Although a little disturbed by Porlyusica's initial behavior, Lucy found herself enjoying her time staying at that little house. Wendy was such a delight, she talked to Lucy so sweetly and in a friendly way which made her feel so happy. Children usually looked at Lucy with fear and ran away or hid from her if they could. She tired to approach them in a kind manner but it was a futile effort because thanks to the "lies" they were told about her by their parents they would always be afraid of her.

"So Lusha where are you from?" Wendy asked her as the three of them ate together at the small dinner table. 

"No where special." She answered. "I just travel a lot so I don't really have a stable home."

"Really? I wish I could travel to different places but Granny says I'm too young."

"You are." Porlyusica said. "You can travel to anywhere in the world whenever you wish once you are grown. But while you're still a child you'll stay here with me."

"I'm not so little anymore Granny. I can do a lot of things on my own now."

"Yes you can do a lot of things on your own but not everything. You still haven't learned how to beware of strangers." She then turned to Lucy. "No offense Lusha."

"None taken ma'am. I understand believe me." Lucy said.

"I know I'm not supposed to talk to strangers but how else am I supposed to make friends?" Wendy asked. "I love you Granny, I really do but I'd like to have someone else to talk to once in and awhile."

"I understand Wendy and you can have friends but I think it would be best if I was with you when you set out to make them. Women and children are easy prey in this world and evil has a smiling face, you must learn to see past a person's facade."

"I don't understand."

"My point exactly. If you cannot understand what that means yet then you cannot possibly be ready to do everything on your own. You will be ready someday but that will take time and the sooner you learn to listen to me, the quicker it will go."

"Yes Granny." She accepted.

"Good. Now then I see that we've all finished our dinner so time for dessert. Wendy would you be a dear and bring out that honey cake I made earlier?"

Wendy jumped from her seat and headed straight for the kitchen like any child who had just been told that they were about to have something sweet. Porlyusica sighed and gave a light chuckle.

"When she gets like that she reminds me so much of her father, my son."

"She told me what happened to them." Lucy said. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"It was a longtime ago, old people like me should be more accepting of death but then again your children aren't supposed to die before you."

"Very true." Lucy in a soft yet bitter voice. 

"My son was very young when he married and Wendy came along rather quickly. I didn't think he was ready for fatherhood yet but he surprised me with how he was with her. I used to tell him and his wife about all the joys they'd feel as they would watch her grow. Teach her to read, take her to her first village dance, spending Christmases and Birthdays with her, witnessing her wedding and later the birth of their first grandchild. Those moments I shared with my son were the happiest of my life and I was so excited that he was going to experience them with my granddaughter."

She bit back her lip before continuing.

"But then those damn rats had to come into the village and spread the black plague...To my son and his wife, no less. The doctor said there was no cure and after my daughter in-law passed, he said that healthy people had to stay away or they would catch it. So I was forced to take Wendy and leave my boy to die alone." She wiped away a tear that she had unintentionally let slip down her wrinkled cheek. "He'll never get to see her grow up and she'll never be able to remember how much he loved her."

Lucy looked at the old woman, feeling a great amount of compassion and empathy for her. She slowly moved her hand to grasp Porlyusica's in a comforting way. You wouldn't think it but she could relate to her pain very well.

"No child should outlive their parent." Lucy said. "It wasn't fair to you. I'm so sorry."

The old woman gave a sad chuckle.

"Now you know why I'm so strict with Wendy when it comes to strangers. She's all I have now." She then dabbed her eyes, so her granddaughter wouldn't know that she had been crying. "But I shouldn't be telling you this. You don't want to hear the sad stories of an old lady."

"I don't mind. I would listen to my grandfather tell me stories all the time."

"Is he still alive?"

"Yes and he's the only real family I have. My mother had some issues that made it difficult for her to love me and my father well...Let's just say his love is hard to earn. But my grandfather has always been there fore me, in fact he was the first person to hold me after the midwife when I was born. Always called me his sweet little princess and never had a bad word to say to me or about me. Truth be told out of all the people in my life, he's the one who's always stayed loyal and true to me."

"Other people in your life have not always been kind to you have they dear?"

"No. Not really."

"Life is hard that way. Sometimes bad things happen to us even if we did nothing to deserve it. It isn't fair but no one ever accused life of being fair. The best way to get through those hard times is to have hope and be kind. It's difficult to do, especially when no rewards or appreciation come from your kindness and your hope seems wasted but giving into despair and being cruel won't make it any easier."

"I'm not sure about that." Lucy said sadly.

"I know it to be true. For example a good friend of mine, Natsu. He's a knight, perhaps you've heard him?"

