Recap:

"Are you not bothered that Evanora has resurfaced?! You act as if you have no care in the world! She will come after you! She will kill you! Do you have no parry?!"

"You knew! Why...Lucy...Natsu...what! Master, why didn't you say anything?!"

"Loke?"

"Hello again, Makarov; we have some...complications."

Continued---

In a small city, presumably around five hundred years earlier...

A young-looking woman, around her early to mid-twenties, marched the dirt streets, watching the stalls of merchants and farmers selling produce. She hummed lightly, approaching a fruit vendor's stall, eyeing the ripe-looking apples and kiwi and oranges.

"Good' ay, Milady?" The vendor smiles crookedly at the newcomer with his crooked teeth.

"Aye, good man, " She replied swiftly a dragon's wing. "How much for an apple on the road?"

"Aye, Ma'am, for you, no exchange but a single graze upon my cheek." The older man meekly blushed with his ludic request.

The blonde woman giggled, "Forgive me, Father, but I cannot. Will three golden wedges do?"

The man, clearly crestfallen about the rejection, bounced into a cheery aura once again upon being given the money. The gold softly clinked together in his palm and then being placed away in the pocket of his overalls.

" 'Ave a good day, Madam!" The farmer plucked a large purplish-red apple and handed it over to the beautiful passerby.

"As to you!" The woman bit into the apple as she backtracked, shifting the satchel around to the other shoulder.

The day was high at noon, the sun blanketed by thickened clouds, but there was no sign of rain clouds. There was this breeze that was not too warm nor too cold, it felt very nice against her body.

She walked many miles, many days and many nights. She couldn't exactly say she knew where she wanted to go, she wandered aimlessly. A mindless adventure that she hoped would never end.

~

The wandering woman stepped onto vast plains of yellow and green, presumably wheat fields or wild grasses. The grass brushes her ankles and dress as she walks toward the middle of the field. It was strange for a person to even do something like this, but she didn't mind at all. She loved the sound of calming nature against serene whisper of wind.

There was a grand willow tree. It's viney limbs curved and made the tree itself seem wider and much grander to the human eye.

All of sudden, the willow's vines are flown into a massive air current of beating wings. And not soon after did a heavy body quake the earth. The woman wasn't alarmed or even frightened. Dragons often wandered closely to villages and cities such as this. Call it a common occurrence.

"Hello again, Anna!" A colossal red dragon beams with his large sharp teeth.

The blonde woman smiles up at the beast, "Hello, Igneel. How are you today?"

"Anyway a dragon can be, Anna, " The dragon chortled, puffing out a tiny black cloud of smoke. "My day ought to be great, otherwise I'd burn down that stinkn' village!"

Anna frowned slightly, "What happened, Igneel?"

"Oh, you know, livin' on these plains ain't easy, especially when a lot of herds go missin'!" Igneel puffed out, seemingly not bothered, but Anna could tell the blame had irritated him.

"I wouldn't let the humans bother you, Igneel. We humans are not whistling dixie."

"You are the kindest human I have encountered so far."

"Why, thank you." Anna smiles, patting her dress at the back of her thighs and sitting in the tall grass. "Won't you sit and talk with me for a while?"

"It would be my pleasure, Anna."

"Has anything happened, my dear friend? Aside from the devoured herd, that is." Anna plucked a few pieces of grass, suddenly knotting the torn ends together.

"Ah! How could I forget, aye? I am makin' myself a Dragon Slayer!" Igneel beams, reaching over his large wings, carefully and slowly.

"Making a Dragon Slayer? Oh, Igneel, how can you possibly--" Anna trailed off seeing a small child in the palm of the dragon's claw. She gasps rather loudly. "A child?!"

"Before you lose your marbles, Anna, no I did not steal him, " Igneel began as the woman hurried to his claw, softly scooping the child from his scale "bed". "I found him, abandoned."

"Abandoned?"

The dragon nodded.

"Oh, poor child." Anna cradled the boy to her chest as he snores carefreely. "I wonder where his parents have gone?"

"Ah, who cares? They left em' in a patch of the underbrush! Poor kid probably sought shelter!" Igneel puffed, not bothering to hide his anger about the child's neglect.

"What unusual pink hair..." Anna curled her fingers through the boy's wild locks.

"I've named him Natsu, " Igneel beamed pridefully. "Because it is summer, aye?"

Anna chuckles, "Yes, I get it. It suits him."

"Ya know..." Igneel began almost shakily. "I have never raised a child before..."

Anna blinked, finding it that his words were the truth. She suddenly bursts into a soft hysteria, tears brimming at her tear ducts.

"Oi! It is not funny! Children need tremendous care! Giant creatures like me are not always the cleanest." Igneel attempts to defend himself from Anna's amusement.

"Very well, my friend, wherever you may find me, I shall provide any help I can offer." She smiles up at the fire dragon.

Raising a child, she knew, wasn't exactly the easiest task, but it impacts the parent, blood or not. Although she hadn't borne children of her own just yet, she felt deeply kindred to Igneel.

"Anna!"

The dragon and woman averted their sights onto two figures from across the field. Two women, probably around Anna's age, they waved their arms high in the air.

"C'mon, Anna!"

Ah. How could she have forgotten? Anna grasps the child as she straightens her stance, turning to Igneel. She didn't want to keep her comrades waiting any longer.

"I must leave now, dearest Igneel, " Anna gently places Natsu into the dragon's scaly palm. "I have a business to attend. Adieu." She nodded her head with one low dunk, giving a wave of farewell.

"Thank you, Anna!" Igneel blew out, grinning widely.

"Bye!" Anna calls over her shoulder.

The blonde nears the two women. Identical, they were. Despite their naturally narrow eyes, they were beaming with bright smiles and giggles.

"Anna Heartfilia! Did thou forget?" The first lilac-haired woman spoke, fisting her hands onto her hips.

Anna smiled meekly, "I cease to forget important dates, Hestia." She addressed the woman who spoke.

"Thou hath a dragon for a brethren?" The second woman spoke uneasily. She peered around Anna, quirking her eyebrows up in perturbation.

"Very much so, Sister! Anna is an amazing woman!" Hestia pulls her sister close to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"Forgive me, Evanora, " Anna says lightheartedly. "Igneel is merely a boon companion. His arrival was unexpected."

"What did he want?" Evanora eyed the dragon, who still remained on the plains.

"Nothing more than good news shared, " Anna said finally. "Anywho, shall we leave?"

"Of course!" Hestia beamed.

"Ye think that beast will follow behind?" Evanora sourly spat toward the plains.

"Nay, Sister! The dragon is a friend of our friend! We must care, not claw. We must leave now, Monsieur Alain is expecting us by sundown." Hestia redirected her twin's eyes, and body, toward the coast, which was very far, and possibly half a day's trip.

Evanora scoffed, shrugging away Hestia's hands and storming ahead. This left Hestia beside Anna.

"Will she be alright?" Anna asked, looking at the woman's shrinking frame with concern.

"She always is, " Hestia breathes. Her lips the ghost of a saddened smile. "Tis the day death took our family."

"Condolences," Anna says genuinely.

"Nay, nay! Our sorrows will heal! For now, we must follow to the coast!"

And with that, the women traveled in light conversation.