"It's getting too out of control... I don't want to put you or anyone at the guild in harm's way." Natsu frowned. "Especially for Laxus. He's new at being a guildmaster. While Gramps could handle my run-ins with the council, I'm not sure Laxus could do so in the same way."

"So... your solution is to leave?" She frowned. It was a late winter evening, and Lucy was cuddled up towards her husband, combatting the cold by greedily leeching on his abnormal warmth.

They had been talking about his ongoing conflict, to which Natsu had finally made a decision on how to deal with. Lucy didn't like his proposal one bit.

"But you promised-"

"Things are different now.." Natsu interrupted. "It's not about getting stronger, it's about control. I can't do that if I have to worry about who would get wrapped into my mess."

"But leaving everyone? Leaving the guild, leaving Happy, leaving me?"

Natsu was silent.

Lucy noticed this and continued, intertwining her hand with his. "Natsu we can help you, I can help you. You don't have to go through this alone..."

"You don't understand..." Natsu sighed. "I can't control it. What if.. what if one day it causes me to harm you. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself for that..."

"But it wouldn't be your fault, Natsu..." She kissed the back of his hand. "We could figure out the causes and train together. Plus, with Gray's demon slayer magic, Levy's knowledge, and Porlyusica and Wendy as medical support; we can find a way to do this safely, and together..."

"You're so stubborn, you know that?" Natsu chuckled when his wife pouted, moving the messy golden strands away from her face. "I'm not changing my mind."

"Neither am I."

Natsu groaned and turned over. Lucy moved herself against his back, wrapping her arms around his upper torso and resting her chin on the crown of his head. "I don't want you to go..." She murmured softly.

"I don't want to either, Luce. But... I want to make things right."

Lucy didn't say anything, instead opting to hold her lover tighter as she felt her eyes getting heavy.

When the pinkette was sure that the celestial mage had fallen asleep, he changed their positions, turning back over and pulling her closer to his chest.

Before he could fall asleep, he whispered two words into Lucy's ear.

"I'm sorry."

--------------

The man was pissed to say the least.

He was so close to achieving his true objective, just one step away from making it big in the world, and that stupid child had ruined it.

Sure, he should've known better than to provoke those wretched Dragneels under the advice of the council themsevles, but he couldn't help it! It was so fun seeing them in so much anguish, fearing him because of the amount of power he held.

But that child had tried him, and her mother followed suit. He wasn't even sure she could use magic like that!

Had that foolish mother and daughter not have interfered, him and his lackeys would've been rich right now, not in some stinky cell with his good for nothing lackeys!

"B-boss.."

"Shut it!" He cut the guy off. "I'm trying to have some peace and quiet!"

The other guy decided to step up as well. "B-but what now? How do we get out?"

The leader snorted. "What do you mean 'how do we get out'? We're magic council members! They can't keep us here for long, they'll be arrested!"

"But Hector-"

"You mean Boss..." He glared at the smaller man.

"Boss," He corrected himself. "Those monsters probably won't care! The council won't care either, we're not even that high of a rank for them to interfere!"

"Would you stop your blubbering so I can focus?!" The leader, Hector, snapped. "I can barely hear myself think!"

"Sorry Boss..."

"Are you guys done yet?" A voice asked from the shadows. "I'm getting tired of your arguing, I'm just trying to get this over with..."

"W-who goes there!" Hector stuttered, albeit a bit terrified of their current situation as well.

The figure in the shadows eventually stepped out; revealing a large, bulky guy with blonde hair. He had a scar on his left eye and wore a big, bulky coat.

"Who are you?!"

"I'm the guildmaster of Fairy Tail, Laxus Dreyar.." He answered, giving them all a harsh stare. "Mind telling me why you attacked two of our guildmates?"

"They saw it coming! Our boss was asking them a question as a member of the magic council and they refused to answer him!"

Laxus raised an eye at this. "What were you asking them?"

"The whereabouts of Natsu Dragneel." Hector answered. "His wife was the last one to know about his whereabouts."

"So you attacked them?" Laxus sneered.

Hector held his hands up in defense. "They attacked first, technically! I could've arrested them for that!"

