"Gray there you are." Panther Lily said when he returned.

"What did you call me for?" Gray asked.

"I noticed that you had left some recent tracks that weren't leading toward the den. I was worried that you had gone to where man was."

"I did."

"What?"

"I met one of them."

"Did it hurt you?"

"Not it she and I've met her before once. But she's different now. She's beautiful."

"Are you crazy?"

"Lily why didn't you tell me that these creatures looked like me and Natsu."

"What do you mean?"

"Well I-"

"Gray! Gray!" Natsu called running toward him. "You won't believe what I just saw."

"What?"

"I saw man and they look just like us."

"I believe you. I saw them too."

"I also met one of them. She was female, at least I hope she was."

"Did she look female?"

"Yeah. Her fur was the color of the sun and her lips were really red and she had the prettiest brown eyes. If you ask me there's nothing prettier than brown eyes on a female."

"I don't know. I think blue eyes are more beautiful."

"Blue eyes? What are you talking about? Eyes are either black, brown, or green. Nobody has blue eyes."

"You're wrong. I met one of them today too and she was also female and her eyes were blue."

"Blue eyes?"

"Bluer than all the bluebells in the jungle and her fur was the same color. Her skin was so white and her cheeks were really pink."

"Wow. Did you see any others?"

"Uh-huh. About three more and I'm pretty sure that they were male but they didn't seem very nice. And that first one who kept trying to punch me sure was ugly."

"You wanna see ugly? You should've seen what I saw. I think he was male and he was old and ugly and mean too. Meaner than Jellal."

"Yikes. Hate to meet him."

"But what's really weird is that look just like you and me. Well not all of them look exactly like us, that female had two things on her body we didn't."

"What's that?"

"These puffy, swollen balls. I touched one of them and she slapped me. Apparently they're not supposed to be touched."

"The female I saw had em too but I didn't touch them."

"Smart move."

"Say did she have a mark that was just like yours anywhere on her body."

"Yeah except it was pink. Did she have one?"

"Mmm-hmm and it was exactly like mine, shape, color and everything."

"Can you believe that there are actually animals out there who look like us?"

"I didn't even know they existed. I thought that we were the only ones."

"Hold on you mean Erza never told you?" Panther Lily asked.

"Never told us what?" Natsu said.

"Oh...Um... Nothing."

"What? What's going on?"

"I shouldn't be the one to tell you this. You should talk to your mother about this."

"About what? What are you talking about?" Gray asked.

"I have to go now. Goodbye."

"Wait a minute!"

But he was already gone. Natsu and Gray were confused. Had Erza been keeping secrets from them? No. No she wouldn't do that. Still they wondered.

"Are you boys okay?" Erza asked them later that evening. "You've hardly touched your dinner and normally I have to break up the fight you two have when you wrestle over who gets the last pig carcass."

"Mom have you been keeping secrets from us?" Natsu asked.

"No. No of course not."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I tell you both everything...Well except for what I do when I go off with Jellal every full moon but that's none of your business."

"Mom what he means is do you know if there are creatures out there who look like us?" Gray asked.

She became quiet for what seemed to be like an eternity before speaking again.

"I knew but I wasn't keeping it a secret from you. I was just waiting for the right moment to tell you. I've been dreading this day for years."

"Mom what is it?" Natsu asked.

"Natsu, Gray, I love you both as you were my own sons but you're not my blood. You were born to humans."

"Humans?"

"That's the proper term for man. Eighteen years ago I found you as infants recently orphaned. Natsu you were all alone in a basket by the river and Gray I found you in the arms of your mother as she lay dying on the ground."

"My mother?" Gray said.

"The one who gave birth to you. I didn't know her long but I could tell by the tears in her eyes that she loved you very much and that she felt guilty for dying because she didn't want you to be alone."

"And my father? Did I have a father?"

"I don't know. I just found her."

"What about me?" Natsu asked. "What about my birth parents?"

"I don't know about them either. It was just you. No one else."

"Was I abandoned?"

"I can't say for sure."

"Why didn't you tell us this sooner?"

"I wanted to but I wasn't sure if you were ready for it and I was...I was afraid."

"Afraid of what?" Gray asked.

"I was afraid that once you learned that I wasn't your real mother you...You would hate me...That you would leave me."

"Oh Mom we could never hate you." Natsu said.

"And you are our real mother." Gray said.

The two hugged the tiger woman who had loved and raised them for eighteen years.

"But Mom I want to know where I came from." Gray said.

"Me too." Natsu said. "I want to know why I was left alone in the jungle? Who my birth parents were? And what exactly I am."

"I know." Erza said. "I know."

...

"He was so strange Father." Lucy said to Jude the chief. "He was looking at me as if he had never seen another human being before."

"Who are you talking about Lucy." Jude asked.

"The man who saved me from that python Father. Haven't you been listening?"

"Sorry dear. Tell me more about this man."

"Well he was very strong and he couldn't speak, either that or he's dead because he wouldn't talk to me. Everytime I asked him a question he just looked at me like he didn't understand me and he wasn't wearing any clothes."

"What?!"

"I mean he wore a loincloth but that's it."

"Did he...Do anything?"

"Well." Lucy blushed. "No he didn't do anything. He's Alvarian Father but I've never seen him in the village before."

"Perhaps he's really a spy for the Fiorians."

"If he were then why would he save me? The daughter of a chief? Besides he had a red mark on his body. Fiorians only have blue, green, purple, and black marks."

"Still I want to meet this man. Find out just who he is and where he comes from. You say that you found him in the jungle?"

"Yes."

"Give me a description of him and I'll have my men search the jungle for him."

"You won't hurt him right?"

"Of course not I just want to talk to him."

"I don't think he can understand us Father."

"I'll make him understand. Now what does he look like?"

"Well he has salmon colored hair, black eyes, a very muscular body, and he wears a loincloth."

"Thank you dear."

"Remember don't let your men hurt him."

"I won't."