a/n: happy Easter to those that celebrate it! Consider this chapter an advanced apology. I may disappear for a bit. Or I may go on a huge writing rampage and churn out a chapter a day. I don't know. Let's just say shinigami-sama and kami-sama have paid a visit to a relative an hour ago, so...... yeah. Author-chan needs a bit of space. That and I need to smash some things because that's how I deal with sadness.

The little girl looked up at the sky. Choppy pink hair framed her chubby face, her green eyes searching the blue sky for dangers. Snow surrounded her, the huge drifts curving up and hollowing out to form natural snow caves. Amongst the trees was a veritable Warren of snow-tunnels, with a few clearings like this one where she could just see the sky. If she thought back, she could just remember green summer grass and sunlight glinting off of someone's goggles, but those memories were old and vague.

Up in the Sky was a huge red dragon-like beast. She watched as it circled the forest, once, twice, three times. Something about the creature drew her to it. She turned and raced through the snow tunnels, left, right, under a low roof, up over a bank, left, left again, right, through the dead bramble fence, and into her cabin. Sat in the chair by a small fire, was a middle aged gentleman with pinkish white hair and soft green eyes. He turned his head to acknowledge the girl, smiling warmly.

"You had fun today brat?" He asked, a smile teasing the corners of his mouth. The little girl nodded. She described the red dragon-beast in as much detail as she could. The man stared at her for about ten seconds, before leaping to his feet with unusual enthusiasm.

"Come brat. We should go meet this animal."

"Ok grampa lee!" The little girl smiles, tiny fangs protruding from her lips as she struggled to keep her mouth shut as she smiled. The pink haired man grabbed a black travel cloak and flung it over his shoulders, pulling up the hood to hide his face and hair. The little girl laughed as she chased after her grampa, who was surprisingly swift for someone with a severe limp.

Natsu was still flying around the valley, searching for signs of life, when a red flare shot up from the foot of the dormant volcano. He flew over, spotting the little girl and the hooded figure as he approached. The little girl was grinning and hopping from foot to foot, waving and laughing. Her smell made Natsu grin back as he landed near them, though the hooded figure stayed back.

"What brings you back, brat?" The hooded figure asked, reaching a gloved hand out to pull the little girl closer to him. The little girl snarled and pulled away. No-one, not even her grampa, was allowed to touch her if she didn't want it.

"I need your help. My friend, he's sick. I need a healer who knows about demons and demon slayers." Natsu rumbled, crouching on all four like a dragon. He knew this man's scent. It was like Porlyusica's. A mix of dragon, human and Edolas. So the little girl's guardian was from Edolas as well then.

"Why should I help? You know I hate humans." If Natsu didn't know better, he'd swear the man in the cloak was Porlyusica's son. (He smelled too young to be her brother.)

"I'll help you. Grampa lee can stay behind. Why do you smell like me mr dragon?" The little girl asked, tilting her head to the side like a puppy.

"Not dragon. He's a fire demon, little Nashi." The hooded figure told the little girl.

"COOL!" Nashi squealed. "Does that make him really scary then?" Natsu chuckled. So did the hooded figure.

"I'll explain on the way, but I have to hurry. Can you heal my demon slayer friend Nashi?" Natsu rumbled. The little girl nodded enthusiastically.

"Grampa lee says I'm even better than him at healing. Maybe even better than great aunt lulu!" Nashi babbles, gesturing wildly with her tiny hands. Natsu dipped his wing, inviting the tiny girl up onto his back. Nashi scrambled up, grabbing his scaly neck firmly. "Will flying with you make me sick mr demon?" Nashi asked suddenly shuddering at the thought.

"No. Motion sickness only works with vehicles Nashi. I'm a friend. Right?" Natsu made a mental note to track down the little girl's father and ask him if her mother got motion sick too.

"Yay! I have a demon friend!" She squealed. Natsu just rolled his eyes. She clearly didn't remember him. Or her father. And she looked so young. Surely she was at least ten. Why was she so tiny?

"I'll bring her home safely. See ya!" The demon assures lee, before leaping high and flying off at a steady pace. It was clear the little girl had never flown before, so he was being gentle to get her used to it. He started up a conversation, hoping to distract Nashi from his pace as he sped up gradually.

