It was a long year of hard training. Makarov was a strict and firm teacher but also gentle and patient. He made sure that Gray understood everything there was to know about magic and how everything he did, thought, and felt had an effect on the power in him.

"Magic responds to emotions." He had told his student during one lesson. "Which is why you must try not be impulsive when using it. You must be reasonable and think before using it. Consider the consequences."

"Okay." Gray said understanding.

"Magic can also effect how you see yourself."

"How so?"

"Let me ask you something Gray, how do you see yourself?"

"I don't understand."

"What do you think of yourself? What do you see when you look in a mirror?"

"Well..." He said nervously. "To be honest I see myself as something ugly. Something that just can't be loved or accepted."

"You mustn't think of yourself that way. If you do your magic may end up turning you into exactly that. An ugly creature that is unloved and unaccepted. You must learn to see yourself as what you really are."

"And what's that?"

"That's for you to figure out. Only you can really know for sure who you really are."

"Well it's hard to see myself as anything other than ugly or unwanted when I have spent twenty years being called that by a whole a village of people."

"I understand but you can change that. Once you have mastered your power you and your mother can move away from that place and start a new life. One where you'll be regarded as a hero for using your magic to help others. That is if that's what you want. I can only teach you how to use magic it's your choice on what you do with it."

"Would it be so bad if I used my magic to benefit myself?"

"Hmm...That's a tricky subject. The desire to use magic for selfishness is hard to resist. I myself still struggle with it. But it helps to remember that all magic comes with a price and the more selfish you are with it the higher the price goes up."

"Does that mean helping people with magic would come at a price?"

"In a way but you would be paying that price by sacrificing your own time and want to help someone who needs it. Who deserves it. Even fairy magic has it's own price."

"It does?"

"Well maybe I shouldn't say it has a price. I mean it's not free. Fairies most of the time can only lend their magic to others if they've done something to deserve it and that's pretty much what light magic is. It rewards those who deserve it most."

"What about dark magic?"

"Dark magic was originally created to punish mortals who had selfish and greedy hearts but much like humans, the creatures who used dark magic became ensnared by their own selfish desires as well. Some still only use it as a punishment for the wicked but there are very few  of them now."

"Is that what you think I should do? Punish people?"

"I was thinking that maybe you could give them a chance to redeem themselves. Let them see what their wrong ways will cost them if they don't change for the better."

"I'm not sure if I want to do that but I do want to help people. Because then maybe they'll finally accept me and my mother."

"That's not how helping people works Gray. You don't do it to earn their gratitude or favor. You do it because it's the right thing to do."

But Gray didn't really understand that part of the lesson. Still he continued to listen to Makarov, study, and train hard. His magic became stronger and stronger, he was like a prodigy. The old wizard had never seen a person who could learn magic so fast and by the end of the year Gray had mastered it completely. The young man was so excited when it was all over and he could hardly wait to see his mother again. He thanked Makarov for all his teachings and used his magic to hurry home as fast as he could.

He arrived at the old house with a bouquet of roses in his hand to surprise her with. Although it would be nothing compared to the surprise he would have for her later when they moved into their new home. It would be glorious castle complete the rose garden she always wanted. 

"Mother I'm home." He opened the door and expected to find her spinning at the wheel. But she wasn't there. "Mother? Are you here?"

No answer. He searched the whole house but she was no where to be seen. Odd. She didn't usually leave the house at this time of the day. When he couldn't find her at home he checked the village market place but she wasn't there either. Finally he decided to ask Macao if he knew where she was.

When he stepped into the toy shop he noticed that it wasn't as bright or happy as it usually was. Macao wasn't the same either. He was sitting in a corner hanging his head in a very bitter manner. When he looked up to see Gray there was a brief spark in his eyes but then it faded all too soon.

"Gray..." He said softly. "You're back."

"Yes I am."

"It's...It's good to see you."

"You too. Listen I'm trying to find my mother. Do you know where she is?"

Macao became silent and had a look on his face. A look that said that he was terrified of what he was about to tell the young man. A look that told Gray that something was wrong. That something had happened while he was gone.

"Macao...Where's my mother?"

"Oh Gray." He sighed. "I'm so sorry."

"Sorry? For what? What's going on?"

"It happened last month. Someone swiped one of your letters to your mother and gave it to Duke Lore. He read it and learned what you were doing. He convinced the whole village that once you learned how to use your magic you would be a threat to us all. A mob came to your house and they insisted that your mother tell them where you were. But she refused so they...They...They..."

He had tears in his eyes and he was choking on his words.

"They hanged her." He forced himself to say.

Time seemed to become frozen to Gray as he dropped the roses in his hand which withered into ash once they hit the floor.

