Acnologia... he was beginning to rethink some life choices. 

Erik and Laxus were eleven almost twelve and were developing into healthy young drakes. They ate Acnologia out of food every day, made literal nests in their beds to make them comfortable and had broken so many things... so many expensive things that hadn't belonged to Acnologia.

Luckily both Laxus and Erik were over ten, so other then the few mishaps he considered himself lucky...well, until Serena came knocking at the door.

"Who's there?" Acnologia asked as he served Laxus and Erik some toast and eggs. He knew very well who it was.

"It's Serena, you know Wizard Saint, highly attractive, immensely strong?!"

Acnologia sighed. He opened the door and found Serena staring back at him.

"What," Acnologia sighed.

"I have five dragon slayers that are coming and they need a father," he pleaded.

Acnologia slammed the door in response. He walked towards the kitchen when Serena knocked on the door again. "Acnologia," he sighed.

Acnologia opened the door, "go away!" he growled.

He began to shut the door but Serena threw his full weight on the door, attempting to keep it open.

"But Acno!" Serena whined in a voice that wasn't fit for a seventeen-year-old.

"What the hell is the council thinking making five new dragon slayers... where the hell did they get that many lacrimas!" Acnologia growled opening the door and massaging his head.

"Yeah, about that," Serena said looking regretful, "what if I told you that they came through the eclipse gate?"

Acnologia slammed the door even harder... Serena cried out in pain.

"You hit my nose!" Serena objected from the other side of the door.

"Good, it'll match the scar across your face now," Acnologia hissed.

"Acnologia!" Serena objected opening the door," they need you.

"Get the hell out of my apartment and raise them yourself," Acnologia growled shoving Serena out and closing the door again, Serena fought back this time giving a hard shove to the door and trying to squeeze through the gap

"You are the only true dragon slayer left! I can't raise them; I work too closely with the Magic Counsel! Besides after that whole Alvarez threat thing, the wizard saints and magic counsel are still scouting out Alvarez. Oh, and most importantly... I DON'T KNOW HOW TO RAISE KIDS!" he explained.

"Go away," Acnologia growled again, he was easily overpowering Serena and the door was about to close when Serena gave a final shove.

"Anna sent them," he whispered.

Acnologia's heart skipped a beat. He stopped pushing on the door. Then he opened it slowly, Serena was standing expectantly in the doorway.

"What do you mean Anna sent them," Acnologia growled.

"You knew a woman named Anna Heartfillia, right?" Serena asked.

"What makes you think that?" Acnologia hissed.

"If you didn't then she sure wrote a whole lot of instructions to a stranger," Serena said handing Acnologia a beaten brown book.

"What is this?" Acnologia asked.

"Read the first page," Serena explained.

Acnologia shut the door, breaking Serena's nose again in the process, and sat on the couch. He opened the book and began to read.

My dear Acnologia,

By this time, I'm sure that something has happened to me, and if not, well then you shouldn't be reading this. I've left this book in the keep of my decedents, in hope that it will reach your hands someday.

I guess you are looking for answers, I'm not sure if I have them all, but I may be able to answer some. In the year 377, your siblings, Igneel, Metalicana, Grandeeney, Skiadrum, and Weisslogia came to be concerned over the well-being of dragon kind. The dragons were disappearing, and they feared that their children would be next, and so they came to me for assistance. We went to Zeref who had built a structure that allowed us to move through time. He built it for an alternative reason but Grandeeney was able to convince the wizard to use it for our purpose. This structure is known as the eclipse gate, it required all of the keys of the Zodiac keys... keys that I possessed. Very soon, I will send these children through the gate, in the hope that you will meet them. I hope with all my heart that I will be there too, but I know life doesn't go as expected.

I must give you a warning, Igneel's son, he is a demon from the books of Zeref but I am assured that not even the child knows and that he is of no danger to you. Weisslogia's and Skiadrum's children have dragon lacrimas within them but they were inputted by the best so there are no side effects. The other two are typical but immensely powerful in their own right.

