A small boy sat in his mother's lap, a blanket clenched in his tiny fist and tears streaming down his small round cheeks. He wailed loudly, pulling his blanket tighter to his chest. His mother looked down into his dark green eyes glistening with fresh tears. She cradled him close to her, smoothing his dark hair out of his face. She rocked him back and forth and softly began to sing.

"Oh dear little child,

Don't you cry,

I'll keep you close,

Like the moon and the stars,

in the sky.

Oh dear little child,

Don't be afraid,

I'll protect you,

Always…"

The sweet sound of her lullaby quieted his sobs and reduced them to sniffles. The boy looked up at his mother, watching her lips move as she continued to sing. Suddenly, the darkness in the room didn't seem so scary to him anymore. The shadows creeping up the walls slowly shrank away, the only sound through the darkness being the light voice of the woman as she placed her son back in his bed. She tucked him in and leaned down to kiss him on the forehead.

"The dark is nothing to be scared of Owen. I'll always be here to protect you." She gently placed her hand on the side of his face.

"You promise mommy?" The boy asked quietly, his eyes already fluttering closed again.

"I promise." She whispered.

Owen shot straight up in bed. He shook his head trying to rid himself of the hazy effect of his dream. He rested his face in his palm and felt a cold droplet on his cheek. He turned to look out his window up at the moon shining high in the night sky, a soft glow surrounding it.

"Mom." He whispered. He felt his heart clench, but he quickly swiped the single tear off his cheek. He took a deep breath and fell back against his pillow.16 Years…He thought, the images of his dream still lingering in his mind. 16 years and I still remember her…

His mother Bianca, after having his little sister, grew incredibly ill and died when Owen was only 6 years old. His father Fahren fell into a deep depression with his mother's death. Fahren was an ability type wizard, someone with the ability to use magical energy summoned from within their bodies. Fahren began spending hours daily studying revival spells, typically only associated with very dark and very illegal black magic. Driven by his desire to bring back his wife, he tended to neglect giving the children the affection they needed. Owen spent a lot of time trying to make up for that by playing with his baby sister and taking care of her the best he could, being that he was still young himself. When he was 9 years old, Fahren went mad with the dark magic he'd been studying. His absolute resolve was to bring back his wife and so in the middle of the night, he left his sleeping children to join a dark wizard guild, believing they would help him be able to become powerful enough to cast the revival spell. When Owen awoke in the morning he looked for his father everywhere. He searched for him for days until he finally gave up. He vowed to stay strong to take care of his sister, like he had been since she was born. Owen got by by traveling into the nearest town for food. Some took pity on him and gave him slices of bread or a few fruits from vendor's carts, but other times he would have to hunt around for scraps. He would carry as much as he could home to his baby sister and give her the majority of what he had gathered.

Memories of childhood flashed through his mind and he couldn't seem to turn his brain off to fall back asleep. He got out of bed and walked over toward the small wooden desk in his room. There wasn't much there, a few photographs in wooden frames, a stack of books, a sweatshirt hanging off the corner, and some weird thing his sister had glued together for him when they were little. He picked it up. It was a small rock, with tufts of yarn stuck on the top and two round dots drawn on for eyes. He ran his thumb over its smooth surface, smiling as he thought of the day she gave it to him. He went to put it back down but it ended up slipping out of his hand and smacking onto the wood floor. The sound pierced the silence and Owen flinched. Praying that she hadn't heard-

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" A shriek erupted from the doorway of his room. Standing there was his sixteen year old sister, Nessa. She leapt into action, throwing her hands up in a defensive position and scanning the room for any signs of trouble.

"Ness it's ok I just-"

"What was that noise?! Did someone break in?! I thought this was supposed to be the safe side of town! I don't pay 150,000 Jewel a month to live in some criminal infested neighborhood!" She shrieked, checking under the bed for any hiding intruders.

"Nessa relax! Nobody broke in I just dropped something." Owen said, bending down to pick up the fallen rock.

"Aww I wanted to fight off a burglar…" Nessa's face fell and she sighed as she watched her brother reposition the little stone back on his desk.

"What were you looking at that silly old thing for?" She asked, plopping herself on the edge of his bed.

"No reason. Just can't sleep." Owen trailed off, glancing over at the doorway as a little black nose appeared. Their puppy Brutis poked his head in the room and scampered over to Nessa, springing up into her lap and curling himself up comfortably as she stroked the top of his head.

Nessa smiled down at the little bundle of fur and then looked back to her brother.

"Bad dream?"

"You could say that…" Owen walked back over to his bed and sat cross legged facing Nessa.

"Well ya wanna talk about it?"

