Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail. All concepts, characters, and ideas aside from my own belong to their respective owners.

Year X776 – Tower of Heaven

Many of Kyrie's first real memories were made in the dark, damp confines of the Tower of Heaven. Before that, there were only three things he was old enough to remember.

(A/N Kyrie is pronounced keer-e-ay not kai-ree)

The first was his name.

The second was the fact that he was four years old.

The third was the fact that his loving mother was murdered in front of him and that he was taken away by terrifying hooded men who happened to burn his village down.

Now he was all alone, being forced to do manual labor that should be expected of grown men rather than a boy barely out of his toddler years.

The only thing keeping him from shivering from the cold was his mother's last gift to him. It was a brilliant vermillion cloak covered in cobalt leopard-like spots that apparently belonged to his father before he vanished one day and never returned. It was somehow always warm and soft no matter what, and thus became the only comfort the boy took in his new prison. He also had a book with an exotic looking cover the same color of his cloak, but it was taken from him the minute he had set foot in the tower.

The boy was unusually strong for his age, able to lift boulders as large as he was with relative ease, but his stamina was the same if not worse than most children.

It only took a little more than an hour after his arrival for him to collapse on the floor from exhaustion, a fact that his captors did not enjoy.

"Get moving!" One guard barked, kicking hard enough to send the boy skidding into a wall.

These efforts were in vain, however, for after moving several times his own weight in rock Kyrie could hardly find the strength in himself to move, let alone respond. Everything was merely a haze to him, his mind swimming in and out of consciousness.

Irritated by this, the guard marched over before putting the point of his pike on the boy's throat, "If you don't move this instant this pike is going through you!"

Even with this threat ringing in his ears, Kyrie could do little more than lay there motionless, struggling to catch his breath after carting and carrying rock, cement, and tools for what seemed like forever. There simply wasn't enough oxygen getting to his brain for the young boy to really process and react what was going on around him due to the rest of his body being starved of the precious resource.

"Hey, hold on!" yelled the voice of an eleven year old girl. Her hair was a brilliant scarlet with eyes of brown displaying a piercing gaze.

"You can't punish him for doing all of this work! Let him rest and he'll do more later!"

"Shut your mouth! Who do you think you're talking to?"

"I'm just saying that he needs a break! You can't expect him to work when he can barely breathe!"

"That's not my problem. My only jobs are to keep you working and stop you from running away."

"You..." The girl's fists were clenched at the man's apathy, seething with anger at the man's refusal to let the boy catch a break.

Kyrie finally struggled to his feet, staggering over to try and keep working to avoid getting himself and the girl from getting in trouble.

"That's what I thought." remarked the guard in triumph, "Now back to work!" He walked off, proud of his success.

With the guard's back turned she quickly rushed over to Kyrie and caught him just before he lost any remaining strength he had left and collapsed.

"What..." the younger slave began as she lifted him onto her shoulders.

"Just rest. You've done more than enough work for one day."

"B-but..."

"Don't worry about it. What's your name?"

"K-Kyrie. What... about you?" he managed to say between gulps for air.

She gave a gentle smile as she iterated her own name, "Erza. Erza Scarlet."

Year X780

Kyrie's eyes slowly opened, scanning the area around him. He had changed a great deal in the four years since he had escaped the Tower of Heaven... and those horrible experiments as well. It had rained the night before, and it took only one glance at the nearest puddle to remind the boy of what he had become.

Those things the men in lab coats had done to him had stained the skin of the left side of his body red, with scales visible on his arms, chest, and cheek. The nails of his hands and feet had lengthened and sharpened, resembling the claws of a predator rather than the nails of a human boy.

His teeth had changed similarly, with fangs not dissimilar from a vampire's visible amongst rows of duller but still razor sharp bicuspids and molars. Even his ears were a little pointy, giving them a somewhat elvish quality.

Both of his irises were initially an unnatural blood red, but the sclera of the left eye was now an almost golden color, with the iris now closer to amber in color with only tinges of red. The iris was now a slit in the center of the eye, resembling that of a snake.

