Chapter One: An Ending Starts a Beginning

Lula had found Romeo in the streets of Magnolia looking very down in the dumps.

When the teenager had approached the boy he was surprised to find her looking at him so intently. Sitting down next to him she only softly embraced him, holding him to her chest as a mother would a child.

Suddenly Romeo found new comfort in the woman, crying softly onto her shirt. After a few hours of his senseless crying and talking, she could put together that he was head over heels in love with a girl named Wendy who he had always admired but didn't know how to approach her.

Lula had only taken her thumbs and wiped his tears away before placing a chaste kiss on his forehead. "If love is the bond that holds you to her so dearly, embrace it. Don't let the chance slip through your fingers. Being young has its advantages so just confess to her. If she rejects, take it lightly and turn to her with new hope and a fresh start. Remember, there is never a straight victory. You must fail before you can truly concur."

Romeo looked at Lula in awe before blushing brightly. He hugged his head into her the crook of her neck, resting innocently against her. She wrapped her arms around him, rubbing small circles into his back.

A while later, Romeo sniffled and sat up, smiling brightly at Lula. She gave a small, kind smile at him, "Are you okay now, young one?"

He nodded happily," Yeah thanks. And to show my gratitude, let me treat you to a quick snack."

Minutes later Lula was licking a forest berry ice cream cone with raspberry syrup while Romeo ate rocky road with caramel syrup. As they happily ate the ice cream, Romeo struck up a friendly conversation.

"So tell me Miss. What's your name? "

"Lula. And you are?"

"Romeo I really thank you for comforting me. But I gotta know...why? Why'd you help me?"

She finally stopped eating her ice cream to give him a faraway look. "I felt the pang in your heart. I know that pain because I too yearn for my love. For people to end up like me because of love is a sad road to take. That is why I am traveling around by myself."

Romeo looked sadly at the ground before snapping his fingers. "Let me repay you by helping you find your love too. Do you know where this guy is? It'd be good to start there."

Lula slowly ate some more of her treat, her soft turquoise eyes trained on the feet of passersby. He was about to ask again when she softly replied, "The man I'm looking for is supposed to be a dragon slayer. Also from the rumors he has joined a guild and has a cute mistress."

Romeo perked up at that, there were a few dragon slayers that he knew. Maybe she was looking for Nastu-nii-Chan. That fit his description completely. His happy thoughts continued as she gave more information, "The guild is Fairy Tail..."

Completely elated Romeo jumped up, "I'm a member of that guild! Let me take you there!"

"...And...his name…is Gajeel Redfox."

That made Romeo's grin slip completely from his lips as he gulped. She has to kidding...

"And I love him very much."

She just had to be kidding...right?

(Small Time Skip)

Romeo now knew for a fact that she was not playing a trick.

Certainly after every time he glanced at her face, the features held the same longing determination in them. The walk through the crowded streets would have been worse if not for her quickly maneuvering them to a less crowded area.

Looking back her eyes seemed to be saying, "You didn't mind that right?"

Mentally noting to owe her later, Romeo lead her down a few more roads before looking up to spot a tall building only about three blocks away.

A smile spread wide across his face and his heart fluttered as he thought of the beloved girl inside it. With renewed vigor, Romeo practically ran through the string of people, quickly slipping through the gaps.

Lula, who was almost left behind, easily caught up to him, falling into pace with the boy. When the mage suddenly stopped with a huge goofy grin on his face, she could tell this was it.

'Gajeel…Oh how I've waited to see your face.'

Following his eager steps to the guild's doors, the two teenagers pushed through the thick wooden door, making a rather loud entrance.

Romeo seemed to not care, striding over to the bar where a woman stood, wiping its surface down. At his presence she smiled warmly then looked over at Lula who stared back at her blankly.

"Hi there Romeo-kun. May I ask who this little lady is?"

Said girl only stepped forward before the boy could answer, a hard look set on her young features, "My name is Lula. I assume that you are Mirajane Strauss? Correct?"