     "So, you've lived with your grampa all your life then?" He asked, though he already knew the answer.

    "I... don't remember. Grampa lee says my daddy left me behind to protect me when I was five. He's a really famous man, and grampa lee says the magic council were hunting him because they want his invention or something. I learnt fire demon and fire dragon slayer magic, so I can protect myself and I learnt how to heal like great aunty lulu too!"

"Aunt lulu? Does she live with you too?" Natsu frowned. He hadn't smelt anyone except lee on Nashi.

"Nah, she's a healer for a wizard guild. I think it was fairy something. Hey mr demon, do you have family?" Natsu flinched, though Nashi didn't notice from her perch on his scaly back. He didn't register the question as he was still trying to process the fact that Porlyusica was apparently Nashi's aunt. Was she Lee's sister then? But wouldn't that make lee an Edolas Dragon too? Or was the little girl just calling the old witch aunt because they were close to one another?

"Mr demon, I just asked you a question. Geez." Nashi huffed, pouting. "Do you have any family?" She repeated, in a manner that reminded Natsu of her mother. *shudder*

"My brother. But he's human. And my exceed Happy. Also, I'm END, not mr demon." Natsu replied, hoping Nashi lived too far away to know Happy was Salamander's exceed, not END's.

"But grampa lee told me that my Uncle had an exceed called Happy too..." Natsu's wings seized up for a moment before he realised he had to stay airborne. Nashi felt the sudden dip, and stared into the red scaly neck, and mop of darkish hair, as this was all she could see of END's head. What had she said?

"Did your grampa ever tell you your daddy's name Nashi?"

"Not really. Apparently he's a Fairy Tail Wizard, and my uncle is a demon who thinks he's human. There's never any pictures of either of them in the sorcerer weekly magazine though. Or at least, no-one who looks like me anyway. Grampa Lee always says I look just like my daddy and my uncle is his twin or something so..."

"Well... Happy is my exceed, so that would make me your demon uncle, wouldn't it?"

     "Really? Is that why you smell like me then? Hey, uncle END, do you know where my daddy is?"

"No. Your daddy is a really tough guy to track down. Not even a pack of dragon and demon slayers could do it, we've tried!" He told his passenger, though that wasn't quite true. He'd never tried to track his 'brother' down, besides, chances were the idiot was hiding from the council.

      "..." Nashi didn't answer.

    "Nashi?" Natsu asked, worried. The little girl just didn't seem to be the quiet type.

    "I... don't really know my daddy. I remember leather racing goggles, but I don't think my daddy knew magic. I have fire demon slayer and fire Dragon Slayer magic though. I don't even know my mummy." Natsu frowned at that. He knew from experience that every person in Edolas did not have magic. Did Nashi know she wasn't from this world? It had come as a shock to meet an Edolas born wizard with natural ethernano inside of her. (And even more of a shock to find it was his Edolas counterpart's daughter!)

      "Sorry uncle END!" Nashi babbled cheerfully. "Where's your friend? I need to heal him, right?" Then the little girl paused to think. "Hey uncle? Do you look like me as a human? Because I don't want my looks to cause you any trouble." Natsu grinned, though Nashi could not see this from her perch between his wings.

        "What are you like in big crowds of people?" He asked, hoping she wasn't too bold. If she was a shivering wreck like her father, then there wouldn't be a problem.

      "I'm a really big baby. Or that's what Grampa lee says. He says I'm a completely different person outside of the valley!" She tells him, gesturing wildly with her hands yet somehow keeping her balance with just her knees. "If I do look like you, maybe I should wear the goggles I have on me that my daddy left me?"

     Natsu agreed, it would help if she looked a bit more like her father than him, but after that, he went silent, focusing on building speed. It wouldn't be long now before they arrived at the guild, and Natsu had to concentrate. He had to time his change back to human form with his landing, so no one would see him change. Too soon, and he and Nashi could break something, and too late and people would see him change from monster to wizard....

      A/N: you know, this would be so much easier to write if I didn't have a six stone bullmastiff cross sat on my lap... Oi, Ben, get off, I give you some biscuits if you go away! I want to write at least the next chapter or two so I don't have to worry about my one chapter a week goal....🐺😑🐺 🐶😝🐶 🐺😓🐺 🐶😆🐶