Aside from these drastic changes the boy had grown noticeably taller in the past four years, an extra foot or so of height that exacerbated his scrawny appearance. Perhaps the only thing they hadn't changed about him was the rat's nest called his hair. It was the same color as his left eye, a brilliant blond that highlighted all of the other changes forced upon him for the sake of "getting closer to the truth of magic discovered our great Master Zeref" they said. These changes were mostly hidden from sight by the virtue of his conveniently all-compassing cloak, but only when the shroud was wrapped tightly around himself.

But he wasn't in the middle of the woods for the hell of it. He had a job to do to make ends meet.

This boy was here to hunt.

Shaking off the grogginess of sleep, he did his best to try and discern the general path traveled by his mark. He had been tracking this particular monster for days on end with little food and barely any water. There was only so much ground an eight-year old could cover before he got tired, so he ended up taking breaks quite often.

Kyrie had finally gotten a decent lead, aided by the fact that his golden eye had let him see things not visible to your average him. Everyone seemed to to emit some kind of aura, a little of which they left in every thing they touched. Every being's aura was a little different, but one characteristic was share amongst them all was that the shade of the aura varied with the person's current intentions and/or mindset. Those with negative emotions or hidden intent have intensely dark auras, while those without such things have much brighter colored auras.

Another beneficial side effect of it was that his eyesight was enhanced immensely, allowing him to accurately see things from miles away much like a hawk.

With these two abilities in his arsenal he began hunting monsters in exchange for food money. Hunting vulnerable animals only goes so far when you feel guilty about it.

At the present, Kyrie was following the trail of footsteps left by his quarry. They led further and further into the forest and seemed to have no end in sight. He continued onward, undeterred before he came to a stop at a large clearing where an ominous and large aura gathered.

"The monster stopped, but why?" he muttered to himself as he peeked out from behind the brush he hid himself in.

The mark was a Behemoth-class monster, and its appearance certainly lived up to its name. It was the size of a small building, with powerful muscles all throughout its body. A row of spikes stuck out from each of its vertebrae with webbing in between, extending from the nape of the neck all the way to the tip of the tail. It was quadrupedal, with each foot adorned with razor sharp claws. Atop its head were sickly green horns that curved forward before ending in a point. Its jaws, as expected from a demon, were filled with nothing but veritable swords for teeth.

"Well, what do we have here?" the beast began in a low, guttural voice. Thinking he had been spotted Kyrie tensed up, readying himself to explode into action should the situation call for it.

"Take a deep breath." he instructed himself, "Chapter 1 page 2, the worst thing to do when fighting a demon is to be panic. Breathe." His attempts to do so failed as his blood went cold at the monster's next words.

"What an utterly delectable looking human girl. What are the chances of finding her away from her parents like this? Of course, not that I mind..."

"D-Don't go in without a plan..." Kyrie told himself, "Think it through before-"

The monster gave out a bloodcurdling roar of laughter, "Though... it'd be boring if I were to simply eat you. I'll give you a ten second head start. So go on little girl... run."

Not a single sound could be heard except for the blowing of the breeze, which meant the girl was frozen by fear.

"You're not going to run? Too bad... I was feeling generous today. Oh well, I needed a snack anyway!"

This was all Kyrie could take, "To hell with it! Fire Demon's Damning Fist!" Fire enveloped his hands as he eschewed his element of surprise to charge in recklessly, his running speed enhanced by the stream of flame being emitted from his fists.

The demon turned to see the source of the sound just in time for Kyrie to enter his field of vision.

"Leave her alone!" He threw a vicious punch at the soft tissue of the demon's right eye, causing the beast to howl in pain as flame seared the sensitive flesh.

The boy leaped backward as he finished, placing himself between the behemoth and the girl. She seemed to be about his age and height with short hair of a dark blue and eyes the color of chocolate.

"G-get out of here!" he told her with his voice wavering somewhat, "I-I'll hold him off!"

"But..." the girl began.

"Just go!"

Finally she did, taking off back into the forest and out of sight. With the girl safe Kyrie returned his focus to his quarry, who was glaring at him for the damage he inflicted.

"Who do you think you are brat?!" bellowed the beast.

