Chapter Text
Gildarts was not a young man. His 32 years spoke otherwise, but he had been in too many fights, making his body feel like it was over 100 years old. He often wondered how the Master was still up and kicking the way he was.
But he lowered himself into the seat across from the much older man non the less. Ivan could only be described as slithering into the seat. The absolute snake.
Even though he was the Master’s kid, Gildarts hated the guy. He was so self absorbed and always looking for a way to steal their money or power from someone.
If Gildarts could, he would punch the guy in the face. How he ended up with a woman long enough to end up with a kid was beyond the Crash mage.
“What's up?” Gildarts asked. He had been called back from a mission, not that he had made it very far. Just to the outskirts of town before Wakaba showed up to stop him.
“We have a situation.” Makorav stated coolly as he handed them a flier. “Human Trafficking of Mages. The council has sent this mission to us directly. It will be a massive undertaking.”
Gildarts looked over the job request and huffed as he handed it over to the other mage. He hated traffickers. Especially when dealing with mages.
He wasn't necessarily worried about himself. But younger mages, who held less magic abilities, were those who he worried about.
The kids Makorav took in. He saw those Strauss siblings who had shown up, none of them were in good shape. And Laxus….he was another story. Levy was a cutie and Gildarts feared the world she would grow up in.
“When do we leave?” Ivan asked. Gildarts skin crawled, this guy would probably encourage them.
He was still trying to prove his hunch that this guy was abusing Laxus. There was no way he could go to Makorav with nothing more than a hunch. Even Gildarts couldn't get away with that.
“I was hoping as soon as you both agreed to go.” Makorav stated. “I want the entire guild to mobilize.”
“What about the kids?” Gildarts asked.
“Porlyusica is on her way. She will be needed anyway.” Gildarts nodded and stood, the groan he felt not even 10 minutes ago, gone now that the need to save young mages from certain death.
“Let's get going then.”
______________________
Gildarts hated this part.
The waiting part always sucked.
But they had to gather a bit more information before they could send in the big guys. “We got some news.” Ivan said, rolling out a scroll. “The traffickers themselves are just a mass of people. Outnumbering us 10 to 1. Our big issue is that there is what they are calling a demon inside.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Gildarts scoffed.
“I'm not sure. But from what I have gathered, it spits fire and has massive wings.” Ivan replied.
“What do we even do about that?” Macaw asked grumpily. After all he was the only fire mage they had, and he wasn't immune to the element.
“If we must, put it down.” The Master said matter of factly as he stood to his full height. He looked to his son who nodded. “We move in. Gildarts, I want you to find this supposed demon.”
Gildarts huffed but nodded. He was about to be clearing quite a sizable chunk of the guild looking for this demon being.
So he cracked his neck and went to work. He promised he wouldn't tell Mira about this. That little girl was far enough gone already. She didn't need to know about this either.
It was tiring work and he wasn't alone. Much to his disgust Ivan stuck close to him. An order from the Master.
“The farther we go down, the hotter it's getting.” Ivan muttered.
“Don't tell me the big bad Ivan is scared of a demon.” Gildarts chuckled as he took out another door.
“Not so much the demon. Just what it represents.” Ivan replied.
Which for once, Gildarts did agree with the guy. Though he would never say that aloud.
Finally though they came to a huge steel door. It was definitely where the heat was coming from.
Gildarts reached out to open the door to find it locked. “Great.” he hissed.
The low rumble that echoed from the inside of the room made both men jolt and share a look.
“Should we really be opening that?” Ivan asked.
“One way to find out.” Gildarts replied. And if the demon happened to kill Ivan in the process, Gildarts didn't know anything.
With a bit of magic he set it on the lock destroying it easily and the door swung open inwardly.
The rumble turned into a full one growl.
“What the hell?” He muttered peering inside to see the source of the noise.
In the farthest corner from the room, with a collar wrapped around its neck and wrists and chains running to the ground and ceiling, was a crouched down kid. Except his hair line had two horns that reached no more than a few inches from his skull. The massive red and black wings that were flared out behind him revealing their massive wingspan. A tail with a line of very sharp looking spins flicked this way and that.
“Holy shit….” Ivan breathed.
I was a youngster. But what his magic was, or even if he was fully human, was lost on GIldarts.
“Go tell the Master.” Gildarts said. Not taking his eyes off the kid as the growl grew the longer they stood there.
“But-”
“Go.”
Ivan hesitated a second longer before bolting back up to where the others were. Hopefully the Master would have the sense to leave him to take care of this. Alone.
“I'm not going to hurt you.” Gildarts said quietly. And by the way the creature’s eyes flickered he knew he was understanding Gildarts.
A snarl ripped out of his tiny body and Gildarts almost took a step back.
Almost.
