Ch 3: A Dragon on his own

October 22nd, X778 in a clearing of the Worth Woodsea:

In a clearing that just so happened to be the place that just over a year ago one of the world's strongest alliances was formed. And just like back then, all three heads of the alliance currently unknown as the Balam Alliance were gathered to discuss with one another. But this time they all felt a lot better since a certain dragon slayer wasn't prowling around, or at least that is what they hoped. That isn't to say that everything was good between these unlikely allies, it was far from it, which anyone could tell by the heated conversation that they were having at the moment.

"I honestly don't see why you're so upset." said Brain with a little chuckle as he looked away from the seething Hades.

"I'm upset because you fucked up!" shouted out Hades as he glared at the infuriating ex-Council employee.

"How so?" he asked back with an eyebrow raised in a mocking manner.

"Now you're just trying to piss me off." replied Hades as his magic started to flare up.

"Maybe I am Hades, or maybe I honestly don't think I messed up like you claim I did. Because as far as I can tell I did exactly as Acnologia told me to, the boy now has a strong hatred towards humans and escaped on his own." he stated now giving his fellow head of the Balam Alliance a smug grin. "And I'd also like to add that he killed quite a few people while doing it."

"That's good to hear." chimed in Mard Geer from his stump that he used last time they were all here.

"Yes, but that doesn't change the reason that I called the both of you here." said Hades as he pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to calm down. "After his escape there hasn't been a single trace of him, which as I'm sure the two of you can realize is a slight problem for us."

"Maybe for you it is." commented Brain as he gave him a wicked grin. And that would have most likely been Hades' snapping point if Mard Geer didn't step in between the two of them and start speaking the next second.

"That would definitely be a problem for Master Hades, and not only just him, but for the rest of us as well." stated the demon as he gave Brain a little smirk. "Acnologia has never been one to care who's at fault, he would more than likely just dispose of our entire little group and start a new one." he continued to say still with his smirk spread across his lips.

"And that's exactly why I organized this little meeting." said Hades with a sigh, glad that at least one of his Allies seemed to be a halfway intelligent being.

"So we can help clean up your mess?" asked Brain, with a crazed glint in his eyes as he locked them with his fellow human.

"Why you arrogant bastard." growled out Hades, once again getting ready to throw down with the white haired mage that was constantly getting on his nerves.

"Bring it on little Fairy." taunted Brain as he motioned for Hades to come at him.

"Enough, I thought that the whole purpose for our little Alliance was so that we weren't constantly at each other's throats? Well that and the other reason, but if I was wrong about the former than I might as well dispose of the two of you right now." said Mard Geer as he looked between the two humans.

"This time that monster isn't here; and all you brought along with you was a single woman!" he shouted back, clearly intent on starting something at this meeting of theirs.

"You know that numbers don't mean everything Brain." stated Hades as he shook his head at the foolish man.

"True, but they definitely help." he declared before lunging forward at the demon. But to his and Hades' shock he only made it a few steps before he completely stopped, as if frozen in time. "What in the hell did you just do to me?" he asked while looking at the demon with a stunned expression, since he knew that whatever was holding him back wasn't a magic spell he has ever encountered before.

"That my dear Brain is all thanks to my one associate with me." answered Mard Geer as he came up and patted him on the cheek. "It seems that you've already forgotten that there are more monsters out in the world other than just him. And some of us can be even more terrifying than him since we enjoy playing with our toys." he said as Brain turned around against his will and then fired off a beam of darkness into his own men. Who instead of jumping out of the way like any sane person would, just stood there like statues until they were eviscerated.

"But how?" asked Brain as he looked at his own hands in disbelief.

"Simple, you're nothing but mere insects to me and my kind. Something that I hope you will remember once we're done here, oh and I'm going to be the leader of our Alliance from now on." replied the demon as he went back to his stump. "Unless either of you think that you can take us on?" he asked as both of them raised their hands to their heads by themselves.

"I have no problems with that." replied Hades with a smile, seemingly unaffected by his body doing its own thing at the moment. Brain on the other hand looked livid, but after a few seconds he recomposed himself and once again had that smug grin of his.

"Neither do I." he replied.

"Good, you can release them now Seilah." said Mard Geer, only for the woman standing in the tree line behind him to nod her head and disappear into the forest surrounding them. "And as I was going to say before Brain decided to interrupt, just because there hasn't been any reports about a pink haired kid causing mayhem. That isn't to say he hasn't been in any of them, ones that more than likely deal with a fire breathing monster." he stated as the other two dark mages could finally move on their own.

"Do you realize how many of those there are?" asked Hades as he incredulously looked back at the demon.

"I'd have to assume a lot, which means you and the rest of your guild needs to get to work." he answered with a smile slowly spreading across his lips. "And it would seem that you need to look for more recruits Brain that is unless you decided to not bring all of them with you today."

"Of course I didn't bring my entire guild." spat out Brain as he sneered at Mard Geer.

"Well I think that covers what you were worried about Hades." he stated as he turned to the man he was addressing.