The womanly voice was even and powerful, not faltering for a second. She stared right into Mirajane's blue eyes, waiting for an answer.

Still caught a bit off guard, the white haired beauty nodded numbly, setting the rag down. "That I am. Now I really have to ask, what is that you need Lula-san?"

The fuchsia haired girl blinked once, "I request to talk with your Master. There is an important message that I need to pass on to him."

Nodding once, the bar maid disappeared up the steps quickly, leaving Romeo and Lula behind.

"So Lula...Why do you-", the question was cut short when a happy giggle was heard along with a flutter. Glancing to the left, they were met with a small girl with a white cat and a flutter of air.

She wore her long, blue hair up in twin ponytails with bangs cutely framing her face. Her little navy blue school girl uniform-like outfit fluttered as she landed on her feet, chocolate eyes sparkling with excitement at her feline companion.

"Wow Carla! Using Wind Dragon's Roar while flying does give us a huge boost in speed!"

The cat smirked while the girl looked around, her eyes searching until they landed on Romeo. Said boy's heart fluttered at fast her footsteps over to him.

"Hi, Romeo-san! You won't believe what we just tried out today!"

Her ponytails swung with the moment before she stopped in front of the two, "Hey W-Wendy-chan."

'Ah….this is the Wendy girl.'

Lula stood back near the bar stools as the two conversed, totally engrossed until Carla stepped in, interrupting them.

"Excuse me, but who exactly are you?"

The sky dragon slayer blinked her eyes before shifting her gaze to the other person. Meanwhile, the young fire mage jumped in remembrance. "Sorry you guys. This here is Lula, I met her earlier today while I was out. She helped me out so I did her a favor back."

Wendy smiled and bowed, "Hello Lula-sama. I am Wendy Marvell. Nice to meet you."

Lula nodded her head stiffly, "The pleasure is mines."

Her gaze lingered on her before shifting to Romeo, her eyebrow twitched a bit before he caught on, "Oh yeah! Wendy I wanna talk to you real quick. Well….actually let's go have fun today, my treat."

Wendy clapped her hands excitedly before they left the guild, leaving Lula standing stiffly at the bar by herself. Since she was currently alone, she sat up on a stool and proceeded to observe her surroundings.

There were many people shattered about, some drinking, some talking and flirting, and some sleeping on the tables. She wasn't able to observe much when a hand reached out in front of her face, thoroughly catching her attention.

"Hey you there. Who are you and why are you here in our guild?"

(Lula's POV)

Turning my gaze, my eyes landed on the red headed woman who stood ahead of me. Instead of answering her I merely blinked, seemingly making her upset for not answering.

She gritted her teeth and clenched her hand, "I, Erza Scarlet of Fairy Tail, have asked you a question. I demand you answer me."

This caused some people to turn their heads at the commotion, making me sigh. 'Great, she's causing an episode.'

A half-naked, raven haired man who was shaking a salmon haired man nearby stopped to look at her. His eyes gazed from her to me, then his eyebrows furrowed, "I never seen you here before….have I?"

The man he was holding suddenly sprang to life, his eyes wide as they landed on me. A smile widened across his face, "Hey look! It's a new nakama!"

I focused my attention back to the red head that looked so angry; a vein was surely going to burst. After a stare down, with me staring boredly at her face, she took in a deep breath, readying herself to yell.

"Lula."

Spluttering out the breath, Erza cocked her head sideways at me. "My name is Lula."

Before she could reply, the salmon haired man grabbed my hand and shook it feverishly. He grinned real wide, showing off gleaming, white fangs, "Hiya Lula! My name's Natsu Dragneel! I'm a fire dragon slayer!"

He stopped laughing once my hand involuntarily squeezed a vice grip on his fingers, earning a loud crunch. Yanking his hand away to no avail, I simply watched him squirm before releasing the broken fingers.

He fumbled backwards into the raven haired fellow from earlier.

"Dammit Natsu watch where you land!"

"Aint my fault. Geez get the hell off my case Gray!"

