What's Wrong With Luna:

Natsu stifled a yawn as he finished cleaning up the dishes he'd dirty with a midnight snack, dried them, and put them away. An owl hooted just outside the kitchen window as he flipped off the lights and headed upstairs. He skipped over his and Lucy's bedroom to poke his head into the three rooms across the hall first. Each of the older children were sound asleep: Nashi all tangled up in her blankets, Layla hugging her glow-in-the-dark star to her chest, and Igneel hang halfway off the bed while also facing the opposite side than he was supposed to. Natu shook his head, snickering to himself as he set his son back in his bed and tucked him back in.

Having successfully checked on all three of the older kids he slipped into his and Lucy's bedroom. Two cribs were set up on Lucy's side of the bed. He tiptoed over to them, checking on the two babies resting inside them. Luna was curled up in a tiny ball, both fits tucked under her chin. Kyri sucked lazily on her thumb. Natsu smiled, kissing either of them on the forehead as he then tiptoed over to the bathroom connect to the bedroom.

Lucy stood in the mirror, running a brush through her damp hair, still dressed in her bathrobe. She hummed absent mindedly to herself, a thoughtful look on her face.

"Whatcha thinking about, Luce?" Natsu asked as he leaned against the doorframe, arms lazily crossed, a small grin on his face.

"The new house," Lucy answered. They were still planning on getting a bigger home for their rather large family. Though the house they were currently in was big enough for the time being their children would not get any smaller and the little pace that was left would soon fill up.

"What about it?" Natsu asked.

"I want us to move just outside of Magnolia. Not too far away so that it would be a hassle to get to town or the guild hall, but deep enough in the country where our kids could have plenty of space outside to run around in."

Lucy gasped as an idea popped in her mind. "Maybe we could buy a spot of land in the forest behind Fairy Tail! Maybe even close to the dorms. Then when the kids get older and want to get out on their own they could go to the dorms and we'd still be close by if they ever needed anything."

Natsu smiled as Lucy went on and on, her eyes excited with possibilities. Lucy stopped in her ramblings, turned to Natsu and crinkled up her nose.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," he shrugged.

"Then why are you just staring at me like that?"

"No reason."

Lucy frowned slightly, though there was a small grin of fun on her lips. "Nu-uh, there's something on your mind. Why you lookin' at me like that?"

Natsu shrugged again, chuckling slightly.

"Well?" Lucy asked, hands on her hips in play anger. "What are you thinking about?"

"You," Natsu answered.

"What about me?" Lucy asked, twirling her hair flirtatiously as she sauntered towards him.

"You're beautiful," Natsu replied, still leaned lazily against the door frame.

"Hm. Keep talking," Lucy said as she leaned against the door frame in front of him.

"Beautiful," Natsu pushed himself off the door frame and gently turned Lucy so that her back was faced against it.

"Talented," he continued as he leaned his arm against the door above her head.

"Smart," he tilted her chin up toward him and stole a small, soft kiss.

"A weirdo," he added as they broke apart, a mischievous gleam in his eye.

Lucy gasped in false horror, harmlessly smacking him in the shoulder as she stomped towards their bed. Natsu chuckled as he watched her before going to brush his teeth. After a few minutes he headed to bed. Lucy was already under the blankets, eyes closed. She cracked one open as he climbed in next to her, though, holding the blanket up and helping to tuck him in.

"'Night, Luce," he whispered, pecking her on the forehead.

"Good night," Lucy sleepily answered.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Wah! Wah! Wah!"

Lucy grumbled as she heard crying coming from the two cribs sitting near her side of the bed. Assuming it was Kyri and her colic she sat up and rubbed at her eyes. It had been a while since Kyri had woken up in the night with a tummy ache. Natsu grumbled as he too sat up and scooted closer to Lucy's side as she reached over to pick Kyri up.

It wasn't Kyri crying though. Kyri was sound asleep, sucking on her thumb.

This time it was Luna who was crying, and crying loudly. Her legs were curled up against her torso. Her hands were balled into tight fists. Her face was screwed up in a pained grimace. Lucy gasped as she carefully picked the little girl up and held her close.

"What is it, baby? What's wrong?" Lucy asked as she cradled Luna close against her. Natsu frowned as she set a hand on the top of the baby's head.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

Luna just continued to scream in pain. Lucy began unwrapping the blanket from around the baby to see if Luna was hurt in someway. She felt a cold chill go down her spine as she spotted a glowing red spot on Luna's knee. Lucy reached out to inspect the mark and recoiled in pain.

