Chapter One: The Beginning

(Makarov is very surprised when a certain forest witch brings to him a little blonde girl and demands he takes her in.)

"Who is this little one?" Makarov blinked, looking down from where he was perched on the bar counter top. Porlyusica had stormed into the guild with a fierce expression on her face and it would have been funny how everyone scrambled to get out of her way if Makarov wasn't a little scared himself. The little one in question was a small blonde girl, about 11 or 12, with big brown eyes and hiding behind Porlyusica's legs. Her tiny fingers were fisted around the healer's dress. His eyes went up to look at his old friend, eyebrows rising. "I didn't know you had a child."

"She's not my child you senile fool," Porlyusica snapped, and the little girl shrank even more at her tone. She did her best to hide her full body flinch but both mages saw it. Porlyusica sighed quietly, something similar to regret crossing her face. Makarov on the other hand, had seen that kind of reaction before. That kind of reaction was the same one Erza was only just starting to get over. "I caught her a month ago trying to steal apples from me. The girl nearly passed out from malnutrition and injuries."

"Injuries?" Makarov frowned, his expression sharp and unforgiving. Malnutrition was understandable in street kids, and he assumed that's what she was. Any attack against kids was an unforgivable offense in his eyes. He looked at the girl again, paying more attention to her. "Parents?"

"From what I can get out of her, she doesn't have any," Porlyusica shook her head. "She told me she got jumped by a gang of older boys when she stole some of their food."

"Did you win?" Makarov directed the question at the girl and she shrunk behind Porlyusica even more. But she nodded quickly and Makarov saw quiet defiance in her eyes. The guild master grinned, beaming with pride. "Good girl."

He was rewarded with a small smile that more than made up for the whack Porlyusica gave him. "Don't encourage stealing! Listen, can you just take her?"

"What?" Makarov had expected this, but it still came as a shock. Why else would Porlyusica come with a child in tow? To tell him she had decided to open up an orphanage and ask if he had any spare kids lying around? He almost snorted at the image of the pink haired woman running around with a bunch of rambunctious children. Makarov could barely handle his own rambunctious children and he actually liked kids. He leveled a serious look at her, "You know I can't Porlyusica. I already got my own kids to worry about. Can't you just take her to the orphanage?"

As much as it pained him to say the words, he knew it had to be said. This was a mage's guild not a home for wayward kids. For the kids he did have in his care, he could get away with because they were technically mages even if most weren't old enough for the law to recognize them as so.

"You want me to take her to the orphanage?" A look of deep disgust crossed the old woman's face. "You know what place is like Makarov. It's even more crowded than this shit hole you call a guild, and the people running it couldn't care less what happens to the kids as long as their checks keep coming in."

Makarov sighed deeply, he was too old for this. "You know I can't just take in every kid. I wish I could but this is a mage's guild and-"

"She's a mage," Porlyusica cut him off, red eyes suddenly triumphant. Now he had to take her in. "Or she will be when she turns 13."

"Really?" Makarov gave her a highly skeptical look, thinking that she was only saying that to get him to agree to take in the child.

"Really," the woman nodded in certainty. She stepped out of the way and pushed the child in front of her. Makarov finally got a good view of her. She was a cute kid, with short blonde hair and big brown eyes. She was short for her age and far skinnier than any kid had a right to be. Makarov was already itching to tell their chef to cook up the greasiest, most fattening thing they had on the menu to feed her. She kept fidgeting with something in her hands and she couldn't seem to look at him for longer than a few seconds at most. She kept her head down and sometimes peeked up through her bangs to look at him, when she saw him watching him too, her eyes would quickly drop. His heart went out to her. This girl had clearly been through a lot. She said gruffly, but wasn't as unkind as she usually was, "Show him your keys girl."

The girl looked up at Porlyusica, than at Makarov, than at her savior again. She swallowed, seeming hesitant to unfurl her fingers and show what it was she had. In her hand there was a key ring with five keys on it, two were gold keys and three were silver. Makarov's eyes widened, a Celestial Spirit mage? Those were rare and someone so young with two gold keys already? Even rarer.