"I bet you don't even know what a case is flame-brain."

"Course I do popsicle-head it's a….a little formal box those guys in suits put dumb little papers in! Told ya I know!"

The half-naked man, supposedly going by Gray, groaned and face palmed along with everyone else inside the guild.

After a minute, the attention was focused back onto me.

Erza pointed a finger in my face which I ignored, staring her squarely in the face emotionlessly, "You never told me why you are here. I want answers so start talking business."

"Business?"

I looked to the armor clad woman's right to find a confused blonde. Her chocolate eyes looked at the other three before landing on me, "Oh! Hi there. I didn't know Fairy Tail had guests from time to time."

The other woman glared at me, "We don't. I don't know who she is and why she's here in the first place."

The blonde patted her shoulder comfortingly, "C'mon Erza she might be scared speechless by you. Give her a bit of space and be gentle." 'Yes. Give me space because your hand smells of metal and oil.'

"Lucy you stay out of this. I must go inform Master Makarov of this immediately." , as she stomped off, a voice called out from behind them.

"That won't be necessary Erza. I am here to take care of this matter."

I turned my head slightly, glancing back to see a small man standing on the bar counter behind me, Mirajane close behind him.

Sighing, I turn my head to look at Makarov sideways. His eyes stared down at me in a hard expression but I merely managed to look more bored if that were even possible.

"I understand you have traveled her to pass me a very important message. Well? Out with it child."

Brushing him off, I turn my back to him again, observing the wood of the walls instead of their faces. Silence filled the room until Makarov spoke again, this time with more warning.

"I do not have time for your games. If you won't answer me than just-" "She's dead Makarov."

Those words made him splutter to a halt, confused at my sentence. "Excuse me? Who is 'she'?"

I blinked again before sighing, this was gonna be hard for him to take in…but not hard to say.

"Sula is dead, Makarov. She died three months ago. I was sent here give you this letter that I had been forbidden to read until I had found you."

Reaching into my short's pocket I pulled out a folded paper and handed it to him, "She claimed to have great things in store for the near future on her death bed. But only if you were to allow it."

Sitting back on the stool, I trained my eyes forward on the wall, tracing every line there was as he read Sula's dying note. A tense silence followed as he read the paper over and over again.

I heard him gulp and his hands shake with the paper, "This can't be….Wait! Then you must be her….granddaughter."

'Ah. Bingo old man.'

Turning my head to the side, I looked at him sideways again, a hint of a smirk on my lips, "So tell me then old man. Did she leave me in your care again? Or do I leave forever? Better yet just tell me what she said altogether."

I knew I had a mocking tone laced with the words while he was clearly still shocked but I couldn't help it, so I let it slip. Turning around to face him fully, I gave a full on smirk, "Quit staring and hug me already old man."

Tears welled in his eyes before he wrapped his arms around as much of me as possible, holding me tight. I only stood there, taking the embrace as I felt him shake from the silent tears. When he was done he wiped his eyes and stared at me with his face all red, "Little Lula I thought you had perished with the rest of the academy students!"

That ticked a nerve deep within me yet I reeled back the temper, instead settling for a glare. "Can't kill me that easy old man. Now let's go catch up. It doesn't matter where to me."

Nodding, Makarov lead the way up the stairs and through his door, the heavy wood swinging shut once more.

(Narrator POV)

The following silence was only interrupted by Cana's drunken slur: "Wait, wha~?"

Conversations on the subject erupted everywhere suddenly, the whole guild in uproar of the previous meeting.

The door to the entrance swung open, revealing a grinning Romeo and a giddy Wendy, walking hand in hand. Mira, being the first to notice effectively swooped the two children to the table near the bar, proceeding to tease them until their faces turned red.

On the other end of the bar, Erza, Natsu, Gray, Juvia, Lucy and Happy sat a table, conversing about the scene like everyone else.

Lucy tapped her chin in wonder, "I never knew Master had a granddaughter by a mistress. That just seems so unlikely."

