son would just skip that phase altogether.
His mother and father had come together to give him a voice of soft spoken strength that chimed in with the more respectful questions whenever it was polite, or reminded the other boys to be careful when they got into a wrestling match with Nasha or Edo Asuka.
Well, only one boy needed reminding.
Ronson sat gracefully between feeble block walls, while Sterling dashed to one end of the play area to the other for the sixteenth time.
Sterling was the most familiar of all, the easiest to identify, and the most eager to see Natsu set something on fire.
The hedgehog pelt of black bristles atop his head, the snickers pouring from his little grin, it was a little Gajeel.
Although Gajeel had never asked Natsu to throw him ten feet onto a pile of bean bags gathered in the corner.
Whenever Nasha had gotten in Sterling's way, her search for the ever elusive plastic carrot interrupting his path back to Natsu for another chuck across the play area, it was instant bickering and wrestling.
Nasha somehow won every time, and it wasn't because of Ronson's chiding, or because Nasha was just as ferocious as her mother.
Sterling let himself get pinned, made sure Nasha walked away bruise free, and popped right back up to come over and ask Natsu if he's ever blown something up.
Or to check on Serena.
Serena was every bit as bright as her mother, yet far more well behaved off the bat.
Her glasses framed massive maple eyes that were only visible as long as she could keep her frazzled sapphire bangs, her hair styled just like the Levy Natsu knew, from her face.
She only talked to tell her big brother Sterling to stay away from her play corner, where several clocks lay neatly dismantled, or to ask Natsu where he had gotten certain scars.
She had a prime view of the places his scales didn't cover, given Serena had claimed his lap as her favorite seat the moment he sat down. Everyone else had gotten over the horns and fangs and scales, Serena hadn't.
Her teeny hands had to memorize every last scar in his palm or scale on the rough hills of his knuckles.
There was one missing, Natsu noticed.
Sterling was grousing that someone had stolen one of the bean bags he had been using when Natsu noticed one to directly to his right that hadn't been there before.
Using the hand Serena hadn't confiscated for inspection with dinky fingers, Natsu peeled the bean bag off the ground to find Gray's droopy eyes staring back up at him.
Natsu struggled to find any hint of Edo Juvia in Greige.
Her stoicism, maybe, but he could read Juvia, girls were pretty easy to read.
Greige had that blankness only Gray could take on, where no amount of Dragon Force enhanced dragon slayer senses could tell Natsu anything.
Well, there was the kleenex that had been bundled up and shoved into one of Griege's nostrils. He was pretty sure that had been there the entire time.
"Hey!" Greige objected to his cover being taken.
"What are ya doing lil' man?" Natsu asked softly, letting Sterling stomp over to wretch a portion of the bean bag from him before hauling it off.
"Hiding. Duh."
"Oh, sweet," Natsu glanced around, the other children very much busy in their own amusements, "wait, why are you hidin'?"
Greige pushed himself up from his belly, "Hide and seek."
"Ah, I gotcha, I gotcha…" yet again, Natsu looked around, "quick question dude, whose uh… whose is coming to find you?"
Greige surveyed the play area for himself, as well the guild hall beyond it before his small shoulders slumped.
"Aww dangit, knew I forgot somethin'."
"Another question, there a story behind that bloody nose?" Natsu pointed to the swollen nostril.
Greige barely got his mouth open before all the other children responded in unison, "Wall!"
Greige stuck out his tongue and set his head on a swivel, "Nuh uh! They were ninjas!"
"I ain't seen any ninjas." Natsu rumbled as Serena reached up to grab his lower lip and pull, intent on getting another good look at the rows of serrated fangs that lay beneath.
"They're ninjas." Greige repeated.
"Ooh, good point." Natsu pulled Serena's arm away from his face, offering her the end of his scarf as compromise.
"So is my dad cool in your world?"
