The blonde woman began walking towards the direction of a well locked door. The big building was mostly empty except a few bugs and small rodents running here and there. She pulled out a hairpin from her bun and entered it in the lock, twisting and moving it around to open the door.

Grinning when she successfully unlocked the door, she slowly pushed it open, making sure no one noticed her.

She quickly climbed up the stairs trying not do make much sound. It would be ugly if someone caught her. Specially when she knew it would end up in a fight.

She was making her way through the third last floor quietly, trying to locate any enemies she could. She heard faint footsteps heading in her direction as she quickly hid behind a wall, keeping an ear out to listen and one hand on her hid, ready to pull out her whip if she needed.

"You heard what Boss said?" Lucy heard one man talking. Leaning as much as she could, she tried to listen furthur.

"We will soon move out once the remaining girls have been traded out," another man said.

Lucy could feel her blood starting to boil when she heard that. Women trafficking! Which kind of sick peoples does that!

"Basically, a brown hair slipped from our clutches," the first man said, his voice becoming heavier,"Boss wants to move out before someone discovers us."

Lucy mentally thanked that brown haired girl she came across. The girl was running away, looking extremely tired and frightened and flinched when she bumped into Lucy. Lucy knew that something was wrong and ended up taking care of her for the rest of the day. The girl then told her how some women were being traded and how she had escaped.

Lucy knew what she had to do.

Fight for them.

When she felt that the voices were close enough, she came out of her hiding, looking extremely pissed.

The men noticed her presence and quickly reached out for the sword they were carrying.

"Where are the girls?" Lucy asked, her whip ready to lash out.

The two men just laughed as they noticed her, chuckling,"And you've come alone? Pitiful!"

Lucy whipped her whip, making it grab the man's neck as she pulled and smashed him against the wall, effectively knocking him out. The other man, now freaking out on seeing how angry the girl in front of him was, turned to run only to be stopped when he felt himself falling as Lucy had wrapped her whip around his feet.

"I've no idea!" The man said, totally panicking as sweat began dripping from his entire body.

"Then tell me, where is your boss?"

Lucy's death glare did the trick as the man quickly whispered out,"On the Top Floor."

Lucy turned to leave. However the man hastily got up and was about to attack her from behind when Lucy tied her whip around his neck and flunged him to where his partner was, effectively knocking both of them out.

Lucy quickly climbed the flight of stairs, ready to take out the boss.

However, she hadn't expected to run into a cat.

A flying cat.

A flying, blue cat.

Thinking him to be the enemy, she quickly tried wrapping her whip around his wings to take him out. The blue feline freaked out as he quickly flew away from her, shouting,''Don't attack me, I'll give you all my fish!"

"Just stop already!" Lucy shouted after him.

Her whip was about to make contact with his wings when she saw fire heading in her direction. Quickly jumping away, she looked around, trying to locate the source of the attack.

"Hey! Why are you attacking Happy!"

Lucy's head tilted as she watched a boy, about her age, looking extremely pissed.

She frowned. This organisation was a non-magic one, she knew it. Had they recruited mages to save them?

"So this criminal is your ally," Lucy spat out, venom dripping from her words.

The man stepped in front of Happy, shielding him as the cat wrapped his paws around the new Comer's pink locks. Lucy's grip on her whip tightened as she watched the man looking at her strangely.

"Natsu!" The blue feline, looking extremely scared weeped,"This fatso was about to hurt me."

Lucy was about to punish him for calling her fat when the boy asked her,"My Happy ain't a criminal."

Lucy looked away in disgust,"A criminal always says that."

Natsu softly whispered in Happy's ears,"You didn't steal her fish, right?"

Happy sobbed harder,"How could you say it Natsu! I'm not a thief!"

Natsu nodded, his serious expression returning as he faced Lucy,"He isn't a criminal. I know. And why do you work here anyway!"

Lucy gave an annoyed sigh,"I don't work here!"

"Then what are you doing here!" Natsu asked again, his fists getting engulfed in flames. Lucy pulled out two golden keys, ready to attack.

Why was she even answering this man? Now, since she had been discovered, she better take everyone down with her. "I'm here to free all the girls kept captive."

A small smile crept on Natsu's face as he extended his hand to greet her, flames dying out,"I'm here for the same thing. I've been hired by the Mayor to get rid of this."

Lucy looked at him, not believing,"And why should I trust you?"

Natsu gave her an uninterested smile as he pulled out a small pamphlet from his pocket,"Here."

Lucy gulped,"You really have been appointed by Arcadios."

"Hey!" Natsu said, sounding offended,"I wasn't bluffing."

Lucy rolled her eyes as she began making her way toward the top cabin, knocking out a man who was guarding the door with her whip while Natsu knocked another man unconscious by punching him.

"Since we are here for the same job, you can cooperate," Lucy said, not looking at him.