"It is, but it would really be appreciated if your guilds let mine know about anything that might be our missing dragon slayer." replied Hades as he turned away from the two of them and headed back to his Airship that was only a few hundred yards away.

"Mard Geer will be sure to let you know if we do." said the demon with an amused expression spread across his face. "Oh and remember you two, we're in an alliance so that means any other dark guild aligned with any of the other two is off limits." he said, having for the first time a serious expression.

"That won't be a problem for me and my guild at least." responded Hades before disappearing into the surrounding trees, only for a large airship to raise out of the trees a few seconds later.

"Despite what that old coot thinks, my guild will also not be a problem." stated Brain before somewhat sulking away.

"Make sure that both of you don't." said Mard Geer as he leaned back and looked up at the starry night sky.

"Why are we degrading ourselves with those puny vermin." asked a feminine voice as the hooded woman from before reappeared.

"Because Mard Geer is interested in this dragon slayer that has caught the eye of that monster." he replied as he continued to gaze up at the sky.

"That is another thing that doesn't make sense to me, why are we now taking orders from a dragon?" she asked in an upset tone that she failed at hiding from him.

"If you only knew what he was capable of, then you would also be doing as Mard Geer is. But this sounds more like Kyoka then you Seilah." he answered with a slight grin as the she demon became quiet. "Let's get back to work, Master is waiting for us to release him." he continued to say with a smile as he tenderly stroked the book in his hands.

"Once Master is reunited with us we'll no longer need to work with any of them." she whispered to herself as a huge smile made its way across her lips. With the departure of demons the clearing was once again completely desolate and void of life, making it beautiful in its own way.

November 3rd, X778 in a remote mountain range:

"I didn't think it was going to be this bad." said the female that was leading a group of three through the mountain range, which was currently in the middle of a full blown blizzard.

"Onee-chan, I'm starting to get cold and hungry." shouted out the smallest of the three who was in the middle of the other two.

"I think we should probably look for somewhere to get out of the wind!" yelled the one in the back in a somewhat deeper tone than the previous two.

"Fine, but I can barely see anything with this darn snow." replied the first one as she quickly glanced over her shoulder at her siblings. Her two younger siblings smiled back at her, which only made the knot in her stomach constrict more than it already was. Neither of them did anything to deserve being run out of their village besides being related to her that is.

All she did was try to get rid of the demon that was terrorizing the rest of their neighbors that were there for them after their parents' death. And she did just that, well not exactly given that said demon now possessed her. At least that was what they were yelling at her as they chased her and her siblings out of town with pitchforks and torches. That she was fairly sure they would have used on her if her younger sister didn't defend her by blocking their path.

"I won't let either of you two die because of me." she mumbled to herself as she put her head down and continued to trudge through the snow that was progressively getting deeper.

"What about up there?" asked the little one as loud as she could while pointing up to the glowing mouth of a cave. The three weary travelers felt warmer just from looking up at the orange glow radiating from the cave entrance about one hundred yards above them.

"It looks warm." stated the male of the group.

"It does, but that isn't normal." replied the older girl as they all came to a stop and gazed up at the inviting cave entrance. She couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible was responsible for the orange glow that was beckoning them in.

"Maybe it's some travelers like us that got caught in the storm." suggested the younger one as she looked back and forth between her older siblings.

"She might be right." said the male as he looked at his older sister with a slight smile.

"Fine." she relented with a sigh. After seeing both of her siblings shivering since the blizzard started an hour ago; they really didn't have any other option if they didn't want to freeze to death. But all of them started to second guess themselves as they got closer to the cave.

And that was thanks to the sounds of what they could only describe as monster smashing around in it and came echoing out. None the less, their need to warm up spurred the three of them to climb up to the mouth of the cave and peer in. What they saw right away shocked them; spread out near the entrance of the cave was a small camp with everything that a single traveler would need on a long journey.

"See, it's just another traveler." chirped the little one as she climbed into the cave before either of her siblings could stop her.

"Lisanna get back here!" hissed her older sister as she frantically looked around for the source of all that noise they heard earlier, which coincidentally stopped all of a sudden.

"But why, onee-chan?" Lisanna asked back with a slight pout, before turning around and taking a seat next to the campfire that was in the middle of the campsite.

"Because we don't know who's this is or what was causing all of that noise earlier." she hissed back, only for her mouth to drop open in shock as she watched her younger brother join Lisanna.

"You should warm up while we've got the chance onee-chan." stated the boy as he patted the spot in between him and Lisanna.

"Fine, but we're leaving as soon as the blizzard lets up." she declared as she climbed up to join them.

"Do you think they would mind if we ate that?" asked Lisanna as she pointed to the mysterious meat that was cooking on top of the roaring fire.

"Yes, and more importantly we're not thieves." she hissed back as she gave her younger sister a slight glare.

"But it's going to go to waste if we don't Mira-nee." pointed out their brother as he looked at the cooking meat with a little drool starting to form at the corners of his lips.