Natsu was quiet for a second, watching Serena decide the tasseled end of his scarf just wasn't enough as she slowly pulled the rest of it from his neck.
Gray so owed him for this.
"Yeah, snow-flake can be cool I guess, he slays demons and is probably the most dangerous man on the planet."
Greige took that in with a sense of longing far too old for a boy his age.
"Well my dad wears sweaters every day." he said solemnly.
"I'm really sorry man." Natsu tousled his black hair sympathetically.
Greige busied himself with a few action figures he had stuffed in his pockets just as Sterling raced past him.
"Hey! I moved all th' bags even closer just like ya asked! Now keep chucking me!" he panted, wild gestures being thrown towards the heap of pillows and extra bean bags gathered into a landing pad but six feet away.
"Oh, wait, even better, set it on fire!" Sterling suggested, bouncing nonstop, "I hava' corn dog around here somewhere that got too cold!"
Natsu gave Sterling a brief glance as he helped his baby sister try on his scarf, "Uhh, nah, not if it's a corndog."
"That's fair." Sterling breathed as he brought up the hem of his stained shirt to wipe his flushed face.
Natsu promptly poked his exposed belly button, earning him a cackle as Sterling bucked back and yanked down his shirt.
"I'm being serious! Throw me! I brought it within ten feet n' everything, so there is no way I'll get hurt!" Sterling continued to bargain, the impish curl of lips that split his face deepening.
"He doesn't know how far a foot is." Ronson chimed in.
Sterling whirled around with an outraged scowl, "I do too! It's those things!" he pointed down to his untied shoes.
Natsu whistled at him and patted his free knee, getting Sterling to hike his foot onto them.
"Man, I don't know to tell ya this," Natsu said as he grabbed the dangling shoe laces and went through the exact motions he had memorized from Lisanna, "but I think your shoes are on the wrong feet."
After Natsu applied a double knot to one shoe, just to be sure, Sterling switched legs, "I mean, I don't got any other feet."
Natsu stopped tying Sterling's other shoe for a second. Serena gave a little sigh on the other half of his lap.
"Yeah, true. My bad." Natsu conceded before continuing his tying. He wasn't going to ask how or why one of Sterling's socks were missing.
"Hey, are ya thirsty!?"
Natsu had his attention yanked away for a moment to see Nasha standing to his left, her wild tangle of coral hair held up by her own scarf that she had fashioned into a headband.
Her big smile was sweeter than the melted chocolate of her eyes.
She had Lucy's smile too.
Natsu shoved away the unbidden aching that dared threaten the warmth in his chest and answered, forcing words through his tightening throat.
Vocal cords thickened from Dragon Force were pulled taut as he smashed his grumble into a rumble.
"I mean yeah, I'm dying over here."
Nasha held up a green plastic cup fashioned with all sorts of stickers, a tiny umbrella peaking over its lip, "Here! I made you special tea just for dragons!"
Natsu quickly finished with Sterling's other shoe, then reached over to take it. It was empty.
"Sorry," Nasha began, "couldn't find the tea set."
Natsu silently looked down to the empty cup, then back to her.
"Nah I get it, you were pressed for time." he reassured as he pretended to take a swig, handing it back to her after.
Nasha beamed, "So? What did you think-"
"Hey, what do I gotta do around here to get someone to throw me!?" Sterling barked impatiently.
Natsu reached out, grabbed the child, and chucked him at the mound of bean bags.
Sterling whooped his approval as he sailed through the air, landing face down on the plush surface.
His frame was wracked with goblin giggles as he popped up, "Again!"
"Why don't you use the step ladder you took from your mom?" Natsu said as Serena stirred in his lap and crawled from one thigh to another.
Sterling blanched, "I didn't take this time I swear! It was all Greige!"
"Nuh uh!" Greige rose to the accusation by leaping over a mess of comic books to tackle him to the ground, "I didn't even touch it you stupid liar!"