"Yes." She answered in quiet hatred. 

"From the time he was born he had nothing, oh sure he had loving parents but they were dirt poor, then he lost his father, always worked so hard to support him and his mother only to have his money pocketed by greedy employers, always shamed and humiliated by others yet he still goes out of his way to help people for no reward at all."

"Yeah he's nice that way." She said sarcastically.

"I wasn't sure about trusting him when we first met but he proved himself to be a fine man and Wendy just adores him."

"I sure do." Wendy said coming in with the cake. "He's my best friend in the whole world."

 "Honestly I'm surprised he's still unmarried. He's a good looking man with kind heart and noble intentions. He'd make a wonderful husband and maybe even a wonderful father."

"No he wouldn't!" Lucy snapped. "No woman in her right mind could ever be happy being married to him or bearing his child! He's vindictive, manipulated, and unfeeling!"

"Lusha how can say such things about him?" Wendy said. "He's not like that."

"Yes he is! Sure he comes off as heroic and noble but it's all fake! He's nothing but a self-righteous, heartless bastard!"

Wendy was frightened by Lucy's sudden anger. Porlyusica while also frightened could tell by the way Lucy spoke that her anger came from a deep rooted pain. 

"Wendy."

"Yes Granny?"

"Go to your room."

"Why?"

"Just do it. I'll let you know when you can come out."

Wendy was confused but she did as her grandmother said. Porlyusica approached Lucy with caution and wisely didn't touch her.

"Lusha." She said gently. "Did Natsu do something to hurt you?"

"Yes." She admitted bitterly.

"What did he do?"

Lucy hesitated before answering. No, it looked like she hesitated to Porlyusica but in truth she was actually carefully planning what she was going to say next. This was it. This was her moment to finally get the peasants to see Natsu for what he really was.

"He...I met him one time when I worked at a tavern he drank at. He was nice and charming and sweet. A perfect gentleman. After work he offered me a horseback ride home and I accepted but he didn't take me home. He took me somewhere in the woods, somewhere deep where no one could hear us and he...He raped me."

Lucy had tears in her eyes and her body was trembling as she spoke. A very convincing appearance that she was a woman suffering from rape trauma. 

"That...That can't be true." Porlyusica said with shock and disbelief on her face. "You must have mistook him for someone else. Natsu is just not capable of that kind of evil."

"He's a lot more capable of evil than you realize."

"But...No...No it just couldn't be him. He saved mine and my granddaughter's lives, we would have perished at the jaws of a wolf if it weren't for him."

"You don't believe me do you?"

"I believe that a man did hurt you like that but I don't believe it could have been Natsu. The man who did this to you must have been using his name or something."

"Alright then, Wendy told me he was supposed to come here tomorrow right? I'll point him out to you when he gets here. Then you'll know that I have the right man."

"Very well. But please until I am convinced do not mention this to Wendy. Not yet. I don't want her to struggle with the possible fear that her best friend is that vile until it is certain."

"Fair enough."

Lucy stood up from her table.

"I apologize for being so harsh with you. Forgive me but I've been through a lot. I think it would be best if I went to my room and slept now."

"Of course."

"Good night."

"Good night."

Lucy then walked into the guest room that had been made up for her. She locked the door and prepared to crawl into bed when suddenly she saw an image appear in the mirror hanging in the room. It was of Gray.

"Rape huh?" He said. "That's what you're going with? He raped you? Funny that's not how I remember it. In fact from what I remember you were quite willing and able."

She looked at him in pure horror and disgust.

"Oh God! Don't tell me that you actually watched us-"

"No! I did not! I'm a deviant but I still have some standards." He scoffed, aghast that she would even imply that he'd stoop to something like that. "Besides considering our relationship do you really think I'd want to see you doing that?"

"Why are you here?"

"Just giving you a little warning for the future. Your plan isn't going to work."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because you're basing the whole thing on a lie and lies never work. Not forever anyway, sooner or later the truth always comes out."

"You're right and the truth about him will come out tomorrow."

"What truth? The one about him being a rapist? Please, like anyone is going to believe that. He doesn't even sleep with women when he's drunk and they approach him willingly."

"No the truth about him being a-"

"A backstabber who ruined your life. I know, I know, I know, I've heard this a million times. Here's an idea if you're so sure he's a monster why not tell them the truth? Tell them what he really did? Or what you think he really did?"

"You know I tried that once and no one believed me. And what do you mean what I think he really did? Are you saying you don't believe me either?"

"No I'm saying I don't know what I believe because I wasn't there that night and I didn't see what really happened."

"I thought you spied on me?"

