#grandine

The sky above is a beautiful blue hue, clouds dot the sky, and there is a slight wind that blows the hair of the two people who walk through the fields. One of the two is a bit taller with dark black hair, they look to be around their mid-twenties. The other has ashy pink hair and looks like they are not even ten. The older one looks down towards the other with a pinched expression on their face, it looks like a mix of disgust and something else unreadable.

They reach out grabbing the younger by the scruff of their hair pulling the back of their hair so they are looking up at them. There is fear in the eyes of the pink-haired individual as they look up to the other. The older person's tight grip on the back of their hair does not lighten up as they speak, “I am leaving you with someone for a bit, you will stay on your best behavior, right Natsu?” Tears well up in Natsu’s eyes as he nods, his voice pleading, “I will, I will, I promise, please let go Zeref-nii.”

Zeref lets go as he shoves Natsu’s head forward, the shorter of the two falls over at the quick change. The dark-haired individual looks down at the other in disdain from where he is on the ground, “Get back up, stop your crying, and do not call me your brother.” Natsu shakily gets back up onto his feet, he wipes the tears out of his eyes before he looks up to the deep void of Zeref’s eyes.

The dark mage turns his head away from the child next to him gesturing for him to keep walking “Go a little farther out into the field, someone will be here to get you in a bit.” That was the last thing Natsu heard from him before the other disappeared in a flair of dramatics. As soon as the other had disappeared he collapsed onto the ground. Tears began to well in his eyes once more before spilling over in chest-rattling sobs. 

He doesn’t know how long he spent laying in the grassy field with rough cries echoing in the empty air. Suddenly he feels soft hands as fingers run through his hair, and his ears pick up on a soft cooing sound as his tears slowly come to a stop. He doesn’t have the energy in him to fight whoever it is so he nuzzles into their hand. Slowly he opens his eyes, though he didn’t realize they had fallen shut in the first place.

Above him is a lady who looks like she is an angel who was sent down to save him. She has long blonde locks that are pulled back into a ponytail, the sun lays a glowing halo around her so he can’t see her facial features. It takes a second for him to realize that she is talking to him, “...su, Natsu. There you are honey, are you ok?” He did not know who this woman was, but she had such a comforting aura to her that he couldn’t help but to trust her.

He sniffles a bit when her question processes in his brain “Zeref-nii left me here, all alone, and he yelled at me.” A frown painted the woman's face, or at least that’s the expression he thinks that she is making. “Well that was mean of him, but you are now gonna be staying with me and some of my friends sweetie, how does that sound?” He brings his hand up to his face rubbing at his eyes as he sits up, he finally sees the person in full light.

She has the same hair as when he was lying down, but now he can see her lightly tanned face. Her eyes are a light amber color, her face has light wrinkles around her eyes and smile lines. She was kneeling in front of him, about where he had been lying a second ago. The creases on her face are accentuated by her smile as she gives him a kind look as he thinks over her words. “Who are you?” The lady keeps the same kind smile on her face as she answers him “My name is Anna Heartfilia sweetie, and I am gonna be one of the people taking care of you for a bit.” As Anna speaks she slowly stands back up before offering her hand out to him.

He looks at her hand, a bit skeptical at first before he takes it using it to stand up. Her hand is just as soft as it had been when he felt it running through his hair. His mind wanders for a few seconds before he realizes that she is looking him over. He specifically notices that she is looking over his tattered clothes and he can’t help but feel a bit self conscious. He didn’t have the best clothes, there were some singe holes in his shirt, and both his shirt and pants were caked in mud.

She must have noticed how uncomfortable he was as he shifted back and forth because she stopped looking over his clothes with a critical eye. She let her kind smile paint her face once more, moving closer to him before she began to run her fingers through his hair again. He quickly leans into the comfort of her touch listening to her airy voice as she talks to him, “When we get home I’m gonna hem some of my spare clothes for you, and we will give you a proper bath, how does that sound?” A noise that was akin to a content purr slipped out of him at the idea.

She lightly laughed at the noise, glad that he was comfortable with her, most people wouldn’t become connected to someone this quickly. She holds her hand out to Natsu, she knows that he isn’t all that young, but he seems to like the physical contact that she is giving him. He quickly latches onto her hand before they begin to walk, he silently follows her though she does have to shorten her strides for him to be able to keep up.

They walk for half an hour and he doesn’t even say a single thing, content to walk in the silence. However as they grew closer to their end destination Anna could tell that it seemed he was able to sense that they were getting close, because he began to grow antsy. When his nerves hit an all-time high she stopped them in their tracks, before she kneeled down in front of him. She gets him to look into her eyes and focus on her, not whatever is in his head.