While two boys quickly took to smacking each other with pillows and revealing they in fact thought each other's favorite comic book was lame, Ronson spoke up with his usual patience.
"I think Nasha knows where it is."
Natsu and the boys snapped over to look at her.
"W-what? I-i didn't touch it, Auntie Levy said not to and I didn't. I don't even know where she keeps it." Nasha stammered, the sheepishness in her gaze dragging it to her back peddling feet.
"Nasha…" Ronson repeated a bit firmer.
"She said no touching, so I did that. I did no touching. I-i uh, uhm… Asuka!" Nasha spun and threw a shout of panic towards the corner, "Hurry up! You said you knew what dragons eat and that you knew what to cook!"
"I am hurrying upying!" Edo Asuka snapped, a chef's hat stacked atop her cowboy hat as she pulled open the cupboards of the kitchen play-set to gather all sorts of plastic ingredients into her arms.
"You haven't even found the carrot yet I asked for yet, so don't rush me!" she defended.
Natsu reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a plastic carrot, nudging Nasha and offering it to her, "Ope, here, found this a few minutes ago and thought it looked yummy. Savin' it for later."
Nasha accepted it, "Oh, thanks."
"Hey I found the carrot-"
"You shouldn't be messing with Aunt Levy's things, Nasha." Ronson brought things back on track.
Nasha spluttered, "It wasn't my fault it was in plain sight upstairs under the couch under that blanket!"
"You were gonna let them take the fall for it too, harsh." Natsu commented, having taken to assisting Serena in keeping her pesky hair from spilling over her glasses.
He took the hairband from Serena's head, scaled and scarred fingers gently soothing back lazuline locks before slipping the hairband back into place, "I mean I kinda respect it, but still, ice cold."
"Why'd ya even need the ladder anyway?" Natsu asked.
Nasha stamped her foot, "You're super tall, you don't get to ask that!"
Natsu's chest quaked with his chuckle, finding himself willing to sit there and watch her soft dopey perfect pouting for the rest of time.
"I'd put it back and say sorry to your Aunt," Natsu suggested softly, watching pull her own scarf down to neck, "I doubt she can be mad at you."
Nasha sucked in the lower lip she had puffed out, her puckering fading as she nodded to his reason. Natsu would've pulled her into his lap there and then, but as Serena had made clear, that was claimed property.
"Don't forget the most important part, sayin' sorry to the guys that were going to catch your strays," he reached out to playfully tug on her nose, a maneuver tried and tested on Wendy and Asuka.
Nasha squealed and squirmed, stifled giggled bubbling up in her cheeks as she assured with a nasally, "I will, I promise!"
Natsu released her and looked over to Sterling and Greige.
The conversation had lasted longer than thirty seconds, so the two boys had already resigned themselves to using action figures to fight each other on their behalf.
"Rain check on that." Natsu whispered to Nasha.
Looking back in her direction, he found she had moved on as well, scampering over to Edo Asuka, "I got the carrot! Sterling didn't eat it like I thought he did!"
Apparently there was enough pain swimming around in the golden pools of his lingering gaze to draw a soft concerned whine from Serena.
He hadn't even noticed she had brought herself to sit on her knees along each of his thighs, evidently ready to return his scarf as she held it up.
"I'm okay, I'm okay," Natsu crooned as he steadied her by her sides, "I was just bein' a goof and daydreamin'."
He lowered his head, allowing Serena to reach up and pull his scarf down over his head. When Natsu felt the fabric get caught on the tip of his horn, Serena got to her feet to gently remedy the situation, tongue poked in concentration.
Natsu had never got to see his Levy this young, but with Serena so close he could feel the puff of her soft breath against his face, he may as well be getting a look now.
When she stopped to push her glasses back up the scant slope of her little nose, Natsu caught onto the one little piece of Gajeel in her.
Flecks of coal peppered her cinnamon eyes, like black dirt scattered over the brown of a maple leaf.