"K-Kyrie... a D-Devil Slayer!"

"You? A Devil Slayer?" The demon gave another of his deafening bellows as he guffawed at the thought. "Look at yourself! You're shuddering in fear! How could a runt like you be a Devil Slayer?"

Kyrie wouldn't deny it. He was terrified now that he was looking at the creature dead in the eye with only a few feet of space separating them. Regardless, he tried his best to ignore the taunts, "C-chapter 1 page 5, Demons will say things to try and have you make a mistake. Ignore them and go for the kill!"

Staying low to the ground he made another charge towards the beast to gauge its reaction as he read earlier. Unfortunately for him, the massive beast was actually quite agile, leaping at least ten feet into the air to evade any sort of blow Kyrie could have thrown.

"No way!" he cried as his eyes widened in surprise.

"Did you really think I'd be done in by the likes of you? Now be crushed like the insect you are!" As gravity began pulling the monstrosity back down, Kyrie panicked as he tried to think of a means of getting out of the way in time, but in his franticness his mind could only draw blanks as his impending doom approached.

"Roar of the Sky Dragon!" A strong gust of wind blew into the boy, sending him flying backward rapidly but out of the reach of the beast as it slammed into the ground.

"What? Who did that?" roared the behemoth as it swung around looking for the source of the gale.

"Ow..." muttered Kyrie as he rubbed his head from the impact of slamming into a nearby tree. He too was wondering what pushed him out of the way.

"Are you hurt? I didn't blow too hard did I?" Looking up he saw the concerned looking face of the girl from earlier. Panicking once more he tugged his cloak over his face with his right hand to hide his deformities.

"I-I'm okay. But why are you here? It's dangerous!"

She put a finger to her lips, "Sh..."

Kyrie brought his voice down to a whisper, "S-sorry, but I can't let you get involved in this!"

She looked away, "I couldn't just leave you... and I helped didn't I?"

Before he could respond the behemoth burst through the brush again, "I found you brats!" It swiped at them with his massive paw, which prompted Kyrie to knock the girl out of the way and intercept it himself, barely holding it back.

"This kind of strength... what are you?"

The boy didn't answer, being preoccupied with keeping him from getting closer. Embers began to gather in his mouth in preparation for the Devil Slayer's signature attack.

"Fire Demon's Rage!" An intense torrent of flames and molten rock left Kyrie lips, aimed directly at the beast in front of him. The demon's entire face was soon scorched with heat comparable to that of hellfire, forcing it to retreat backwards as the flames threatened to consume him.

"Graaah! You'll pay for that!" It began thrashing around aimlessly, its tail slamming into Kyrie with enough force to send him flying into another tree, the splinters piercing his human skin painfully before he landed.

Now nearly blind as a result of the flames, the demon continued towards the girl, using its sense of smell as a means of tracking her instead.

She ran towards Kyrie as it approached, the beast almost within pouncing distance as it continued to howl in pain.

Realizing that she was going to be caught she stopped. Reaching up to the sky a magic circle opened at her feet as she shouted, "O' swift wind that races though the heavens! Vernier!" As she threw her arms out to the sides both Kyrie and herself were enveloped in a glowing magical aura, letting her swiftly float towards Kyrie's location and out of the reach of the demon chasing her.

Kyrie was still trying to shake off the effects of the demon's blow, and thus was shocked when he started floating off the ground.

"W-what's happening?" He was answered by the girl rushing past him, grabbing him and pulling him away just as the monster threw itself towards where he had laid on the ground, narrowly dodging its claws as they floated away at high speed.

"Don't worry, it's my magic. I'm a Sky Dragon Slayer."

"Dragon Slayer?"

"Yeah, my mother taught me."

"I see..." memories of his village burning returned painfully at the thought of his mother, "Hey! Watch out for that-"

The pair crashed into yet another tree, sending them careening towards the ground, coming to a stop as they tumbled into a large slab of uprooted bedrock.

"Ah... sorry! I wasn't watching where we were going! I'm also still learning..."

"N-no... I distracted you. Sorry... I wouldn't have forced you to save me if I was better at fighting..."