"I can't believe that I'm hearing that from you too Elfman!" Mira stated with a shocked look, which soon faded away as the aroma finally started to register with her now that she wasn't freezing anymore. "It does look really delicious and it would really be a shame for it to go to waste." she said after they sat there quietly for a few more minutes in silence.

"Yeah!" cheered Lisanna before getting up and pulling off a piece and handing it to her brother. She did this until each of them had a good piece, roughly the same size for each of them. "Let's eat!" she said before they all dug in like starved animals, which was only because the last time they had meat like this was when they were still at their old village.

And just like that the three of them were happily eating together, laughing and overall enjoying the slight reprieve they were currently having. It made them completely forget about what drove them into the mountains just a few days ago. They were sitting around the fire with small smiles, discussing what their next move was going to be when all of a sudden the fire flew further into the cave and disappeared.

"What was that?" asked Elfman in a terrified tone as he grabbed Lisanna and instinctively put her in between the two of them.

"I don't know." whispered Mira as she got to her knees and quickly tried to start the fire again. But each time that it looked like it was about to start again it was sucked further into the cave.

"I'm scared." mumbled Lisanna from in between the two of them.

"Let's get out of here." she suggested since she herself was starting to freak out. But as their little group started to make their way to the mouth of the cave, they were forced to a halt when a wall of fire sprung up to block their escape.

"You shouldn't eat someone else's food without checking with them first." came the voice of a boy from deeper within the cave. The three quickly twirled around, only for them to be met with nothing but darkness just a few feet away from them.

"We didn't want it to go to waste." stuttered out Elfman as he tried to find who the voice belonged to.

"So that means you can just take it?" asked the voice from the right side of the cave, causing all three of them to snap their heads in that direction.

"No it doesn't, but we were starving and freezing to death out there." stated Mira as she gestured to the mouth of the cave that was still blocked by fire.

"And why is that?" the voice now asked from the left side of the cave, which surprised the siblings at his speed and lack of noise as he did so.

"That's none of your business!" she shouted back at him, not wanting to relive what they went through only a few days earlier.

"You made it my business when you came into my home uninvited and started to eat my food." replied the voice in a deep growl that scared the three into wondering if they were even talking with a human. "So one of you better start talking soon, otherwise none of you will make it out of here alive." continued the voice in the same tone that terrified the siblings.

"We were chased out." blurted out Lisanna as she cowered behind both of her siblings.

"Why in the world would they do something like that?" he asked back in his normal voice, which caused the two older siblings to let out a sigh of relief.

"They did that because they're a bunch of ungrateful idiots." mumbled Elfman as a slight scowl came over his face.

"That doesn't really help me." stated the voice, once again coming from a new position that they didn't expect to hear him from.

"Onee-chan got rid of a demon for them!" replied Lisanna with a proud smile as she stepped out from behind the two of them and looked up at her sister. "But afterwards her arm changed and because of that they said she was possessed and tried to take us away from her. Some of them even tried to kill her." she finished with a sniffle and was on the brink of starting to cry. But before she could, she was enveloped in a tender hug by her older sister who started to try and calm her down.

Mira didn't really get to far with that before all three of them fell on their butts in sheer shock as a small explosion of fire went off just a few feet away from them. But to all of their surprise it gave them the briefest glimpse of the person they had been conversing with. And unless all of their eyes were playing tricks on them, it was a boy around Mira's age which was soon confirmed as he continued to rampage.

"Those ungrateful bastards!" he bellowed before lighting his fist on fire and smashing a bolder to pieces until all that remained of it was dust. "Why are they always so cruel?" he shouted out as he continued to destroy whatever he could get his hands on.

"Some of them were still nice." squeaked out Lisanna from her hiding spot behind Elfman.

"But I'm betting that there were more of them that weren't." stated the boy as he looked at them with both of his fists still on fire. This allowed them to see the snarl that he currently had, which also caused the siblings' attention to be drawn towards his menacing fangs.

"Yes, but they were just scared." she replied in a timid tone as she watched him turn away from them.

"That's one of the many things wrong with humans." he said more to himself than to his unexpected guests. "If they don't understand something or are even the slightest bit afraid of it, their first reaction is to try and kill it. Something that we have in common." he continued to say while now pacing in front of them.

"Someone tried to kill you?" asked Mira as she looked at the cloaked boy pacing back and forth.

"They were supposed to, but instead they did something much worse." he replied now with his back towards them.

"What could be worse than dying?" inquired Elfman with a confused expression.

"How about being experimented on for almost a full year?" he asked with a sad chuckle before continuing on. "And I'm not talking about your standard tests here, they beat me mercilessly just to figure out how much I could handle. Those were almost a daily occurrence, after which they would force me to train until I couldn't move anymore."

This caused the three siblings eyes to go wide as they looked at the boy, now feeling sorry for anyone having to go through something like that. Little did any of them know that it was only the beginning, since it seemed like he needed to vent his frustration and they were probably the only people he has seen in a long time.