He was sure if he kept looking at the other kids, he'd see more things like this.
More subtle proof his family had come together to add more to their numbers, to make the next generation.
Right here, surrounded by all of them, Natsu let himself feel like he never wanted to go everywhere else.
When Serena finally got his scarf unhooked and settled back in its rightful place around his shoulders, she pressed her forehead into his lips as if she had been owed a peck between the brows that Natsu had forgotten to provide.
As soon as she sat back down on his knees, Serena did a double take, her stare caught by the space above his head.
Serena found something worth words as she pipped, "Uncle Natsu?"
"What's up?" Natsu hummed.
She raised a stubby finger to point at his horns, repeating her mother.
"Your horns. They have black marks, just like the ones on your fingers. What are they?"
Natsu didn't seize up as much as he thought he would.
He heard his own silence, but felt the shame? Not really.
Maybe it was his talk with Edo Natsu in the bathroom still somehow fresh in his head after the mind numbing conversation that came after.
Maybe it was because he could just lie to her. Keep the bliss and not think about all that right now.
He would just lie to Serena, that's it.
"It's a king's crest."
Or not.
His Dragon Force was stronger, so much stronger, but it hadn't made him strong enough to look Serena in her sweet eyes and lie.
Serena blinked, her little lashes smudging her glasses, "Do other dragons have them?" she asked as she squinted through the blurred lenses.
"I'm not a-" Natsu bit down on the remark, sighed, and gingerly took the glasses from her face, "No. No they don't."
Apparently left as blind as a bat, Serena whimpered as her world was reduced to muzzy shapes and blobs, reaching out blindly for her glasses.
Natsu softly shushed her fuss, bouncing her on his knees as he wiped the lenses clean with his scarf before setting them back atop her scrunched nose.
Serena was calmed by her uncle's cooing until her vision was restored, "So the only dragon that would have them is a king?"
"Bingo." Natsu had no idea why he confirmed that.
He had no idea why he was letting this be a topic at all. It wasn't like he would feel nothing talking about it.
He genuinely had no idea, because he just wasn't thinking about it.
Natsu found praising Serena for being able to piece that together more pressing quite frankly.
Making the kids smile had taken over his life for the past fifteen minutes.
"You are just as smart a cookie as your mom." Natsu snickered.
Serena's cheeks swelled with a giddy pink, wonder catching in her voice, "Then that would make you…?"
"A Dragon King!?" Ronson was louder than he ever had been before, having been able to nimbly weasel his way out of block castle and sit down crossed legged before Natsu without him noticing.
The awed exclamation ripped across the air, striking the other children. They all abandoned their games of pretend to race over to Natsu, drowning him with their outcry of amazement.
"You're the Dragon King!?"
"How did that happen!? Is everything in your world just like way cooler!?"
"Are you like King Mystogan!?"
"Ooh! Ooh! What does your castle look like!?"
"Yeah! Yeah! How big is it!?"
"Can I sit in your throne!? Please, pretty please!?"
Natsu fought a restless frown and for a moment tasted something sour that he couldn't swallow down, as if it was stuck in one of the barbs of his fangs.
"O-okay, alright, alright, one at a time," Natsu cleared his throat and spoke up over their crescendo of curiosity, "I want your twirp tushies on the ground if ya'll wanna know anythin'."
Natsu did not know why he was telling them all this, half of the questions were ones he didn't want to answer.
As they all plopped down, legs folded, the children all recited in unison; 'criss-cross applesauce!'.
Just as they lowered themselves, several wiggling hands flew up into the air.
All Natsu thought about as he picked one child to ask their question wasn't the question itself, but on whether or not his answer could make them smile, or hopefully laugh.
Greige expended all of his breath asking, "How big is your castle? Is it like super duper massive? It's gotta be bigger than King Mystogan's, right!?"
"I ain't gotta castle, or a throne. Do you know how hard that'd be to keep all clean n' junk?"
