It was a rare sight to see the Iron Dragon far from his queen, perhaps ever rarer to see him without a plethora of soldiers at his back. Yet, it was this very sight that greeted the tired gazes of the villagers upon a particularly snowy night. A looming figure with unmistakable bloody red eyes wandering through their streets adorned in a long black cloak.

Gajeel's heavy steps would lead him past the glowing windows of houses and down the long since frozen steps until the peaceful village came to a sudden and harsh stop, presenting the Iron Dragon with a faint barrier of familiar shimmering magic. He found that his remaining hand lifted itself to the edge of the barrier, feeling the warmth resonate through his body. For a brief glimpse of time he was back in the guild, unashamedly watching a small blue haired girl read through a book he would struggle to comprehend. It had been a revelation that there was a strength other than that of magic, strategy and power.

Yet that warmth would disappear all to quick as the cold reached up the flesh of his arm and bring him back to this dark snowy night and his objective, the dark figures moving clumsily just beyond the shimmering magic barrier. His hand fell to the sheath of a blade on his hip in line with every slow breath he took, loosening his body.

Then he sprung forth like lightning through the barrier, bringing the blade of his sword through the jaw of a young drake, painting the snow a bloody red as he tore the blade up through its skull. He turned on a second drake, slamming the fist of his mechanical hand against its neck and throwing his sword at the third and final drake. He transformed his now free arm into a long blade, pushing it through the chest of the beast once, twice and a third time. With a final burst of energy he stormed the third drake, retrieving his sword from its shoulder and bringing it down in a crude swipe across its chest.

Silence once again returned to the seemingly endless valleys and mountains, their peaks and falls home only to the sound of the blistering cold wind and the distant roars of dragons. Gajeel's steps were heavy as he dragged the corpses through the barrier, the ever curious gazes of his villagers tainted with worry and doubt as their iron guardian carried out the solemn task. He paused once again at the barrier as he went to retrieve the third body, the furthest from the barrier. It was naught but steps away from the faint shimmering magic, yet the fear crawled up his spine like a spider.

He perished such thoughts, stepping forward through the barrier one last time. The skies were as vast as they were clear, providing what little comfort they could. He knelt next to the fallen drake, running his hand along the spinal horns that sprouted from the beast's head, a long sigh falling from his lips.

"They're getting too close." He commented, the northern winds being his only companion as he dragged the final lumbering body back through the barrier. They had been left in a pile for burial the next morning, leaving the Iron Dragon with another crack in his morals. A part of him felt nothing but a burning, bloody hatred for the dragons and their offspring. However there was a pang of sadness that shot through his body with each kill, filled with the images of friends long since lost to the maw of the dragon

With heavy shoulders, the iron dragon returned to the side of his queen.

At first sight, Erza had barely recognized the ruins of the town that surrounded them. Even in destruction it had been a beautiful sight of gold and blue, overgrown with the most beautiful aspects of nature the knight had ever laid her eyes on. Yet in one fleeting moment her world had come crashing down upon her as she turned her gaze to the ruins of a large building.

Once great walls laid crumbled and destroyed, taken back into the fold of nature once more. The entrance was charred by dragon fire and the last remnants of a desperate struggle for survival. Below the grand entrance was the final crushing blow to the knight's heart, the crumbled sign left scattered on the floor that read 'Fairy Tail'.

Her hands trembled as the knight grinded her teeth together, desperate to remain silent. She had dreamt of this town countless times, seen its beautiful streets filled with the same faces she'd come to recognize each and every day. Somehow, she'd imaged it'd all be here when she came back. She'd expected to see her guildmates waving her in, or a rowdy brawl between friends. Anything, anything except the desolation that laid before her. Silence replaced music, charred ruins replaced her home and not a soul remained.

Yet she found herself drawn further into the building, perhaps they were waiting inside, perhaps she'd only imagined it. Perhaps...