The awkward silence continued for about half a minute before the girl broke the silence, "Um... I never learned your name. I'm Wendy, Wendy Marvell."

"Oh, um... I'm Kyrie... I don't know my last name."

"Eh? Why?"

The boy grimaced at the question, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh..."

The conversation was cut short by the sound of rumbling and trees falling.

The behemoth was still coming for them.

"Wendy, can you do anything else?"

"Um... I've never tried them before but I have spells that can strengthen people and make it harder to hurt them."

"Then use them on me! It'll be here soon!"

"Y-you're going to fight it by yourself?"

"I d-don't think we have much choice do we?" he put on his bravest face, turning to her with the hood of his cloak still obscuring the left side of it. "B-Besides...I'm a Devil Slayer! It's my job to fight monsters, isn't it?"

"Devil Slayer?"

"Y-yeah!" he tried to say with enthusiasm, "My father was a really strong one and he left me a book for me to learn his spells."

He straightened himself out to look a bit more imposing, "S-so, it's my duty! I'll protect you! I promise!"

She stared at him for a few moments as she contemplated whether or not she could trust this mysterious boy to fight on her behalf. Finally, she nodded, raising her arms to the sky once again as magic circles opened beneath Kyrie's feet.

Wendy then put her arms out to her sides before chanting, "O' swift winds that reside above us all, grant this brave soul the power to cleave the heavens, brave the storms, and ride the gales! Arms x Armor x Vernier!"

Kyrie began floating a bit just like before as the magic took its effect. After quickly getting a feel for it, he glanced at her one more time with the biggest smile he's had in ages, "Thank you, Wendy!"

With that he took off towards the demon, prepared to end this fight once and for all. As scared as he was to be simply flying straight at the beast with more than enough power to kill him several times over, he refused to let anyone suffer the way he did if he could help it.

"Chapter 3, page 4... Whenever possible, launch a preemptive attack! The first strike wins! Fire Demon's Evil Claws!" Fire wrapped around his hands once more, this time shaping itself into pointed appendages of the spell's namesake.

The beast didn't (to be fair, it couldn't) see this attack coming, leaving him unable to dodge as both claws tore into the flesh of its terrible visage once more. In response it swiped at the Devil Slayer, an attack that would have easily cleaved him in two had it not been for Wendy's Armor spell.

"You shitty half-human!" it growled, attempting to snap at Kyrie with the blades its maw.

"I am human!" he yelled back, managing to dodge the fangs of the beast but was soon caught by its left claw.

"Are you now? Then why does half of your body resemble that of a demon's? I'll squeeze the answer out of you myself." The monster followed through on its word, crushing Kyrie in his grip with incredible pressure.

The boy could practically hear his bones creak in protest as they strained against the force attacking against them. Still, he refused to give in. He released flames all over his body, burning the creature yet again as it struggled to maintain his grip on the young slayer of demons.

"Fire Demon's Rampage!" Rings of flame and molten rock began lining the lengths of his arm before being launched in several waves of searing torment, causing volcanic glass and rock cut into its skin and thus allowing the burning matter to seep inside the wounds instead of merely scorching the epidermis of the skin. This forced the demon's crushing grip wide open, freeing the Devil Slayer in training.

"You bear the visage of a demon, you share in our ferocity, you even have the scent of a monster. How can you possibly deny that you are one of us?" it stated in an attempt to unnerve the boy.

"I-I look a little bit different... I can't deny that."

"Then do you finally admit it?"

"No! I might look like a demon..." He put his left hand on his chest as if to reassure himself, but my heart is definitely a human's! Because of that I will fight you!" Kyrie rushed him once more, aiming for the places where the hide of the beast was thinnest, easily tearing those places open with his own claws enhanced by the Dragon Slayer's magic.

"If that is so, then why are you ashamed of your appearance? Why do you hide from those humans you say you need to protect? What sort of fantasy are you trying to live out you brat?" It roared as it retaliated, attempting to impale Kyrie with the spikes on its tail, only for him to float out of the way in time so that it only caught his leg. Quickly slicing off the bony spike, he continued his assault with impunity.