"They...What?" His body trembled.

"I tried to stop them!" He wept. "But they-"

Gray finally noticed that Macao had yet to stand up. He then reached over and grabbed a stick which he used to hold himself up. "They held me down and broke my foot. They crippled me so I could only watch as they dragged her away."

"No." Gray said shaking his head. "No. No this is some mistake. You're saying she's dead? She's not dead!"

"Follow me son."

In a daze Gray followed the hobbling man out of the shop and to an area of green grass and rich soil where in the center of it was a grave. A grave with marked with a large heart of wood that had the words: 

Alina

A Beautiful Woman

A Beloved Mother

A Dear Friend 

Carved into it.

"I buried her here and I made the tomb stone myself." Macao said. "I'm sorry I couldn't use real stone. I hope you approve of the words I used."

There was no denying it now. His mother was dead. Dead and buried. Gray couldn't breathe.

"Why?" He said still trembling. "Why did this happen?"

"The bastard Duke Lore said it was to protect the village from a beast but I know that it was really because he wanted to make you and your mother suffer for her rejection of him. He offered to let her live if she told him where you were hiding but she said she'd rather die than do anything that could lead to harming you."

"But how...How could she do that? How could she just let herself die to keep them from finding me?"

"She loved you Gray. That's how she could do it. When a parent truly loves a child nothing is more important to them than that child's happiness and well being.  I was there when you were born you know and I could tell right away, from the very moment she saw you for the first time, she would never love anything more than you. Not even her own life."

He then pulled a wrapped bundle of something from his satchel.

"Before she died she told me to give this to you. I'll leave you now to have a moment."

He hobbled away after that. Once alone Gray unwrapped the bundle ever so slowly and saw that inside was a fine leather trench coat with cuffs, strong material, a greatly detailed stitching. Next to the coat was a note that read.

For my handsome son.

Don't ever forget how much I love you.

"Handsome!" Gray spat. 

There was nothing handsome about him. Nothing beautiful. Nothing good. Nothing about him that could be loved. This village had branded him a beast since day one and he could have forgiven them for that but now they had taken the only light he had in his dark world. For that they would pay. 

As he felt his inner hatred and self loathing build up his appearance began to change into something terribly frightening.

"They want a beast?" He snarled under his breath. "Fine. I'll show them a beast."

At that moment Duke Lore and his thuggish friends were celebrating at his manor. Drinking, gambling, and getting handsy with women of the night. 

"Another round wench!" The duke told one woman. She brought him a goblet of wine but just before he could sip the door blew open and the room started to grow dark. "What is this? Emil look into it."

His drunk partner in crime went to do as he was told but when he reached the door way he was stabbed in the chest by a figure that was hiding in the shadows. Everyone in the room became stiff with fear and/or shock. The duke then ordered his men to shoot the figure and while arrows did hit him he still walked into the room with the shadows following. One by one he either stabbed or snapped the neck of each of his men, scaring the women into running for their lives, until only the duke remained.

"Who...Who are you?" He asked shaking.

"Oh have you forgotten my face already? It's only been a year." The figure spoke.

 "What do you want?"

"What do I want? My what a delicious sense of irony." He giggled in sickening voice. "Perhaps this will jog your memory."

 He moved his foot out of the shadows. 

"You ask me what I want? Kiss my boot."

At once the duke realized in horror who he was and his horror was furthered when the rest of him came out of the shadows to let him see his appearance. There he stood with his rough and black scarred skin, his blackened claw-like finger nails, his pointy teeth, and his twisted face of pure madness.

"You." The duke said.

"That's right me." He grinned viciously. "The son of the innocent woman you hanged."

The man looked scared out of his mind. He thought he would kill over from fright right then and there.

"Why so surprised?" Gray said. "You always said that I was a threat. That I was a monster. That I would eventually come some great terror. That's what you told the villagers right? That's how you got them to kill my mother right?!"

He couldn't talk.

"Oh but wait you didn't actually mean it did you? You didn't really see me as anything harmful. You just preyed on their fear and used it to torment me and my mother because she was smart enough not to sleep with you. You pitiful excuse for a human being."

He grabbed the duke by his throat and lifted him off the ground. 

"No! Please! Have mercy!" He pleaded cowardly.

"Did you have mercy on my mother?" 

He proceeded to strangle the man slowly and painfully until he was dead and he grinned the whole time.

Gray wasn't himself anymore. The dark magic and the years of self loathing, mistreatment of others, and now the loss of his mother had made him snap and twisted him up into the shadow beast. Humanity would pay for this. They would pay for branding him for all those years and for stealing the only person who loved him. Oh he would help people alright but his services would always come at a high price. There were no truly good people who deserved kindness. None.

