Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Gajeel was young when Rogue came into his life—going by Ryos primarily at the time. It was while he was passing through a small town, in search of rumours that had carried over from the south, something about the talk of dragons and someone claiming to have seen one. Needless to say Gajeel had been shocked to find out the source of those rumours was just a kid from an orphanage, and even more so that the kid was also a dragon slayer like him.

Gajeel had only been about eleven when he met Rogue, and despite having not presented yet, he had been inexplicably drawn to the youngling and unable to leave him alone, especially after he followed Ryos back to the orphanage to find his living conditions there were almost as bad as living on the street. Not to mention Ryos had been horribly thin when they first met, and Gajeel could only assume the people there didn't feed him very well.

That's why when Ryos asked if he could go with Gajeel when he left, he didn't hesitate to take him. That orphanage was shit anyway. And Gajeel wasn't about to leave a four year old hatchling alone on his own. Maybe that was where his instincts had already begun to seep out. Instincts were funny that way, they presented with the caste your inner personality suited the best. And maybe he had always had that overly protective nature in him that omega dragons were known for. And a weakness for small adorable things.

It hadn't been easy. Gajeel had only been a child himself, and caring for another young person had been harder than he had been able to maintain without some sort of help. It was that which initially prompted him so seek out guild work, to seek out Phantom Lord in order to take jobs to provide for Ryos and himself. It helped when the master of the guild took keen interest in him and his magic. He even gave Gajeel a room in the guild without charge in the basement of the guild, where Gajeel eventually snuck Ryos in and raised him as best he could. He made sure he had books and toys when Gajeel had to leave to work a job, but he never left for more than a day for out of town jobs.

He didn't want others to know about Ryos, since he didn't trust the mages in his guild. But as he got older, his job requests from his master got harder, and he was forced to be away for days at a time. By that time, Ryos was alright to be on his own for a few days, which he mostly spent reading and learning. And every time Gajeel came back with injuries from his mission, Ryos was the sweetest little thing and did his best to patch him up.

"I don't like when you get hurt," he would say.

"It's part of the job mi umbrise," Gajeel told him with a smile, calling him 'little shadow' knowing it would make Ryos smile too.

"But what if...you don't come back one day?" Rogue asked. He quietly leaned on Gajeel's not-injured shoulder and curled into his side. "I don't want you to disappear too."

"I would never," Gajeel assured him, nuzzling his head and releasing a soothing scent for the distressed hatchling. "I promise, I won't ever disappear." He would never do that to him, not again, especially not when he knew how much it hurt.

Then, when he was eighteen, and known as the revered Kurogane Gajeel, ace of Phantom Lord, his master gave him a mission. A really bad mission.

* * *

Gajeel stood frozen in place, staring down at the map that had been laid out in front of him with a dark red X scratched across the surface in Magnolia.

"Fairy Tail? Why?"

"Because they have been a thorn in my side for far too long now. And the Heartfilia girl is worth quite a lot."

The master wanted him to 'get Fairy Tail's attention'. He wanted him to take out their guild hall.

He had never been ordered to go after any legal guilds—only dark ones, which he usually did gladly, but this...this didn't seem right. Gajeel studied the map and the papers laid out before him. He read down lists of noteworthy members, which included Gildarts, Laxus, Titania and—

"Fairy Tail has a fire dragon slayer?" He asked in shock, staring down at the name and magic type on file.

"Ah, yes. The Salamander. Another reason I want you to deal with their guild hall personally."

There was another dragon slayer out there. Like him and Rogue. Oh god, what if the Salamander was Rogue's age? He could not attack a guild hall and risk hurting a hatchling.

"What else do you have on Salamander?" Gajeel asked, seeing nothing else.

The master raised an eyebrow at him. "You have all that is needed right here. Is there a problem?"

Yes. There was. Gajeel needed to know if there was another hatchling out there, alone, without a pack. "I need to meet Salamander."

"You might when you're trashing those faeries' guildhall."