"Ouch! It's hot!" She cringed. "Nats-"

Natsu was already out of the bed and was racing to grab a lacrima. "Hello-...Yeah, I don't care what time it is! Something's wrong with Luna so get over here!"

Luna continued crying as Lucy tried to comfort her. Her heart ached to see her little girl in so much pain. She had no idea what that mark was, but she knew it burned and must have been putting Luna in excruciating pain. Natsu hung up the lacrima and sat down next to Lucy and Luna.

"Porlyusica is on her way," he explained as he set a comforting hand on Luna's head and stroked her hair. "Hang in there, kiddo."

Luna continued screaming all the louder. She eventually woke up Kyri who began crying out of sympathy for her sister. Natsu picked her up and began pacing, trying to at least comfort her.

Soon Luna's cries grew even louder and the three older children began to file into their parent's room, awakened by Luna's sobs.

"Luna, what's wrong?" Igneel asked as he crawled onto the bed and held out his hand. He conjured up the dancing stars that usually appease the little girl, but it didn't work this time. Luna just kept screaming.

"Does she have a tummy ache like-" Layla asked as she drew closer, but stopped midstep, her eyes fixated on the red spot. Her shoulders curled up and she let out a whimper.

"What is that?" she asked, pointing at the mark.

"We don't know, we called Porlyusica to come look at it," Lucy answered.

"I don't like it!" Layla cried, shrinking away. "It's scary!"

Lucy felt another cold shiver go down her spine as she glanced at Natsu. He too looked frightened, which was rare for him. They both knew Layla was sensitive to magical energy, and this mark looked magical in nature. Perhaps dark magic? But who would have casted a dark spell on a baby girl? Natsu leaned forward and kissed Luna's forehead a Lucy continued bouncing her.

He recoiled slightly as he caught a whiff of something he hadn't smelled in a while, but it sent a shiver down his spine.

"Nashi, hold your sister," he said as he passed Kyri to his eldest daughter and took off out of the room.

"Wai-where are you going?" Lucy asked, but Natsu was already gone. She continued bouncing Luna, trying to comfort her as her other four children crowded around their sister, clearly afraid for her.

Within a few minutes Porlyusica appeared in the door. "Anyone under the age of 20 who is not the patient get out!" she ordered.

Nashi, Layla, Igneel, and even Kyri looked up at their mother in question. Lucy put on a brave smile and nodded. "Go on," she told them. "Go to the living room, we'll be there in a minute."

Nashi set Kyri on her hip as she stood up, looking very afraid as she slipped out. Layla took Igneel by the hand and dragged him along behind her and Nashi, though he kept looking over his shoulder at his screaming baby sister.

Porlyusica approached Lucy and Luna, wand in hand. She set the tip of it against Luna's forehead.

"Just as I thought," Porlyusica muttered. "Dark magic corruption..."

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"Gray! Get your frozen butt out here!"

Gray grumbled as he rubbed at his eyes. "What the heck…"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"GRAY!?"

Gray sat up, frowning in confusion. Was that Natsu? What the heck wa he doing here? It was past midnight!
"GRAY!"

Juvia stirred in the bed next to her husband and rolled over to face him. "Darling, what's going-"

"I don't know," Gray grumbled as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed. "Stupid flame brai-"

"Darling, your clothes," Juvia reminded him.

"Crap! When did I do that!" Gray shrieked as he picked his pajamas off the floor.

Juven, asleep in his cradle, began to fuss as more knocking came from outside.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"Oh, sh," Juvia said as she reached over to pick up the navy-headed baby boy. "Sh, sh, sh, it's okay."

"I'm gonna kill him for waking up the baby," Gray grumbled as he headed into the hall and opened the front door.

"What in the-"

"Come on!" Natsu grabbed Gray's arm and dragged him off behind him.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" Gray shouted.

"Something's wrong with Luna and you've gotta help!" Natsu said as he continued dragging Gray behind him.

"Wait, what?" Gray arched an eyebrow. Obviously he hated the thought of something being wrong with Luna. Already at ten months old she was the darling of Fairy Tail. How could he not be? She was so sweet and quiet nature, almost never crying and happy to be held and loved on by all. But how was he supposed to help?