Well...Perhaps one.

Later that night Gray went back to Macao's shop. The poor man had fallen asleep. Still unaware of what Gray had become. Macao had been a real friend to him since the beginning. Never once treating him like the monster people said he was and on top of that he tried to save his mother. Gray meant what he said when he told the toy maker that he would pay him back for all his years of friendship and compassion. Now he knew how to do so. 

First he fixed Macao's broken foot with his magic. Then he composed a note for him and approached the little boy puppet the man had carved a year ago. He couldn't make it a real boy but he could give it a life and a chance to become Macao's real son. He ran his fingers over the puppet's chest, by morning's light it would awake alive and the instructions on how to make him real were on that note he left.

His last act of kindness before leaving the village and starting his new life as the Shadow Beast.

...

Wednesday was the hearing on weather or not Elkis's neglect was responsible for the fire in her house. If it was decided then she would lose the kids. She waited with baited breath on what the results of this would be. She hoped that Gren would come through. He said that he had found something during his search.

"You see Mr. Justine." Gren told the social worker at the hearing. "A gas pipe underneath the house had burst that night and it could have spread through the vent in the living room. Miss Scarlet was in no way responsible for what happened."

"That can't be true!" Lusha protested.

"I have the photos right here." He had the pictures of said pipe to Johann who examined them. "Pictures don't lie Mayor Heartfilia."

"But I'm sure she caused that fire. Didn't the police find something?" She said.

"Not a thing although I caught one trying to plant a few matches in the kids's room." Gren said staring at the mayor triumphantly. "Surprised that he would actually do that. He's a very spineless officer. But then again that can make him very easy to manipulate can't it?"

Lusha didn't speak but she gave him one hell of glare.

"Mr. Justine surely you can agree that Miss Scarlet is no threat to the kids and this was just an accident." 

"I agree Detective Fullbuster."

"Does this mean I get my kids back?" Elkis asked.

"Yes Miss Scarlet. I apologize for all the trouble I've caused you."

The hearing was adjourned and Elkis waited patiently for the kids to be brought to her. 

"A gas pipe?" She said to herself. "What are the odds? Glad you found it. I better check for those the next time I move in someplace new."

"Oh the gas pipe didn't start the fire." Gren said.

"What?"

"It was so far underground that when it burst the soil snuffed out the gas."

"So you lied?"

"I didn't lie. A gas pipe did break and it could have spread through the vent and started the fire but it didn't."

"Do you not know what really caused that fire?"

"Oh I have a pretty good idea of what caused it but if I told them they would have thought I was crazy and you would have still lost the kids. Well you would have at least lost the little girl."

"Nasha? Why?"

"I've seen her file. She did start a fire in her foster home once when she was five."

"Are you saying she did this?"

"Not intentionally."

"But she couldn't have done it. I had everything she could use to start a fire locked away."

"The thing is dearie there's more than one way to accidentally start a fire and be grateful that I swiped that file before Madame Mayor could get it. It would be a shame if she could find someway to prove that one of those kids is unstable and mentally unwell."

"Do you know why she's trying to get rid of the kids?"

"Maybe." He smirked. 

"It's to make me miserable isn't it?"

"That's part of the reason. Actually it's more like a bonus."

"Then why does want them gone? What does she have against them?"

"I'm afraid you'll have to figure that out yourself."

"Why?"

"Because that's much more entertaining to watch." He got up to leave but just before going out the door he stopped to give her a little advice. "Here's a little hint. Children aren't always as helpless and naive as they appear. In fact sometimes they can figure things out better than adults."

She didn't understand at all what he meant by that. But right now that didn't matter. All that mattered was that she was getting her kids back and when Mr. Justine brought them in they both ran to her and hugged her. Greige she expected a hug from but not Nasha. She was especially surprised by the girl's embrace and looked at her in shock.

"What?" She said. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You hugged me." Elkis said.

"Yeah so?"

"So...I...I didn't think you liked me."

"I didn't." She said. "At first. At first I thought you were just going to play the sweet mother act and ditch me as soon as I screwed up. I was so sure that you'd send me back after the fire but you actually wanted me. You wanted to keep me."

"Yes I did."

"Why?"

"Because I like you that's why and I believe that you deserve a chance at having a home and a family."

Nasha smiled and hugged her again. Happy that she had finally found someone who would actually accept her and give her a chance. Truth be told it was all she ever really wanted.

Next chapters we meet local therapist Dr. Fernandes who feels a familiar connection to Elkis and in the past we'll get to see how Erza and Jellal first met and fell in love.