The hand of Lyon Vastia stopped her in that moment, gripping the knight's shoulder firmly but cautiously. One of the last remaining members of the group of thirteen they'd started with. He shook his head, his white hair shifting to reveal the scars that ran across the left side of his face and body. Burned, crushed or cut Lyon had remained, a man filled with a burning hatred but tortured by quiet solace.

"Don't." He whispered, the same pain forever marred into his gaze. "It only hurts more if you know what happened, cling onto that hope. Please..." He added, turning back to the silent Gildartz. The powerful mage was as lost as the knight was, his wounded gaze fallen on their once beautiful home. "We must continue north if we are to have any hope of bringing back the world that once was." Lyon demanded, taking lead of the group in Erza's stead as they passed through the ruins of Magnolia.

It wasn't until they approached the borders of Fiore, hidden under the rocky outcroppings that the Knight spoke once again. She asked a question that had plagued the minds of many.

"How do we know they're even there?" The Knight asked, images of the iron dragon-slayer flashing through her mind. "If they're even alive?" Erza added.

Lyon found his gaze pulled to the remaining members of their group. Himself, Erza, Gildartz and two member recruits of his former guild. All people he could trust, people who wouldn't escape the wrath of dragons through information.

"Before we escaped to the south of Crocus, I happened upon Sting Eucliffe. He was beyond saving but he told me that Gajeel and the others were to the far north, Sting was supposed to join them but he never made it far enough." Lyon explained, keeping his eyes peeled on the seemingly empty sky. An empty sky was always a bad sight. "For years I'd pondered over why Gajeel would choose the north. It is true that there is little of nothing there, but the landscape is as dangerous as the dragons themselves and offers little protection. It wasn't until recently that it occurred to me that Levy McGarden was most likely with him, who made regular visits to our guild to loan books that Fairy Tail didn't have. One of such books she often read was about a legendary fort constructed by some of the first dragon slayers, supposedly located in the frozen wastes to the north." Lyon explained, Erza taking back the lead as they passed through a barren field.

Lyon lifted his bag up, giving it a brief shake. "Gajeel is possibly the last of his kind, but his magic is the only way to kill a true dragon. However, if Levy is alive then we have an even greater chance of pushing back the beasts that took our world from us." Lyon smirked, following Erza up a worn out trail.

"I hope they're alive, but what of Levy? Her magic is no better than our own against the dragons." Gildartz asked, his brow lifted in curiosity. Himself and Erza had accepted Lyon's offer to search for Gajeel without hesitation, a sense of desperation had been growing among them with each passing death. They needed to see a friend, they needed a reminder that the old world still existed even if it was in the smallest fragments.

"It is not her magic I'm hoping for, but her ability to read ancient runes. If they truly did find the fort, I can't begin to imagine what kind of old magical tomes might of been left there. It's a long shot, but I have something she might be able to help us with." Lyon explained, quickly closing his mouth as a distant roar of a dragon pierced their ears. Turning back, they saw the taunting dark shadow above Magnolia.

The rest of their trip went in silence, making their way up through the torturing mountains in the vague direction Sting had indicated.

Even Erza had stopped counting the days as her plate boots searched for hard ground under the dunes of snow, wrapped tightly in a fur cloak. The cold was a relentless beast, sending even Lyon into a shivering silence. For what seemed a thousand miles in every direction was the rise and fall of great mountains, covered in snow and ice. Yet there was no fort, nothing but a cruel and unforgiving wasteland.

Exhaustion and desperation dragged on the group, grinding their search down to a halt for another night as the darkness began to set in. The endless dunes only gave way to a colossal cliff curved over a plateau far below, not an ideal place to spend the night but the only option offered to the group.

"Perfect p-place for a fort if it even ex-" Gildartz commented, his chattering teeth suddenly interrupted by Erza's drawn blade and the flash of steel. A flash of black and red pushed the knight back.

"Traitor!" Gajeel roared, raising his blade to strike as the knight stumbled and fell into the snow. His bloody red eyes burned with a fiendish hatred.