The children all murmured their agreements before Natsu selected Nasha next.
"Do you have any subjects? Like a big dragon army?"
Natsu shook his head, "Nah, I don't need no army. I got Fairy Tail, and they are way stronger than an army."
"Oh yeah, all our parents are mages, right? So they're real strong?" Edo Asuka said.
Natsu decided Edo Asuka was just Asuka. Asuka was Asuka.
"Oh, they are the strongest." he replied.
"Really?" Ronson, who had been pulled to the back of the group because the other children couldn't see over him, held up a polite hand to chime in, "My father, is he a strong mage?"
Natsu nodded slowly as he put on a bug eyed expression, earning giggles, "Stupid strong. It's kinda scary too, cuz' I know how strong everyone else is, but with your old man…"
Natsu somehow managed a whistle with a mouthful of fangs, "I got no clue how strong that guy is."
Ronson gladly threw away his stoicism to wear a face of delight, his smile giddy as he lowered his hand.
"You said my Dad was cool, is Mom cool too?!" Greige asked.
"Course she is, in fact you get her angry enough she can probably be stronger than your Dad."
The children babbled amongst themselves excitedly at that.
Before more questions on how strong their parents were could come, Asuka had gotten onto her knees to shove one arm up while the other held it, as if that would somehow make it longer.
"Ooh! Ooh! Me! Me!"
"As the King guy, do you still have to eat your broccoli?" Asuka asked
Natsu made a face, "Wha? Nah, course' not."
"Could you pretty please make me King for the day then?"
"Well then I'd have to eat my broccoli, so like, no way!"
Asuka slumped back down, understanding in her eyes as she nodded to herself, "Oh that's right, sorry Uncle Natsu."
"So if you don't have a castle or a throne or an army, then what do you have?" Sterling smacked his lips in disapproval, "What does a Dragon King even do, cuz' it sounds lame."
Nasha flicked his ear.
While Sterling accused her of cheating and of consuming many pumpkins, Natsu felt himself gray as he went silent.
He thought of Dad, and this time it didn't hurt. That much.
"H-he…" Natsu stifled himself, "a Dragon King isn't supposed to have a big castle or subjects or anything like that. It's probably not the same gig as whatever Mystogan does, at least not exactly."
The children were dead quiet.
"The Dragon King ain't even really a King, it's more like being a chief. Looking after everyone, settin' an example, doing whatever it takes to keep the other dragons safe." Natsu continued.
He didn't need to speak from experience, he couldn't, but he could recite everything he had been told, straight from the source.
"The Dragon King is supposed to show all the other dragons what it means to be a dragon, a true dragon."
"So what were the dragons like? Were they like the ones in all the stories?" Nasha wondered as she looked over to the short bookshelves, far sloppier than the larger ones Levy had upstairs.
Natsu eyed the endless covers of children's tales, "Maybe in some ways, maybe not in others." he said after a moment.
"They weren't like humans, but they were a lot like humans. Make sense?"
"Yeah." Sterling nodded.
Natsu popped a scarred brow, "Really?"
"No." Sterling shook his head.
Natsu snickered as he stared down at his knuckles, at his scales.
He thought they would've been too sharp for everyone's little fingers, but they had been all over him, and not a single scratch.
He ran a ginger hand over them.
They weren't that rough. More warm than sharp.
"Dragons and people aren't the same, but they could be alike in a lot of ways. Just like people, there were all sorts of dragons."
"Good ones?" Ronson was hopeful.
"Yep. Tons of good ones. Tons of bad ones too. Some were mean, some were nice. Some were strong, some were weak." Natsu went on and on.
"But Da-" Natsu scoffed to himself, "but the Dragon King's job was to show other dragons what they should be like."
"Well then what should a dragon be?" Greige asked.
Natsu shrugged at him, "Depends on when you ask, cuz' dragons were mega old, they were around for ages."