"I could have easily handled all of that, but no, that bastard had to go even further!" he shouted out while going back to destroying anything that he could get his hands on.

"What did he do?" asked Mira, wanting to also know who he was referring to but decided that she could ask him about that later.

"He made me into a murderer!" he yelled before unleashing a stream of fire from his mouth that went hurtling into the cave until it disappeared. Needless to say Mira and her younger siblings were now even more terrified of the boy than they were before. But none of them even tried to sneak away, which they actually could have done since the fire blocking their path faded away during his last tantrum. Instead they all just stood there, waiting for him to calm down so that they could try and help him.

"You don't look like a murderer to me." stated Lisanna after the boy came back to them.

"Thanks, but I can tell that you're still afraid of me." he replied with a hint of venom in his tone.

"Well that's only because I don't know you yet." she replied with a smile as she stepped in front of her sister. Intent on showing the strange boy that everyone in the world wasn't as cruel as he thought they were, but Mira's hand prevented her from going more than two steps towards him.

"Thanks, but your sister is right to keep you away from me." he stated with a sad smile coming over the lower half of his face, which was the only part of him that they could clearly see. "Anyone that gets close to me has a funny way of disappearing or ending up dead." he said just loud enough for them to barely hear him. "You three are free to stay here as long as you want."

"We don't want to be a bother more than we already have." responded Mira as she continued to watch him carefully.

"You guys aren't really a bother at all." he said as he started to pack up a few things. "And just so you know Mira, you aren't possessed or anything like that. You're a mage and quite a strong one at that for someone our age." he said while giving her a small smile.

"I'm a mage?" she asked in disbelief as he gave her a quick nod. "And how did you know my name?" she asked now glaring at him.

"Elfman and Lisanna said it more than once while you guys were eating, which is also how I know their names as well. If you three continue to travel by yourselves that is something you should definitely work on. Along with not letting people know that you're a mage since that is why I was captured and experimented on." he answered while tossing a small bag over one shoulder and readjusting his cloak to cover himself better.

"Are you leaving?" asked Elfman as he looked back outside of the cave at the raging blizzard.

"Yep, I can only really stay in one place for as long as a week, otherwise they might figure out that I'm still alive and come after me." he said with a little grin as he headed towards the mouth of the cave.

"Who is after you?" asked Mira as she watched him walk past them.

"The Council, who you guys should definitely never trust. Actually if you three want to survive I wouldn't trust anyone since they are only going to let you down." he stated as he came to a stop at the entrance.

"Even Onee-chan and Elf-nii?" asked Lisanna as she looked at both of her siblings. Only to quickly look back at the boy as he started to openly laugh, with a laughter that made the three of them want to hear more of it. But just as soon as it appeared it soon faded away as he looked over his shoulder at them.

"Nope Lisanna, the only people that you can truly trust in this cruel world is your family." he answered before turning back away from them and heading into the blizzard.

"So are you saying we shouldn't trust you as well?" asked Mira as she watched him start to disappear into the snow storm.

"Definitely, I'm just some stranger that you accidentally ran into on top of a mountain." was his reply before he was gone. Leaving behind three slightly confused kids in a cozy cave that they soon realized had even more food and other supplies for the rest of their journey.

November 5th, X778, just outside of a small village:

"So this is where they used to live." said Natsu to himself as he looked at the quaint little village positioned in the bottom of the valley.

"Why hello there." greeted an elderly farmer as he waved at the teen heading to the village.

"Hello Sir, do you happen to know how many people live down there?" he asked back while pointing to the village that was just starting to come to life as the sun started to rise.

"A few hundred if I had to guess, which is why it's odd to see a traveler in these parts." answered the elderly man as he looked down at the village with a fond smile.

"Well that will definitely make things easier for me." stated Natsu as a smirk slowly spread across his face.

"What's going to be easier for you my boy?" asked the farmer as he looked at the cloaked boy with a wary glance.

"Finding and getting rid of the trash that resides there." he replied as he started to walk down towards the village.

"But our village doesn't have a problem like that." stated the farmer with a confused expression.

"The trash that I'm going to be getting rid of likes to hide in plain sight. Actually that reminds me, did you happen to be part of the group that ran out three children a few days ago?" he asked as he came to a stop and slowly turned around to look at the now slightly nervous man.

"How in the world did you hear about that?" asked the elderly farmer as he started to back away from the boy coming towards him.

"It doesn't really matter how I found out, what matters is did you help chase out a family that only tried to help out this moronic village?" he asked again as both of his fists caught on fire, effectively scaring the shit out of the man he was questioning.

"I didn't have anything to do with that horrid business, I swear." stuttered out the elderly man as he didn't watch where he was going. And because of that he accidentally tripped over a root sticking out behind him, which caused him to watch as a stream of fire flew over him and completely obliterated the tree that caused him to fall.

