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In some strange reality, you had been confronted by Lady Anna Heartfillia of memories you had long forgotten. Times so long ago that it almost seemed like another timeline - or reality.
In fact these memories that were clouded in haze like shrouds were from 400 years ago. Wow - where had the time gone? Surely she had to of been crazy or a liar. Or maybe both - a crazy liar would seem fitting.
I mean who does that? She has rocked up in the middle of the Alverez Empire War and declared that she raised all the dragon slayers and came here to defeat the big bad Agnologia. Well, that’s what you had heard anyway - it all kind of seemed like gossip - the origin of the dragon slayers was something debated by everyone in Fiore; It wouldn’t be an original theory that some deity-like figure had decided to gather a group of 6 very specific kids and tell dragons to raise them all.
Naturally you all had to investigate which leads to now. So, here you were: stood before this woman. She looked atleast middle aged and wore a face so very familiar to you, but alas you couldn’t put a finger on it. She told you all about how much you’ve grown, how much your hair has changed and how pretty you look now. She seemed to hammer that one in. Yup, she was a nice lady - her genuine words and honest smile were enough to win you over and within a short while you believed every word she said.
Supposedly, everything was preplanned. You, five other similar age orphans train with dragons then would time travel x-amount of years to a more ethernano filled time (whatever that means) and finally kill the King of the Dragons. It sounded pretty sweet to be honest.
She had two roles: one role in this was to teach you children the ways of the human. Makes sense, dragons weren’t humans and you remembered wearing clothes but you could never really remember where they came from. That already eased a partial amount of the fog in your memory. The other was to be by your side throughout the duration of your mission, to protect you from the bitter loneliness of being abandoned or killing your parent, to be your Ariel - your mother.
And of course, none of this had gone to plan; when you were all shot from the spirit-eclipse-canon-gate-machine … or whatever she called it… something had to have gone wrong. It always did in your life. She explained it in a few too many words for you to remember but you knew what it meant as you were the one of the kids who lived to it’s outcome.
Weirdly enough, everyone seemed to have made it to the outcome just fine. Long story short, you had also all found each other grouped up at one big party. All dressed nice and prettily with astonished faces and gobsmacked mouths.
You were the first to speak but it came out more of a mumble than you intended , “So… since we all were in the same place and easy to find and clearly easy to gather… why did you wait so long to tell us this…?” You blinked fast, your brain's angry cogs ticking at this new information and you swore you could feel the synchronised turns of everyone’s else’s brains as they mirrored the same dazed expression.
Anna Heartfillia offered a gentle smile but it seemed only to hide a sense of uncertain regret, “You all seemed to have found your own paths. I felt as if it would be wrong to pull you away from your own chosen lives,” her eyes looked more sorrowful and lonely - it was like she felt as if she had failed by betraying you all when really, it was more complicated and in a way, she had to leave you to bestow her love onto you. Acnologia had to be killed - it was her duty. However you had all succeeded. She had no need to hide now.
The atmosphere was thick and impossible to read. You had no idea how anyone else felt but it was clear to you that she was no villain. Just a mother who cared so much for her children and to care for them correctly, she had to leave them to allow them to grow. They did grow, they definitely did - all uncontainable and wild with growth in all directions. But still, that was one interpretation. No one else had spoken and offered an alternative view. God, you weren’t sure if anyone had blinked since the conversation began.
The surrounding air had now grown even thicker and the silence created a low buzzing in your ear. It was never ending; no one was even breathing. You would all die before someone shared a comment or complaint of the news just shared to them.
Fine, you would take one for the team. Again. You started speaking but your mouth was running faster than the part of the brain that told your mouth what to say. It all came out in an incoherent, “Uhhhh… so…I- uhhh-“
“You wouldn’t… like… happen to have baby photos, would’ya?” Answered a voice curious, unsure and more coarse than yours.
So your stuttered blabbers faltered and fell to a silence when someone spoke their mind. I guess it was an unconventional reaction but it was one nonetheless.
You looked towards the direction the awkward voice came from - directly to your left - gazing upon a pretty stupid looking man. Sting.
You audibly scoffed as everyone either chuckled, remained stunned or… also looked curious to hear the answer- Thank Natsu for that one.