I wanted to tell you why the dragons are disappearing, but I fear that once you understand you may get yourself hurt. I have placed an enchantment on this book. You will not understand why the dragons are disappearing until the dragon slayers are strong enough, and until you are ready.

My darling... please don't blame yourself; I am making my choice. I fear that you may take matters into your own hands, or that you will try to stop me. I need you Acnologia, to remain strong, I need you, but more importantly, the dragon slayers need you.

In July on the 7th day, hopefully in the year 777, the children will come through, Acnologia, please wait for them. And please remember, that I will always love you.

Acnologia sat back, and read it over again. He knew this handwriting... he could almost hear her voice reading it to him. The more he read it the clearer her death became; that was why she had been at the eclipse gate... at the gate that had killed her

'Why didn't she trust us? ' a voice in his head whimpered.

'Why does she treat those brats like their our salvation!' another voice growled.

'WHY DID THE DRAGONS DISAPPEAR!' a voice yelled trying to ask the important questions.

'Who cares,' the first voice moaned, 'she didn't trust us enough to tell us... she didn't trust us.'

'BUT WHY!'

'Those brats cost her her life'

'She would rather die than tell us.'

'WHY! THERE MUST HAVE BEEN A GOOD REASON!'

'She thought we were weak.'

'She thought we were many things... but never weak'

'Then what else would it be?'

'... it... it can't be him... could it?'

'NO!'

'Are we crazy, he's imprisoned, we made sure that he'd never escape... it's not him'

'But... but it makes sense... she'd wanted to protect us from him.'

'NO! HE'S DEAD AND GONE!'

His heart hurt and his mind kept showing flashes of Anna's face.

"Acnologia... are you okay?" Erik asked. He and Laxus were in the hall, staring and him. For how long, he didn't know. He looked at Laxus and to Erik, and then he looked back to the book. He sighed and got to his feet. Then he turned to the two dragon slayers.

"What do you two think about having siblings?" he asked. 

The carriage ride to the Heartfillia mansion was... horrible.

"So...*glug*... the gate has been opened?" Acnologia asked.

"Yeah...Oh dear *belch*" Serena lost a meal out of the window "... Anna decedent Layla didn't wait. That and we're three days late. The dragon slayers are asleep in her mansion, they haven't come too yet, thanks to some magic...*glug*"

"ACNOOO!" Erik complained.

"WHAT!" He yelled back.

"Laxus just lost it all over my jacket!" he moaned.

"YOU LOST IT ALL OVER MY SHOES!" Laxus cried back.

Acnologia was not in the mood. "SHUT UP BEFORE I THROW BOTH OF YOU OUT THE WINDOW!" he cried. Then he lost his breakfast out the said window.

They arrived at the Heartfillia mansion and the four dragon slayers crawled out.

"Can we fly home please?" Erik begged.

"YESSS PLEASE!" groaned Laxus.

"Yeah, we'll see," Acnologia said getting to his feet.

"How do you recover so quickly?" Serena asked.

"Practice, four hundred years of it," Acnologia replied.

The group walked towards the mansion, but a man with blonde hair stopped them.

"You must be Jude Heartfillia, hello, I am –" Serena began.

"I know who you are," the man said angrily.

"Then you know why we are here, we must see Layla-" Serena began again.

"You can't see her," he ordered.

"What, why?" asked Serena.

"She is on her deathbed because of those children. You can take the little beasts, but you can't see Layla," he announced.

Acnologia stepped forward, "I want to talk to her." He didn't even try to hide the growl in his voice

"Well you can't, goodbye," the man huffed.

Then a maid rushed out of the door, "Sir!" she cried.

"What?" Jude Heartfilia asked.

"It's the Mrs... She demands that you allow the visitors to see her," the maid panted.

Jude looked back at Serena and Acnologia, "fine," he allowed.

The maid led the two men and the two boys into the house, up the stairs, and into a room. Lying in the bed was a woman who resembled Anna.

"You...must be...Acnologia," she said weakly.

Acnologia nodded. She was drained of magic power, everything from her heart to her muscles threatened to cease.

"You didn't have all twelve keys," Acnologia commented.

