The boy stopped in the middle of the street and gaped in awe. He was surrounded by sights and smells he had never seen before, not to mention more people than he had ever seen in his entire, albeit short, life. This was mainly because the pink haired boy had been raised alone, by a dragon, for as long as he could remember. As far as he knew, he had never met another human before. And now he was in a city.

Natsu Dragneel, as the great fire dragon Igneel had named him, took a deep breath to try and calm down. This was all so very new. Of course Igneel had taught him about people, and cities, and their ways, but he had no idea… hearing about it was nothing like experiencing it first-hand. He was used a deserted forest, complete with the natural scents of trees and animals. Here, there was noise, so much noise. He quickly decided he rather liked that. The smell of smoke was prominent as well, he would have to see if he could find a snack over that way. But there was so much more. So much that it just didn't compute. He could feel his head being overloaded by his senses, and dropped to one knee. After a few moments, he got his bearings back, got back to his feet and grinned. He was somewhere new, he had a plan, and everything was going to work out.

Macao and Wakaba were headed back from a job when they saw him. They were walking up a street, laughing and making jokes about the job, when Macao squinted.

"Is that a kid kneeling in the middle of the street?" He asked, a little worried. He had a son of his own, and was feeling a little protective. Wakaba nodded.

"Looks that way. Is he alone?"

They headed towards the boy, only to see him get up and grin. The expression made both men pause. It was both happy and fierce at the same time. On a boy so young, it was a little alarming. The boy had unusual pink hair, and wore a red shirt, shorts, and had an unusual scaly scarf around his neck. He seemed oddly out of place in this town.

Macao and Wakaba exchanged glances, before approaching the pink haired boy.

"Hey, kid, you lost?" Macao asked, not unkindly. For a moment the boy just stared at him with a look of awe. Then he smiled the most adorable smile Macao had ever seen.

"Not really. I'm Natsu!" The kid replied happily. Macao grinned back uncertainly.

"That's great, Natsu. I'm Macao, and this here is Wakaba." He said, gesturing at his companion.

"Say, where are your parents, kid?" Wakaba asked. Natsu's smile fell, replaced by a look of confusion.

"My what?" He said. Wakaba sighed.

"You know, the people who take care of you." Wakaba explained. The smile came back.

"Oh, you mean Igneel!" Natsu exclaimed. Then, to the two wizards' surprise, a look of extreme sadness crossed the boy's young face. "He left."

There was a moment of awkward silence, as Macao and Wakaba tried to process this information. Had this kid's father walked out on him and abandoned him, leaving him to wander around alone? Before they could ask, the crushing sadness vanished from the boy's face, replaced by a look of such fierce determination, it made both wizards' eyebrows shoot skywards.

"It doesn't matter, because I'm going to find him. I'll become as powerful as I have to. No matter what it takes, I promise I'll find him." Natsu swore, fists clenching. Wakaba gulped. This kid was something else. It was intimidating. And there was something about him, something that made Wakaba want to run. Some primal instinct was telling him that this kid was different. Different and dangerous.

Then the moment passed, and the kid was smiling again. Wakaba laughed nervously.

"That's great, kid. Where are you going to start looking?" He asked, trying to get a feel for the boy's plans. After all, if he was planning on doing something reckless, then Macao and Wakaba would be obliged to stop him.

"Here, of course." Natsu answered, and implied "duh" in his voice. Macao smiled tolerantly.

"And after that?"

"Oh. I dunno. I'll find somewhere else to look." The kid replied, shrugging indifferently. Macao was about to point out just how vague and dumb that plan was, when the kid's stomach rumbled loudly. Natsu laughed.

"I'm hungry. I'm gonna find food." He declared, and much to Macao and Wakaba's surprise, he proceeded to sniff the air. His eyes lit up and he turned to seek out food. Frowning, Wakaba stopped him.

"Kid, you got any money?" He asked. Natsu paused.

"Money… that's the stuff that Igneel told me about! That humans give people in exchange for items of real value!" He exclaimed happily. The statement threw both Fairy Tail wizards for a loop. One, he talked about money as though he had only ever heard about it, which was very unlikely. Two, he referred to other people as humans, as though he were something else, and three, he had effectively just dissed money. Wakaba sighed.