Your face contorted to one that spoke, “is this kid for real?” Really, how dumb could he be. They didn’t have cameras then. Is he forgetting this is 400 years ago? He looked as foolish as a child. Perhaps he really was in need of motherly intervention…
To none of your surprise Anna looked lost. She probably poised herself to answer many questions; but probably not this. Lucky for Sting, she looked amused and would perhaps just laugh at his comment then explain more. Perhaps this is just what you needed to ease the tension?
Perhaps not. It’s always perhaps not now. This world always subverted your expectations on everything. Everyone was unpredictable and chaotic,
“Oh! I was wondering when you would ask. I took the photo album with me just in case!” Anna’s face looked calm and cheery. So you guessed they did have cameras 400 years ago, who could have guessed?
Wait. Did you hear that right? She said she has the album. Like with her. Right now. Well, you discarded all logic after that one because your interest piqued. Screw the science of time travel and the morals of leaving 6 children who were at the oldest 12 to fend for themselves when you could just look at cute pictures.
Photos now, questions later.
You guessed everyone no longer cared about what she said before either. Everyone’s faces looked lighter.
Natsu grinned wolfishly at the suggestion that he could physically have more evidence connecting him to his beloved Igneel. You thought he might see some photos of them two together and you knew that would warm his heart. Natsu was easy to please, but kind and deserving.
Gajeel looked smug… he was hard to read but if you had to guess, he wanted some cool action shots of him as a ferocious youngster maybe wrestling a boar or such at the ripe age of 5.
Wendy wore a soft smile with dazzling big brown eyes that sparkled like stars. She naturally was drawn to happy environments and you knew she would practically swim in the warmth of everything looking upon their younger selves.
Sting smiled proudly, yet expectantly. Expectant of praise for conjuring up such a wonderful question. You guess it was good. Stupid enough to be good; which was symbolic of Sting as a person. So stupid he is amazing. And you guess he did save the situation from an atrocious level of awkwardness.
Rogue still looked a bit like he didn’t quite know where he was. His gazed expression was cute - like he always was. Quiet and shy too, he probably would find it embarrassing to have his special images shown to a whole group of rambunctious dragon children gawking at his former self. Rogue always had a weird relationship with his self image anyway. Like he only recently knew who he was. You never pitied him but you always tried to hold him in gentle care. Like he was a fragile creature - perhaps since he clearly was but you would never be one to break him..
And for you, well, you had always wondered what everyone looked like. It was less really about you, but more everyone, especially Rogue.
However, as sweet as Rogue was, you had to focus on the situation at hand. The baby images and pages that would soon be flicked.
It was proven it was a normal thing to wonder how you looked in early childhood since none of you had a clue. You, Sting and Rogue had all discussed it before: making hypotheses on Rogue possibly being a cute chubby baby and much to his disappointment, creating illustrations of his hypothetical baby form. Now it would all be confirmed - ‘Was Rogue Cheney a chubby baby?’ became the question of the moment.
From seemingly nowhere, she pulled out a book with a cute label on the front. It read, “Growing Dragon Slayers of Time” with the dates “X374 - X385” written along the bottom. It was a nice book that looked like that of a modern day, X793ish scrapbook, hardback with a brown leather cover and pages that have been yellowed - but not as much as you would expect from that of a 400 year old book.
Anna dusted it slightly with her finger tips before opening the first page. You took notice of how her eyes instantly lit up followed by dilating pupils then the gentle raising of her cheek bones paired with expanding crows feet.
She chuckled, “It feels like only yesterday you were all this small. You’ve all grown into such wonderful people. I couldn’t be more proud.” Her smile was genuine however you could taste the nostalgia she feels towards you all. It hurt you the fact your group was her life’s work and you couldn’t for the life of you remember her.
“Here, this is everyone at the first milestone gathering we held,” she turned the book to face you all. Everyone gathered around, leaning over each other’s shoulders to peer at the small scrapbook… Well, nearly everyone.
One dragon slayer stood idle. It seemed as if you were the only one to notice his withdrawal as everyone else was as quick as a flash to practically pile on top of each other to squeeze in.