"I'm a little scared of what they think... People don't understand me because of the way I look, and sometimes they can be as scary as any demon."

"Then why do you protect the humans that despise you!"

"But that doesn't mean anything in the end! I won't become a monster just because of the things that happened to me! I will stay a human, even if no one knows it!"

Flying beneath the beast he let his left foot ignite as he flipped upward, "Fire Demon's Talons!" The attack tore through the soft underbelly of the beast, slowing it down further as the soft inner organs threatened to spill out without the muscle and skin to hold it in.

Even with this Kyrie was not finished, flying towards the throat of the beast and impaling it with his hands, both coated with flames, "One who uses the power of monsters to fight monsters..."

Ripping out as much as he could to leave lasting internal damage, he moved on to the demon's back. At this point the beast was blinded, disabled, and nearly disemboweled, but Kyrie knew better than to risk leaving it alive. Demons are resilient creatures, second only to dragons in their ability to resist death, and thus one had to do everything possible to make sure one was truly slain.

"Through the most brutal of methods they protect humans from the forces of evil..." He clasped his hands together, bringing them down in a powerful blow on the beast's central vertebrae, the force of blow reverberating through muscle as he continued to beat the demon senseless.

"They tear the flesh, devour the bone, and even consume the souls of those who would prey upon humans..." Finally, he prepared to land the finishing blow, ready to end this fight with the demon's death.

He focused all of his remaining magical power into his hands, forming a massive blade twice as large as he was composed entirely of still glowing hot volcanic rock and its edge made of obsidian glass, making it sharper than any normal steel blades. "That is a Devil Slayer!"

"Fire Demon's Obsidian Cleaver!"

He let gravity assist him in swinging the massive weapon, cutting deep into the beast's spine with a satisfying crack, with the glass edge fragmenting as it cut deeper and deeper, finally stopping halfway through its body before finally detonating in an explosive burst of magma.

Despite his victory, he was still exhausted and damn near ready to collapse. He ended up doing just that, with Wendy's magic fading he was now far too weak to even sit up properly, merely falling off his quarry's back like a rag doll.

Even still, he didn't forget to do one important thing to truly ensure that the demon was dead. He inhaled deeply, a dark orb exited the body of the slain beast before entering Kyrie's mouth, which he then proceeded to chew and swallow. A brief, uncomfortable feeling passed through his body as he took in a fraction of the power that demon had in life, but he recovered enough of his strength to drag himself over to the demon's body and lean on it to slow the loss of blood.

He breathed heavily, trying get more oxygen into his system as he fought to remain conscious. His efforts seemed in vain, however, as his eyelids only seemed to grow heavier and heavier. Soon they felt as if they were lead weights, with every last bit of his remaining energy required to keep them from closing.

The last thing he remembered seeing before things went dim were Wendy's chocolate brown eyes.

X776 – Tower of Heaven

When Kyrie had finally caught his breath and regained his ability think and perceive things clearly the first thing he felt was the combined gaze of a half dozen pairs of eyes in an incredibly dim lit room.

Startled, he jumped back, plastering himself against the wall and practically curling into a ball as he attempted to avert those gazes.

"Hey, don't be scared, we're not going to hurt you." said the owner of first pair of eyes. As he stepped closer Kyrie could see that they belonged to a boy more than a few years older than him. He had bright blue hair and a red tattoo over his right eye. "I'm Jellal, nice to meet you Kyrie."

The younger boy's eyes widened as he heard his name, having never told it to this boy before.

"N-nice to m-meet you." stuttered Kyrie, meekly returning the gesture while still remaining as terrified as ever.

Jellal chuckled at little at Kyrie's response, "You don't need to look so surprised. Erza told me your name."

"E-Erza?" He could only vaguely remember the face and name of the girl who had helped him earlier as a result of both his age and physical exhaustion.

"Sorry for startling you, but since we're going to be stuck here for a while we might as well get to know each other."

Jellal began pointing out the rest of the nearby slaves. "The boy with blond hair is Sho, that's Wally, this is Simon, the girl over here is Milliana, and you already know Erza and I."

Kyrie only nodded at this information, unsure of what to do with it as he was still confused by the whole situation.

