When Natsu's father walked into the room the boy ran straight to him. The man smiled and to the boy into his arms.

"Papa you've come home!" He said.

"Yes my boy." The man said. "Now tell me, while I was gone did you help your mother like I asked you too?"

"Yes Papa. I did everything that you did. I collected firewood, I took care of the cow and the crops, I even hunted. But I couldn't catch any deer. I could only catch rabbits."

"That's alright son."

"Hello Arman." Natsu's mother said when she reached the bottom of the stairway. She smiled gently at her husband who smiled back. He put Natsu down and went to embrace his wife.

"Naomi." He said in a voice full of love. "You're even more beautiful than I remembered."

He kissed her passionately which made their son gag.

"Oh Arman I've missed you so." She said when their lips parted. "Two weeks without you feels like an eternity."

"Just one day away from you feels like an eternity to me Naomi."

"What were the Western Lands like Papa?" Natsu asked.

"They were a lot more crowded than the lands here. Not to mention there were nobles and wealthy merchants everywhere."

"Were you able to sell our crops there?"

"Yes and I was able to buy wonderful things with the money I earned."

Arman laid down the items he had bought on the table. He had bought flour, butter, tea, honey, sausage, and ham. Natsu felt his mouth water at the smell of the salted pork meats. He moved to grab some of the sausage but his mother stopped him.

"Oh no young man. We had a deal." Naomi said. "We had a deal. I let you stay up until your father comes home and when he gets here you go to bed."

"But Mother-"

"Don't but Mother me. Now go on to bed and tomorrow morning we'll have that sausage and ham for breakfast."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Okay. Goodnight Mother."

"Goodnight Natsu." Naomi said kissing him.

"Goodnight Papa."

"Goodnight son." Arman said kissing him too.

Natsu then went back upstairs to his room.

"He's getting so much bigger." Arman said to his wife.

"Yes he is." She agreed. "No doubt he'll be the same size as you when he becomes a man."

Naomi gently placed her hand over Arman's.

"This is the last trip isn't Arman? We have enough money to support ourselves now don't we?"

"Yes we do. No more long trips. From now on I shall stay here so we can watch our boy grow together."

"Thank goodness."

"I just pray that King Xavier will finally leave me in peace now."

"He must. After all what more can he ask of you?"

"I pray that he won't think of anything."

"Arman I've been thinking." She said. "Maybe it's time that we tell Natsu the real reason why you go away on those long trips."

"No Naomi. He must never know."

"I don't want to keep secrets from our son."

"But I don't want him to share my burden. It's a terrible burden and I don't want him to be ashamed of himself. Besides he shows no signs of inheriting anything from my... Original form. Why bring it up?"

"Maybe it hasn't happened yet because he's not old enough."

"If it happens I'll tell him but if not then I'll take it with me to the grave because what's he finds out the truth about what I am and what he could be, he'll never be able to have a life without burden."

A month had passed since Arman arrived back home and during that time all was well. They had enough to support each other and they were all very happy together but then one night, Natsu awoke to hear his father shouting in agony.

"Oh God no! No please! Why is he doing this to me?! I did all that he requested of me?!"

His cries were coming from the room that he shared with his wife. Natsu got out of bed and went to open the door to the room but it was locked.

"Mother? Papa? Is everything okay?" The boy asked.

"No son! Don't come in!" His father cried.

"Arman what's happening?" He heard his mother ask.

"Forgive me Naomi!" His voice was changing. It didn't sound human anymore. "Forgive me!"

There was a horrible, snarling noise. A noise that sounded like some God awful monstrosity. Natsu could smell smoke, was there a fire? Now he was getting scared. He started to punch and kick at the door as hard as he could until finally he managed to break it down. The room inside was filled with burned and charred furniture and curtains while his mother was on the floor sobbing. His father was no where in sight.

"Mother what happened?" He asked. "Where's Papa?"

At first she couldn't answer. She could only throw her arms around him, hold him close, and quietly weep. An hour passed before she could find the strength to speak again and she said:

"Your father can't be with us anymore."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that something has forced your father to leave us. It's not his fault! Okay? It's not his fault! He didn't want to leave! But he had to!"

"I don't understand. Will he come back?"

"No. No precious he'll never be able to come back to us."

Natsu tried so hard not to cry. He wanted to be strong for his mother. He wanted her to think that these horrible news didn't hurt him as much as they hurt her. But in the end tears fell from his eyes and sobs escaped his lips.

"We'll be alright Natsu." She said wiping away her tears. "We'll find a way to get by and I promise that I'll always be here take care of you. But don't ever forget how much your father loved us."

The boy was so sad and so confused. He didn't understand what was happening. What could have possibly forced his father to leave him and his mother like this? It would be many years before he would get his answers.