You assumed Rogue was partially reluctant because of the huge mob of people but maybe the unknown unnerved him. You didn’t really know, you made a mental note to check in on him later. Rogue clearly still held himself to high standards whilst carrying an awful amount of self loathing in his heart.
You look for him. Perhaps if he noticed how relaxed everyone felt he might indulge in the fun. You turned away from him, hoping to ease him into the fun by allowing him space.
Anna continued on, “Part of the plan was that once a year all dragons would gather to report all your development…” You realised how diligent her care was within her stern tone. “…Growth milestones, magic based development - We could never be sure that dragon slayer magic wouldn’t have side affects. So this was a preliminary measure.”
Before your eyes sat the gold mine of embarrassing images - this collection was not one you could live down. You gasped at the harrowing sight of six infants sitting in a row, each wearing stupid expression. These were not the cute baby pictures you anticipated. These were something far more horrific.
“Aren’t you all so sweet here?” Anna commented on the images. There was no way they could be you guys.
You were once again at a loss for words. There was no way you could humour her by agreeing because it would be a blatant lie; judging by the look of horror on everyone’s face they agreed wholeheartedly.
Natsu looked sickly, Gajeel looked lost, Sting looked especially disgusted and poor Wendy looked depressed. Yup. Everyone felt the same as you did.
You now realised why Rogue was so dismissive in his decision to exclude himself. He clearly had a sixth sense. However, you were in this together - there was no way you would allow him to be a bystander - so you beckoned him to your side. Like the good boy he was, he approached at your very command. His soft, gently-worried expression shifted to an indescribable sadness. It’s like the waves of emotion were a wave through his body. He almost shook at the horror.
On the paper before him peering back at him was an image of Natsu, Gajeel and Wendy as children sat in a row in-front of a lake. Each looked fiercely terrifying in Rogue’s eyes. You thought in the reflection of his eyes you could see tears swelling up.
Each child had a comic large cranium and wore outfits with the ugliest uncoordinated colour pallets. They were neither adorable nor precious.
Besides maybe Wendy. You could argue she had a somewhat cute nature to her small frame and zoned out expression, however her head was disproportionately big and the ugly Natsu and Gajeel were not doing her justice.
Wendy - the one with a normal sized skull - let out a shriek just to turn and sprint away. Maybe she would go into hiding to never return again. You didn’t blame her, not when the bombshell was dropped on her like that. Poor Wendy, the girl didn’t deserve all of that.
Now you are down a slayer. One defeated, five still remained standing - at least until Gajeel sank to his knees and sobbed, “Why, why, why do I look that way??” His voice sounded strained, like his heart was being ripped through his chest. This was likely his last straw.
Natsu broke into a fit of laughter, turning to mock the dying man below him, “Why’s your hair so spiky? I didn’t know they had gel in the jungle!”
An ignorant comment - especially when his counterpart stood just beside him - also looking just as hideous. You had to at least try to ease Gajeel’s depression:
“Dude, you look just as bad,” you told the bully.
“Says you! I bet you look even worse than I do.” Natsu deflected. Of course he did, it was in his nature to bounce off criticism like that. “Hey, show them their picture!”
Natsu had no authority to order anyone with that huge head.
Anna found no fault in how everyone reacted to their photo. It was like she didn’t notice how the formidable Iron Dragon slayer was now sobbing and the Sky Dragon slayer had disappeared into the wilderness. Maybe she knew you wouldn’t be pleased, maybe it was revenge for her having to put up with you all looking that way for so many years. You felt sorry for everyone.
However, Natsu’s point still stood. You were yet to see images of yourself, Sting and Rogue. It couldn’t get worse so you might as well get it over with, however the looming sense of impending dread made your heart pound.
Anna turned the page.
Well. It did get worse. It always did. Life was unpredictably cruel. Yup. You were an ugly baby. Each of you stood beside each other, both now and in the photo and it felt like a fever dream.
On the left stood Sting. He had this great set of spiky blonde hair that was held up with the same level of force as Gajeel’s did. Perhaps they used the same gel. He had this goofy expression of a child trying to fawn nonchalance but just looked like a dumb infant with a comically huge scar and one pierced ear. Not to mention the shoes, the plimsolls that looked pathetically cheap. Baby Sting was not the fashionista he was now - like that was even a question.