"No... one of my friends... had moved. I couldn't track her down so I supplemented Aquarius's key with my life force... she came by later and returned the key," Layla said.

"You're dying," Serena realized.

"Yes, but not for no reason," she smiled.

Then she turned to the maid, "Open the door please," she asked.

The maid opened a door that Acnologia assumed to be a closet, he was right.

"Uhhh... not to be a Debby Downer, but I hope you didn't sacrifice yourself for shoes," Serena said, Acnologia slapped him upside the head for that.

"No, go through it... It's only an illusion," she smiled. They began to head that way.

"Oh, Acnologia, you should know that something weird happened in the Eclipse gate," Layla breathed.

"What?" Acnologia asked.

"Well, Anna wrote that there would be two older boys and three younger children, two young boys and one young girl. But when they came through, there were four older boys and one younger girl, almost as if time had rushed the younger two," she said.

Acnologia nodded pondering what that meant.

Then Acnologia looked to Laxus and Erik. They eyed Layla with looks of both fear, and sadness. Erik came and tugged on Acnologia's cape.

"She's going to die...isn't she," Erik said.

Acnologia swore to himself... Erik had been in a dark guild; of course, he had seen death. The kid was probably having some major cases of PTSD. Erik heard all this, of course.

Layla then noticed the two boys.

"These must be the other two dragon slayers," Layla smiled. Laxus shifted uncomfortably, but Erik looked at her sadly.

"Come here children," she beckoned.

Laxus seemed rooted to the ground but Erik came right over without any of his usual hesitations.

"What's your name," she asked.

Acnologia wasn't certain if Erik would tell her. However, Erik seemed to lose all caution. "Erik" he smiled.

"Lovely name," Layla smiled, "your mother was very wise to name someone like you Erik. It's a noble name."

"Yeah," Erik smiled weakly, "... she'd sometimes call me Kaida. It means little dragon and... and I wasn't even a dragon slayer back then." Erik said all that with a lump in his throat and memories flashing through his head. For a moment he was back as a young boy talking to his mother. Hearing Layla's voice was like hearing his mother's voice again.

Acnologia and Laxus were stunned that Erik had opened up so quickly and easily to an absolute stranger.

"Isn't Kaida a girl's name?" Layla asked smiling.

Erik shrugged, "I don't think my mom cared."

Layla smiled and grabbed Erik's hand, "Can you call your brothers that, and your new sister. I think your mother would appreciate it."

Erik smiled, tears formed in his eyes, "Yeah."

Layla sighed and went to sleep. Then Acnologia led Laxus and Erik into the closet. After they went through the enchantment Acnologia leaned down.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I don't know what happened, she just seemed familiar... " he smiled. Acnologia nodded.

Then the maid opened a final door into a small bedroom. Lying together were five children. There was a boy with salmon hair with a scarf around his neck; he kept flailing and punching a small dark-haired one with, dear Mavis were those piercings! The salmon haired kid was obviously Igneel's, Acnologia wasn't sure if it was the smell, the brightly colored hair, or the flailing that gave him away. Of course, Metalicana would give his kid piercing; he was not the perfect father figure. Two other dragon slayers slept close. A blonde-haired one was snuggled next to Igneel's kid and held another dark-haired around his neck. Blonde was obviously Weisslogia's kid, he had an annoying habit to cling to others while sleeping. It had earned Weisslogia more than a few bruises. He was guessing that the other dark-haired kid was Skiadrum's, probably because he was the only one that slept like a normal person. Grandeeney's kid was given away immediately, she was snuggled up next to Metalicana's kid and she looked young and innocent, even in sleep.

"I can wake them up... but no promises they will go back to sleep. They needed a lot of enchantments to get to this state," the maid sighed.

"I guess it's now or never," Acnologia sighed.

The nurse closed off the enchantment and immediately Igneel's kid woke up. He sat bolt upright throwing Weisslogia's kid on top of Skiadrum's kid and waking up Metalicana's kid.

"WHAT THE HECK SALAMANDER!" Metalicana's kid yelled.

Igneel's kid ignored the remark and he studied his surroundings.