"Not everyday. I have a life outside you, you know? I only spy on you when I'm bored." He said. "The point is because I didn't witness that night I'd rather not confirm if I believe you about that subject or not until I get further evidence that proves otherwise. You know how I feel about lies Lucy, I don't like to believe anything until I get evidence."

"Are you calling me a liar?"

"That depends, a liar on what subject? Because you lie about a lot of things."

"Do you believe that I'm lying about what he did to me?"

"No I believe you're entirely convinced he was responsible for that tragedy. But I gotta tell you Lucy this whole lying about him being a rapist is going to blow up in your face and the more you lie the harder it will be for people to believe you when you finally decide to tell the truth. I mean think about it, if so little people didn't believe you two years ago when you were honest, how many do you think will believe you now due to telling so many lies?"

"I am not having this conversation with you right now. I'm tired, I need sleep, so go away."

"Fine. I don't know why I bother to tell you this stuff, you never listen." 

His image in the mirror was gone after that. Alone at last, Lucy crawled into bed and fell asleep.

...

Right after school Nakku took Nasha and Greige into the woods for an afternoon walk. The weather was a little chilly but not too cold and the sun was out. It was a very pretty out but Greige couldn't help but be a little aware of his surroundings. True it was his idea to go into the woods to find clues that could prove his theory about his storybook but a common factor in many of the stories he read were that bad things always seemed to take place in the woods. Because the woods were typically where man eating-trolls, blood-shedding beasts, and child-killing witches dwelled. 

Now having grown up in the modern world he never feared any of these before coming to Edolas. But because he was sure that Edolas was somewhere between the modern world and the magic world, a place where reality and fantasy meet somewhere in the middle, those fears were now warranted.  What he feared most were the witches because they, for some reason always targeted children. They would either steal children, eat them, kill them, torture them, the list just goes on and on. So being a little boy, was it any wonder why he feared them so much?

Out of all the stories he read that were about witches, the one that frightened him the most was the one about Naomi and her brother. It started out as your typical tale of children being lured by candy into a trap set up by a witch who wanted to eat them but there were so many more details than that. Details that shook him to his core and made him wonder once in awhile if he could really trust any woman. In fact the only women he trusted were Elkis and Juvina because he knew who they were or who they once were. He would swear that Lusha was witch but in Fiore witches weren't just bad women who used magic, no witches were an entirely different species.

The stories in his book told him that witches were always hideous and grotesque because of how evil their hearts and souls were. So evil and ugly that not even their magic was strong enough to hide their appearance, only wearing masks and wigs made from the human skin and hair of their victims could make it possible for them to pass themselves off as human women. That fact alone was scary beyond all reason but that's not what terrified him the most. What terrified him was how witches were created. If a human woman was to use magic evilly, to such a degree that it blackens her heart and eliminates all possible goodness from it then she'll morph and change into some pure evil female sub creature. It frightened him that a woman could just suddenly change into a monster like that, albeit it would be by her own actions but still it was scary to think about. Made him wonder if Lusha might have become one had she not sent herself to a place where she couldn't use magic anymore.

His book also said that witches were pretty much the evil counterparts to fairies. Both witches and fairies use magic, they're always female, and they're part of a species that resemble humans, well somewhat in the cases of the witches. But that was where the similarities ended between them. Fairies were good, extraordinarily beautiful, used light magic, and loved children above all types of human beings. Witches were bad, unimaginably ugly, used dark magic, and absolutely hated children. Their origins differed as well. The species of the fairy is something one must be born into, the species of the witch on the other hand is something one chooses to become. He couldn't understand anyone choosing to become something so horrible..

"You okay Greige?" Nakku asked him. "You've been awful quiet during this walk."

"I'm just making sure that we're safe. That there's nothing creeping around, trying to eat me alive or something." Greige said.

"Oh you don't have to worry about that kid. This part of the woods is mostly made up of deer, rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, and foxes. The wolves and the bears are way further deep and out of sight. They typically avoid places where humans are close."

"I'm not worried about wolves and bears." He mumbled to himself. "I just hope that Lusha woman isn't stalking me here."

"If she is I'll scare her off." Nasha answered.

"You heard me?" He asked. "I said that very lowly."

"I have excellent hearing. I could hear a declawed cat walking on a floor of pillows."

"Impressive."

"Thank you."

"Hey the well is over here." Nakku said pointing over to the far right. "The water from it is always fresh and clean. Making it the best kind of drinking water ever. Any of you want a drink?"

"Sure." Nasha said.

"Okay, good thing I brought some mugs. You two wait here and I'll go get them from my bag."

