Natsu knew that he was taking one hell of a risk. Sneaking into Fiore's prison and initiating a jail break were all punishable by death. But he couldn't just ignore what he had just seen. He had just seen Zeref arrest a maid named Bisca because her mistress accused her of stealing her jewelry even though she failed to provide any evidence. And to make matters worse she was ten months pregnant and due any day now. He had heard about women bearing children in prison and the poor mothers usually ended up dying in childbirth and/or delivering stillborn infants.

He had also seen her husband Alzack begging the soldiers not to take his wife. He even offered to take her place but his pleas were ignored. Now he was praying to God above that somehow his wife would be freed and that she would be able to deliver a healthy baby without having to give her life in the process. Seeing all that was the final straw for Natsu. So he decided that he would free those innocent men and women. He chose to go at night in disguise.

"Who are you?" The jail keeper asked him.

He was wearing an old frock, an apron, and a wig. He was dressed up like a maid.

"I'm the new maid." He said in a high pitched voice. "I brought you your dinner."

He held out a tray with a bowl of gruel, a plate of bread, and a goblet of water. The jail keeper took the tray and looked at Natsu strangely.

"My Lord what an ugly woman." He thought.

After that he began to eat the gruel. However the gruel had been drugged by a very special sleeping substance that Erza and her friends would sometimes take when they found a client just too horrible to be awake for. Once the jail keeper was asleep, Natsu stole his clothes, changed into them, and swiped the keys. The prisoners sat in their cells, dirty, cold, and starving while wearing shackles on their wrists and ankles. They had all been locked away either because of ridiculous misdemeanors or because they had been accused of a crime that was unproven.

"Alright hurry up." He told the prisoners as he freed them. "Soon the other soldiers will find out that there's a jailbreak going on."

"God bless you sir." One male prisoner said.

"Yeah, yeah, now hurry! Hurry!"

The prisoners hurried out of the jail and toward a carriage being driven by Erza. Unfortunately someone sounded the alarm and alerted the soldiers and the judge. Natsu quickly went to keep the soldiers at bay so the prisoners could escape.

"How dare you free these criminals!" Zeref told him angrily.

"They're not criminals! They're innocent men and women who you have in prisoned on false charges!" Natsu said. "You call yourself a man of justice yet you mistreat the people you claim to be protecting! No doubt the queen would be furious if she knew of your actions!"

"What her majesty fails to understand is that this country is filled with treacherous criminals who must be delt with!"

"But you're not dealing with criminals! The minute someone is accused you throw them in jail without evidence or giving them a fair trial! The real criminal here is you!"

"Just who in the hell do you think you are?!"

"A man who speaks on behalf of the people!"

He then cut the chain of the chandelier causing it to fall on top of Zeref and his men giving Natsu a chance to escape.

...

Now we shall go back to Gray. As he grew up he became a very strong and resourceful young man who found himself longing more and more for freedom. Every year on his birthday he asked Invel to allow him to leave the church but Invel always said no and sensing that the boy might defy him he requested permission from Judge Zeref Dragneel to have his men guard all possible exits whenever Invel left the church. It would seem that he would never be able to enter the outside world. Then one day when he was sixteen the opportunity for freedom finally came. A rat had somehow gotten into the bell tower and he learned that it managed to get in by slipping through a cracked hole that had been made by a weak part of the floor.

He spent the next four years making the hole bigger and constructing his own secret passageway that would allow him to sneak in and out of the church. First he began reading books on secret tunnels, sculpting, and architecture so he would have knowledge on how to pull this off. After that he asked Invel for a rock hammer claiming that he wanted to use it only to make small statues but he actually used it to dig through the hard stone floor and tunnel his way through the wall until he found a steep area that led to the outside world.

Now came the tricky part. Picking which day would be a good day to go out. He knew it had to be when Invel wasn't at the church and he also had to make sure that he knew when Invel was leaving and when he would be coming back. He couldn't risk getting caught because if he was caught then that was it. Invel would probably seal him away in some small room for the rest of his life.

"Gray you haven't been planning to sneak out have you?" Invel asked him suspiciously one morning.

"Uh...No...What...What would give you that idea?" Gray asked before briefly glancing at his secret entrance that he had hidden behind a curtain.

"Well I've noticed that over the years you've stopped asking me if you can go outside."

"Oh...Well that's only because you always say no."

"And do you know why I say no?"

"Yes it's to keep me safe but I'm twenty years old now. I'm not a little kid anymore and I've gotten really strong. I can handle the outside world."

"Gray the outside world would never accept you."

"But what if you're wrong?"

"Gray let me ask you something. When your heartless mother abandoned you as a child and I found you did I leave you to die?"

"No."

"Or turn you over to the orphanage or the workhouse?"

"No."

"And who took you in when no one else would?"

"You did."

"I did right and for the past twenty years I've fed you-"

"You've fed me, you've clothed me, you've put a roof over my head, and you raised me as if I was your own son. I know, I know, you've been telling me this since before I could crawl."

"Exactly so let me ask you this. Considering that I did all those things for you, why would you ever think that I would steer you wrong?"

"I wasn't thinking that."

"Gray I don't blame you for longing to be apart of this world but you're deformed, frightening, and demonic. All who look upon you will only fear and hate you, all except me."

"You said that someday I would be able to go out. How much longer till that day comes?"

"Patience, you must have patience."

"But I have been patient. I've been patient for twenty years."

"Believe me Gray I've been working on a way to remove the demon in you ever since you were a baby. Purging evil takes time especially when evil keeps coming back. Like these filthy gypsies. Why her majesty allows them to live in our city is beyond me in other places they would be exterminated like rats. Now then my boy I shall go visit Judge Dragneel to discuss some business, I shall return at sundown. Stay out of trouble."

"I will."

Invel then left. Gray rolled up his sleeve and looked at the bracelet on his wrist. The same bracelet that had been given to him when he was a boy by a girl. For as long as he could remember Invel had told him that the people of the outside world would only be afraid of him and that they would react cruelly toward him. Yet that little girl he had met on his tenth birthday had not been scared of him in the least. She had been shocked by his appearance and pitied him by she didn't act afraid or cruel. In fact she had given him a gift. So he wondered if a child wasn't afraid of him then maybe just maybe there was someone out there who would accept him.

Besides if he didn't leave this place soon he was sure that he was going to go crazy. He already thought that he was hearing voices so he decided that today would be the perfect day to choose to leave. After slipping on a cloak and pulling the hood to cover his face he slipped down his secret passage way. It was so strange to be going outside for the first time. He knew that he had been outside before but that was when he was a baby so he couldn't remember what it was like.

The first thing he saw when he stepped out was the sun, followed by a carriage driving by. After that he began to wander around and look at the local stands and shops that were being set up at the market. Then a crowd began to circle in the town square. Curious, he went to see what all the excitement was about.