A jolt of horror struck through Gajeel and he whirled around. "I can't still go through with it!" He couldn't do that to a child! Even he wasn't that terrible.

He failed to notice the way his master's eyes darkened until he felt the distinct smell of poisonous black magic fill the room. "And why not, Gajeel?" his master asked as he began to walk in a slow circle around him. "Is your dragon slayer caste as an omega going to prove to be a liability?"

Gajeel followed his master with his eyes, unease shifting under his skin. "You know..?" How? For how long? He thought he had kept it hidden.

"I did my research on dragons. I've known since I found out about that little brat you keep hidden away...What's his name, Ryos wasn't it? If your caste as a weak omega makes you unable to fulfill my requests, I'm sure I could train the perfect slayer out of that child, as young and mouldable as he still is..."

"No…I'll do it," Gajeel found himself saying. He suddenly wanted nothing more than to get out of his master's office and see Rogue.

Master Jose patted his shoulder above his guild mark with a smile. "That's my boy." He leaned in close enough that Gajeel could smell the smoky tang of his breath. "Now, do what you have to and bring me a war."

So Gajeel did. He attacked the guild hall empty, hoping that would be enough without him actually having to hurt anyone. Then when it didn't work, he feared his master coming for Rogue so he attacked the first people he saw. He ensured the war would happened.

And so war came.

* * *

He threw another knife that ebbed itself into the wall beside Lucy Heartfilia's leg, deaf to the nervous warnings of the Phantom mages behind him. She was the reason his hatchling was in danger, she deserved this. In the back of his mind, he knew what he was doing to her was wrong. It wasn't her fault. But his instinct didn't care. He would protect his hatchling no matter how many people he had to tear through to do it.

He threw another knife, this one very close to her face. Then she began to mouth off at him, and with every word, the dragon in him grew angrier and he sent the next knife flying towards her head. If she was gone this would stop. If she was gone, the master wouldn't threaten to take Rogue.

Then the ground erupted into flames and Salamander came barging through—not a defenceless hatchling as Gajeel had feared, but rather a full grown adult alpha with a very big temper after seeing his guild mate hurt.

His and Gajeel's fight that ensured was violent and destructive. They each gained heavy damage, and did a lot to each other and the surrounding infrastructure. Natsu even managed to break through his armour, which no one he had ever met had been able to do.

Until he had Natsu down, in the dirt, prepared to deliver the final strike if he had to. He just wanted to go back to his hatchling.

Then, that very same hatchling ran into the wake of the battlefield, crying his name and everything seemed to still as the little boy ran into his legs and burred his face in his torn pants.

Natsu stalled the attack he had been about to launch when he caught sight of the kid, and his eyes widened when he took in the scent of a younger dragon. He even heard Lucy gasp when the iron dragon slayer forgot about the fight and dropped to his knee to fuss over the young boy.

"Are you ok? What happened? Are you hurt?"

Rogue pushed away the hands checking over his face. "I'm ok..."

"You can't be here, mi umbrise, iI don't want you to get hurt."

"I don't want you to get hurt either!" Rogue cried. "I-I just...I want us to go home."

Everyone in the room could see how the iron dragon slayer's face lost it’s hostility before he pulled the young hatchling into an embrace. Then his scent did something strange as he began to scent the boy that shared such similar features as his own, rubbing his cheek against the top of the boy's head, his scent carried all the way to Natsu, distinctly comforting, worried, and omega. Gajeel was an omega. With a hatchling. Even if the hatching didn't smell like they shared blood...so not directly his. Gajeel definitely couldn’t have been old enough to have a biological kid his age.

"We can't go home just yet," Gajeel said quietly, "I...need to do as the master says before that can happen or...something bad will happen."

"What will happen?" Rogue asked, looking up.

Gajeel shook his head and ruffled the boys hair. "Don't worry, I ain’t gonna let anything happen to you."

That was when Natsu decided to stand, staring at the other two dragon slayers. He took a step forward and the soothing scent in the air dropped. A snarl tore itself from Gajeel's throat as he quickly pulled  his hatchling more securely in his arms, baring his teeth at the perceived threat in warning.