She lifts up one of her hands and runs it through his hair as they look at each other “Hey sweetie, what’s wrong?” His eyes quickly glance behind her at the base of the mountains that were within eyeshot. “What’s over there Ms Anna?” She lets out a quiet cooing noise under her breath at the softness of his tone “Just some friends who are anticipating meeting you, though I should warn you, they aren’t exactly human.”

Those words didn’t seem to placate his nerves all that much, which she could understand in this context, who wouldn’t be scared to hear that the people you are going to be living with are inhuman? His voice shook a bit as he spoke up, which she couldn’t help but frown at. “What are they?” She sighs, keeping her tone and hand gentle as she works to calm him “They are dragons, but not the scary ones you hear about in stories, they are very sweet, at least most of them, two of them can be a bit snippy.”

She could see a small sparkle in his eyes at the mention of dragons like it was something that interested him. But there was still the underlying fear in his eyes, “They won’t try to eat me?” She couldn’t help but laugh a bit because in her head that idea seemed preposterous. “No sweetie, they actually want to train you.” Most of the fear seemed to leave him at that as he tilted his head to the side “They want to train me? How?” She smiled at him, seeing that his spirits were slowly lifting. “Well, how about we get there, and they can tell you themselves.”

This time he grabs onto her hand trying to pull her along in order to get there faster now that his interest has been peaked. She laughs a bit as she quickens her stride slightly to keep up with his excited pace. She makes sure to keep them on the right path to get there but otherwise let him lead.

Soon enough she had made it to a giant open stretch of trimmed grass at the base of the mountain. Far off to one side, there was a hut that looked like it had been built by hand and was bigger than what one person could live in. But that isn’t what Natsu’s eyes fell on, no, his eyes fell on the dragons that were talking on the other side of the field. Five majestic dragons, the closest thing he had seen to a dragon had been some of his brother's demons, but even they were nowhere close to the amount of power that these dragons exuded.

Anna smiles as she squats down next to Natsu, laying one hand on his back, she can feel that he is shaking, she is guessing with a mix of nerves and excitement. She talks calmly and quietly to him “Do you wanna go meet them?” He nods excitedly and she can’t help but laugh a bit as she stands back up before slowly leading him over to them.

They were sitting in what was almost a semi-circle formation so she moved into the open area between them, somewhere that they could all see them, and she and Natsu could see all of them. She cleared her throat to get their attention, knowing full well they had sensed the two of them coming even before she had stopped to calm Natsu down earlier. All five of the dragons turned to look down at them, the young boy attempts to hide most of his body behind her.

She smiles up at the imposing figures while she also puts a comforting hand on Natsu behind her. “Hi everyone, this is Natsu Dragneel.” She gestures to the boy behind her, who peaks out a bit to wave at them and look them all over. She begins telling him who each of them is while pointing at them from left to right “Natsu these are Grandeeney the Sky Dragon, Metalicana the Iron Dragon, Igneel the Fire Dragon King, Skiadrum the Shadow Dragon, and finally Weisslogia the White Dragon.”

Natsu was looking up at the dragons like they were gods and in his mind they probably were. Anna lets out a quiet chuckle as she moves so that Natsu is in front of her so that the others can properly look him over. The dragons seem to have a bit of shared unease between them, but she feels that they will get used to another human presence, at least that’s what she believes their unease is about. The first to lean down towards him is Grandeeney, she lowers herself towards the ground so she can get a proper look at him. She gives him a light smile, her eyes convey a slight amount of joy in them. Her voice has a soft timber to it that Anna had always found comforting, “Hello Natsu, it is nice to meet you.”

The young Dragneel’s eyes practically sparkle with awe at her, he shyly reaches out his hand before pulling it back. It seemed that the sky dragoness could tell he wanted to touch her so she moved a bit closer to him so that her face was close to him, “Go on little one, you may touch.” He reaches up once again, his fingers running through her feather-like scales, the soft bristles parting between them. He couldn’t help but express his amazement out loud, “It’s so soft.”

Grandeeneys body rumbles with a light laugh at the boy's exclamation. As the two were occupied with that Anna looked up at the other four dragons who were silently watching the interaction. Metalicana and Skiadrum are wearing the same normal unreadable expressions on their faces, Weisslogia let a small smile on his face while he watched the scene in front of him. Finally, Igneel had an expression almost as unreadable as the first two, but she could see a bit of turmoil in the depths of his eyes. She had a hunch about what could be causing that turmoil, but that is something that she could ask about later.

Anyway, they still need to tell Natsu what he is even here for, and then figure out which one of them is gonna claim him. The information that she knows about the small pink-haired boy from Zeref leads her to believe that he is going to be paired with Igneel. But once again, those are some things they can deal with a little later after the dragons have gotten used to the other’s presence. In all honesty, she thinks she actually might need to just get Natsu up to some proper health standards, he looks thin for his age, and a bit beat up.