...

Nakku's car pulled up in front of Elkis's house and walked Nasha up to the door. He gave the door a few knocks and Elkis quickly came to answer.

"Nakku? What brings you by?" She asked and then looked over at Nasha. "And Nasha what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in school?"

"Do you wanna tell her kid or should I?" Nakku asked Nasha which made her sigh in frustration.

"I skipped school today."

"Why?" Elkis said.

"Because I wanted to learn the bus schedule here so I could later sneak off and run away. Now that you know this you'll probably start making calls to have me transferred so I'll just get ahead start on packing my things."

"Actually you won't be packing your things because you're not going anywhere. Except straight to your room." Elkis said sternly. "And you're going to wait there because as soon as I'm done speaking with Nakku we're going to have a little chat."

Nasha rolled her eyes but did as Elkis said. She went upstairs to her room and waited for Elkis to come up and speak with her.

"Thank you for bringing her back here Nakku." Elkis said. "I should have known she would pull something like this. Her file says that she's the most difficult child in the system."

"Yeah but if you ask me I think the kid is being difficult because she has a lot of issues. I mean I don't know her, we just met today but I got the feeling that there's a lot more to her than just a trouble maker."

"Oh I know there's a lot more to her than that and I wanna find out what else there is to her. The problem is she doesn't trust me enough to show me."

"I'm sure she'll come around. I heard you took in two kids, what's the second one like?"

"I think he's more well behaved than her and I think he wants to form a relationship with me and Nasha. So at least one of them doesn't hate me."

"Don't take it personally Elkis. Lots of orphans are mad at that world and the people in it. They just think that the world pretty much handed them sucky life."

"I don't think orphans are the only ones who feel that way. But you're right about Nasha having some issues. I think I'm going to hire a psychologist to talk to the kids. To help them work out their issues."

"Shrinks are expensive. Are you sure you'll be able to afford one?"

"Yes. I have plenty of money saved up and speaking of money, how are things going with your paycheck?"'

"Not good. I swear my boss is pocketing half of what he owes me, the greedy bastard."

"Ever thought of hiring a lawyer to sue?"

"I can't afford a lawyer and how can I sue him when I have no evidence?"

"Hire a detective to look into it."

"No good. There's only one detective in this town and trusting him would be like trusting the devil."

"That's true and he doesn't exactly use legal methods to get the job done."

"Not to mention he doesn't always charge with money. He'll charge with favors sometimes and God only knows what kind of favors he'll have a person do." Nakku shuddered. "He gives me the creeps."

"No kidding. But I will say this at least he's a man of his word and he doesn't bend to the wim of the mayor. God I can't stand that woman."

"What do you have against Mayor Heartfilia?"

"Aside from the fact that she's a merciless, unfeeling, bully who uses money and power to push everyone around?"

"You got me there. She's definitely the second scariest female I know."

"Who's the first?"

"You."

"You think that I'm scarier than her."

"Yes."

"Good." Elkis said with a proud smirk. "Then I know you won't screw me over to stay on her good side like almost everyone in this town. You know you and Juvina are my only friends? Everyone else avoids me because they know the mayor has it in for me. What I don't get is what did I do that made her hate me so much."

"I get what you mean. She's got a bone to pick with me too."

"You? What did you do?"

"Your guess is has good as mine. I'm pretty sure she treats me worse than anyone else in this whole town but for some reason I can't be angry with her over it."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean every time she does something to me I can't get mad at her. All I can do is pity her and try to reason with her."

"Well that makes you a better person than me because everytime she feels the need to make life harder for me I just want to smack the blonde hair right off her head!"

"Now Elkis you can't talk like that anymore. Remember you're taking care of kids."

"Yeah I know." She huffed. "Which reminds me I should probably have that chat with Nasha now. Thanks again for bringing her Nakku."

"Hey anything to help a friend and a kid. Also if you ever need your car fixed don't be afraid to call. It's on the house."

"Nakku that's sweet but no. If I ever need you to fix my car I will be paying for your services. Besides you need money way more than I do."

"I don't know about that. After all I don't have two more mouths to feed. But again if you're having any car trouble or heck if you even need a babysitter my door is always open."

"Thank you. I'll remember that."

Nakku left after that and Elkis went to speak with Nasha.

Note: The main characters excluding Nasha and Gregie are a composite of two famous fairy tale and/or fantasy literature characters. If you have questions for who's who feel free to ask and I will tell. Also I will be drawing inspiration and shout outs to variations of the classic fairy tales. Except for that disturbing Sleeping Beauty version by Giambattista Basile. No disrespect to the author but those of you who have read this version can probably all agree with me when I say: What was he thinking when he wrote this?