"Can I?" Makarov asked, holding out his hand and keeping his eyes kind and patient. She bit her bottom lip, brown eyes searching his face for something. The look in her eyes told him she was far smarter than her age would imply. Finally, she must have found something she liked because her shoulders lowered by an inch and she nodded. Still, it seemed like it took all of her willpower to hand over her keys. The antsy look on her face reminded him of Natsu, she was fighting the urge to snatch them back from him. Makarov made sure to keep it quick, he closed his eyes and the power that flared from them and her were like beacons of light in the guild. His guild was full of strong mages, many of whom were only kids and would only get stronger as they grew. This girl was no different, she had an astonishing amount of raw power for someone so young. Than again, most celestial mages did. The amount of raw power it took to summon a silver key was amazing, but the power it took to summon and keep the gateway open of a gold key was nothing short of astonishing. He gave the keys back and her shoulders lowered all the way when they were back in her possession. He smiled at her, and she rewarded him with a slightly bigger smile than before.

"Well?" Polysuica snapped, impatient.

"Fine," Makarov sighed, acting as if it was more trouble than it was worth. Truth be told, he was more than happy to give her a home. Everybody deserves a home they could call theirs.

"Good," the old woman nodded and suddenly her face got a lot more severe than before. He didn't even know that was possible. "If something happens to her, I expect to told right away you hear me? If I hear something happened to her and you didn't tell me I'll poison you, old man. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah," he flapped his hands flippantly.

Porlyusica kneeled down, looking into the young mage's face. Her expression softened, a sad smile tugging at her lips. She brushed a strand of hair behind the girl's ear, and tears filled the little girl's eyes. "As for you. You're more than welcome to come and visit me for whatever you want. Whenever you want but you remember the talk we had right? About why you couldn't stay with me?"

Her lips pressed together, looking like she was trying hard not to cry. She nodded, as her struggle was ultimately futile and tears started rolling down her cheeks. One after another like soldiers marching in a line. Makarov noted how quiet she was though, no loud hitching of her breath and no sobs escaped her lips.

"I'm sorry Lucy," Porlyusica said, and she really did look sorry, that didn't surprise Makarov. Despite her prickly exterior and insistence that she hated humans, Makarov knew that that wasn't the case. No one could be a healer for so long if they really hated humans. Makarov knew why the old woman couldn't keep the girl-Lucy-but right than he almost wished she could. As the woman hesitated, looking like she was struggling with herself, Lucy threw her arms around the old woman's neck. Lucy buried her face in the healer's shoulder and squeezed as tight as her little body would let her. Lucy didn't know what she was expecting, everybody left her eventually but that didn't stop Lucy from hoping this time would be different. Porlyusica didn't hug Lucy back but she didn't try and pry her off either, instead she just knelt there and let the girl hug for a long while. When Lucy finally let her go, Porlyusica was surprised to feel a pair of small lips on her cheek.

"Bye," Lucy said so quietly Porlyusica had to strain her ears to hear her.

"Bye," Porlyusica said roughly, getting up quickly and almost running out of the guild. Fuck, how had she gotten so attached in just one month?

"Is Lucy your name?" Makarov asked, hopping off the bar and standing next to the girl. She had stopped crying and now she was trying to scrub any evidence of what happened off her face. Makarov was just glad it was near noon and most of the kids were outside playing somewhere, he had a feeling the last thing the blonde girl would want was a bunch of strange kids seeing her cry.

Lucy nodded, lips still pressed together tightly.

"How old are you?"

"11," Lucy said quietly.

"When is your birthday?"

"In two months. On the first."

"Would you like to join Fairy Tail?"

Another nod, but this one was accompanied by wide eyes that glinted with excitement.

Makarov chuckled, gesturing for the girl to follow him behind the bar. He pulled out the stamp and asked her, "What color and where do you want it?"

She took a little while longer to answer that, face scrunching together cutely. Finally, she held up her right hand and said, "Pink please?"

Makarov laughed quietly, at least this one had manners. He nodded and pressed down gently on her hand, laughing again at the way she shut her eyes tight like she expected it to hurt. "All done! That didn't hurt did it?"

Lucy looked at her brand new guild mark, then looked up and gave Makarov one of the widest smiles he had ever seen. It was like the sun had decided to visit his little guild hall. She responded cheerfully, "Not at all!"