"I guess this is a little too much to take in all at once, but we're kind of like a family right now. We look out for each other, making sure everyone is okay. So don't worry, everything is going to be alright."

"It is?" Kyrie may have been young, but he wasn't entirely naive.

"Yeah! We're all going to get out of here someday. I just know it. So cheer up and get to sleep, you're going to need it for tomorrow."

Jellal's reassuring smile made Kyrie really wonder if they had a way out of this. He didn't need to be asked twice to go to sleep though, for he was already too tired to stay awake much longer.

X780 – Cait Shelter Guild

The next time Kyrie woke up after beating the behemoth was in a soft, warm bed.

This only made him fly into yet another panic as two questions quickly sprung into his mind.

"Where am I?! Where's my cloak and book?!"

"Oh, you're awake?" he heard the voice of a young woman say. He dove under the covers in response, hoping to hide himself from sight.

As he cowered under the flimsy fabric he heard a sigh as the cloth was pulled off, leaving him feeling exposed and vulnerable.

"Geez, did you really kill a Behemoth-class monster with that kind of personality?"

He looked up to see a woman with her dark hair in a bob. She was wearing a black blouse with a double arc design woven in crimson thread across the chest. She also wore a somewhat tattered cloak along with shorts and an anklet wrapped around her right leg.

"Hey, calm your nerves kid. I'm not going to hurt you. So sit up, we have quite a bit to talk about."

He sat up but continued to shudder more than a Canis Minor would, "W-where am I?"

"At the Cait Shelter guild building. You've slept the entire morning."

"Guild? Like a magic guild?"

"Yeah, ya saved one of our members yesterday. Though, you wouldn't believe how Wendy carried you all the way back here. You covered her clothes with your blood ya know?"

"I d-did? S-sorry..." He received a finger flick between the eyes, "Ow! I t-thought you said you weren't going to hurt me!"

"Stop stuttering! You sound like a blubbering baby!"

"I-I'll try..."

"Anyway, she ended up saving you as well. Who knew that Sky Dragon Slayer magic was also one of the long lost healing magics. Without it ya probably would've died."

"Oh..." He seemed to wilt like a flower as he realized how much trouble he put these people through.

These thoughts were interrupted as he received another finger flick, "What was that one for?"

"Stop loathing yourself! You handled a monster that most of our members wouldn't have lasted a minute against. It's like you've never received a single word of praise in your life. Where ya from?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I was too young to learn my hometown's name, okay!" he barked back in a tone that even surprised himself, "Besides... it's gone."

"What happened to it?"

His fingers curled into fists, wrinkling the bed sheets, "Cultists. They burned it to the ground."

"Why? Do all of your folks look like you?"

"Of course not!" Kyrie growled back, once again surprising himself, "Sorry... it's just-"

"I get it. I get it. It's a sore spot for you. I'll let you open up when you're ready. The name's Higana. I basically act as the local doctor around these parts, though I'll be out of a job once Wendy gets better at healing people!" She punctuated the train of thought with a hearty burst of laughter.

"I have to admit, your appearance is a bit shocking. A few of us were debating whether to help you or throw you out for the monsters to eat."

Higana got another good laugh as Kyrie turned pale at her last statement, "Luckily for you we're a pretty nice bunch, Wendy especially."

"Where is she right now?"

"At the moment, doing the same thing you were until a few minutes ago. That was her first time using her magic like that, so she ended up burning herself out to save you."

"Sorry..." He earned himself another flick to the forehead.

"Stop saying sorry! Geez, it's fine to say it when you've actually done something wrong but between you and Wendy you'll out-apologize the entire guild. Don't worry about her. She just needs some bed rest and she'll be fine."

"Anyway, the master wants to see you. You're not hurting anywhere are you?"

"Uh..." He began testing his range of motion, and a feeling of amazement took over as he realized that there wasn't a single trace of his previous injuries left. No scratches, gashes, scrapes, or scabs, not even a dull ache. If anything he was feeling pretty energetic.

"That Dragon Slayer Magic is really something. I can hardly believe that you were a bleeding mess last night. So come on, you can't leave an old man waiting now can you?"

