The Dragon Father

And so it Begins

The days turned into weeks which turned into months and those months turned into years. The dragon slayers grew both in magic and as a family. Wendy had taken a liking to Erik and followed the teen and his snake everywhere. Erik didn't mind and neither did Cubellios who seemed to be as close to Wendy and she was with Erik. Laxus dealt with the boys, he put on a good act of indifference and boredom but when they were alone Laxus and the boys would wrestle as if they were all five-year-olds.

Serena dropped by every so often and would entertain the children with tales of his adventures with the magic council or a play that he had written. Sting was very fond of Serena's visits and would listen to the wizard saints stories for hours on end. 

Natsu had taken a liking to Gildarts and fought him whenever Gildarts was in town, which, unfortunately, wasn't that often. Gildarts had grown distant since his wife had left those few years ago.

For the very first time, the number of dark guilds had begun to decline which meant that Acnologia and all the dragon slayers spent more time in Magnolia then Magnolia wanted. Everyone was happy, other than the people who were complaining about destruction accidentally inflicted by the dragon slayers.

Macao had found a woman and was planning on getting married, Wakaba too had somehow found someone who was interested in him and so the two of them were often out of the guild doing things that Acnologia didn't care to know. Life was good.

Then a small girl wandered into the guild. Acnologia caught her scent and recognized her smell right away. 

"Makarov!" Acnologia called.

"Yes?" the guild master asked walking up.

"Is Gildarts still out of town?"

"He's always out of town I'm afraid," Makarov responded rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hello?" the young girl said meekly walking up to Makarov, she must have been only a little older then Natsu.

"Hello, what may I do for you?" Makarov smiled.

"Have you... do you - I mean - do you know where Gildarts is?" the girl asked meekly.

"I'm afraid he's out on a job," Makarov answered, "do you want me to tell him something when he returns?"

"I - I want..." the girl said nervously.

"Your old man will be around, he left a while ago and the job he took wasn't difficult," Acnologia sighed turning and looking down at the child. Makarov's face was priceless.

"You know he's my father?" the girl said in awe.

"I know a lot of things," Acnologia growled.

Makarov regained his sanity, "you may stay at Fairy Hills with one of the girls if you'd like. I'm sure your fa-father will return soon," Makarov said choking on the word father. It was hard for him to grasp the idea of Gildarts being a father.

And so the girl, known as Cana, joined Fairy Tail and waited two weeks for her father to arrive. When Gildarts finally did, he was barraged with questions about the girl before he had even seen her. When he reached the guild, Cana had gone out shopping with a few other women working the bar. He sighed and walked up to Acnologia.

"Do you know what's going on?" he asked.

"Yes," Acnologia nodded drinking his coffee.

"So it's true!" Gildarts choked sitting down, "I have a daughter!"

"Unless you have a female reincarnate," Acnologia scoffed.

"With who! Who is her mother?" Gildarts choked. Acnologia punched him.

"Don't ask me that," he growled as Gildarts got to his feet, "and definitely don't bring that up when she gets here!"

As if on cue the guild door opened and the women who worked at Fairy Tail walked in carrying bags of groceries. Cana walked in with them holding a large paper bag, she handed it to one of the women before realizing who was there. Gildarts watched her in silent awe and Cana met his gaze with nervousness. The world seemed to fall silent as Cana cleared her throat and walked up fearfully.

Gildarts looked frozen in awe as the girl approached carefully.

"Gildarts?" she asked softly. Gildarts gave a slight nod but still couldn't seem to believe it.

"I'm... I'm Cana," she breathed looking down.

Gildarts got on his knees slowly and studied Cana. Cana shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. Then Gildarts rushed forward and swooped her up.

"You look just like your mother you know," he laughed, "You look just like Cornelia!"

Cana began to beam and laugh. The guild erupted in joy and amazement. Gildarts began to parade her around the guildhall. Cana truly looked happy as she sat on her father's shoulders smiling and laughing.

Gildarts bought an actual house within a week and moved her into the house. Gildarts stopped seeing other women and he stopped going on such long jobs. His time became dedicated to raising Cana. No doubt he remained childish and inappropriate at times but Cana had a personality of her own and had no fear rebuking him.

Cana loved to play cards. She would play them with everyone, she even convinced Natsu to play; he was not a good card player... he was a good card burner... Gildarts began to teach her card magic, and she became good at it. Soon Cana was just another addition to the family. She was a good third party when it came to the dragon slayers. Acnologia had no fear leaving them with the guild because Cana would keep two-sevenths of them entertains and the other five could suffer, but that's all Acnologia needed to get thirty minutes of heavenly silence.

Acnologia's parenting skills were being... thoroughly tested. The punishment box was created and Gajeel had spent a good five times in it. Meditation was all but impossible and the damage bills were constantly flying into Acnologia's hands. Acnologia didn't mind it, they had plenty of jobs to take and jewel to earn.

Oh, it was only the beginning for Fairy Tail, and it was hardly the beginning for Acnologia.