"I thought I was the only dragon slayer left in Fiore..." Natsu said, looking at the two with something almost like tears in his eyes and a soft smile on his face. Because he wasn't alone after all.

Gajeel stopped growling, though the glare was still etched across his face. The little boy turned his face out of Gajeel's chest and studied Natsu. "So did we..."

About a good several feet away from the pair, Natsu kneeled, smiling kindly at the hatchling. The fighting was over now, he knew it. "Tell me kiddo, were you raised by a dragon?"

The boy's eyes brightened. "Yes...His name was Skiadrum...Do you...do you know where he is? Or where Gajeel's father is?" Natsu's chest ached a bit at the hopeful look in the boy's eyes, even Gajeel looked at him with a hint of hope.

"I'm sorry, but I don't," Natsu said, genuinely sad that he didn't know anything. "I'm looking for my father too, his name was Igneel, a fire dragon."

Both stared at him, the boy with wonder and Gajeel with wary distrust.

"What's your name kid?"

"I'm Ryos, but I prefer to go by Rogue."

"Rogue...that's cool. I'm—"

The building suddenly began to shake.

"NATSU!" Happy and Lucy exclaimed.

Gajeel held Rogue tighter and shielded him when debris began to crash around them from the ceiling. Natsu stopped rocks from hitting the two—as much as he didn't like Gajeel, he wouldn't let anything happen to a child. Then the light came, rising through the cracks in the ground as power surged.

"What's happening?" Rogue cried out.

"Close your eyes!" Natsu warned seconds before the light swallowed everything.

When the light faded, Rogue asked in fear, "What was that?"

Natsu's response came with a reassuring grin, "Gramp's magic. I have a feeling the battle's over now." He was looking at Gajeel, and as their eyes met, Natsu watched the realization dawned on him.

Their master was defeated.

Gajeel walked to the edge of the ruined guild hall, Rogue's hand in his, while they both looked out at the ruins below. Dozens of fights across the Phantom Lord base had clearly been raged. And across the span of the ocean, Gajeel grimaced when he realized the Fairy Tail guild hall was not in better shape either. But the dark shadow phantoms were gone, they had all disappeared from the skies.

"We can go now,” Gajeel said quietly to Rogue.

He kneeled, picked Rogue up in his arms, and be an to walk across the ruins of the guildhall with the young slayer’s face hidden in his shoulder. He glanced over at Natsu, looking down quickly in guilt, but he forced himself to meet eyes with Lucy when he said, “I’m sorry.”

Then he turned his back to the Fairy Tail mages and carried his hatchling away from the scent of battle and a war fought and lost.

“Gajeel-ni, where are we going?” Rogue murmured into his hair.

“Somewhere safer than here,” Gajeel replied. He wasn’t sure where that was yet, but anywhere was better than here. It was over. After this, Master Jose would definitely be put away. Phantom was over. They would come for him, since he started all this, and he would not let the council take him away from Rogue.

We don’t have a home anymore,” Rogue said quietly.

Gajeel stilled and looked at the boy with a soft expression. “That place wasn’t home, Ryos. So long as you’re with me we can make hime anywhere. I’ll figure it out, I promise.” And he meant it. He would do whatever it took to care for Rogue. Make any sacrifices he had to.

“You could come back with us to Fairy Tail…”

Gajeel froze. Correction, he would make almost any sacrifices he had to.

Because he would not do that.

But Rogue was already leaning over his shoulder like a squirming cat to look at Natsu. “Do you mean it?” And oh god, the hope in his voice.

With a growl, putting Rogue down and moving him behind him, Gajeel stood in defiance when Natsu jogged up to stand a short distance away from them. "Yeah right. You think I'm some stupid omega? I won't let another guild use my hatchling as leverage against me.”

Upon hearing that, Natsu’s suspicions had been confirmed, though it didn’t make the ache in his chest at hearing it any better. To hear that Gajeel had been exploited because of his dedication to protecting his hatchling. Natsu couldn’t think of a more disgraceful thing. If that had been him…he suddenly wished he had Jose in front of him, so he could make him pay by burning the man alive.