"Good, because if you had then it would have been you that I hit instead of that tree." replied Natsu as he turned away from him and headed to the village. "Oh and if you value your life I wouldn't say anything about what is going to happen here today or go into town for a little while." he finished without even looking back at the terrified man that couldn't take his eyes off of the tree that was destroyed like it was nothing.

As Natsu casually walked through the streets he couldn't help but feel sorry for the three siblings. The village was actually quite nice and even welcoming to a stranger such as himself, but he knew that all of it was a lie. If it wasn't, then why would they have tried to kill Mira like they had a few days ago. Or settle with banishing her and her siblings over something as stupid as her hand changing since she didn't know how to control her magic just yet.

"Can you hear me boy?" asked a woman as she waved her hands in front of her face.

"Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts there." he replied with a sheepish grin as he readjusted his hood.

"I was saying that a nice little family used to live in that house you were asking about. That is until their parents died and the oldest daughter turned into a monster." she continued to say as she shook her head in disgust.

"Do you actually believe that she was a monster?" he inquired as he got ready to listen carefully to her response.

"How could you not, her hand turned purple and had scales all over it. And that wasn't even the worst part, her fingers turned into razor sharp claws and she could manipulate her siblings into doing whatever she wanted them to." replied the lady as she clicked her tongue in disgust.

"I take it that your village doesn't have too many mages in it." he stated, causing the woman to look at him funny.

"And why would you say that?" she asked him back.

"Because if you had even a few, then you imbeciles would have realized that she was a Take-Over mage." he replied in a harsh tone that scared the woman for a second. That is until she remembered that she was only talking to a teen, who wasn't even from around here.

"What did you call me you little brat?" she asked while giving him her most intimidating glare that she could muster up.

"Wow you really are stupid." he answered, only to stop her hand before it even came close to striking him. "Did no one ever teach you that it's wrong to hit a kid?" he asked while looking up at her with a wicked little grin.

"Didn't your parents teach you to respect your elders?" she asked him back while trying to hide how much pain she was in only from his tight grip on her.

"I actually never met my real parents, or at least to my knowledge that is. The closest thing I ever had to one was Igneel and he taught me to respect those that are stronger than me." he said while heating up his hand currently holding her in place. "And you are definitely not one of them; actually I'm fairly certain that everyone in this puny little village of yours aren't even a challenge for me."

By this time she was now screaming out in pain, which caused a few of the other villagers to look at the two of them in concern. Concern that only grew after Natsu let the woman go and punched the man trying to sneak up on him in the face. This unfortunately was only the beginning for the man now clutching his broken nose as the dragon slayer glared down at him.

"So you guys think it's fun to chase out a group of kids just because one of them has a different looking arm." said Natsu as he placed a foot on the man's throat as he pulled up one of his arms. "Well I guess that means your time living in this village is now up." he said before summoning his flames in his other hand, that he then proceeded to send at the man's arm that he was still holding. It was at this point that most of the villagers ran off, possibly to try and go get help but for most they just took off for their own safety.

"Now I want you to go and round up everyone that took part in your little mob that so bravely faced off against those kids and bring them back here by the end of the day." he said while glaring at the girl he burned just moments ago. "Oh and if you decided to try and make a run for it I'll hunt you down before you make it a single step out of this shitty valley."

The lady was too scared to speak, so she quickly nodded her head before taking off into the village and disappearing behind the corner of a building. This meant that the dragon slayer was left all alone once again, something that he actually didn't mind since most situations that he wasn't ended with someone else being beaten almost to death by him. He had hoped that after escaping that god forsaken place that he could fit in with the rest of society, but that was quickly proven to be almost an impossible dream of his.

It wasn't that he couldn't act normal around other people; it just seemed that something about him brought about all sorts of crazy situations. The first town he entered and started to stay at was attacked by a group of bandits just a week later. And he was going to just sit back and let the bandits do as they pleased, but one of the morons decided to try and take the few things that he had started to accumulate. Of course he wasn't going to just sit back and let some weakling push him around like that, which lead to him taking on the whole gang all by himself.

He half expected the citizens of the town to praise him, but instead they were completely livid with him. Shouting at him, saying that he just doomed the whole town by standing up to those thugs since only more of them were going to come back next time. He didn't really understand right away, but after a girl around his age started to talk with him for a few minutes he figured it out. So he decided to permanently fix that problem for the town, which only took him the rest of the day to track down the rest of the gang and kill them so that they could never hurt anyone again.

But once again he was completely wrong about how the town would react to the news that he took care of the rest of the gang for them. They all looked at him as if he was some sort of monster, even the girl that had helped him understand their situation couldn't look at him. That was when Natsu decided he didn't belong in a city and would only visit them when he needed to resupply his stores. Even that didn't seem like it would work out for him, because almost every time he ventured into a town some sort of idiot would take notice of his odd hair color and try to start something with him. This is why he now always wears a cloak to hide his pink hair from the rest of the world.