Natsu shrugged,"I'm keeping the money. It's me who got appointed, not you.''

Lucy halted in her tracks as she said,"I have no interest in that money."

"Then why are you fighting?" Happy asked, hovering over her.

Lucy pushed open the door, making eye to eye contact with the boss sitting inside as she answered Happy's question,"Because thats my duty as a mage, to protect those who need it and WHY AM I EVEN ANSWERING YOU?!."

.

A young, pink haired girl was running through the streets, being chased by some children of the same age.

Nashi Dragneel had turned seven years old recently, and was currently running toward the guild to get her guild mark. Any Mage, who was not a part of any guild and is more than seven years of age could join Fairy Tail and Nashi was super excited about it.

Following her was a black haired boy, shirtless and having a blue Fairy Tail guild mark on his chest, towards the right. Beside him was a girl with blue hair, wearing a navy blue cap and a white dress which reached her knees. Her guild mark was on her shoulder blade, a deep black in colour.

Nashi shouted over her shoulder,"Come on Rin and Storm! Hurry!"

The two kids who were following the pink hair girl groaned as Storm called out,"Slow down Nashi. The guild isn't running away!"

"Storm-nii is right," Rin called out as she kept running to catch Nashi up.

Nashi quickly stopped as she waited for the two teens to catch up. As the two stopped near her, Nashi grinned, saying,"You and Rin have your guildmark. So does Kiara, Tsubaki and Eve. And since Elora and Jeston turned 7 today, I can't wait. We will have our mark together."

Storm looked away, a little flustered when Nashi said that. He was happy since she was happy. But she didn't have to know that, right?

Rin noticed her brother's red face as she placed a hand on his forehead, making him look at her strangely,"Whats it Rin?"

"Rin thought you're sick. Your face looked red,"the blue haired girl answered, the characteristic Fullbuster smirk on her face. Storm groaned, trying to hide his embarrassment,"Stop talking like Mom!"

Nashi watched as Rin pouted,"Rin will talk like our Mom."

"No you won't!" Storm fumed,"Its embarrassing."

"Talking like Mom is embarrassing?" Rin pouted further, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Why you littl-" Storm was about to say something when he heard a small sniffle. Startled, he and Rin looked over to see Nashi, in tears.

"Hey? Nashi?" Rin softly put her hand on Nashi's head, patting it,"What's the matter?"

Storm crossed his arms over his chest, trying to look unaffected but ended up asking,"Yeah? Why are you crying?"

Nashi rubbed her nose and wiped away her tears as she apologized,"I'm sorry. But, its just..."

Storm sighed as he wrapped his arms around the shaking girl, getting a smirk from Rin. He rolled his eyes at his sister as he began comforting Nashi,"Come on, tell us."

"You and Rin have your parents. Uncle Gray and Aunty Juvia loves you both. Mira Aunty and Laxus uncle have Tsubaki, Levy Aunty and uncle Gajeel have Kiara. Eve has both her parents, Elfman uncle and Evergreen aunty. So does Elora and Jeston, who have Aunt Erza and Uncle Jellal. But look at me, I've just my Father. And Happy! I don't even know who my Mom is!"

Storm could feel his neck getting wet due to Nashi's tears. Rin was rubbing Nashi's back to calm her down, though she wasn't sure if it was helping. Storm and Rin were one year older than Nashi, but that didn't stop them from spending time with her. Never had Nashi talked about her mother. Or why she wasn't with her. Natsu always made sure she got everything she needed.

"Its okay. I'm sure your mother misses you too," Rin spoke up when Nashi's sobs died a little. Nashi nodded, still in Storm's arms.

"Why don't you ask your Dad about your Mom?" Storm suggested and Nashi looked up, their eyes fixed on each other.

"Will that work?" Nashi asked no one in particular.

Storm grinned a little,"I bet it will."

Something snapped inside Nashi's head as she pushed away Storm, yelling,"You perverted Ice Freak! Put some clothes!"

Storm looked down to see that he had lost his pants and was now in his underwear. Groaning to himself, he began searching for his pants.

"We will leave and go to the guild!" Nashi declared as she and Rin were about to leave.

"Can't you help me in my search?" He groaned, looking beneath a dustbin as he heard Nashi chuckle,"Nops!"

.

Elora and Jeston were waiting outside the guild hall, with other friends. Elora and Jeston looked almost alike, they had same curve of face, with onyx coloured eyes and sharp nose. However, Elora had scarlet hair and was in an armour while Jeston had taken the courtesy to get a face tattoo, bluish in colour, similar to his own hair colour.

Beside them was Kiara Redfox, a blue haired girl whose hair was kept in place using a orange headband. She was wearing a orange skirt with black crop top, her belly button exposed.