"Where's Igneel?" he asked.

"HOW SHOULD I KNOW?" Metalicana's kid yelled rubbing his eyes.

"WELL SORRY METAL HEAD!" Igneel's kid retorted

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME FLAME BRAIN!" Metalicana's kid yelled now wide awake

This woke up Grandeeney's child.

"Natsu, Gajeel, please don't fight," she pleaded, rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah you idiots, you woke us up!" Weisslogia's kid huffed.

"SINCE WHEN ARE YOU THE SAME AGE AS ME?!" the kid who Acnologia assumed was named Natsu cried.

"I don't know, but I like it," Weisslogia's kid smiled looking Natsu triumphantly in the eyes.

"Don't get to cocky Sting, I can beat you into pulp right here, right now," yelled Natoos, Natlu? Sunat? Whatever Igneel's child was called, Acnologia wasn't sure anymore

"Not so fast, Natsu still has to fight me for waking me up!" Metalicana's kid yelled. What had Grandeeney's kid called him? Jeelnay? Gagna? Gajegne? Lasagna? Acnologia had forgotten him too.

Skiadrum's kid immediately noticed Acnologia and ignored the brawl that was about to start.

"Who are you guys?" he asked, "And where is Skiadrum?"

Acnologia's heart ached for the kid. He had hoped that the dragons were inside of them, maybe blocking the dragon seeds in them... but no. He couldn't sense any of his brethren in these children, which meant that they had disappeared along with the other dragons, or that they had been killed.

Acnologia knelt down and got eye level with Skiadrum's child.

"My name is Acnologia, I'm your uncle," he smiled.

The kids stopped fighting, "What do you mean uncle?" Metalicana's kid objected holding Igneel's kid in a headlock

"I knew your parents very well, they were like siblings to me... they are gone now, so I am the only one to care for you," he sighed.

"What do you mean...gone?" Grandeeney's kid asked tears began to form in her eyes.

Acnologia found himself struggling with the next sentence.

"I don't know if they're dead, but I assume that they are. I haven't seen them for four hundred years," he sighed.

"What do you mean four hundred years? I saw Igneel a little while ago?" Igneel's kid objected.

Then Laxus came forward, "You all traveled in time. What was today for you was four hundred years ago for us."

Acnologia was thankful that Laxus had spoken up. He was losing heart watching these children.

"So...so Grandeeney is... she's gone," Grandeeney's child spoke. Then she began to cry. Suddenly the four other boys moved as a unit cuddling Grandeeney's child and trying to reassure her that it would be alright.

Grandeeney's child wouldn't hear any of it. "She can't be dead," she sobbed. The boys didn't know what to do. The young girl collapsed on her knees and began wailing. Laxus stood there also not knowing what to do while Acnologia was still trying to rationalize what was happening.

When the girl wailed again Erik moved so quickly Acnologia needed time to register what happened. Wendy was being comforted by Erik. He held her in a hug and began to rock her.

"She's dead... Grandeeney is dead," the young girl cried.

Erik rocked her for a bit, "my mom's dead too," he said at last. All the dragon slayers in the room watched.

Wendy backed away from Erik to look him in the eye. "Really, was she a dragon?" she asked.

Erik shook his head, "no, my mom was a human."

"Do you miss her?" Wendy asked.

Erik nodded his head, "Yeah, I miss my Mom, and my Dad, and my friends."

Wendy cried a little harder, "How do you stop missing them?" she asked in-between sobs.

"You don't, but you learn to live with it," he smiled. Wendy cried harder and fell on Erik. Erik seemed to know just what to do. He held her and continued to rock her. 

Then Laxus sat down... Igneel's kid approached him.

"What if i don't believe you?" the boy asked crossing his arms.

"I wouldn't blame you," Laxus answered.

"Well I think Igneel's alive," the boy announced.

"That's the spirit Natsu!" the blonde-haired boy cheered

Acnologia smiled at their enthusiasm.

"Who is that?" Skiadrum's kid asked pointing to Serena who had been standing awkwardly to the side.