Gray leaned back, scratching his head, "Nah. I don't think he'd do that. Even if he did I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have known about the kid himself."

"Juvia thinks Master had forgotten about her or at least tried to forget. Master mentioned an incident about an academy."

"Who CAAARRREESSSSS? I wanna go do another job until I get hungry for some more food."

Erza glared at Natsu before sighing. Her arms were crossed tight over her armor, "Whoever that Lula female is…she carries a fate on her shoulders that Master knows about. All we can do is wait and respects his wishes."

Everyone nodded in agreement before glancing at Makarov's closed door. Whatever bond they shared was a strong one.

Little footsteps were heard running towards the table of Team Natsu, more importantly the blonde who sat there oblivious to her fate. Yet when she did hear them and turned around it was too late.

"Lu-chan!"

A tiny body was thrown onto hers, making a hard "Oof" sound. Lucy instant glared at the attacker. "What the hell Levy?"

A small, blue haired girl dressed in a green shirt and tan capris with sandals laid across her. An orange bandana held her wavy hair back from her cute face and her hazel eyes sparkled with excitement. In her hands she held a heavy book with the title in big red letters.

Whatever the book was about, Lucy instantly let her anger drop as she stared at the book in complete awe. Suddenly she got down on the ground on her knees and began to bow to Levy, calling her an absolute god.

Everyone at the table looked at the two women as if they grew two extra heads instead of just one extra. While Levy giggled she waved the book around in the air, "I know, I know. Praise me peasant."

Gray finally got the balls to ask what they were all thinking of, "What the hell is so important about the damn book you two weirdos?"

That made the two of them freeze, their heads turning to glare at the Ice mage with a deadly stare. The happiness was instantly gone from Levy's voice as her grip on the book tightened and Lucy's back went impossibly straight, "You don't know? This is a copy of the legendary magic book that's been hidden for two centuries."

That seemed to shut the five of them up as they saw the reason behind the two bookworms' episode. Natsu just scratched his head before standing up, "Look that's cool and all but I have a mission that I wanna go do really bad."

Happy instantly hopped up with him, along with Gray, followed by Erza. The group of four went straight to the request board to argue about which ones were better in their own opinion.

Wendy, who snuck away from Mirajane's teasing and Juvia scooted closer; both eager to listen about the book's information. Right when Levy started to explain it, the Makarov's door swung open and he strode out, a stoic Lula following him.

All was silent as the two walked down the steps and stood in the middle of the guild side by side. Makarov cleared his throat and gestured to the girl standing next to him, her face void of emotion.

"Well you loyal brats of mines. This lady here is your new nakama. She's the descendent of one of my closer friends. I wish for you to welcome her with open arms like we always do."

As if on cue, Natsu whistled extra loud, a grin on his face, "I knew she'd be our nakama. Hey come on this mission with us."

Before he could say more, Erza was striding over to Makarov, disbelief etched onto her features. Her eyes were wide as she stared at him, "But Master! Why haven't we heard anything about this woman until today! Then she suddenly becomes our nakama? Master please reconsider this decision!"

He gave her a hard stare, making her back off, "Erza you should be ashamed of trying to disown your own nakama. She has nothing more than me so I shall give her a new family. You can relate by not having anyone, correct?"

The crimson haired woman was shocked into silence and she gave a curt nod before staring at her feet in shame. Turning back to the rest of the guild he decided to wrap this up, "Now if anyone else has a problem, then speak up."

When he was met with silence, a smile broke out on his face and he nodded. Patting the Lula's shoulder, he left to go back to his little room upstairs to finish his afternoon nap.

When the door closed, Jet and Droy were up in her face, both smiling and reaching a hand out to grab one of her hands. "Hi there cutie!", both men said it at the same time, then glared at each other before smiling back at her.

Her face never moved a muscle as her hands clenched tight onto both their hands, making the men cry out and kneel before her. When she let go, the two instantly put space between them and held their injured hands.

"Oi! New chick! Come here real quick!"

