Acnologia returned from Makarov's office. The old geezer had asked Acnologia's advice on nearly every serious issue the council had sent him. Acnologia had gone from 'Sure, I guess I'll help' to 'So help me - if you shove another piece of paper my way I will kill you'.

He walked downstairs and looked around. Cana was beating Lyon at cards, Gray and Natsu were wrestling near Gildarts. Gajeel, Sting, and Rogue were in a heated game of sorry, Gajeel did not look like he was winning. Laxus was napping in a chair, Wendy was coloring something next to him. Jellal was sitting uncomfortably in a chair... the chair where Erik usually sat... Acnologia looked around for his maroon haired teenager, fearing that a murder was about to take place. Erik wasn't usually possessive of a "spot" but he was a drake. Drakes tended to be territorial especially with rival drakes, and there was no other rival in Erik's mind then Jellal. 

In a second Acnologia caught his scent. He looked up, Erik was sitting in the rafters, Cubellios curled in his lap. He was stroking her and eyeing Jellal cautiously. Acnologia sighed, walked back up the stairs and leaped up next to him.

He was about to ask what was wrong but Erik answered first.

"I don't like it," Erik growled, "that's what's wrong."

Erik still couldn't hear Acnologia's thoughts, but he had become skilled in predicting the apocalypse dragon's actions.

"Erik," Acnologia growled wondering if he could push the child down and beat some forgiveness into him.

"Uncle, he enslaved me and my friends, he gave me to the psychopath brain who then did this to me, I don't like that he's here in our guildhall."

Acnologia sighed, "Forgiveness is important." Damn, he sounded like Makarov now.

Erik took a deep breath in, "Just because he's in the guild, doesn't mean that I'm gonna treat him like a brother."

Acnologia sighed and looked at Erik; he was looking straight ahead intently, probably listening to voices.

"ONII-CHAN!" Wendy called.

Erik looked down and saw small little Wendy holding up a pack of cards.

"Can you play with meee!" she yelled. Erik smiled fondly and jumped down, a fall from that height should have done some damage, but he was a dragon slayer.

Erik ruffled Wendy's hair, "Sure."

Wendy was the only one that could get Erik to do things calmly. Acnologia wished he knew her secret.

The guild began to settle down, Natsu and Gray stopped brawling, Lyon and Gajeel were having a conversation about... music? And Erik was on his tenth round of cards with Wendy.

"Uncle," Sting pleaded.

"Yeah?" Acnologia asked.

"Can we get some ice cream?"

"Why the hell do you want ice cream?" Acnologia asked.

"Well, I've never had it, and I wanted to try some," Sting said.

"No," Acnologia snapped

"Please? I've been good all day! Look, Gajeel punched me and I only kicked him back, I didn't even use magic!" Sting said proudly showing a bruise on his arm.

"That's your best behavior?" he sighed.

"Pleassseee!" Sting moped.

Acnologia banged his head on the table knowing that he was about to regret this next word, "fine," he muttered.

"YAY!" Sting smiled.

As it turned out, Acnologia had completely messed up in the 'polite in public part' with the dragon slayers. They raced around town, going nuts; they didn't even have any sugar in them.

Finally, after threats of the punishment box and multiple run-away attempts, they arrived at the ice cream shop.

"Sir, what may I do for you?" asked an obnoxious looking teen from behind the counter of the ice cream shop.

"YOU CAN DO YOU DAMN JOB AND TAKE MY ORDER FOR ICE CREAM!" Acnologia growled; his right arm was wrapped around Natsu, his left around Gajeel. Erik and Laxus kept eyes on Rogue and Wendy, but Sting had been... almost angelic the whole time. Now his eyes stared at the ice cream choices, his eyes wide and glittery. Dang... Acnologia almost smiled... almost.

"What will your order be?" the kid sighed.

"I want THAT ONE!" Natsu yipped pointing to the rocky road.

'Nope, sugar high warning' a voice in his head warned.

"NO WAY! That is a sugar high/heart attack waiting to happen," Acnologia sighed.

"I"LL DIE!" Natsu yipped.

"NO, it'll be a sugar high for you and a heart attack for me!" Acnologia growled.

"PWEASE!!!!" Natsu asked.

'DARN THOSE EYES!'

'Pretend it's Igneel and say no'

'But he's so cute!'

'AGREED!'

'Learn to say NO'

Natsu got his Rocky Road.

Gajeel decided on some Mint Chocolate Chip, Wendy wanted Rainbow Sorbet, Laxus settled for Cookie Dough, Erik got Strawberry with little chocolate bits on top, Sting got some Buttercream and Rogue liked the idea of plain old chocolate.

The kid's loved their ice cream. Acnologia swore to destroy whoever created such an abomination.

"THIS IS SO YUMMY! THANK YOU UNCLE!" Natsu smiled, his face was covered.

"How can you tell? The majority is on your face, how did you taste any of it?" Gajeel smiled.

Wendy smiled as she enjoyed her food, Rogue was doing the same, but his eyes were wide and sparkled. Sting was already running in circles full of energy, and he wasn't even halfway done yet! Erik hung back and every now and then, he would let Cubellios sneak a lick of the ice cream, which Acnologia objected to. Laxus ate and ate and ate, he finished first. That kid did not mess around when it came to ice cream.

Five hours, ten runaway's, and a burning merchant box later, Acnologia got his seven, now hyped up, children into the house. Sting zipped around the house like a madman, begging Rogue to play chase... Rogue agreed. Natsu decided it would be fun to play with the kitchen stove... it did not go well. Acnologia thanked the heavens that he had a fire extinguisher.

