Gajeel's P.O.V.
"Alrigh', ya bastards. Go do what ya want. Don't steal nothin', an' don't cause trouble." I leveled a glare at the kids in my group, making Nikita laugh. She seemed to have caught on that my meanness was a bit of a show. The small girl lunged for my hand, latching on and tugging me towards the rides. I grunted and cracked a small grin before allowing her to pull me, the boys all trailing behind us.
"Gajeel! I wanna go on that one!" Nikita pointed at a ride set up to the side. There were ridiculously colored, oversized cups sat on saucers and arranged on a series of rails. In the middle was a wheel type handle that people were grabbing onto as they sat on the bench seat that went around the edge of the cups.
"Alrigh' then, let's go." We stepped in line and waited our turn. The cups were big enough I could ride with all of the brats in my group, so I made them slide in, seating myself on the closest spot to the cup's door. Just in case.
"Okay, everybody! Are you ready for some fun? Pull on the wheel to spin your cup faster!" The woman running the ride was ridiculously perky as she made her announcement, waiting just another moment before grabbing a lever at her waist and throwing it to the side to start the ride. The kids lurched to grab our handle as the cup began to slowly spin, the base moving in a wide circle on the rail it was mounted on. On top of that, the rail we were circling on started sliding in a circle around the main ride's pedestal. Ryos and Steven almost immediately turned green, which made Fitz start laughing. I reached out to grab the wheel in the middle.
Spin faster, eh? Giving it a strong pull, I felt the cup beginning to whirl a little more. I kept going, pulling harder than was probably necessary as the world sped by in a blur. Nikita was squealing with laughter, and all three of the boys had their heads down, groaning as they clutched their stomachs. I had to admit that I was having fun, and before I knew it the ride was ended. Nikita leapt out of our cup, stumbling a little from her dizziness. The boys, on the other hand, they were all three practically crawling. I threw my head back laughing and reached in, scooping the younger two up, one under each arm, and turned to walk out of the ride.
"Come on then, Red. Yer practically a man, ya able to walk out on yer own?" The boy glared at me as he stumbled out of the ride, still clutching at his stomach. I left the gated area that surrounded the cups, still chuckling to myself as I set the two young ones on a bench and walked to a nearby booth. When I got back to where I'd left them, Fitz was leaning against the fence, Nikita peering around in interest at everything else around.
"Here. This'll help ease that. Where ya wanna go next?" I passed them each a cup of lemonade, hoping it would calm their stomachs enough that we could continue. I was actually enjoying this more than I had expected to. Fitz sipped at his drink, straightening as he did.
"I would like to try that one over there." The redheaded boy said, pointing at a roller coaster on the edge of the fair. Steven and Ryos groaned, their faces still slightly green as we all turned to head to the new ride. "C'mon, ya wimps. This one doesn't spin." They stumbled to their feet behind us, no doubt their pride demanding that they attempt to keep up with the rest of us, at least so early in the trip. By the time we got through the line to the ride, they seemed to be back to their normal selves, talking and laughing with the other brats.
This ride was shaped like a large flat "U". It had several cars hooked together and pulled you back about fifty feet into the air before dropping the cars so they shot down and rocketed back up the other side of the rail. There it would hesitate for about ten seconds before it dropped again, plummeting backwards of course. It repeated the motions five times before stopping in the middle again. Each car sat four to six people on two benches, so I climbed into the back seat of the front car with Fitz and we let the three smaller ones share the front seat. Nikita was practically bouncing with excitement, the boys on either side of her letting out simultaneous groans the moment the cart started pulling backwards.
I had to laugh as they leaned against the edge of the cart, the small girl with them shrieking that they'd better not throw up on her. They both managed to keep it held in, and she resumed her laughing as the ride dropped us for the first time, the wind rushing through her short hair, flaring it out behind her. It was a little lame for me, nothing like riding on Dad's back when he was flying, but the brats were enjoying it, and that was the point. I decided that I would probably let the younger boys skip out on rides for the rest of the night, they really seemed miserable. When the ride ended, I carried them off again, Nikita skipping ahead and begging to ride the saucers again.