These encounters varied from kids just making fun of him, to weirdos actually trying to capture him saying that they could sell him for a large sum of jewels. It just seemed as if fate itself was trying to make every moment of his existence a struggle for him. He knew that he was partially to blame for some of the situations that he would accidentally come across, but he couldn't help but be curious when his senses pick up on something that was off. And because of that he kept finding himself going up against humans that he deemed worthless, which he would easily dispose of. Only for those that he saved to look at him as if he was far worse than the ones he just saved them from.

"There he is!" shouted out a man at the front of a mob coming towards him as the sun started to set.

"Looks like you guys just made it in time." he stated with a sinister smirk on display for them. Making a quick mental note to never let himself get so wrapped up in his own thoughts like that again.

"Do you really think you can take all of us on by yourself boy?" yelled a different man from within the mob.

"Oh I don't think, I know I can take all of you on." he replied as he lifted up the body of the man he charred the arm of earlier in the day with just a single arm. "Unlike last time you all banded together, now you're facing a mage that can actually fight." he declared while tossing the man into the mob.

That was all he needed to do to get them to charge at him in an unorganized fashion, not that it would have helped if they weren't. Each thrust or jab sent at Natsu was so slow to him that he barely even had to try to dodge them, with him usually being able to disarm them in the process. This was one of the reasons he didn't like fighting against normal humans, they were just a joke for him and provided very little challenge. So with a tired sigh he decided to end this little charade of theirs, which he accomplished in just a few minutes.

"You aren't even worth my time." he said while spitting at the ground that now had people scattered all about it. All of them moaning in pain from either broken bones that the dragon slayer gave them, or a series of bruises and burns.

"Why?" grunted out one of the badly beaten people scattered across the ground.

"Why what?" he asked back with an eyebrow raised questioningly.

"Why are you even here?" asked a different person.

"Oh, isn't it obvious?" he asked as his sinister grin returned to his lips and got nothing but moans of agony from the group. "I'm here to get rid of the human garbage that infests this little village of yours. Garbage that tried to murder a girl that took care of a demon for them." he stated as shocked looks came over all of their faces.

"But it looks like I need to be on my way." he said while gesturing to the setting sun behind him. This caused a few of them to let out sighs of relief, which they soon realized was premature when screams of agony started to ring out. And along with those screams they got to witness each member of their mob slowly be consumed one by one by a pillar of flames until none of them were left.

"You all proved to me that you had nothing of value left in you when you got together to kill a young and scared girl, which you probably would have done if her sister hadn't stepped in when she did." he said while looking at the charred bones scattered all around him. "At least now I know you can never harm anyone else ever again." he commented while heading out of the village without even sparing them a second glance.

December 18th, X778, in a random forest of Fiore:

"Man, why did Master send me of all people to try and hunt down this rogue mage? Didn't he know that I was still in the middle of my hundred year quest?" asked an orange haired mage as he tossed aside his bag and slumped down to the ground with his back against a tree.

Just from one look at this man most people would assume that he's either a homeless man or a drifter due to his shabby cloak and overall unkempt appearance. But they couldn't be further from the truth, except for those that assumed he was a drifter that is, this man was none other than Gildarts Clive. A name that surprisingly isn't as well-known as one might think for someone at the level of Wizard Saint and ace of the country's most destructive guild.

"Although, now that I'm actually doing it I don't really know if any of the other members could handle something like this." he stated as he looked up into the tree he was sitting beneath. It was a full month ago when he got the urgent request from Makarov to take a break from his current job and completely focus on this new one. A job that is turning out to be a whole lot more difficult than he initially thought it would be.

The first thing that made it difficult for him was all of the different descriptions he got from the remaining villagers where the massacre took place. Some said the thing responsible for all of the killings was a fire demon that stood over ten feet tall with wings and horns. But Gildarts could easily tell that was a complete lie after looking over the scene that was still blocked off when he got there. Unfortunately the rest of descriptions about the rogue mage varied so much that the only thing he was fairly certain about was the person's height, which put the person just a few inches taller than Makarov.

In other words all Gildarts currently had to work with to find this mage was that whoever it was is short and extremely deadly with fire magic. Gildarts honestly would have given up on this mission if the Master hadn't stressed that it was of the utmost importance. When asking why the elderly guild Master could only say that he just had a feeling about it and that if they did nothing then countless more lives would be lost.

So with that in mind the orange haired crash mage doggedly followed any lead that might be traced back to a powerful fire mage. With his last lead sending him to this forest where the nearby inhabitants reported seeing huge geysers of fire erupting from the forest during the night for the past three days. If it turned out that this one didn't pan out either, he didn't really know what he'd do next. But as fate would have it, he had been on the rogue mage's trail the entire time.

"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!" rang out from nearby, which gave Gildarts just enough time to react and put up a defensive hand before he was consumed by a giant stream of fire. The stream continued on for a full minute before it finally died down, revealing that a large swath of the forest was now reduced to a smoldering wasteland.

"Damn, I don't think I've ever faced off against a fire mage as strong as you." said Gildarts with a smirk as he put down his arm. He expected to be facing off against someone at least his age since that initial attack actually singed his cloak a little bit. But instead of that all he could see was the devastation that was left in the rogue mage's wake and not a single trace of said person.