"She's got some demon magic on her," Natsu explained. "I smelled it! And it's hurt her!"

"Demon Magic?"

"She's got a red dot on her that smells like a demon and you've gotta get it off her!"

Gray frowned. That sounded bad, but…"How can I hel-"

"You're a demon slayer! Can't you just take it off!"

Gray's frown deepened. "I don't know. But I'll take a look."

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Dark magic corruption?" Lucy's voice wavered as she repeated Porlyusica's diagnosed.

"We don't really know what all went into the spell Elena used to steal her from her biological mother," Porlyusica explained.

"I thought she just used an advanced version of density magic," Lucy said.

"Largely, yes, but how did she get the biological mother to sit still long enough to take the baby out of her and put it in herself?"

Lucy stomach dropped. She hadn't thought of that.

"I'm sure it was some sort of dark spell that she used to immobilize the birth mother. By the looks of things demonica in nature."

"What?" Lucy queaked as she clutched Luna closer to her.

"Because it looks like demon magic wa used on the birth mother while she was still pregnant with the child, and used extensively, it has made the child more susceptible to corruption. Furthermore, it seems a small trace of that magic ha latched onto her and has been festering since her birth, but has only recently grown big enough to cause her any pain."

"So do something!" Lucy screamed as Luna kept crying. "If it's slowly corrupting her get rid of it!"

"I'm not sure I can," Porlyusica sighed.

"No…" Lucy's bottom lip began quivering as she looked down at her little girl squealing in anguish. "No...there's got to be something you can do! You can't just...we can't...we can't give up on her!"

"I'll do some research, but I'm telling you that this is beyond my realm of power," Porlyusica sighed.

"Then how about Wendy? Or Storm? Can one of them do someth-"

The bedroom door busted open and Natsu rushed in, draggin a half-dressed Gray behind him.

"Do something!" Natsu screamed as he pointed to the still wailing Luna.

Gray gasped at the little girl's cries. She was in serious pain, he could tell.

"Sh,' Gray whispered as he approached Lucy and held his arms out for her. "C'mere and let Uncle Gray have a look at you, munchkin."

Lucy carefully passed her daughter to Gray who cradled her to his chest as he examined the glowing red spot on Luna's leg. He frowned.

"Yeah, it's demon magic alright."

"So get rid of it!" Natsu shouted. "You're a demon slayer, this is what you do, right?"

"Please!" Lucy begged. "If you don't it's just going to keep growing and corrupting her!"

"Seriously!?" Natsu screeched in a panicked voice.

Porlyusica nodded and explained the situation to the two men.

"So Elena wa fraternizing with some sort of demonic force to steal kids, huh?" Gray fumed as he looked back at the mark.

"And some of that power latched onto Luna," Lucy cried. "And if we can't...if we can't…"

Tears flowed down her eyes. This was not happening! No! She couldn't just lose her little girl like this! Corruption was a horrid thing, and Luna was such a tiny thing! There was a good chance she wouldn't survive. Natsu set a hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her, but he too wa shaking as he watched Luna tremble in pain in Gray's arms.

"There's...there's something I could try," Gray said.

Natsu and Lucy gasped at the tatement, but Gray frowned slightly.

"It might just cause problems further down the road, though," he explained.

"How so?" Porlyusica asked.

Gray sighed, bouncing Luna gently as he explained. "Demon slayer magic is a funny thing. Sure, it can be learned like any other magic, but it can also be grated. That's how I got it. I never learned it per say my dad just gave it to me. But by doing that he aggravated it's...well...fickle nature. Learn it to fast and it can mess with your mind. Suddenly all the wicked thoughts of the demons you slay start infecting your mind and becoming your own. It's a fine balance between understanding a demon well enough to kill it and to start taking after one. And it's not something that can be learned overnight, even if you get the magic overnight."

"Would you stop monologuing and get to the point, brain-freeze, how are you going to help Luna!?" Natsu shouted.

"By giving her demon slayer magic, charcoal breath!" Gray shouted back.

"What!?" both parents gasped.

"Since it slays demons it can also counteract their magic. But you'll have to keep a close eye on her. Once she starts using it you'll have to make sure she gets help from either Porlyusica or myself so she doesn't go crazy with it. Hopefully."

"Hopefully?" Lucy asked.