"Come with us, kid. We'll treat you." He offered, resigned. The kid grinned and fist-pumped the air.

"All right!" He yelled.

Despite themselves, the two Guild members laughed.

Mere minutes later, their happy expressions had turned to horrified and slightly disgusted ones. The kid ate like no one they had ever met. And apparently, his ability to keep eating was incredible. Their jaws hit the table when he ordered yet another dish.

"So…kid…" Wakaba started uncomfortably. "What are you doing here? In this town, I mean."

Natsu shrugged. "Looking for Igneel, of course. He raised me in a forest that's not too far from here. So I thought, maybe he came here." The kid answered, a little sadly. Macao gaped.

"You were raised in a forest? Alone?" He demanded.

"No. I had Igneel." Natsu replied slowly, growing exasperated.

"So this Igneel left you alone, in the middle of a forest." Wakaba concluded. Natsu nodded. Honestly, how hard was it to understand? But Wakaba wasn't done.

"So is this the first time you've been in a city?" He asked. Natsu laughed.

"This is the first time I've spoken to a human!" He chuckled, shoving down more food. Both men sweatdropped.

"You can't be serious…" Macao whispered, staring at the boy in shock.

"What about Igneel?" Wakaba asked, pleading with the kid to retract his previous statement. This was quickly becoming too weird. Natsu grinned.

"Igneel's not human. He's a fire dragon!"

And just like that, relief swept through the guild members. Because clearly the boy had an overactive imagination, since there was no way the kid was raised by a dragon. Obviously the poor boy believed what he was saying, but that was just like when kids had imaginary friends. Not real, but the kid thought it was.

Macao smiled tolerantly at the kid who was still explaining how awesome and powerful Igneel was. The huge, proud grin on his face was almost funny to the two older men. Then Natsu seemed to once again remember that Igneel was gone, and he stopped. Wakaba sighed as he remembered that though a lot of what the boy said couldn't be taken seriously, he probably really had been abandoned by his father. Maybe all this talk about dragons was his way of dealing with that.

Shaking his head to clear it, Natsu grinned up at the two men. "What are you guys doing here?" He asked. Wakaba smiled proudly.

"Well, kid, we're wizards from the best guild in the world." He started. Natsu gaped in open awe.

"No way! You guys are wizards?" He said excitedly.

"Sure are." Wakaba said, leaning back in his chair. Suddenly Natsu was on his feet, arms raised excitedly.

"That's so cool!" He exclaimed.

Wakaba chuckled. "Yep. We're on our way back from a mission. We had to defeat some terrifying monsters, evil things that tried to eat us alive!" He said. He wasn't sure what he was expecting. Probably for the kid to shrink back in fear, or gasp in shock and awe. Definitely not for him his face to light up even further, as though Wakaba had just told him he was getting a puppy for Christmas.

"Sounds like fun!" He said, an almost feral gleam in his eye. Wakaba chuckled nervously.

"Yeah… fun..." He said, rubbing the back of his neck. Macao chose this moment to intervene.

"Sorry, but we actually have a train to catch pretty soon." He said, a bleak expression firmly in place as he took in the bill. He reluctantly paid up, before leaving the restaurant. He turned to the pink haired kid.

"Well, we gotta head home, kid. Our guild is waiting for us." He said, looking down at the small boy. For a moment, Natsu looked oddly wistful, as though that was something he wanted, before the look was replaced with the customary grin.

"Ok then!" He said. Macao and Wakaba waved, and walked away.

It took them all of five seconds to realise the kid was following them. This was because he was casually strolling next to them, arms folded behind his head, huge smile firmly in place.

"Uh… kid?" Macao said, wondering exactly how he had acquired this new companion. Before he could effectively find a way to get rid of him, hands grabbed him from inside a building. Before he could react, two bandits were holding his arms behind him, restraining him. He could see Wakaba in the same position. He was about to draw on his magic when he heard a voice.

"Ah ah ah… I wouldn't do that…" It sneered menacingly. Macao growled as Natsu was pulled in front of them, two men holding him, a third holding a knife to his throat.