"Probably because you forced yourself into their house.." Laxus reasoned, thinking about the considerate blonde. "Plus, don't think you're off the hook. I saw the injuries Nashi had, those definitely weren't unintentional."

Hector went white at the guildmaster's anger.

"What do you think the public would say about this? A magic council member, beating up an innocent child like that. The council would rather abandon you to save their reputation, trust me."

The man snickered. "Maybe if it was any other child, but the child of that devil spawn?" Hector cackled. "The public would adore me! I'd be a hero, not a monster."

Laxus fists tightened in anger.

Knowing that he had aggravated the guildmaster, he walked closer to the bars, pressing his face as close as he could towards the man. "I didn't even know he had a child! We should've just taken her when we had the chance! We would've been better off anyways.."

Laxus couldn't control his anger any longer, swinging his fist and landing a blow Hector's cheek and noticing a small burn there. From the shape of the injury, he assumed Nashi had given it to him.

Hector recovered, spitting out some blood which fell near guildmaster's feet. "That's not good, defending a demon such as himself? Your guild is already under enough pressure.."

Laxus froze, causing Hector to grin wickedly. He had hit a weak spot. "I would suggest you comply with us. We do work with the council, we can help your reputation get back up there."

Laxus shook his head. "We don't need a good reputation, as long as we get jobs from the right people, we're alright."

"Keep telling yourself that," Hector rolled his eyes. "You won't be saying that when people stop coming to you with job requests."

Laxus chose to ignore this warning. "What about Natsu do you need him for? Why are you looking for him?"

"Well that's simple," Hector stated. "The magic council has finally decided to convict him on charges relating to endangering public safely."

"Convict?!" Laxus exclaimed. "But he hasn't-"

"He's been affiliated with Tartaros. That's good enough of a reason to convict him, to the council anyways."

"But he helped take down Tartaros and Zeref!"

Hector shrugged. "Take it up with the council. All I know is the reward is crazy! I'd never have to worry about money again!"

"You're sick." Laxus curled his lip. "Destroying a family for some money and calling yourself a hero?" He shook his head. "You're no better than him. In fact, your even worse."

Before Hector could retaliate. Laxus walked away. "I'll release you when I feel like it."

With that, Laxus left the dungeon. He had a lot to discuss with his fellow guildmates.

----------------

Nashi was devastated.

After a few minutes, Happy had returned; bringing Gray, Erza, and Wendy with him. It had been too late though, the damage had already been done. Her house was in pieces, her belongings destroyed, and her mother...

..she didn't want to think about it.

It had taken a while to separate the child from the lifeless mother. Nashi had refused to be taken away from her, knowing that once she did walk away, she would never see her mother again.

After Wendy had healed her minor wounds and Gray and Erza accessed the situation, they had brought her back to the guild. Everyone had asked about what had occurred, begging the small slayer to describe what happened to their blonde guildmate. However, Nashi uttered not a word. Eventually, they had given up, and just gave her pity looks and words of encouragement.

Aunt Levy had hugged her.

Julta had tried to cheer her up.

Laxus sent his regards.

Mira had made her a strawberry milkshake.

Romeo had offered his tastiest fire.

But the child didn't want their pity, she wanted her mother back.

Her Aunt Erza had volunteered to take Nashi in for the night, since her husband and two children were away. She gave Nashi Rosemary and Reiki's room, allowing her to make 'herself at home' while she made dinner.

This wasn't home.

"Nashi.." Erza gave the child a worried glance as Nashi stared down at her food. "Please eat something..."

It wasn't that the food smelled bad, it was pretty decent, and Nashi wouldn't gargle it down in an instant if she was hungry. But alas, she didn't really have a large appetite today.

Erza frowned. "Nashi, we're all worried about you. You need to eat and get all your energy back, especially with those injuries." Erza nodded to the bandages on her torso and the numerous scratches and bruises on her arms and legs.

When Nashi didn't respond, the woman got up. "Hold on, I'll be right back."

After sitting in silence for a few minutes, the redhead came back with a small object. It looked to be a cloth, folded and covered in a scally pattern.