"Oh... he's your cousin," Laxus replied.

Serena smiled and left the room heading back to his home. His work here was done.

Layla had awoken by the time that Acnologia had returned.

"Hello children," she smiled.

The children eyed her wearily.

"This is Layla... she's the one that opened the gate and allowed you all to enter this time," Acnologia said.

The kids nodded.

"Thank you," Grandeeney's kid smiled.

Layla nodded. The group walked downstairs and were almost to the door when Igneel's kid smelled food. Darn Igneel, teaching his son to eat anything he smelled. Acnologia left the other four with Laxus and Erik and ran after him. He found Igneel's kid with Layla's daughter. They had run into each other.

"My name is Lucy, what's yours?" Layla's daughter asked.

"I'm Natsu, do you have food?" Igneel's kid asked getting straight to the heart of the matter.

"Yeah, I have a cookie, do you want half of one?" she asked.

Natsu nodded enthusiastically and was handed half of a chocolate chip cookie.

"Thanks," Natsu smiled.

"You're welcome," Lucy said.

"LUCY!" Jude called. Lucy winced and the sound of her father's voice. "Lucy get away from that boy."

Acnologia stepped in.

"Oh... it's you," Jude said, none too happy.

"Yes, Natsu, we have to go," Acnologia said.

"Aww, but-" began Natsu.

"These people have let us stay long enough" Acnologia sighed. He took Natsu by the hand and led him away; Jude did the same with Lucy. Lucy looked back so did Natsu.

"Bye," Natsu said.

"Goodbye," Lucy responded sadly.

They got to the others, Metalicana's kid was scolded for trying to eat the doorknob, Weisslogia's kid had temporarily blinded Skiadrum's kid and Erik was dying inside from the loud shouts.

"Okay everyone, we are heading home," Acnologia announced.

"NO CARRIAGE PLEASE!" Laxus begged.

"I wasn't planning on it," Acnologia smiled.

He led them all outside, where he transformed.

"YOU'RE A FREAKIN DRAGON!" Weisslogia's kid cried.

"Climb on kids, daylight is fading" he ordered.

They did as told and he took off into the sky. Needless to say, Erik nearly died due to the joyful screaming. They landed at Fairy Tail's door where they sent a few civilians scattering.

The door was thrown open and Fairy Tail met its five new additions to the dragon slayer family. Guild marks were placed and hellos were exchanged. Acnologia finally learned his kid's names. He already knew Natsu, Metalicana's kid was Gajeel, Grandeeney's kid was Wendy... he didn't think Grandeeney could be that cruel... the puns that could have been made and most likely were made... oh the puns. Skiadrum's kid was Ryos, but he went by Rogue, and Weisslogia's kid was Sting.

Then Acnologia took the children to his house/apartment. He then realized that he should have gotten a new house... fitting eight people into two bedrooms was not going to be an easy task. He made two new bunk beds in record time. He placed Natsu on the top of one and Gajeel on the bottom, then he placed Rogue on the top of one and Sting on the bottom.

"Why can't I have the top?" Sting whined.

"Cause I trust Rogue not to fall," Acnologia answered.

"Why do you trust Natsu?" Sting demanded.

"Gajeel wanted the bottom, and Natsu wanted the top, I wasn't going to argue with those two," Acnologia responded.

Laxus took the bottom bunk in the next room over and Erik took the top alongside Cubellios. Wendy got her own bed in Laxus's and Erik's room. And Acnologia... Well, he was left to sleep on the couch.

He had many dreams that night, all of them focused around the seven dragon slayers that now inhabited his house.

After one particularly bad one, Acnologia woke up in a cold sweat. He quietly checked on all of the dragon slayers. Sting was cuddling with his pillow, Rogue was sleeping peacefully. Natsu was muttering something about food and Gajeel was shifting while going through fighting motions. Erik was curled up with Cubellios and Laxus was snoring. Wendy was smiling, obviously emerged in a good dream. Acnologia smiled to himself.

"Kaidas," he smiled. It was a fitting name... for seven rebellious and wild dragons that would one day surpass him... the little dragons.