Lula tilted her head to the side to look at the drunken face of Cana as the brunette started to madly wave her over. Sighing, the fuchsia haired girl walked over the other woman. Once there, Cana lazily leaned back and looked her up and down.

Coral colored short shorts. A plain white T-shirt that hugged her upper body. Plain white ankle socks with red and white sneakers. Hair that started off dark purple before slowly fading into a brighter color, the tips being a soft pink. Cana laughed at the hair pulled up into a messy bun, leaving her bangs to fall across her forehead and frame her soft face.

It were those clear turquoise eyes that stared right at her that made Cana sober up a bit. Sure she was still drunk as a skunk but the look she saw made her sit up a bit. It faded away so fast, the drunk woman thought it was all just her imagination.

Lula watched as Cana slid off the table, a barrel under her arm. When they stood face to face, Cana stood a good five inches taller than her, two without the heels on.

The two stared at each other before Cana slapped a hand on her shoulder, the sound making a harsh stinging sound. The purple haired girl didn't flinch, only looked at the older woman with interest in her eyes.

"So *hic* you're my new nakama. That technically means I just got a new little sister too. *hic* Sup sis. Wanna drink with me?"

She nudged the barrel at her but it was wasted efforts as Lula reached a hand out to stop it from coming any closer. When Cana was about to say something else, Lula quietly said something to her, making Alberona laugh.

Over one the other side of the guild hall sat Levy, Lucy, Juvia, Wendy and Carle at a table. The topic kept switching between the book and Lula.

Wendy sipped her shake before talking, "I met her about an hour or two ago. Her name is Lula. Romeo had brought her here late morning."

Levy bit her lip, absorbing the small piece of information in. But she just had to ask, "She didn't say if she had a last name?"

She was met with a table full of head shakes. Nobody really knew more than she was close to the Master and her name was Lula.

Levy's her eyes wander over Lula's form, a pang of jealousy filling her at the nice curves but also a dead feeling dropping in her stomach. The feeling only got worse as she walked right towards their table.

The four females and Exceed look at the foreign girl as she silently strode up to the table. Her feet hardly made a sound and it clearly took practice seeing as how everyone else creaked around on the floorboards.

She gave a curt bow to the women, a polite gesture. "My name is Lula. Nice to make your acquaintance as nakama."

"Hmm…Carla Marvell."

"I am Juvia Lockser."

"Lucy Heartfilia here."

"M-My name is Levy McGarden."

Lula bowed again before turning to Wendy, holding her slender hand out with the palm up. "May I see your hand, Wendy?"

The preteen looked utterly confused at the sudden request, "W-Why?"

Without skipping a beat, she tilted her head, "You are a dragon slayer, correct?"

Wendy nodded her head numbly, "Y-yeah but who'd you know?"

Lula only smiled warmly, the first real emotion she had shown the entire day. "I was born and raised to recognize dragon slayers. That's how I ended up here. Now your hand please."

Wendy, along with everyone else at the table had eyes as wide as saucers in disbelief. She had gingerly grabbed Wendy's left hand, gently holding it and brushing the sleeve back to expose the skin.

They watched as her long, manicured nails lightly grazed the vein that laid there. Chanting a soft spell, a mark in the shape of crescent moon appeared on Wendy's skin. The mark glowed a vibrant purple before vanishing altogether.

Carla was the first to react, hopping across the table and snatch Wendy's arm back, checking for any damage. "Wendy are you okay?" When she nodded, the white Exceed glared at the purple haired woman, "What in the world did you just do to Wendy?"

"I simply marked her."

It was Lucy who beat them to the punch this time, "Eh? What do you mean 'marked her'?"

Lula sighed like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "As of now every dragon slayer and God slayer in Magnolia is mines. Since I was born and raised to be able to pick them out, I was also taught to protect their kind. Where I was raised, we worship them with all of our hearts so I will never hurt her. This is a mark only I alone can give and take. She is now under my protection for as long as I live."