He left after that.

"Alright let's go before he comes back." Greige said to Nasha once he was gone. 

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"To the mine remember?"

"Greige I'm still not sure about this. What it is we're going to do once we get there?"

"We're just going to check around the entrance."

"But we're not going down there right?"

"Nope."

"Good. Because number one it's not safe and I'm a little claustrophobic."

"What is about a mine that could make you feel claustrophonic?"

"Hello, they're underground and full of small spaces. If we went down there we could be trapped forever."

"We're not going to get trapped down there. We're just going to have a little peek in the entrance then hurry back."

"Alright." But she still wasn't assured.

The mine was almost right next to the well. The entrance to it was wide open but had police tape around it, signifying that no one was supposed to go in. Still the two kids slipped over and under the tape and started searching the entrance for anything unusual.

"Well looks like there's nothing here." Nasha said. "So let's go back."

"Hold on I think I see something down there in the cracks." Greige bending over the edge. "It's shiny."

"Greige get away from there before you fall in."

"In a minute. I have to see what that thing is."  Greige reached out to the shiny thing and tried to grab it but it was at a great distance.

"What are you two doing here?!" 

A shrill voice cried which startled Greige into losing his balance and almost falling in but luckily Nasha saved him by grabbing him by his jacket and pulling him back up. Once he was safe, they saw that the shrill voice belonged to Lusha.

"This mine is dangerous! You could fall in!" She said.

"I almost did thanks to you creeping up on me lady." Greige said. "Why are you here?"

"I heard you two were going to this part of the woods and I figured you might try to play around the mine even though it's closed off. I wanted to make sure no one got hurt."

"Yeah right." Greige mumbled to himself while rolling his eyes in disbelief.

"You two shouldn't even be in these woods anyway. Especially not by yourselves."

"We're not alone." Nasha said. "Nakku is with us."

"Hmmph. That's even worse."

"There you two are!" Nakku said looking worried when he found them. "I thought I told you two wait by the well, why did you wander off? You scared me."

"You left two kids alone in the woods?" Lusha said. "The levels of your stupidity just reached a new high and shockingly I'm not surprised by that"

"I left them for two minutes."

"Two minutes and one of them almost fell down a mine shaft."

"Hey that was your fault!" Greige argued. "You startled me into almost falling and I think you did it on purpose!"

"That's ridiculous! Why on earth would I intentionally cause you to fall in?"

"So I wouldn't find anything that you're hiding down there."

"Ugh! You know I am getting real sick of you and this crazy book theory of yours."  Without warning she snatched the book from him. "Here, how about I throw this down the shaft?"

"You give that back!" Greige immediately grabbed on end of the book and tried to pull it from her but she kept a type grip on it. "Let go!"

"No! I'm sick of you constantly thinking I'm some kind of monster and I know it's because of this book so I'm getting rid of it!"

"You can't! It's mine!"

"Lusha stop it!" Nakku said. "You're stealing from a kid! That's a new low even for you!" 

But she wouldn't relent. This made Greige very angry. Very angry. There was no way he was letting this woman take away the only connection he had to his mother and that desperation to keep the book along with his anger started to seethe inside of him and bring out something very bad.

"I said let go!" He cried in a voice and with an aura that frightened Lusha so much that she finally released her end of the book. But the struggle for it caused Greige to get knocked back and a force came from his body that pushed Nakku, Lusha, and Nasha down the mine shaft. Then when Greige's hand landed on the wooden pillar of the entrance it spontaneously broke and the entrance collapsed, trapping all three of them down there.

"Oh my God!" The boy shouted in horror when he realized what just happened. He stood up and ran toward the rubble to call out to them. "Nasha! Nakku! Are you alive?!"

He held his breath until he heard a response. 

"Yeah!" Nakku finally answered back. "We're okay. Nasha and Lusha are out cold but they're not injured."

"Can you get out?"

"No. There's too much rubble and it's too dark down here to see any other way. We need help. Do you know the way back to town?"

"I think so. I just need to follow that rock path you made right?"

"Right! Follow that and you should be out of the woods in no time! Once you're out. get Elkis and the police! And hurry! I don't know how much oxygen can reach us down here but I doubt it's enough to last long!"

"Alright...Wait a minute." He took off his backpack and pulled out a flashlight he had brought. He then searched for a small opening in the rocks, stuck his hand through it, and dropped the flashlight down there. "I sent my flashlight down! Try to use it to look for another means to escape!"

 "Okay! Thanks! Now run! Move! Get going!"

"Yes! Yes! Yes! I'm moving! I'm moving!!" He said running off as fast as he could.