But he held his ground. Hoping that not moving back or forward would show something that would calm the being. Instead he sat down.
"It's OK. I'm not going to hurt you." He said. A deeper rumble ripped from the boy. He jolted forward but due to the chains couldn't move much farther than an inch.
The tail whipped angrily behind him. He knew this wasn't going to be easy. First he needed to see if the thing understood him.
“I need to know-” A low growl rose from the kids chest. “If you can understand me.” Gildarts said not raising his voice.
The kid stared at him with bared teeth. And man oh man, Gildarts did not want to be bit by those things. They looked nasty.
“What is your name?” A low rumble in reply. The kid even got lower, like he was about to attack Gildarts, not that he could do what with all the chains and such.
“My name is Gildarts. I'm from a Mage guild called Fairy Tail.” The growl rose and then cut off abruptly. The kid narrowed his eyes and the sound of sniffing made Gildarts tense up.
But as quickly as it stopped, the growling started up again.
What a set of lungs this kid had to continuously growl like that.
“We are here to rescue you.” The kid flexes his hands making a set of very sharp looking nails, claws, reveal themselves.
Damn this kid was a force to reckon with, even if he didn't have magic. But Ivan said the demon would have fire. Which meant a fire mage.
Gildarts considered his good fortune that the kid had not sent a wave of fire towards him.
“No one is going to hurt you again.” Gildarts started trying to be soothing.
This wasn't exactly his area of expertise after all.
That's when he heard footsteps.
Shit.
The kid rumbled louder.
“It's ok. It's all ok. They're with me. And if they're not, I'll take them out.” Gildarts explained but the kid didn't calm down. The sound of chains moving set him on edge as the kid tried to free himself.
“Stop!” Gildarts called, not letting his eyes move from the kid with the massive wings and a razor sharp tail.
The foot stepps slowed and he heard Macaw call down to him. “What's going on?”
“I'm fine! May have located the demon though!” Gildarts replied, holding out a hand to let the kid know he wasn't in any danger, but by the smashing noise of his tail hitting rock, he knew it wasn't working.
“Should we come down and help?” Macaw asked.
“No, no, I can handle this one. But if you could send down a healer with food and water….”
“Understood. Porlyusica showed up when there were reports of kids in some of the cells.” Gildarts frowned at that.
She really showed up for some kids? They must have been in pretty bad condition.
“Send her down.” Gildarts replied.
He got an agreement and then the footsteps retreated.
“See? No ones going to hurt you.” He offered.
The kid flared his wings and snapped his jaws.
The older mage wondered how long this kid could keep it up before exhaustion, whatever injuries he may or may not have, and lack of food knocked him out. Gildarts could sit here for hours if need be. Could he?
“I have a healer on her way. With food and water. I would like to unchain you.” Gildarts made a move to stand, but the kid thrashed in his binds.
The crash mage wasn't sure if he was trying to free himself or attack him. Could be a combo of both.
Gildarts sat back down with a huff before he heard a set of much smaller and slower footsteps coming their way.
Both of them stopped and listened. The kid was tense, only a small rumble echoed in his chest.
Gildarts didn't know who was coming towards them this time.
But there was an odd cant of steps as they moved slowly and closer to the room.
As they got louder, so did the kid. His wings and tail and what little movement he had others wise was going in every direction except for freedom.
He roared and for a second the steps paused, but then more hurried steps started to echo behind them and the smaller steps picked back up. More in a hurry this time.
Hush voices started to echo as well followed by another heavy bellow from the kid. Gildarts watched him and saw it was no longer anger that he saw but fear.
Should Gildarts be afraid as well? Shit.
Then a tiny hand reached out to hold the door frame and a little boy bandaged head to toe stood in the doorway. A red haired girl just a few inches taller helped keep him up. She was also covered in bandages.
They stopped and stared at Gildarts. But another roar ripped their attention away from the older mage.
The little boy pulled away from his companion and carefully skirted around Gildarts before losing strength and collapsing to his knees.
The girl rushed to his side and she helped him back up.
They stepped closer to the demon and Gildarts stood.
“Hey! Don't go near that thing!” Gildarts cried trying to protect the kids.
But the two just kept walking. Finally, they stopped in front of the demon boy and the boy collapsed again, this time his arms wrapped around the other's neck. The girl knelt down and wrapped her own arms around him as well. And the sound of crying filled the room.
“What do we have here?” He turned to see Porlyusica panting holding a small bag. She was probably the rushed footstep he had heard.
“Not sure. Who are they?” He asked.
“You know as much as I do.” She muttered.
Great. No information conserving the 3 kids that were holding each other crying.
The healer stepped forwards, a roar ripped through the room as the demon body whipped his tail out to drag the newcomers behind him the best he could. Blocking them with his wings.