"Fairy Tail isn't like that. I promise,” Natsu said, taking a cautious step forward. “You will be safe there, you have my word. From one dragon to another.”

“I totalled your guild hall,” Gajeel reminded him. He glanced behind him and looked at Natsu. “And worse, to those guild members of yours,” he said with regret. It was what he had to do, short of killing them, in order to make the war happen, but it still made him sick when he thought back on it. Now that the fear for his hatchling had gone away, he regretted a lot of the things he had done.

“I know,” Natsu said, swallowing the reminder himself. “But…I understand why you did it.”

“I doubt those three I hung by the tree will agree,” Gajeel said. “And even if you tell them, it doesn’t change what I did.”

“Maybe not,” Natsu said, “But, you can try and make it right. We forgive, in Fairy Tail. We believe in second chances. And…Rogue would be protected. He wouldn’t even be the only child in the guild.”

Gajeel was still eyeing him up with a glare, arms crossed.

Rogue peeked out from behind him, tugging on his pant leg. “What do we have to lose by giving it a try?” he said quietly to Gajeel. Gajeel growled, but at the hatchlings hopeful face, he caved.

He looked back at Natsu, who gave Rogue an encouraging nod before holding out his hand to Gajeel. “I promise, you won’t regret this,” he said.

And Gajeel, hoping to god the alpha was right, took his hand.

* * *

Gajeel opened one eye, the sun shining across his face from the window. He turned away from it, burrowing into the pillow, breathing in the comfortable scent of Natsu and his nest.

The last remnants of his dream still lingered in his mind, and suddenly he yearned for more than just Natsu’s scent. So he rolled out of bed, yawning as he walked out in black sweatpants and a black sleeveless-shirt that had been on the floor, his hair a crazy mess.

The kitchen smelled like sugar and cinnamon. He saw Lily behind the stove, cooking in his larger form, while Sting hung off his muscular arm, demanding impatiently to know when food would be ready. Similarly, Rogue was organizing utensils while Wendy helped him set up the plates (with Carla’s suggestion) that Natsu and Happy handed her from the top shelf.

Gajeel stopped in the entrance, watching his family. Natsu saw him and turned, putting the rest of the plates down before ruffling Wendy on the top of the head on his way towards Gajeel.

“Mornin’ sunshine,” he grinned, pulling Gajeel in by the waist and nuzzling his face in greeting.

Gajeel instantly began to let loose a quiet purr. “Mornin’…” he muttered.

“You sleep ok, you were kinda tossing around last night so I tried to let you sleep in.”

Gajeel blinked, recalling his dream. Memories. And he smiled, shaking his head before he kissed Natsu. "I'm better then ever actually. Thank you."

Natsu smiled uncertainly. "For what?"

Gajeel glanced at the scene in the kitchen again, the smiles. He shook his head again, kissing his mate again.

"Don’t worry about it."

Chapter Text

Rogue was awfully fascinated by Happy, saying with awe that he didn't know cats could fly—or talk for that matter. He was even more in awe when Happy picked him up and flew him in a flew circles in the air. Gajeel threatened that if Happy dropped him, he would skewer his hide. Which lead to Natsu defending his little buddy, which lead to the two dragon slayers growling at one another again. Lucy was at a loss which the whole situation after finding out that the scary guy who had almost skewered her playing knife toss had a kid with him, so she decided she would stay out of it as much as possible.

Walking through the ruins of his former guild hall was not as tough as he thought it would be for Gajeel. Now that he saw it in the dirt, he realized how little attachment he felt for the guild he had called his for years. Phantom Lord had been a means to keep Rogue safe and to earn money, and that was all. Seeing it in crumbles beneath his feet just showed him how lifeless and cold it had always been. And now, if master Jose was really out of the picture, he could leave with Rogue and try to follow a different path, especially if Fairy Tail didn't end up working out—which Gajeel was sure it wouldn't.