"Gajeel... I think I wanna to sit this one out?" Ryos mumbled, glaring up at me through his hair. I chuckled and nodded, turning to get in line with the other two again. "Why don't ya grab some food once yer settled a bit?" Steven shook his head violently, leaning against the armrest of the bench they were sat on, and my laughter increased. They'll be fine.
"Ya gone tell 'im, Ryos?" Steven looked over at his best friend as his stomach settled, taking slow breaths to ease the nausea he was fighting down. The black-haired boy shook his head, looking around to make sure no one was within hearing distance. Gajeel maybe was, but with everything going on and the noise of the ride, they should be safe.
"I dunno, Steven. Do ya think he'd believe us? Just because HE is a Dragon Slayer, doesn't mean he would believe us. No one else does. 'Sides... he didn't listen the last time I tried talking to him."
Steven nodded, remembering the weeks his friend had searched for this strange boy he remembered. They'd woken up together in an alley, and immediately started searching for... someone. Ryos had remembered more than the blonde boy who was his teammate. He remembered a woman with a kind smile, and three other kids like them. He especially remembered the one he'd always seen as his big brother. They were so small, they'd gone to the first adult they could find to get help.
"These damn street rats. Go on! Git!" That was the usual response they got, people passing by assuming they were beggars. Sometimes they found a nice one who would offer them food and try to take them to an orphanage. They got stuck in one of those for about a week once before Ryos gathered enough strength from the regular meals to use his shadows to get them both away. Then he'd found somewhere to hole up for a while, stolen some food, and snuck out in the middle of the night to search for their friends. He could move faster and further in his own shadows without Steven, but didn't want the other boy to see his weakness.
After a while they'd given up, only for Ryos to bump into Gajeel about a year later. The older Dragon Slayer had a guildmark on his shoulder, and travelled around with some mean looking people. Ryos had tried to catch his attention, but he couldn't remember the Iron Dragon's name. Couldn't really remember anything except that he thought he knew him. Gajeel, for his part, hadn't seemed to remember him at all. His crimson eyes had met with Ryos', his brows coming together in a grimace.
"Whatdya want, runt?" Ryos had simply stepped back into shadow, disappearing completely. The older Slayer had searched for him briefly before shrugging it off and walking away. The younger pair had kept their ears open as they formed their community of thieves and street rats, eventually learning about Natsu and Wendy as well, but still not having anything but a fuzzy memory of their faces as children. Then, there was the fight between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord that they heard about and dismissed as stupid adult things.
When Gajeel had shown up as the guild wizard to train them, Ryos had almost said something right away. But the other Dragon Slayer hadn't even had a hint of recognition when he looked at the younger boys, so he'd kept his mouth shut. Steven had asked him several times since then if they were going to say anything, but it never seemed to be the right time. Maybe he'd been wrong? Maybe they had nothing in common aside from a similarity of magic.
"Maybe... maybe we'll tell him tomorrow when they come to train. Let's think on it some more." The Shadow Dragon Slayer kicked his feet in the dirt below their bench, glancing over his shoulder at the ride again. It should be ending any moment, and this wasn't exactly a conversation for having in public.
"An' how long we gonna think on it? It's been weeks now." Steven shook his head, sliding off the bench to pace back and forth. He didn't sit still very well. He was still pacing when Gajeel and the others walked up, and he looked up at the man, opening his mouth to just blurt it out now, tired of waiting. Just before he could say anything, Ryos grabbed onto his arm and started marching towards the food carts. "Shall we go grab some food, guys?" Gajeel raised an eyebrow at the boys, but shrugged and followed the gaggle of children to buy food. There were only four, but when they all got excited about something, it could be difficult to tell that.
"And after this, the games?"