"This was your father's," Erza handed the fabric to Nashi, who hesitated before reaching her arms out to grab it. "He used to wear it all the time. He left it with.. her.." Erza winced, finding pain in mentioning the mother's name. "...before he disappeared."

As Nashi shook the fabric out, she noticed that it wasn't a cloth, but a scarf. She brought it up to her nose to smell it. Although the scent was extremely faded, Nashi smelled a small hint of... firewood?

"We found it in the rumble inside a tight box," Erza explained. "It was barely damaged."

Nashi nodded. "T-Th-thank you..." She whispered.

Erza smiled softly. "Now hurry up and finish! It's almost bedtime."

---------------

"How is she?" The mage asked, creating frost-like fog with his magic and bringing it closer to the body.

"Not good." Wendy responded, sweating as she poured her magic energy into the blonde. "It doesn't help that she's going through one of her episodes too..."

"Damnit Natsu!" Gray cursed. "Of all the times..."

"We can't give up yet!" An elderly voice sounded from behind them. "It's a miracle that she's lasted this long, we can't let that chance go to waste!"

Porlyusica stepped forward with her cane, analyzing the celestial mage with her eyes. She tsked. "Idiot. I told her that she couldn't use magic. Hosting someone as powerful as him is a workout in and of itself."

"How was she when you found her.." The pink-haired elder finally asked the two.

"It was bad.." Gray responded. "She was burning up, we could barely touch her without burning ourselves. I had to cool her down with my magic before we could even touch her. And Nashi," Gray shook his head. "...the girl was clinging onto her for dear life, even when she was in that state. I don't know how she did that!"

"You shouldn't be so surprised Gray, she is a fire dragon slayer. A little heat is probably no big deal for her, she probably didn't even feel a thing." Wendy reminded the older mage.

Gray exhaled. "So what now?"

"We desperately try to save her life," Porlyusica answered. "Although, it's not going to be easy. As confident as I was earlier, It's more than likely that she won't live through the night..."

----------------

Nashi was cold.

Not physically, but mentally.

Normally, at this time, her mother would have told her about another adventure. Her father would be reckless and destroy things, but her mother would be the brains and lessen the damage. Together they would save countless towns, cities, kingdoms, continents, and even worlds.

But alas, here Nashi was; sitting in a different bed, in a different house, with a different caretaker. It felt foreign and wrong, like she was betraying her mother.

She sat up and stared at the moon, which lit up the room with moonlight.

As she stared at it, she wondered. What would Mama do? What would Papa do?

It was then when she remembered a conversation she had had with her mother not too long ago.

"He pretended to be evil so that he could fake-fight the other world's version of Jellal? But why?"

Lucy looked at the child in admiration, brushing her unruly hair down. "Because it was the right thing to do. When he did it and lost, the people had gained trust and respect for Edolas Jellal, who was their king. This allowed him to rule without the people being warry of him, since they were worried he could become like the old king."

"But that's so weird!" Nashi scrunched her nose in distaste.

Lucy laughed. "I know. But, it helped Mystogan rule his kingdom more peacefully. Plus, they got to live happily ever after."

"So Papa saved the day?"

"Mhm." Lucy nodded. "Sometimes, you have to do weird or dangerous things in order to save the day. And that was your father's specialty."

An idea popped into her head.

She grabbed her new backpack. Levy had made it earlier with her solid script magic, allowing her to put what was left of her belongings there. She didn't really have much, only the cloak and clothes that she had traveled in. Levy had made her some clothes and a pair of shoes, but that was about it.

It would be enough.

The pinkette tip-toed down the stairs, careful not to wake her red-haired aunt. She snuck into the kitchen, finding a jar and filling it up with water from the tap. She'd also taken some fruits that were left out as well.

Heading back upstairs, Nashi put all of her findings into her backpack. Taking out the cloak and placing it on her shoulders.

Finally, Nashi took the scarf that she had been given today. With one final look; she wrapped it around her neck, put her backpack on, and opened the bedroom window quietly. Climbing down the nearest tree, she silently ran off into the night, knowing what her next objective would be.

Finding her father.

Finding Natsu.

This took a very long time, I apologize! I wanted to get ahead and write a few chapters ahead. Let me know what you think!