“I'm a healer.” She said calmly.
The kid shook out his head and bared his teeth angrily.
But the girl moved and placed her hand on his shoulder. He whined at her and she gave him a soft smile and an even smaller nod.
He whined once more before his tail and wings sagged and crumbled around his body. His arms and legs gave out making him fall to the ground in a pained whimper.
The redhead kneeled and ran her fingers through the pink locks as the other boy went to his other side and followed suit.
“Do you have the keys, Mr?” The girl asked Gildarts.
“Uh, no. We never found any.” He replied with an apology.
“Gray?” She muttered looking at the other boy who nodded and he placed his hands out as an icy mist encircled them.
An ice key manifested and the demon whined in such a pitiful way it made Gildarts never want kids if this was the world they were going to enter.
The boy, Gray, unlocked the collar before the magic ran out and his hands fell.
Gildarts was worried that without the keys or the kids' magic they would never free the demon, But apparently, that was all he needed.
The kid raised his head and nuzzled Gray for a second before his body started to grow. Red scales covered his skin and his neck elongated.
The cuffs snapped apart and in front of the two Fairy Tail Mages stood a dragon. No taller than Gildarts, but due to the boy's young age it made sense.
Once the cuffs were of the dragon fell back down into a fully human state. He was panting and shivering as he pawed his way into the other boy's lap.
The girl nudged the Gray boy, “I will carry him.”
But Gray was stubborn and pulled the, now Dragon, boy closer to himself. “I can do it.”
“No, you can't Gray.” She replied.
“I can carry him.” Gildarts pointed out but he suddenly faced to face with the tip of a sword she was holding.
“Touch him and that will be the last thing you do.” She snarled.
Gildarts raised his hands in surrender and stepped back.
“That wasn't nice.” Porlyusica pointed out.
“No one will ever touch him.” The girl hissed. “Never again.”
So Gildarts watched as Gray leaned on the girl, and the dragon boy rested on her back. He wondered what exactly she has gone through to be this strong.
The two were hesitant to allow Porlyusica to work on their friend once they got to the top side, but they obviously knew how much help he needed because finally, with watchful eyes they both let her work on him.
“What is his name?” She asked looking over the small frame of the pink-haired boy.
The girl hesitated, then spoke. “Natsu.” She paused and looked down at her hands. “I’m Erza.”
“Wi-will he is alright?” Gray asked, scared of his friend.
Though Gildarts didn't know why, half of the boy's injuries didn't make it to the surface, having healed themselves. The kid was also part of not all dragons. He was fine!
“He’s very underfed and will need to be on a strict diet for the next few weeks to take in water and food. And obviously, his bigger injuries are already healing on their own.” The healer went about showing the young boy who watched with fascination, “Otherwise, he will be fine. Some rest and a safe place to sleep will do him, and the two of you, a world of good.”
Gray nodded silently.
“Thank you,” Erza replied politely.
Gildarts wanted a moment before he spoke up. “Can he speak?”
Erza and Gray blinked up at him then traded a look.
“Natsu does know a language,” Erza replied quietly before looking back at him. “But it's not Fiorini.”
“He does know some Ivan.” Gray piped in. “It's closer to his native tongue so it was easier to teach him that.”
Erza nodded in agreement. “Our language is too different from his original so it's hard for him to understand it.”
“What does he speak?” Gildarts asked. He knew quite a few languages. He traveled too much not to.
But this question earned him a smack from the healer.
“Ow!” Gildarts hissed, more out of surprise than actual pain.
“He's a dragon.” She hissed at him like that answered his question.
“And!?” He replied pulling back from the old woman to rub his arm bitterly. She didn't need to smack him!
Porlyusica rolled her eyes. “He speaks Arabic. The language of the dragons.”
“Oh…” Ok, maybe he didn't know the language the kid could speak. “No one speaks that.”
“I dabble,” Erza replied, raising her hand.
“Ice picks some up.” Gray agreed with a shrug.
“It's a hard language to learn. It consists of grunts and growls. As well as movements and body language. It's set up for in-flight communications.” Porlyusica replied.
“You say that I should know everything about dragons,” Gildarts grumbled.
“You better start learning.” She grunted back.
“How are the younglings?” Makorav asked. Natsu was still out, though Gildarts didn't really blame him. Who knew how long he had been in that hell hole? Who knows how long it has been since he had a proper meaning? Proper rest? Not constantly tensed up ready to attack the next thing that walked through his door.
“Say hello to Erza and Gray,” Porlusica said questioning the two who were awake. Probably not going to sleep till Natsu woke up.
“Hello, children.” He greeted me kindly. Erza gave him an emotionless look. And Gray offered up a cool one, probably would have crossed his arms as well if one hand wasn't holding Natsu’s hand. “And who is this?”