"B-But my cloak..."

"The old man has it and your book too. If you want them back you'll have to talk to him."

"But-"

"No buts! Let's face it, after what you did no one is going to care how you look. You saved Wendy, and that's all that matters."

"Really?" At least from his own personal experience, people tended to run away screaming bloody murder upon seeing his demonic traits.

"Yeah, now out of bed with you." He got to his feet, a little wobbly at first from being in bed all day, but soon found himself walking comfortably as if nothing had happened the day before.

"Good, everything seems to be working just fine. Now dodge!" She swung around, bringing her foot up to Kyrie's eye level, leading him to dive to the floor to evade it.

"Where did that one come from?!" he cried in shock at the sudden attack.

"Sorry, just checking to make sure your reflexes work. I wasn't actually going to hit you."

"I-Isn't there a knee test for that?"

"Yup, but my method is a lot more fun since I get to see their reaction afterward!"

"D-Does everything want to hurt me?" he thought to himself with a sigh.

"Times a wastin', hurry up kid!" she ran off with a smile, much to Kyrie's disbelief.

"Am I really going to be okay?" he muttered to himself.

Walking around the railing and down the stairs to the main lobby, he was greeted by a chorus of cheers from most if not all of the people in the room. They rushed to him, patting him on the back with one hand while taking a swig of booze with the other.

"Great job, kid!"

"You saved our little angel, thanks!"

"Not bad for a shorty!"

His eyes widened in equal parts happiness, surprise, and panic (again). On one hand, the praise was unexpected but welcome. He had never captured the admiration of anyone in his short life, so seeing so many people happy with his actions made him beam with pride inside. On the other, seeing all of the people crowd around him at once was making him feel rather nervous and uncomfortable, even claustrophobic. This was only worsened by the nauseating smell of beer and liquor.

"C-Can I have some breathing room, please!" he asked as politely as possible in his attempt to maintain his composure. To his relief they promptly dispersed after a wave of apologies.

He then made his way to the bar where Higana was standing. Next to her was the old man she spoke of. He had shrunken due to old age, with a rather voluminous beard and a headdress of feathers atop his head. The tan skinned old man was pouring liquor into a glass, before oddly enough drinking straight from the bottle instead of from the container he poured the beverage into.

"Ah, you must be the boy that saved Wendy's life. She was singing nothing but praises about you earlier."

Kyrie blushed at the continued praise, fidgeting "Y-Yes. To be fair, she did save me too..."

"There's no need to be so modest. We're partying because you did an incredibly admirable thing. Risking one's own life to save another is not something to take lightly, especially for one so young."

He raised a hand as if to pause the conversation. "U-Um, may I have my cloak back first? I-I get really nervous without it."

"It's right here. I must say, it's a fine piece of work." Kyrie took it into his hands eagerly before wrapping it around himself, quickly following this with a sigh of relief.

"I couldn't have done it without Wendy. She helped me even though she didn't know a thing about me."

"Ah yes, but that's how we survive as humans. We may be weaker than the things that plague us, but together we've conquered them all the same."

The old man took another sip, not even bothering to swallow before he continued speaking, "That said, may I ask how you acquired your appearance? Surely you weren't born that way, were you?"

Kyrie clutched his head in pain as the excruciating memories resurfaced, "No... I didn't want... It wasn't my choice... I-I just don't want to talk about it okay!"

"Hey, are you alright?" asked Higana at Kyrie's sudden response.

Upon seeing the tears at the corners of the young Devil Slayer's eyes the old man ceased this line of questioning, "I see... I'll let you talk when you're ready. Say, do you have a home young man?"

"No." Kyrie answered quickly and bluntly, now irritated by the previous series of questions.

"Would you like one?"

"Huh?" the Devil Slayer's expression softened as he heard that particular phrase.

"My name is Roubaul, as you may know, I'm the guild master here at Cait Shelter. We have a large building and a large guild. It certainly wouldn't hurt to have one more."

