The Dragon Father

Mavis

He flew for years, never resting, never stopping. He flew over the grand oceans, every time he saw land he would turn away; everything reminded him of Anna. The thing that reminded Acnologia of Anna the most was her kind; humans. He avoided every ship, every harbor; he wasn't ready to see Anna's kind... not yet. Onshore, man could hear the cries of a mourning dragon, though few knew what they were hearing.

"Acnologia..." Zeref whispered out to the sea, "Where are you?" 

As Acnologia flew, he lost all sense of space and time. Unknown to him was the fact that he became the last dragon on the earth.

He ate nothing but survived on the magic in the air. Soon his wings were tired and his muscles ached. He had flown for so long that he had reached the physical limit of a dragon. Then a strong burst of wind threw him off balance. His muscles ached so much that he simply aimed for the nearest spot of land to crash on.

He crashed on a strange island with a large tree growing in the center. He lay there unwilling to move and thankful for the rest. Then, he heard footsteps running towards him. He opened his eyes slowly and he saw a young eight-year-old girl with light blonde hair and large green eyes. She was standing in awe before his tired body wearing a layered pink. He was surprised to find that she was barefoot.

"Look, Zera, it's a dragon!" the young girl cried in delight to what appeared to be no one.

Acnologia stayed very still, he hardly breathed not wanting to scare the girl.

"Oh stop worrying, he looks hurt and tired," the young girl said, she crossed her arms and stared at the spot next to her. Acnologia focused on an area next to the girl and sensed a large concentrated amount of magic power. As he focused, the magic began to form a shape. Soon another small girl formed next to the blonde-haired one. The more he focused on the space, the clearer the girl became. She looked the same age as the younger girl but her hair was brown held up in red bows and her eyes were a soft olive.

"Mavis, I wouldn't go any closer," Zera warned.

"Why not?" asked Mavis, who took a step closer.

Acnologia rearranged himself and stared at the two girls. Zera began to tremble but Mavis only looked at him in awe.

"Mavis... let's go before he decides we look tasty," Zera whispered frantically.

Then Acnologia began to laugh, it had been a while since he had laughed. "Oh children, I won't eat you," he chuckled.

"You... You can TALK!" Mavis said amazed.

"All dragons can talk, some just choose not to. And besides, I'm not a real dragon," he laughed.

"Then what are you?" Zera asked crossly.

Acnologia yawned and stretched transforming into his human form. He was sitting on the ground rather contentedly, he had missed land he realized. Slowly he yawned again and stretched in his human form realizing how much he had missed his human form too.

"YOU'RE A HUMAN!" Zera cried.

"No, I'm a dragon slayer," he corrected.

"Cool," Mavis said eagerly with stars in her eyes.

"Forgive her, I'm Zera, this is Mavis," Zera sighed looking at her friend.

He nodded his head politely.

"You must have come a long way... how old are you?" Mavis asked eagerly.

"Mavis! You can't just ask a stranger that!" Zera cried coming between the two.

"To be quite honest, I don't know anymore," he replied.

"I bet you know a whole lot!" Mavis cried pushing Zera aside so she could come closer to the dragon king.

"Well, that's debatable," he sighed leaning away from her.

"Can you tell me?" she asked with a gleam in her eyes leaning closer until their noses were almost touching.

"What?" he asked.

"Oh boy," Zera sighed.

"Can you tell me all you know; I want to learn everything about everything!" Mavis smiled backing away from him and skipping about.

'Oh boy, she's that type,' Acnologia thought.

"Please tell me everything! All that you've seen in your travels, all that you know!" Mavis pleaded.

"Um..."

'Have you seen any fairies?" she interjected.

"Well uh-"

"Again? You with your fairies," Zera sighed, she didn't sound upset though.

Then Acnologia's stomach growled for food.

"Oh no, you're hungry," Mavis observed.

"When's the last time you ate?" Zera asked her eyebrows narrowing.

"I don't know, it's been years since I've had real food."

"Well, we have to fix that!" cried Mavis.

The two dragged Acnologia to their house where they discovered his enormous appetite. As he ate, they shared their story, how they were the sole survivors of the Red Lizard guild, well how Mavis was the sole survivor of the Red Lizard guild. Mavis had no idea that Zera was an illusion; however, Zera seemed to understand what she was. These two girls were so happy and young.

'Anna would have loved them' Acnologia thought sadly as they talked. 'Sonya should have turned out like these two, happy and carefree.' 

He reached into his pocket and fingered the small pink ribbon that Sonya had died with.

"Are you okay?" Mavis asked.

"Huh?" Acnologia asked suddenly snapping back into reality.

"You looked sad and distant, are you okay?" she repeated.

"Oh yes," he smiled... 

'We are getting soft, too soft.' a voice in his head stated. He ignored it.

"Hey, I just realized that we don't know your name," Zera stated looking to Acnologia.

"Acnologia."

"Nice to meet you Mr. Acnologia," Mavis said.

"Just Acnologia please," he corrected gruffly.

"Can we call you Acno?" Zera asked.

He thought for a moment.

"PLEASE?" Mavis pleaded.

He sighed, how could he say no to those eyes, "Sure whatever."

Yeah, he would stay with these children. He'd even bring them to the Mainland if they asked him. But he wouldn't mind spending time with these two... maybe being a little soft was okay.

"So how long do you want to stay?" Zera asked.

"Well, how long will you permit me?" he responded.

"FOREVER!" Mavis cried with glee.

He sighed, "Forever is a long time."