They were all used to children coming to them in the worst times of their lives. None of them were really deterred by the lack of response from the two.
“Natsu. He is a dragon or at least part one.” Porlyusica replied.
“A dragon.” Makorave looked over at the sleeping boy with disbelief.
“He’s not a dragon!” Gray finally broke their silence. “He's a dragon slayer! It's part of his magic!”
Erza nodded in agreement.
Gildarts didn't think that made more sense. Dragon slayers were trained by dragons to slay other dragons. But dragons have not been seen or heard from in 400 years. There was no fucking way this kid was over 400 years.
Dragon or not.
But these were kids. So Gildarts just hummed.
“Well no matter, we still need to get you three back to the guild.” He replied, steering the conversation away from the topic.
“Guild?” Erza asked, confused. “What guild?”
The two had tensed up at the mention of a guild.
“We are from the Fairy Tail guild.” He replied easily. Gildarts figured someone told them. But he was just as fine telling them himself.
“Fairy Tail?” Gray whispered with semi-wide eyes. He looked at Erza.
“Prove it!” Erza suddenly demanded with a small stomp of the foot.
Gildarts looked at Porlyusica who shrugged.
“Go on.” She was on her stomach and Gildarts’ was on his arm. So he rolled his eyes and removed his sleeve to show the redhead.
Gray looked at it in wonderment but did not leave Natsu’s side.
Erza however stepped up and looked at it closer. Examining the mark of the guild they were all so proud to call home.
“Is that it?” Gray whispered, holding his breath as she looked it over. Then she gave a small nod.
“They're the real deal.” She replied as she went back to her spot next to Gray.
“Have you seen this before?” Porlyuisca asked as Gildarts fixed his clothes.
“Yes. Before….this.” She gestured to the mess around them. “I met a man who saved my life. He said to go to Fairy Tail. That was the mark he had.”
“What was his name?” She asked curiously.
“We called him Grandpa Rob,” Erza replied. “He….he didn't make it. But he saved a lot of people that day. Myself included.”
The healer had to take a moment so Gildarts stepped in.
“Well, would you all like to come to Fairy Tail?” He asked.
“I would,” Erza replied then looked to Gray, who nodded in agreement. “We will join you.”
“What about him?” The Master asked, looking down at Natsu.
“He will come. Natsu doesn't really like people.” Gray replied with a shrug. “But he likes us.”
“No. He likes me. He adores you.” Erza said gently pushing on his shoulder making her friend blush and look the other way.
“Sh-shut up.” He muttered.
Gildarts cracked a smile at that. They really were just kids who got into a bad situation.
“What kind of magic do the two of you possess?” Makorav asked as Porlyusica walked away to check on others. They would probably be moving out soon anyway.
“Ice makes magic,” Gray replied easily.
Erza shrugged. “Not really sure.”
“You have magic but you don't know what it is?” Markov questioned, concerned. It was concerning.
“Well, I didn't learn it anywhere like these two,” Erza replied, nodding to her friends as she rubbed her arm. “It's just sorta…happened. I can control weapons and such. And I can even do this…” She reached her hand out and a red magic circle appeared. She pulled out a sword.
“Requip magic. It's a good one. Not as rare as Ice make but still a powerful one.” Makorav replied kindly.
Erza gave a small smile at that.
Then Gray shoved her shoulder. “Do the other thing!”
Erza blushed but closed her eyes. Suddenly a light wrapped around her body and she was no longer in the slave cloths the traders had put her in. Instead, she was in an armor set. Nothing extravagant but enough to make her relax.
Gildarts was way more impressed by that. The weapons re-quip was impressive enough. But full body armor? In all his time he hasn't seen anything like that before.
Makorav seemed to be in the same boat. “Well, that has a different name.” He took her hand gently, and when she didn't pull away he smiled. “It's called the Knight. Very few people throughout history have been able to use it.”
The master looked to Gildarts. “It seems we have found 3 perfect new members for the guild.” He looked back at the kids. “Fairy Tail takes in those who have nowhere else to go. And oftentimes, have very strange and odd magic. We will help you get better.”
“All of us?” Erza whispered. They looked at Natsu.
“All of you,” Makarov replied easily. Though Gildarts wasn't so sure the old guy was ready for what Natsu actually was.
In the end, none of them were.
Gray smiled at that and wrapped his arms around Natsu’s chest.
“Easy!” Gildarts moved to pull the kid off but Natsu reached up and wrapped his arm around Gray’s back.
A throaty noise was heard and Gildarts saw Natsu’s eyes peak open.
Erza chuckled and pulled away from the old man. “Ready for another adventure Dragon Breath?”
Natsu’s lips peeled back in a sharp grin.