He knew that if the person was actually able to disappear that quickly he had very little chances of tracking them down in this forest. So the Crash mage decided to see if he could lure the person out and see if they could settle this peacefully. For some reason Master Makarov was confident that whoever attacked that little village had a very specific reason for attacking the people that he did. Because if they didn't, then why in the world didn't they decimate the rest of the village since it was clear that whoever did it easily could have if they wanted to.

"I hope you realize that you just missed your only opportunity to land a sneak attack on me." stated Gildarts as he slowly scanned the forest for any signs of his attacker.

"FIRE DRAGON'S BLAST!" shouted the unknown attacker from behind the older mage. But just like last time, Gildarts was able to counter the weaker stream of fire with just a single outstretched hand. This apparently surprised his attacker just long enough for the crash mage to get a glimpse of him. And what he saw shocked the veteran mage for more than just one reason.

The one responsible for the last two attacks was only a young teen, who he would roughly put at the age of fifteen. Although that wasn't what shocked him the most, no it was the teen's eyes which held the emotions of someone that has already been put through the wringer. But along with that he could also see a glimpse of fiery determination that looked as if it could never be put out.

"Wait!" he said while raising both of his hands in surrender only for the teen to disappear. "I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to talk." he continued to say as he once again went back to looking at the trees surrounding him. Gildarts couldn't help but be impressed with this young mage, not only was he extremely strong in the magical sense. But he also clearly worked on other things that most mages would tend to neglect, like physical training and other useful survival skills that apparently this kid was extremely skilled at.

"I've heard that lie before." came the voice of the male teen from within the cover of the trees.

"And I don't doubt that, no one can have that look in your eyes without being taught a few hard lessons." replied Gildarts only for a sad little chuckle to ring out from a different position than before.

"If only you knew." said the voice once again from a new location. "Now tell me why you've been tracking me for the past month?" asked the teen as he stepped into view of the older mage, but kept enough distance between the two of them so Gildarts couldn't get a good look at him.

"I was sent to deal with a rogue mage that killed over twenty innocent villagers a little over a month ago." he replied, and he was about to continue until a deep growl came from the teen that even sent a small shiver down his spine.

"Those bastards weren't innocent, and if they are considered that by whatever standards you people have then I'll have nothing to do with your kind." spat out the teen as both of his fists caught on fire and only continued to grow in size along with his anger.

"And what exactly did they do to deserve death?" asked Gildarts while still keeping his hands in the air and in clear sight of the boy.

"They were going to kill a girl just because she was a mage." he answered as he started to walk in a big circle around the Ace of Fairy Tail.

"But they didn't." replied Gildarts in a half question, wanting to make sure that they hadn't. Since if they did, then he honestly wouldn't lose any sleep over how the young teen dealt with them.

"No, instead they ran her and both of her two younger siblings out of their village. To fend for themselves, which was pretty much condemning all three of them to death instead of just one." stated the teen as he punched a tree only for it to fall over a second later. "So please tell me how any of those humans were innocent?"

"It sounds to me like it was all just a big misunderstanding." replied Gildarts as he took notice of the temperature steadily rising.

"One that would have resulted in three innocent children's death, if they hadn't been lucky enough to stumbled upon my cave in the middle of a blizzard. And just because it might be a misunderstanding doesn't excuse any of them for what they were about to do and what they actually did." he growled out as he glared at the older mage who wouldn't take his eyes off of him.

"That seems a little strict if you ask me." stated Gildarts before twirling out of the way of a flaming ball of fire.

"No it isn't, our world is nothing but a cruel place where only the strong survive. You can try and deny it all you want, heck even I tried to, but we both know that it's one of the few things that will never change." he declared with a sneer sent at the orange haired mage. "Which really isn't a problem for you considering how strong you are?"

"Yes I may be stronger than most, but I don't go around abusing that power." he said with a stern look sent back to the teen.

"And neither do I!" the teen shouted back. "All I've ever tried doing since I escaped that hell hole was try and have a normal life, but you humans won't let me. Even when I'm the one helping out and protecting others, I still get treated like a monster!" he shouted now looking even more upset than he was before.

"Why do you keep making it sound like you're not human, and what place did you escape from?" he inquired with an inquisitive expression coming over his face.

"I'm not, or at least not anymore." replied the teen in a sad tone. "And it's none of your business old man, so are we going to fight or what?" he shouted out while getting into a fighting stance and glaring at the man across from him.

"I'm not going to fight you kid. I can tell that you actually believe what you did back there was okay, and if what you just told me was true then it very well could be. And from our little conversation so far, I can tell that you've already had a very tough life that I'm guessing most wouldn't have lived through." answered Gildarts as a warm smile spread across his face.

"So then what are you going to do? Weren't you supposed to deal with me?" he asked as he came to a stop in front of the man, yet still a few yards away from him.