"Gajeel-ni! Look at me!" Rogue called as he soared high above them with his arms spread out like a bird and a wide grin on his face. Gajeel blanched, but Natsu nudged him in the side before he could open his mouth.

"Relax. In all our years together, Happy has never let me go," the fire dragon said with pride as he watched the two in the sky. "He won't let Rogue go either, that you can be sure of."

Gajeel snapped his mouth shut, huffing a sigh as he shrugged off the other and kept walking. He was done with trying to argue with the alpha—it was utterly exhausting.

"Hey you guys, up ahead! It Gray and Elfman!" Lucy called from on top of a pile of rubble up front.

"What? When did those two jerks get here?" Natsu blurted, jogging up ahead with too much excitement and energy for someone who was in the same fight that left Gajeel feeling both emotionally and physically drained to the bone.

He smelled the oncoming scents in the air, and stopped behind Natsu when the two mages they were waiting for climbed over the rubble to meet them. One was a dark haired guy wearing only his underwear, and the other was a big white-haired guy that looked vaguely familiar to Gajeel. The reason why made itself clear soon enough.

"Hey! You're that jerk who butchered out guild hall and punched me in the face!" The big one snarled, glaring angrily as he pushed past Natsu and Lucy, coming at Gajeel fast. His arms shifted as he threw a punch—and that was when Gajeel remembered him as the guy with the beast arm transformation magic he had indeed punched in the face during one of their battles.

With a snarl to match the quick display of aggressiveness, Gajeel took Elfman's punch and threw the larger man over his shoulder with a quick spin, sending him towards a wall.

"Hey—wait guys!" Lucy shouted.

The naked guy was already shouting in a rage. "You'll pay for what you did!" His hands slammed together and a torrent of ice magic was sent at Gajeel, who didn't have any magic energy left to burn, so he took the attack with his lesser injured arm.

"Ice bastard—cut it out!" Natsu shouted, launching at Gray.

Gajeel's arm was completely frozen, but the ice smashed away with the force of the attack he aimed for the ice mage, which instead hit the ground when the sneaky bastard dodged.

"Gajeel—" Natsu snarled with a powerful enough rumble that halted Gajeel's next urge to attack. For that, Elfman came from behind him and pinned him face first to the floor.

Watching from above, Happy watched with worry as Natsu and Lucy struggled to stop the fighting. Then Rogue started struggling and kicking in his arms, enough that Happy was forced to let him go and the little slayer fell from the air—heading straight for Elfman.

Rogue landed on the big man's back and didn't hesitate to sink his little fangs into exposed flesh, growling ferociously, because NO ONE hurt his dra'nirr.

Elfman stopped holding Gajeel down in favour of trying to get off whatever had just landed on his back and bit him, but Rogue was so nimble, Elman couldn't reach back far enough to grab him. Rogue did not let go either, that was, until the ice man came out of know where and grabbed him. Rogue kicked and cursed in the air while the almost naked man held him at arms length by the back of his shirt.

"Let go, let go!" Rogue growled, scratching at the air with his claws.

"Stop squirming you little demon!" Gray exclaimed as he gave Rogue a little shake.

Gajeel pushed up off the ground, spitting out a mouthful of gravel. He held his head with a groan as he sat up, when his eyes locked on to his hatchling struggling in someone else's arms. He saw red. With a roar that would make Metalicana proud, what little reserves of magic energy he had left stored away came erupting in a torrent than shook the ground beneath his feet. His fangs bore viciously as he honed in on the ice mage with pure murderous intent.

Natsu snapped into action when he strong aura of omega rage filled the area. He stopped holding back Elfman, looked at Gajeel, then looked at that stupid idiot Gray and the way he was holding Rogue, and swore, "Oh shit shit shit! Ice-flasher, move!"