You stood central, like the star of the show centre stage. The star of the ugly show, the winner of the ugliest in the world competition. Your eyes were overly big, too hopeful and full of life. Wow. You don’t remember it ever being like this but your hair looked awfully thick and overgrown … well, it wasn’t the worst. At least you had some unlike someone else.
Then, your eyes went to the one on the far right. Rogue? That had to be - who else could it be? Who would have guessed the man who now had wonderful, beautiful long black hair was a bald, shaven youngster.
Weirdly enough, it looked like his hairline was receding which wasn’t conventional of an infant but it also wasn’t true of him now. You had even checked his hairline yourself without him noticing and it looked perfect to you. What happened here?
Rogue was so pretty and wonderful now. There was no way he was this peculiar looking once upon a time.
You were still processing this information when Sting turned to speak, just to be silenced by Rogue lunging forward to shield your vision from his image. He had covered it with his outstretched palm - a valiant attempt but he was far too late.
The damage had been done. You and Sting knew the truth. Rogue was not a cute chubby baby but instead a bald one with a blue hoodie and khaki bottoms.
You no longer cared about the appearance of everyone else and instead was astonished by Rogue’s glorious former self.
And oddly enough, everyone else looked so objectively ugly. You knew rogue was similar but you couldn’t help but find it weirdly adorable. There was something about his buzz cut and his empty eyes that screamed sweet and innocent.
You wanted to collect little Rogue and lock him in your pocket forever as your sweet little baby.
Sting was hysterical - his laughter was that of a cackle and he fell to the floor too, followed by Natsu who probably laughed only because Sting did.
Great. Four down, two remained. Acnologia could not defeat the dragon slayers but Anna Heartfillia could with ease.
Rogue turned to you with an utterly defeated expression. He practically whimpered, “Please don’t look… That’s not- well- it’s clearly me… but you don’t need to see that.” his face was rosey as he avoided his eyes meeting yours.
You then realised you had been very harsh. They were ugly but they were still your friends. Rogue was clearly distressed by the mocking and you wouldn’t feed into his insecurities. Never ever would you do that to him.
You held his arm reassuringly, and offered him a gentle smile. One devoid of sarcasm - just supportive and gentle. “What? How could I not look? You’re so adorable!” It came out more teasingly then you meant it to. Great.
“Do you think so? I have little photo cards for your wallets if you wanted one to keep..?” Anna tuned in. This lady clearly had no idea what social cues were, or she just didn’t care.
However the concept did intrigue you. You could have a little Rogue in your pocket at all times. How sweet is that?
Before you could agree, Rogue interjected, “No no- that won’t be necessary…” his argument was not clinching whatsoever. Sorry Rogue.
“I wouldn’t mind that. Just one Rogue please… I’m not too interested in the others” your smile had turned into a grin. Something good had come out of this interaction. Thank god it wasn’t all for nothing.
Rogue tried more frantically to grab you by the shoulder to separate you from Anna but you wouldn’t let him. Anna pulled out a small photo card from another page in the binder and reached to hand it to you.
As your and her palms connected, Rogue reached into yours to snatch the image away from your grasp. He began to become agitated. He was feisty, trying to keep you from going near his little image to the point where you two got heated.
You were both not going to give up so you both practically wrestled for the image, resulting in you both falling down.
There. Six dragon slayers down. Zero remaining. Anna had defeated you all.
However, Rogue was the loser in your personal battle… no matter what he did during your wrestle he had lost because…
Little did he know, Anna was so prepared she had spares and even if he took that one - she could give you it again. In conclusion, much to his disapproval you had little Rogue in your wallet.
It took some time but Rogue came to terms with it. It was like a little trinket you carried with you for good luck. Whenever you missed Rogue you could look at Little Rogue. Whenever he got close to forgetting about the situation, you reminded him of how cute of a baby he was. He could never escape his baby self and that was okay.
He could live with that. He tried to escape a lot of things but he could never rid himself of this. That was okay, he could live with that. And maybe after a while he wasn’t too atrocious to look at. He could live with that. He definitely could.