"I mean...I was an adult when I got it. I'm not sure what effects it will have on a kid," Gray admitted.

"Hm," Porlyusica stroked her chin. "Given how young she is and how small her magic energy container is eve if you give it to her she probably won't be able to access it until she's older. Demon Slayer magic does require a lot of magic energy, more than she can possibly handle now. But it would stop the corruption, you are correct. What effects it will have once she can access it, though, well, that will be impossible to tell until she actually gets there."

"But you did it," Natsu said. He tried to make his voice sound confident, but it was obvious he was scared. "Gray, you're a demon slayer and you're still fine. But if we just let this corruption go on Luna will…" his voice wavered.

Lucy took in a deep breath. "We had a lot of unanswered questions with Titan Fire Magic when Nashi was born. We still have unanswered questions. But if we can deal with that we can deal with Luna being a demon slayer. Beides, it's the only way to save her, isn't it?"

Gray, Lucy, and Natsu turned to Porlyusica. The older woman sighed.

"It's the only solution that's presented itself. I can look into it some more if you'd like, but there's no guarantees that we'll find another option, and no telling what damage that corruption will do if we let it go on much longer."

Natsu and Lucy looked to one another. Without saying a word they both agreed.

"Do it, Gray," Natsu said.

Gray nodded and gently took one of Luna's hands in his. "Sh, hold on just a second longer, sweetie," he whispered. A soft light glowed around Gray's arm a the familiar mark of a demon slayer appeared upon it. After a few seconds the same glowing mark appeared on Luna's arm arm. The red light on her leg vanished. All the tension in the little baby's body left as she practically collapsed in relief.

"There. Done. I'm going home," Porlyusica grumbled as she stomped out.

Gray bounced Luna a few more times as he carried her back to her parents. "There you go, munchkin, you're all fixed up."

Lucy held her arms out and clutched Luna to her chet. "Thank you, Gray," she whispered. Natsu leaned over and kissed the top of Luna's head.

"Not a problem," Gray said. "And...erm...let me know if there's anything else I can do. Especially when she's old enough to...well, you know."

Gray took his leave as both partners sat on the edge of the bed, holding Luna between the two of them as she fell asleep from exhaustion. They both involuntarily glanced at the arm Gray had marked, but the tattoo had disappeared by now.

"Did we do the right thing?" Lucy asked.

"I guess," Natsu said. "We really had no other choice."

Lucy nodde, but didn't feel any better.

"Is she okay?" a soft voice came from the doorway. Natsu and Lucy turned to find the other four children peeking in.

"Yeah," Natsu answered, beckoning them to come closer. "She's okay now."

"What happened to her?" Igneel asked as he raced to his baby sister's side.

"She had a mark on her leg that was hurting her, but your Uncle Gray and Porlyusica got rid of it," Lucy explained.

"Is it going to come back?" Layla questioned fearfully.

"Nah, it's gone for good," Natsu said, patting her head.

Nashi said nothing, she only frowned deeply as she set Kyri, who had fallen back asleep, in her crib. Layla and Igneel asked a few more questions, which their parents answered as appropriately as they could until Natsu said:

"Alright, everything's fine now. No use sitting up worrying about it so go back to sleep."

"Okay," Layla nodded.

"Aw!" Igneel whined.

"Aw, all you want on your way back to bed," Natsu said before kissing the top of hi head and ushering him into the hall. He gave Layla and kiss and hug as she skipped out to.

Nashi, however, stayed put, still standing by Kyri's cradle, eyes fixated on Luna who was still sleeping in Lucy's lap.

"Nashi, that means you too," Natsu said.

Nashi didn't move. Instead she asked: "What was really wrong with Luna?"

Natsu and Lucy glanced at each other, caught a little off guard by the question.

Nashi sighed and hung her head. "You can tell me, y'know. I already know Luna's actually Elena's baby."

Natsu and Lucy gasped. They had discussed potentially telling Nashi the truth about Luna, but had never found the right time.

"How?" Lucy asked.

Nashi shrugged. "I just kind of figured it out. I knew something weird was going on when you two went off by yourselves for a few days around the time the twins were born, but I wasn't sure what. Then we came to see the babies and, well, I started noticing more weird things. Luna's the only one in the family with black hair. And she and Kyri were born the same day Elena's baby was. And everytime anyone mentions Elena's baby and how it went missing you two get a weird look on your faces. At first I didn't think it meant anything. But tonight when that mark showed up on her leg it...it gave me a weird feeling."

