Fairy Tail: Homecoming

The Tale of the One-Eyed Pirate

Author's Note 1: We've seen Natsu and Lucy's origins, and now we get Alexander's in this chapter.

Chapter 10: The Tale of the One-Eyed Pirate

Night had fallen over the Badlands, and the twelve wizards had already set up camp. Natsu had set up a fire to keep them warm, and the group was in the midst of eating their dinner.

"D-Deserts make no sense!" Happy shouted, wrapping himself in a blanket as he shivered. "They're blazing hot during the day and cold as Gray during the night! Why?!"

"Well, you see..." Seward began to speak.

"Don't bother trying to explain it." Zeke chimed in as he ate one of the boxed dinners Juvia had prepared for him before he left. "Science goes right over Happy's head."

"Hey!" The blue cat shouted.

"You know it's true."

Happy just pouted before going back to eating his sushi. As this was going on, Seward started to look at the map of the Badlands that Siegrain had supplied them with.

"Well, we've made some progress. By my estimations, we've covered at least 128 feet of ground today."

"Phew, that's a relief." Lucy said. "So does that mean..."

"The Badlands covers over 10,000 feet of land. And that's being generous." Zeke said, instantly bringing down Lucy's (and pretty much everybody's) mood.

"Whelp, at least we're gonna have one hell of a story to tell our guildmates." Izumi proclaimed, trying to cheer everyone up. "After all, how many people get to say they fought a fully-grown Fang Worm and lived?"

"You got a point there." Claudia replied before clinking her drink against Izumi's. And hearing the Water Dragon-Slayer talk made Natsu remember something he had meant to ask her.

"Hey, Azula..."

"It's Izumi." The blond woman corrected the male dragon-slayer.

"Right, sorry." Natsu quickly apologized before continuing. "I just wanted to ask you about the dragon who raised you."

"Raised me?" Izumi asked, slightly confused by that statement. "I wouldn't say raised. Aquaria was more like a family friend."

"Huh. Odd." Lucy stated. "Most of the dragon-slayer's we've met were adopted by their dragons."

And no seemed to notice Alexander getting a strange look in his eyes at the mention of that.

"So how did your family become friends with a dragon?" Alyssa asked.

"Well, it was sort by accident. You see, my father's a traveling doctor and when I was little, me and my mom used to join him whenever he would head out somewhere. We were on our way back home when we came across an injured woman bleeding on the road." Izumi began to explain. "My dad believed that you should always help those in need, even if they're total strangers. So he and my mom rushed to help the woman. And we could tell right away that she wasn't normal."

"How so?" Zeke asked.

"Well for one, her blood was dark blue. Her teeth were sharper than a normal human's, and her pupils were slit." The Water Dragon-Slayer explained, which surprised Natsu. "Anyway, she had a cut across her back that my father tried to treat, but she stopped him and told us to take her to a nearby lake. I guess that since they were unfamiliar with the woman's anatomy, my parents decided to listen to her and we brought to a lake. And we did, she submerged herself in the water and transformed into her dragon form. She said, 'Thank you, humans. I am Aquaria, the Water Dragon. And you have my eternal gratitude.'"