"That's a pretty good question." replied Gildarts as he started to rub his chin in thought, causing the teen to look at him with a look of complete disbelief. "I'll probably say something like I accidentally reduced the poor chap into nothing but a fine dust. Wouldn't be the first time that something like that happened for me." said the Fairy Tail mage with a little chuckle.

"So you're just going to let me go?" asked the teen, finding it really hard to believe that he'd be let off the hook that easily.

"Yep, but before you take off I'd like to have a few more words with you." he answered, causing the teen to look at him skeptically. "First off I'd like to offer you a place at the guild I belong to, I'm positive that you'd fit right in and could even make friends with some of the other kids your age."

"What's a guild?" asked the teen, obviously interested but was still hesitant around the mage that had been following him for a while now.

"Wow, where in the world have you been kid?" asked the crash mage with a big grin. Unfortunately he soon lost that grin after he took in the teen's expression, which was one of someone very conflicted. On one hand it looked like he had a few memories that brought a smile to his face, but it also seemed that he had more than enough terrible ones to prevent him from ever really having a full smile.

"My father and I lived out in the wild where everything was simpler, after that, let's just say I'm lucky to still be alive." answered the teen with a prominent frown.

"Oh… Well a guild is where mages gather together to go on jobs and practice their magic to get stronger. It's also a place that you can call your home, that's at least what Fairy Tail is for me which is the Guild that I belong to. And as I said earlier, there are a few kids that I think are around your age that you could become friends with." he said with a slight smile coming over his face towards the end.

"I'm able to get stronger on my own out here." stated the teen as he gestured to the wilderness surrounding the two of them. "As for making friends my own age, that hasn't really gone too well for me in the past and I don't really see that changing anytime soon." he continued to say, and was going to say more but was quickly cut off by the only person in a one mile radius of him.

"And why in the world do you think that? From what I've seen you'd fit right in with all of the other rowdy kids at my guild." asked Gildarts as he plopped down onto the ground and got into a comfortable sitting position.

"No one my age can keep up with me, and they always make fun of my appearance." answered the teen through clenched teeth.

"I can definitely believe that most kids your age wouldn't be able to keep up with you, but I'm also guessing that none of them were mages." he said with an eyebrow raised at the teen.

"Some of them were, and they were just like the rest of the mages that they sent to fight me to the death. Weak and unfortunate that they had to go up against me." replied the teen, not even realizing that he was once again giving the man more information about his troubling past then he probably should.

"That won't happen at Fairy Tail, and you look like most teens I see during my travels." he stated, only to realize that he has yet to see the teen's actual face. The only thing he's actually seen of the boy's face was his lower half, and his eyes that seemed to glow from underneath his cloak's hood.

"No I don't, and all of this could just be some sort of trap!" accused the teen as he cautiously took a few steps back.

"It isn't kid, but I can tell you've got a pretty good reason not to just take my word for it. Unfortunately I don't really have any other way of proving that to you, so I guess all I can say is that my offer will always be there for you. All you have to do is head to the city of Magnolia and tell that old geezer that I sent you and you'll be a member before you know it." said Gildarts as he got back up and slung his bag over his shoulder.

"Are you leaving?" asked the teen as the crash mage turned away from him and headed into the trees.

"Yep, I've got a job to get back to." he replied with a quick wave over his shoulder. "Actually kid, what's your name if you don't mind telling me?" he asked as he came to a stop and looked back over his shoulder.

"And why should I tell you that?" the teen yelled back as he glared at the older mage.

"Because it's only natural for friends to know each other's names, mine's Gildarts by the way. But if you don't want to tell me yours it's fine, I'll just keep calling you kid." he said before he started to walk away again.

"It's Natsu." mumbled out the teen as he looked down at his feet. Wondering if he was being too harsh on the man, because it honestly seemed like he was only trying to help him out.

"Well Natsu, next time we run into each other we'll have to have a real fight. I would love to have one with you right now, but as you are right now it really wouldn't be much of a challenge for me." stated the crash mage in cheery tone that caused the dragon slayer to start seething in rage.

"Is that so Old Man!" he shouted out as he started to gather a large amount of his flames between his hands. But rather than getting a response from the Fairy Tail mage, he watched as the man continued to walk away from him while starting up a cheery whistle. "FIRE DRAGON'S BRILLIANT FLAME!" bellowed Natsu as he hurled a huge ball of fire at the back of the man's head.

Natsu expected to finally land an attack on the infuriating man, but just like the earlier two attacks of his it was stopped by him just raising a single hand in defense.

"I don't know why you're hiding that pink hair of yours Natsu, it's kind of cute." stated the Ace of Fairy Tail before bursting into laughter as he continued on his way. Leaving behind an embarrassed dragon slayer that wanted nothing more than to beat the living shit out of him, but both of them knew that he had a long way to go before he would even be close to accomplishing something like that.

End of Chapter!

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. I could add Ultear's part, but I thought that I might as well leave that in the next chapter since it will transition into his time at Grimoire Heart.