"Weird feeling?" Natsu asked.

Nashi rubbed at her arm. "When I was fighting Elena at the hospital she tried to use a spell on me. I...I don't know what it wa supposed to do because she never actually finished it. But it felt...bad. And dark. I...I don't really know how to explain it but I got the same feeling when I saw that mark on Luna's leg. And then everything just made sense."

Silence fell over the room. Natsu looked back at Lucy who had a similar bewildered yet sad and slightly guilty look on her face.

"I'm not mad at you guys," Nashi spoke up again after a few more minutes of quiet. "I know why you kept it a secret. People can be cruel sometimes, especially around things they don't fully understand," Nahi hugged herself a bit tighter before adding: "I think I'd know that better than anyone. I know you didn't tell anyone the truth to protect her. I just.." she hung her head. "...I just wish you would have told me."

Natsu slowly sat down on the bed next to Lucy and held out his hand. "C'mere, Firecracker."

Nashi slowly shuffled forward and Natsu pulled her onto his lap.

"You're right," Natsu said. "Luna's the baby Elena gave birth to. After your mother and I found out what she did we knew we had to do something so that baby could have a chance at a good life. So after she was born we adopted her and told everyone she and Kyri were twins to protect her, like you said."

"We sent Mest to go get her," Lucy added. "He wiped Elena's mind so she doesn't know where Luna is. There's no way for her to come find us."

Nashi stared at her hands folded in her lap for a bit before asking. "So why didn't you tell us?"

"Because we wanted to be sure you could keep the secret before we did," Lucy answered.

"But I'd never tell!" Nashi insisted. "I don't want people treating her like they treat me! Of course I'd never say a word!"

Nashi had no idea how much that statement hurt her parents. Rather than let on, though, NAtsu just pulled her closer.

"Yeah, we get that now. It' just…"

"Do you not trust me?" Nashi's bottom lip trembled slightly.

"No! Baby, it's not that," Natsu assured her. "It's just that...well...heh," the corner of his mouth curled up slightly. "You've grown up so fast. It's hard sometimes for us to not see you as that silly little girl who used to get cupcake stuck in her hair, or used to chase me around begging me to blow smoke rings at you so you could chase them through the living room."

Nashi chuckled slightly at the memory. The smile quickly faded, though, as she asked. "So...what was wrong with Luna?"

"Apparently some of the magic Elena was used was still stuck to her," Lucy explained before repeating what had just occurred to Nashi.

"So...she's a demon slayer now?" Nashi asked once the story was told.

"Not yet, but she will be," Lucy answered.

"Are…" Nashi twirled her hair. "... people won't be scared of her for it, right? I mean, they're not scared of Uncle Gray, so she'll be okay, right?"

"I…" Lucy bit her lip as she looked back down at the sleeping Luna.

"We don't know," Natsu said. "But whatever happens we'll deal with it as a family like we always do."

Nashi fiddled with her thumbs in her lap again. She pondered everything over for a while before looking back at Luna and asking:

"Can I hold her?"

Lucy nodded a Nashi crawled to her side and held her arms out for her little sister. She rocked Luna back and forth as she stared at her. It was funny, actually. Luna wa the one sibling NAshi had no blood ties to and yet seemed to be the one she had the most in common with. A mysterious magic that worked in mysterious ways. A link to a dark and tragic past. Both things that could bring on unjustified fear and hate.

Nashi leaned forward and kissed Luna's forehead.

"I promise I'll keep your secret," she whispered. "And I'll protect you from anyone who wants to call you dangerous or anything like that."

Lucy took Luna back and Natsu ushered Nashi back into the hall and towards her bedroom. Once Nashi was out of the room Lucy let a few tears fall and wiped them off on the back of her hand. She then stood and set Luna back in her cradle. She hovered over the baby for a while, holding her hand that had been marked.

"You'll be okay," she whispered. "Your big sister's gonna look out for you. She's gotten so much unfair hatred and cruelty her whole life for things out of her control, and yet she's grown up into a smart, compassionate, and understanding young woman with a smile and a laugh that can lighten the whole room. She's a bit like your Daddy in that way, her spirit's unbreakable. Despite everything she's turned out to be amazing. If she can do it, so can you".

.