The children conferred among themselves with whispers and squeaks. Their mumbling finally stopped.
"Older than Granddad Macuo?" Sterling prompted.
"I'd think so." Natsu told him.
Sterling's eyes went blank as he ran a hand through his raven mess of hair, "Woah."
"Was there ever a time when a dragon should be strong? Super strong?" Greige clamored, "Like you?"
"Duh, they were always supposed to be strong. Dragons loved to fight more than anything, it was like in their blood. So off the bat, a true dragon is always getting stronger, never running from a fight." Natsu said, quickly checking on Serena to make sure she hadn't fallen asleep against his belly.
"How do you think they lasted so long? They never stopped trying to get stronger."
"So would a Dragon King be the strongest dragon?" Nasha looked like she was about to explode.
"Uhh, yeah, course."
Nasha jumped to her feet, bending over to shake Griege next to her silly, "He's the strongest in Earthland too!"
Greige yanked her down with a growl, and the two were a tornado of limbs and petty insults roiling this way and that.
When they got too close to his block castle, Ronson got up, pried them apart by the back of their shirts, and set them down far apart from one another.
"Aww, it was just getting good." Sterling whined.
"What about now? If Dragons were like that back then, what about now?" Asuka didn't bother holding up her arm this time.
"Well, somewhere along the way, a long, long time ago, the dragons ran into these itty bitty humans," Natsu announced, "and all of the sudden, the Dragon King decided there was more to being a dragon than just brute strength."
"Wait, what? Why?" Asuka demanded.
"The Dragon King thought these little humans were worth learning from." Natsu said, "So now just being strong wasn't gonna cut it. It was about how you used that strength too."
"A true dragon should be as kind as they are strong. A true dragon should never stop trying to get stronger, or gentler. A true dragon protects their own."
Nasha's face scrunched, "Hey, wait a minute, how are they supposed to be kind or strong if they are also supposed to never stop trying to be all those things?"
"Yeah, do they just never get there?" Greige added, "Are there even any true dragons?"
"I said strong-er, remember? A dragon may get gentle, may get strong, but a true dragon is supposed to keep gettin' stronger, keep getting gentler." Natsu responded.
Everyone but Ronson retained their tilted heads and mazed stares.
Natsu sighed softly. He thought for a second.
"It was about trying more than anything. Trying hard. Giving more." Natsu spoke of a lesson his father did not teach him, at least entirely.
"Maybe no dragon ever fully became what a dragon is supposed to be, but the ones that tried anyway, the ones that never stopped even if they knew they'd never be perfect, I think they are the true dragons."
Natsu sat on that for longer than the children did, as their faces went bright as they blared with realization.
"I get it now! Since you are the Dragon King, you can decide all that stuff now!" Nasha proclaimed, her friends buzzing behind her, eager to add to the point.
"Yeah, yeah, you can totally make it so that a true dragon never eats their broccoli!" Asuka pointed out.
"I don't do that, how close am I to being a true dragon?" Sterling asked, "I gotta tell Mom that if I eat any of my greens I'll never be a true dragon!"
"Hey Sterling, can you tell me if that works!?" Greige shouted.
In the back of their wriggling crowd, Ronson murmured to himself, "I had no idea dragons were like that, I kinda want to be one now."
"So did I." Natsu blurted through the haze in his head and the twisting in his chest.
Ronson looked up from his lap, stunned, "Huh?"
The other children swiftly simmered, little heads sliding on a swivel between Natsu and Ronson.
Natsu forced color back into his graying face, and chuckled, "For as long as I can remember, I wanted nothing more than to be a dragon too. Prolly since I was your age, Ronson."
Ronson had wiser eyes than the rest, and they picked up something hiding deep beneath Natsu's scales.
Ronson was almost reassuring as he shrugged at him, "Well you did it, I think. You don't look exactly like the dragons in all the stories, but, well…"
"You're the King of all Dragons," Nasha reminded with a giggle, "all that obviously doesn't matter if you're the Dragon King now!"