Finally, she looks back to where Natsu is still running his fingers through Grandeeneys scales, the dragoness seems to be relaxing under the boy's touch. She walks a bit closer to the two before gaining their attention, “Well, I hate to break this up, but, Natsu needs a bath, and probably some food, so we shall go do that, we will see you five in the morning.” At this indication, the sky dragoness slowly slips her head out from underneath Natsu’s hand and moves back to her full height, “Good night Anna, Natsu.”

The four other dragons still say nothing as Anna leads Natsu over to the other end of the field where the hut sits. She opens the door before grabbing her lighter from her pocket as she makes her way around the room lighting the lamps. The boy stays in the doorway taking in all the details around him, how the light bounces off of the walls. She slowly makes her way back over to him, leading him out of the doorway and closing the door behind them, “This will be your home for a while Natsu, it’s just as much yours as it is mine.”

He looks at her with a light awe in his eyes, “You mean I get to live in a real house, Zeref-nii always told me that this was a place for adults.” Some of the comments that he was making were starting to concern her, as well as warp the perception she had of her so-called ‘friend’. Her eyebrows furrowed as she kneels to look Natsu in the eyes. “Well that’s not true honey, everyone should be able to live in houses, all the way from when you're born to when you die.”

She can see the gears in his mind turning as he processes what he just told her, to get his mind off of that she guides him towards where his room is. She pushes the door to his room open for him to see inside, it’s not much but it has a bed and a small basket of clothes that she made for him by hand. “This is going to be your room Natsu, and there are some clothes for you, grab some that you want to wear, go wash up, put those on, and then meet me out where we came in, ok?” He mindlessly nods as he looks through the basket, finding clothes that look comfortable.

He walks back over to her with the clothes in hand, she gives him a small smile before she leads him to the washroom. There is a metal basin, with a bucket next to it full of water that sits on hot coals. “Can I leave you to take care of it from here?” She waits until she sees him nod and then she heads back out towards where they first came in.

The front of the cabin right as you walk in shows a kitchenette and a small dining room. She looks through the food that she had stocked up and realizes she may need to head into town again soon to pick up some more supplies, though she could do with what she had for now. She sighed as she started to put together a simple meal for the two of them, something that could hold the boy over until a bit of a heavier meal tomorrow since it was starting to get late.

Some time passed before she picked up on the padding of bare feet on the hard wood of the floor. She turned away from the makeshift stove she had lit with one of the candles, she had a smile on her face as she looked at the now clean boy. “Don’t you feel much better now sweetie?” He gives a shy nod before he sniffs the air as if he can smell the food that is brewing up on the stove. She chuckles as she hears his stomach growl in response to the smell, “How about you sit down at the table, the food is almost done.”

He follows her instructions shuffling his way over to the table before sitting in the chair, swinging his legs back and forth as he waits. She turns back to the stove adding a few more seasonings, making quiet conversation as she does. “Natsu, honey, how old are you?” He takes a second to think before he answers her, “I think I’m eight.” She lets out a noncommittal before focusing back on the stew.

 Once it’s ready she begins moving around the kitchen to pull out two bowls for them. She sets the bowls next to the pot before she ladles a few spoonfuls of the stew into each of the bowls. She opens a drawer, pulling out two spoons before making her way over to the table. She sets one of the bowls down in front of him with a spoon before sitting in the seat that was across from him.

They eat in silence for a bit before Natsu speaks up, “I really like the food, Ms. Anna.” She can’t help but let out a light laugh at the honorifics “No need for the Ms, Natsu, you may call me just Anna, but, thank you” She lets out a quiet sigh when he responds with an “Ok Ms. Anna.” They continue to eat in companionable silence until both of their bowls are empty, “Would you like more Natsu?”

He seems to almost look guilty as he nods, “Only if it isn’t an inconvenience for you Ms Anna.” She gives him a pitying smile, “It is not an inconvenience to ask for food sweetie, especially if I am offering it to you, ok?” She just gets a small nod in response, though she must say that it is better than nothing. She takes both of their bowls back over to the stove. She puts hers off to the side because she personally was full. But she takes the ladle and fills his bowl up once more.

He brings his bowl back to the table laying it in front of him, he gobbles the stew down before announcing that he is done. She then stands gathering up his bowl before putting it with hers. She then gets him up and herds him towards his bed, “Ok honey, now it’s time to head to bed, you can learn more about everything tomorrow.” She gets him into the bed before beginning to tuck him in. Once she has him tucked in, she leans down and gives him a kiss on the forehead, “Goodnight Sweetie.” She smiles as she heads towards the door when she hears a “Goodnight Ms Anna” in return.