"Flame brat, where's Metal Head?" Acnologia asked as he held a squirming Sting over one shoulder.

Natsu shrugged from the punishment box. Sting broke free and began to chase Rogue once more.

Acnologia rushed to Natsu's room, where Gajeel had found the stapler; he was trying to give himself a new piercing. Acnologia quickly reconstructed a new punishment box and Gajeel was thrown in there. Acnologia tackled Sting and Rogue and they were thrown into the cardboard box. Laxus was playing with the T.V circuit board; he too met the fate of the cardboard box. Acnologia nearly lost it when he found Erik trying to feed Cubellios a LIVE MOUSE! They both were placed in the punishment box.

"Okay brats! It's time for... wait," Acnologia counted the six boys in the three boxes, "Where the heck is Sky Scamp?"

Laxus, who looked very uncomfortable, squished with Rogue, pointed to the fan above Acnologia's head. Acnologia was almost afraid to look up but stifled giggling solidified his fears. He looked up.

Wendy was climbing on the fan, looking down and Acnologia. Acnologia yanked her down and sat her next to Erik.

Laxus and Rogue were squished into the punishment box on the left, Natsu, Gajeel and Sting were in the center, and Erik and Wendy were to the right.

"I will not have you monsters, running around this place like newly hatched wyrms! This is our nest, not our playground. RESPECT THE NEST!" Acnologia cried.

"In our nest, Igneel always let me run wild!" Natsu protested.

"I'm not Igneel," Acnologia growled.

"Weisslogia never threw me in a box," Sting huffed.

"Metalicana would have approved of my piercings!" Gajeel huffed.

"First of all, Sting, you deserved it, second, Gajeel, just no, stop," Acnologia sighed.

"You aren't my dad," Gajeel huffed.

"Hey, you're treading a fine line kid," Acnologia growled.

"Yeah! Skiadrum encouraged activism!" Rogue piped up.

"I don't think that is the word you were looking for," Acnologia sighed.

"Uncle!" Wendy called.

"Yes?" Acnologia asked a tick mark formed on his head.

"There's smoke," Wendy said pointing to the oven.

Somehow Natsu had turned the oven on without Acnologia permission. That was another fiasco. Acnologia came back to the seven and found only six.

"Where'd metal head go?" Acnologia growled.

"He said that you sucked as a parent," Laxus shrugged.

"He left thinking that you sucked as a dragon as well," Erik nodded.

"Did anyone try to stop him?!" Acnologia hissed.

"You said to stay in the box!" Sting defended.

"So you let your brother escape into the unsuspecting city?" Acnologia growled.

There was silence.

"Oh for flip's sake! Erik, Laxus, you guys are in charge, stay in the box!" Acnologia yelled running out the door. Erik looked at Laxus and shrugged.

Acnologia opened the door again and looked at Erik and Laxus, "If I find that another kid is missing when I get back, you two are having flying lessons out the window!" Acnologia growled.

Erik and Laxus grinned and waved goodbye unafraid of Acnologia's threats.

Acnologia ran out the door and searched wildly for Gajeel. He finally found his scent and tracked it to an alley. Gajeel was crunching down on a metal plate.

"Brat, don't run off like that," Acnologia sighed.

Gajeel turned his head away, attempting to give him the cold shoulder. "Go away," he growled.

"Nope," Acnologia said, he crossed his arms.

Silence met Acnologia along with the smell of sodium.

'The brats crying!'

'SH*T!'

'Knock him out, we'll deal with this later'

'WHAT!'

'Just do what Grandeeney would do!'

'We're not hugging him'

'DO SOMETHING'

"Okay kid, what's the matter?" Acnologia asked.

Gajeel sniffed and quickly wiped away his tears, "nothing."

"Sure," Acnologia sighed.

There was a long silence followed by a choke.

"It's Metalicana, you missing your old man?" Acnologia asked sitting down next to the young boy. "I understand how you feel, I know how it feels to lose someone," Acnologia sighed.

Gajeel nodded intensely and then threw himself into Acnologia's arms. Acnologia awkwardly wrapped an arm around him in an attempt to comfort him.

'Oh look, we're hugging him'

'He's kinda cute'

'We do not approve of this interaction!'

'Can you just shut up?'

"I miss him so much," Gajeel choked.

"Yeah... yeah, I miss em' too," Acnologia nodded... yes he even missed his jerk brother that he had tried to kill three times. In his defense, Metalicana had provoked him all three times.

To anyone else, the two of them walking home would look like a simple father and son walk, but it was much more than that. Gajeel clutched Acnologia's hand and the two began to bond, as all dragons do. Gajeel felt like he could trust Acnologia and Acnologia felt a weighing responsibility to protect Gajeel. He had felt the same feeling when he carried Laxus home the day he had become a dragon slayer. He felt it when Erik had ridden him to Fairy Tail, when Serena had called him master, and when he had taught Wendy how to use her roar. He was still working on Sting, Rogue, and Natsu.

When Acnologia arrived home, he found everyone asleep in their cardboard boxes... poor kids. Acnologia carried each and every one of them into their beds and tucked them in. Gajeel climbed into bed dreary eyed. Acnologia began to walk out when Gajeel's voice rang out in the silence.    

"Uncle!" he called.

Acnologia looked back at the tired dragon slayer.

"Goodnight," Gajeel said, he meant to say more, but metal dragons were typically very bad with expressing their emotions. Still, the word made Acnologia smiled.

"Goodnight brat," Acnologia responded walking towards his couch with a small smile. He stopped in front of the stiff couch and pondered how much a pullout couch cost.