They all looked baffled before Juvia spoke, "Natsu-san and Gajeel-kun too?"

Lula nodded in response, "Yes. I've also been born and raised to be a perfect wife of a dragon slayer. Seeing as Wendy is female, I cannot be her mate but serve as her guardian."

She turned and gave a wave, "I'll be off now. Good-bye."

The purple haired mage walked off towards the request board was, where Natsu was. This left the five girls to ponder on the information.

When the small mage reached the request board, Gray and Natsu were arguing about how to split the money on the job. They didn't even notice her until Gray had shoved Natsu backwards, making him land on her.

Pushing back against him, Natsu had narrowly been caught in her small arms. Looking back Natsu smiled at her, "Hey there Lula. Nice catch."

She nodded in thanks before he turned around to face her, "So what's up?"

Opening up his vest more, she placed a hand on his chest, right over his heart, and chanted a few words. Natsu stared at her in confusion before looking at his chest to see a deep purple crescent moon glow on his skin before vanishing all together.

When she pulled away, he looked at his skin then his hands, thoroughly confused, "What the what?"

"I merely casted a protection spell on you. Where I was raised we've come to worship dragon and God slayers. So I must protect them as well. In fact I must marry a dragon slayer."

That made the salmon haired man hold her a distance away by the shoulders, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. You seem nice and all but I can't marry ya. We just met today. Give me at least a week to know you."

She gave him an exasperated look, "You're not my husband. Someone else is, that's why I traveled here to Fiore."

Just then the doors boomed open again and heavy footsteps resounded through the room, heading to the request board where Lula, Natsu, Erza and Gray stood. Since Lula had her back turned, the shadow engulfed her and Natsu stared over her head at the person.

A gruff, deep voice that sounded angry boomed behind her, "Move it Salamander. And move the chick too."

She turned her head at this, and a smile as warm as the spring day spread across her face at what greeted her.

A man, roughly 6' 3", dressed in a black vest, white pants and black boots stood behind her. He had studs everywhere on his body, long messy black hair, and beady red eyes that were glaring down at her smile.

Quickly chanting the words for the spell she reached up and placed a hand on his neck, to his surprise, and the purple crescent moon flashed before disappearing like with Wendy and Natsu. His gloved hand, which was way bigger than hers, grabbed the dainty hand that touched his neck.

Giving off a hard glare, with her unflinching under his gaze, only smiled that dumb warm smile at him, "The fuck are you doing, brat? Don't go touching strangers like that."

Lula only managed to smile brighter, "But I'm not a stranger, Gajeel-sama."

He tightened the grip on her hand, "How in the hell do you know my name, wench?"

"Because Gajeel, I'm your wife to be," She held his hand, "and you're my husband."

"EEHHH?"

Levy and Juvia fainted, Wendy and Lucy frantically waved them off, Erza dropped the paper and gaped, Gray proceeded to use the 'WTF' look, Mirajane and Lisanna dropped glasses, Natsu held his head in pain of thinking too hard, Gajeel's eye twitched at the girl in front of him and everyone else's jaw dropped to the floor.

~SBM~

(Author's Note) : This is ~SecretBlackMagic~ here with a new story for FairyTail! So far all I have for stories are two one-shots. I used to have a story with 6 chapters for Naruto called Stone Faced but I deleted it since I fell out of swing with that. But I might just reupload it altogether later on. This story was just a random thought to me last month, and through the few short weeks, it's developed into an actually story. I'm sorry if anyone objects to a darkish love story. I will admit that I have a very perverted mind since I have perverted parents and VERY perverted friends. It just rubbed off on me. Anyways, I wanted to make sure I had that I had at least the first three chapters prewritten. If I'm not mistaken today's Sunday so I'll just upload every Sunday from now on. (Or at least hope.) School starts tomorrow and I have about three honors classes with an intense art class this year. What a lucky sophomore I get to be -_- But anyways hope ya like it though! I wish to be as good as all the authors that I'm fans of.

~SecretBlackMagic~ has signed out