Gajeel launched forward with the speed and fury of an iron-clad missile, eyes glowing red and claws racing straight for Gray's throat, running on pure instinct and barley aware of what he was doing other than that a hatchling was in distress. The idiot froze, mouth gapping open. Natsu tackled Gajeel to the side before those dragon claws could tear into Gray, rolling with Gajeel on the ground until he managed to get him pinned beneath him. With a heavy growl, he released a warning scent in the air for Gajeel to calm down while he bared his own teeth, urging the other's submission. Gajeel still fought, bucking and writhing under his arms with his eyes locked on the ice mage.

"Gray! Drop the kid!" Natsu barked, voice laced with a draconic snarl that was anything but human. Gray did immediately. “Everyone stay back and let me handle this.”

Rogue turned back to kick the ice mage in the shin before running towards Natsu and Gajeel.

A quiet whimper left Rogue’s throat as he fell to Gajeel’s side where Natsu was still holding him down. He pressed his face into Gajeel’s neck, a way of saying ‘I’m ok, I’m safe’ while the omega’s instincts were overpowering his senses. In response, Gajeel stopped thrashing against Natsu while Rogue was so close, but his eyes still bore down on Gray and he wouldn’t stop snarling, twitching every so often with the urge to slaughter the thing that had dared hurt a hatchling under his care. It wasn’t until Natsu took a deep breath in, and then leaned down to hesitantly rub his own scent over the omega’s.

He expected to get scratched—or bit, but it seemed between Rogue’s proximity keeping Gajeel (mostly) calm and Natsu still holding him down, he eventually began to relax into the strong calm scent that was being wrapped around him—one that whispered ‘safety, comfort, warm’. Everyone watched with baited breath, not daring to move or speak, as the dragon instinct unfolded in front of them.

Natsu knew Gajeel had come back to himself when his eyes opened and they were no longer glowing with power. He blinked, frowning at Natsu and then at how his scent clung to him. With a growl that was only half hearted, he wiggled underneath the other with a glare, “Get off me.”

Natsu did, ignoring the little part of him that told him it hadn’t been so bad. Gajeel sat up immediately, reaching out to Rogue who preened when Gajeel rubbed the top of his head, soft and affectionate.

“So jus like that we’re supposed to be good?” Gray muttered.

Lucy smacked his arm and told him she would explain later.

Gajeel asked Rogue with a slight narrow-eyed look, “Trachníka, why is your lip bleeding?”

Rogue frowned and wiped his mouth, “It’s not mine. I bit that guy over there.”

Gajeel stared, face unchanging. “Ew Ryos, we talked about this. Don’t bite people, you don’t know where they’ve been.”

There was a distinct “what the hell does he mean by that?!” that Gajeel ignored in the background.

“Ok,” Rogue said.

Gajeel hid a faint smile as he tucked Rogue close and whispered a quiet, “You’ve got one hell of a bite though from what it sounded like.”

Rogue giggled, “Yeah, he screamed so loud and I barely broke through the skin.“

Natsu couldn’t help but smile at the joy on Rogue’s face—even if it was because Gajeel was complimenting him on biting his guild mate. He remembered being that age and biting on reflex—a lot of the time he had ended up biting Gray when they fought. Hatchling teeth were no joke.

Natsu was about ready to go home already, and then tomorrow they could start the reconstruction of the guild hall. He would be able to show Rogue a bunch of cool things he could do in the guild after it was rebuilt. Maybe Gajeel could even learn to like it to—even if the man did still seem very unreceptive to the idea in the first place.

Gajeel stood up, holding Rogue’s hand. He was on his feet for a solid minute before he swayed. Natsu sensed it and was there in time to catch him before he lost consciousness and collapsed on the ground. Rogue whined in worry, but Natsu let out a soothing rumble and readjusted Gajeel so that he was carrying him on his back more securely.

“He’s alright,” he told him, “the fight just took up a lot out of him. He’ll wake up again once he’s had some time to recover.”

Rogue nodded, looking at the ground. He then reached out and grabbed the side of Natsu’s vest, looking up at him with trust in his eyes. “You’ll take care of us right?” he asked.

Natsu stared, and then he smiled. “Yeah kid, for sure I will. You guys are going to be Fairy Tail now, and Fairy Tail is family.”