"Nah it's ok I'll be alright. You should head back to bed. I gotta get back to sleep I'm getting up early tomorrow morning." Owen found his way back under the covers even though Nessa still sat on top of them.

"What're you getting up early for? Are you making breakfast?! I could really go for some waffles…" Owen rolled his eyes but laughed at his sister anyway.

"Sorry no special breakfast for you. I'm going on a job request." Nessa's expression grew serious. If he was going on a request without her, it meant it was an S-class quest, more dangerous than your average everyday wizard job.

"You know I don't like it when you go away without me." She said, not meeting his gaze as she slowly petted Brutis' back.

"I know. But we haven't been able to find work recently and rent is due in a couple days."

"We have money! What happened to the money from our last job?!" Nessa's voice rose slightly, startling Brutis from his land of puppy bliss.

"You spent it all when you went shopping with Lucy last weekend." Owen said very matter-of-factly.

"Oh…right…Well there's gotta be a job on the request board we can both take that'll cover rent!"

"I checked already, all the higher paying ones were taken. Listen I've done this before you know I can handle it." Owen smiled reassuringly at his little sister. Nessa stood up and cradled Brutis in her arms.

"What exactly do you have to do?" She asked.

"There's a couple of pirates around Hargeon that keep stealing from cargo ships. Some body has to deal with them."

"Pirates? That doesn't sound very 'S-classy' to me. What's the big deal about a bunch of stupid pirates?" Nessa asked.

"Well they're wizards…but they probably shouldn't be too hard to handle. It's probably s-class because of the reward. 500,000 jewel and a couple weapons that they stole. It won't take me long I promise. I should be back in 3 days tops."

"Why do I get the feeling you're not telling me something…" Nessa said as she glared, scrutinizingly at Owen.

"Sis I told you it'll be fine don't worry about it ok? I really gotta get some sleep. C'mere." Owen held out his arms for Nessa to hug him. She plopped Brutis on the floor and wrapped her arms around her big brother. Her hugged her tight and said, "You probably won't be awake when I leave. You should go hang out at the guild hall while I'm gone. I don't want you to be alone. I love you Ness."

Nessa sighed. "I love you too." She headed back for the door. Before leaving she gave her brother one last look as he curled up under his blanket again. "Please be careful." She whispered and quietly shut the door.

Nessa's eyes fluttered open. She squinted against the bright sunlight streaming through the open window across the room and flung her covers off. Rubbing sleep from her eyes, she sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Brutis had heard her mattress squeak as she moved and came bounding into the room. He ran in circles around her feet, barking in a high pitch as his tail thumped against her legs.

"Morning boy." Nessa smiled groggily and patted him on the head. She finally forced herself to get out of bed. She staggered sleepily out of the room, Brutis wiggling his way in between her feet as she walked to the bathroom. She stared blankly at her reflection, frowning at her unruly hair and the little crusties in the corner of her eyes. She sighed and set to work.

After cleaning up and getting dressed she headed into the kitchen as she tied her hair into its usual high ponytail. A folded note was propped up in the middle of the table. It was from Owen. Underneath it was a small bag filled with a few thousand jewel.

Ness,

I left some money in case you need something while I'm gone. Don't do anything stupid. Remember only three days tops. Don't worry about me.

-Owen

"He's so annoying." Nessa grumbled out loud as she picked up the bag of jewel and juggled it in her hands, trying to guess how much was in it based on its weight. "Like I'm not gonna worry about him."

Just then there was a light knock at the door. Brutis went barreling towards it, yipping like crazy.

"Get outta the way ya little fur ball." She nudged him aside and unlatched the lock, pulling open the door to find Natsu Dragneel, Fairytail's resident dragon slayer wizard and his partner in crime Happy.

"Hiya Nessie!" Natsu greeted her with his usual big goofy grin on his face.

"Hi Ness-AHHHHH GET IT AWAY FROM MEEEE!" Happy took to the air and sailed through the kitchen, Brutis barking viciously and jumping at him from below.

"Brutis! Leave him alone! Get back here!" The two animals disappeared into the other room, followed by a loud crash. Nessa groaned and turned back to Natsu. "I was just about to head over to the guild hall, what's up?"

Natsu made himself right at home and stepped into the kitchen, plopping himself down on one of the chairs. He leaned back, his arms crossed behind his head. "Welp Owen asked me to stop by and walk you to the guild today since he's out of town."

Nessa rolled her eyes. "Does he really think I need an escort through town? He's ridiculous."

"Hey he's just trying to look out for ya. Besides with me at your side nobody's gonna bother you!" Natsu said with a cocky grin.

"Right." Nessa smiled and grabbed her bag off the counter. "Well lead the way oh valiant escort."