"You want me in your guild? But-"

"I'm fairly certain Higana already told you this, we don't judge others by their appearances here. We judge them by their actions. You young man have more than earned yourself in the place of the hearts of our members and I'm sure none would protest if you were to become a part of us. So, would you like to join our guild? Better yet, would you like to become a part of our family?"

That last question was the very set of words Kyrie had been waiting to hear for years. His eyes could not contain his tears anymore, and they began to fall despite his attempts restrain them.

"Oh my, did I say something wrong?"

The young boy wiped away the tears from his eyes with his right arm. "N-No, not at all! It's just that... I really want to join! I want a family. I want a home! So... please?"

The old guild master smiled, "Consider it done." He held out his hand, a sparkling light appearing around Kyrie's right shoulder as he did so. It gradually peeled away to show the red silhouette of a cat with a long, slender body and a matching tail, Cait Shelter's guild symbol.

"Everyone!" boomed the diminutive old man, silencing the entire hall, "I have some important news to share with you all! It seems that we have a new guild member. So why don't we all give him a nice warm welcome! Bring out more booze! We have much to celebrate tonight!"

With that the party grew even louder and more festive, with everyone singing, dancing, and generally having a good time. With that Roubaul flashed another smile at the boy.

"Welcome to Cait Shelter, Kyrie."

Omake #1 – Drinking Habits

In the middle of the party everyone was still drinking, Roubaul included. Something about his method of doing so confused the eight-year old Devil Slayer.

"Um... Mr. Roubaul- er, Master?"

"Yes?" replied the Guild Master, his mouth still full of alcohol.

"Why do you talk with your mouth full of beer?"

"It's faster than waiting to swallow it then talking. Why else?"

"Well, aren't you wasting it by letting it spill out of your mouth and onto the floor?"

The old man froze at the revelation, "I never thought about it that way."

Needless to say, Kyrie performed a face fault at his Guild Master's response.

Another new story! For those of you who've read my other stories you might think I'm writing way too many at one time. As a matter of fact, you're probably right.

It's just that I don't like having ideas float in my head. When I have one I feel would make a really good story I have to put it to paper somehow. Ever since Silver showed up in the manga this idea has been hanging in my head and it's taken me forever to put it together in a way that I wanted.

Anyway, on this story and my conception of Kyrie as a character. In my four other stories I've written practically fearless characters who charge into battle confident of their abilities with plenty of combat experience.

So, for this story I decided to do the exact opposite. Sure, he certainly isn't weak, but he definitely does not hold a very high opinion of his ability in combat either. Chances are that he will get trashed by those who aren't vulnerable to his magic (namely any human Mage). He's timid, he's definitely nice like my other characters, but he is by no means going to be helpless (unless he goes against something way out of his league of course).

Though about my idea of Fire Devil Slayer magic, it's properties are going to be somewhere in between Natsu's and Gajeel's in which he clobbers his foes but also crafts weapons out of barely cooled lava when slicing or penetration is required. It's going to focus purely on melee combat (no bows and arrows like Gray) and he won't be getting a secret art until much later. Kyrie is also going to work that cloak into his combat style, which won't be apparent until I plan it out in the next few chapters (or if you're one of the few that actually read my profile these past few weeks). The cloak is pretty touchy because it's going to be powerful (I wonder if my God-Mode Sue writing cousin is rubbing off on me) but I am definitely putting limitations on it.

I won't go abandoning any of my other stories. My updates have always been rather erratic, and this honestly won't be much of an exception. I'm a hobbyist, not a professional. I don't have deadlines. I write for my own enjoyment (and the enjoyment of you all of course) whenever I feel like it. However it plays it out, I promise to continue writing as much as possible with my endless school work in the way along with my other hobbies. Heck, the only reasons I was able to even finish this first chapter was the fact that it's currently Winter Break and I'm on a plane en route to San Francisco (my fifth time on a plane) as I'm writing this (at midnight no less!). So yeah, that's all for now. Tell me what you think with a review and I'll gladly answer any questions.

Thanks for reading everyone and I'll see you next time!

P.S. For those of you who are reading my other Fairy Tail related story, Fairy's Kaiser, I'll try to update that by the end of the month at the very latest assuming life permits it. Thank you for your patience!