Natsu withstood their wave of agreement and encouragement quietly.
He didn't know about all that, he didn't know how much right he had to teaching all this.
But if he didn't, then who would? Irene?
Irene and her broken whispers and mumbles about how power was all that mattered?
Natsu wasn't sure of much right now, but what he was sure of was that Irene had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.
The title 'Queen of the Dragons' was one she had given herself.
Natsu stopped thinking about this, he wanted to go back to the kids.
Serena, cozy and curled against his stomach, jolted when a deep grumble spilled from his belly and shook the air.
While the rest of the children broke into fits of giggles, Nasha jumped to her feet, tugging and tugging at his sleeve towards the kitchen play-set.
"Asuka get over here, we need to make him a super royal dinner!" Nasha urged as she tried and failed to get Natsu to budge from his bean bag seat.
Asuka scrambled past her to retrieve the chef's hat she had thrown off, "Well I don't know what dragons eat, especially a Dragon King!"
Natsu lifted Nasha up, balancing her belly on his palm before tossing her up and over to Sterling's cushioned landing pad.
She shrieked and cackled with betrayal as she landed, tumbling until she could get to her feet.
"Ah come on, you threw her way higher!" Sterling griped over Nasha's muffled snickering, who pulled apart the pile of pillows and cushions for a shoe she had lost during the landing.
"Well, I ain't throwing anyone, or breathin' anymore fire, until I get a snack. I got th' rumblies." Natsu announced to everyone.
"It is a good question, what did dragons eat?" Ronson was still raising his hand to speak.
Natsu clicked his tongue in thought, "Mostly meat, or whatever element they used in their magic."
He looked down at Serena, and stretched his cheek scales with a puckish smile.
"Although," he rumbled, unhooking Dragon Force's baritone from it's leash, "if I'm hungry enough, and someone is super tasty lookin'..."
Serena's eyes went wide behind her glasses as her sharp mind stitched together the implication.
She wheeked as Natsu snatched her up, holding her closer to his chest with one hand while the other brought her little wrist and the digits attached to it to his open mouth.
"No! No! I'm not tasty!" Serena cried out as she feebly tried to pull away from Natsu as he straightened out one of her thin fingers, licking his fangs with a happy growl.
As she fought and kicked and writhed with her terrified giggles, Natsu tried to chomp down on her finger, letting Serena pull away just enough to miss.
"Ah c'mon! I'm dying over here! Give me one finger, ya got like nine other ones!" Natsu huffed.
As Natsu slowly brought her wriggling little hand back towards his gaping maw, Serena squealed, "Sterling, help! He thinks I'm yummy!"
Her big brother came to her rescue, wrapping his arms around Serena's belly and yanking her away from Natsu's lap.
"Hey, nobody gets to bite her but me!" Sterling stated as he stuck his tongue out, his baby sister clutched protectively to his chest.
As Serena muffled her remaining laughter into the crook of her big brother's neck, the other children all gasped in horror.
"He lied to us! He said dragons weren't like the books but they are!" Greige accused.
"Yeah, dragons totally snack on kids! I bet he was lying about all the king stuff just to trick us!" Asuka agreed, horrified hands glued to the leather brim of her cowboy hat.
Natsu couldn't even plead his case before he felt a mighty pillow swing smash into the back of his head, sending him rolling off his bean bag.
"Get him!"
Natsu was pretty sure that was Nasha's order, and her swing too, but couldn't confirm given the moment he was on the ground, he found himself surrounded and pelted with pillows the children had dissected the nearby pile to arm themselves with.
Natsu yelped, curling up and covering his head as he was bombarded with pillow strikes from every direction.
Between the flashes of white and gray fabric across his vision, he could hardly make out who was who from what fleeting glances he got of the forest of little legs surrounding him.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Natsu yipped pathetically over their conniving laughter, "Ow! Gimme a break here, a guy can't help it when he's hungry!"
"It's too late! We figured you out!" Greige barked back.
The pummeling had no end to it, and eventually Natsu had to cry for mercy, "Aight, aight! Uncle! Uncle!"
Their onslaught finally ceased, leaving him a quivering ball on the floor.
They were far more brutal than Sting and Rogue had been.
"That'll teach you! We aren't snacks! We'd probably taste terrible too, especially Sterling!" Asuka stated as she stepped away.
Sterling's satisfied expression crumpled, "Hey!"
Natsu groaned as he raised his head from the ground, blinking the fuzz from his eyes.
"Aww Ronson, you too?" he croaked as he spotted the largest boy among his assaulters, having used one of the smaller bean bags as a club.
Ronson merely shrugged, "I didn't want to get eaten. I'm the biggest here, I'd be the biggest meal." he provided his rationale.
"Children! Lunch time!" Edo Mirajane's welcome croon echoed from across the guild hall, "The afternoon rush starts in fifteen, so come get it before we get sacked!"
Greige's pillow plopped from his hands as he gasped, "Ooh, today is grilled cheese!"
Natsu stirred weakly, "G-grilled cheese?"
Asuka was merciless as she brought a pillow back down over his head.
"Whoever gets here first get's the first helping of macaroni!" Edo Mirjane hollered once more.
Ronson was already gone, running out to be swallowed by the sea of grown up legs.
Sterling spluttered, still gently cradling his baby sister to his chest as he gave chase, "Aww man, Ronson is gonna eat it all again!"
As he whisked Serena away with him, Asuka and Griege tailed the siblings.
Nasha thankfully didn't try to get one last lick in, setting her pillow down to give Natsu a smile that made the beat down worth it.
His chest was warm, very warm.
Nasha grinned wider than he ever could as she scampered away, "I'll be right back, we're not done playing Daddy!"
His chest was cold, very cold.
He blinked once and Nasha was already gone. Like she had never been there to begin with.
Natsu couldn't help his weak croak as that hurt from before, mean and ugly and jagged, made whatever air he had in his lungs irrelevant.
He had no idea how many times he had gotten knocked down in his life.
Natsu did know with absolute certainty however, that it never took him as long to get up as it did now. At least that's how it felt.
No crunch of battlefield rubble beneath his hands, just the soft wiry spread of carpet.
No threat of death upon him or his guild, just little faces with little button noses that flushed when they giggled.
Dragon Force gave him no strength to get back up, Natsu was on his own as he pushed himself upright.
The soft crinkle of paper and the waxy scent of crayon pull Natsu from his own head.
He turned, managed to his feet, and hobbled over to the source of the subdued stirring.
Natsu peaked over the bean bag that had been his seat to find a small figure, tinier than the other children, sprawled out in the middle of an ocean of drawings.
Dark purple hair was distinct among the bright shades of crayon color, pulled back into darling twin tails that hung down to the neck.
A young girl doodled away, her nose buried in her latest masterpiece, unaware the concealment her mousy silence had granted her so far had been broken.
Happy feet kicked back and forth as she lay on her belly, a crayon in one hand, a white cat plushie in the other.
She was younger than the other children. Asuka was six in both worlds, and they all seemed around her age, but this girl couldn't even be half of that.
Natsu had just figured out where he knew that shade of purple from when the first wave of scent all but confirmed the little girl's identity.
She smelled like Romeo.
Natsu gladly welcomed back the bittersweet from before, and couldn't help his elated laugh.
He still hadn't met Edo Romeo yet, at least from what he could remember, but he had heard that Edo Romeo was older than his Romeo.
Much like Wendy.
Wendy...
Why... why did he smell her too?
When the little girl finally noticed Natsu's stare on her back, he found out why.
The big doe eyes she used to look up at Natsu were Wendy's.