Eve Strauss, a brown haired girl, was in what you could call a party wear, jagged jeans with a sparkling white top. He hair was in a messy bun as she was trying to get Elora to fight her, saying she would manly take the name of young Titania to honour her mother.

Tsubaki Dreyar, a blond boy who was looking uninterested in everything around him just groaned as he saw Kiara and Eve beginning to fight when Elora refused.

A wide smile appeared on Elora's face as she noticed a mob of pink hair and blue hair running towards them. She grinned widely and waved her hands, shouting,"Come fast! Rin! Nashi!''

As the two girls reached the spot, panting, Nashi spoke up,"Lets get the mark, Elora and Jeston!"

Jeston looked around, noticing the absence of a certain ice mage,"Where is Storm?"

Rin just sighed, rubbing her forehead as Nashi made a grim face, saying,"What else? That stripper lost his clothes again!"

Elora just shook her head, muttering how Gray uncle was becoming a bad influence for his own kid while everyone else sweatdropped.

"I got the Heavens wheel armour from my Mom, as a gift for my birthday!" Elora said when everyone decided to wait for Storm to arrive.

Tsubaki extended his arm to show how he could channel electrial energy through it, saying,"And my Dad is teaching me how to use Electricity!"

Kiara rolled her eyes as she knocked off Eve with a blow from her steel arm, boasting,"Well, I'm sorry Eve. Looks like I lost control of my Iron again."

Eve rubbed her sore head as she pulled down her spects and looked at Kiara, freezing her in place. She smirked as she fanned herself using her right hand,"Sorry Kiara, looks like I can't control how to freeze people."

Everyone grinned when Kiara was about to attack Eve again when she was freed which ended up Rin locking them in water cage with only their heads out.

Jeston simply said,"Well, I just use heavenly magic like my Dad. Don't expect me to showoff."

Nashi coughed to get everyone's attention as she said,"Well, I wanted to learn Celestial Magic, since Happy told me that my Mom used it but none of them knew how it worked. So..."

Elora asked,"So?"

"So, I gave up on it. Moreover, remember all the times when I made everything catch fire accidentally?" Nashi asked, getting a nod from everyone else as she continued,"So I asked Dad to teach me Fire dragonslaying magic."

"I thought you inherited them from uncle Natsu," Elora asked, surprised.

"I used to think so too but," Nashi looked at the sky, smiling softly,"Dad told me how I can learn other magic too. I used Fire just because I spend so much time with him that I began imitating him. If given a chance, I want to learn Celestial magic."

Everyone patted Nashi's arms as they said,"Just go with the flow."

Nashi grinned again, her hand automatically reaching to hold a broken key which was around her neck, used as a pendant.

"Lets get our guildmark!" Nashi said, smelling Storm's scent in the distance,"Storm will be here in a minute."

.

Nashi was sitting at the couch in her house, waiting for her Dad to arrive. Natsu had taken a job which required destroying a few old locomotives which were causing problems in the factory. Happy had tagged along after dropping Nashi at Gray's house.

After getting her guildmark, all she wanted was to show it to her father.

She had never seen her mother and it filled her with self pity when she watched all her friends with their Mom. She wasn't angry at them, she just hated herself. Why didn't her Mom want her? Did her Mom leave her father because of her? All these unanswered questions always made her heart ache.

Natsu rarely talked about her Mom, and when he did, he always ended up crying.

Had her Mom left her Father?

She didn't know and Nastu never told her. Whenever she asked, he would just smile, pat her head and tell he would tell her when she would be older. That left her even more uneasy about the whole situation. She kept waiting for her Dad to answer her questions.

That day never came. Happy also did the same. He always told,"She was scary and always kept Natsu in check. She loved writing too and..."

She was irritated, all the descriptions were so vague that she just couldn't imagine how her mother was. Nastu didn't even allow her to know her mother's name!

She wondered if her mother loved her. She wondered if her mother missed her as much as she did. No matter what, Nashi wanted to meet her mother. She also wanted to know why she left her father. She didn't knew much about love but was sure her father loved her mother, thats why he never got married even after staying alone for seven long years.

Nashi took a deep breath as she lay down on the bed, facing the ceiling. Her eyes drifted towards the small portrait of her and Natsu with Happy. There was a small pouch beside it and Nashi could feel magic emitting from it.

Storm was right. If she doesn't ask her Dad about her Mom, she would never know. She desperately wanted to know her mother's name atleast.

She hastily got up on hearing the door unlocking and grinned at the familiar smell, of fire and fish, her favourite type of smell.

She ran out of her room, tackling the man who was taking off his sandals at the door. The man giggled along with her as he scooped her up in his arms and put her on his shoulders.

"Did my little Dragon get her guildmark?" Natsu asked as he entered the kitchen. Nashi pulled out hot sauce from the cabinet as always and Natsu shoved the meat in the oven, waiting for it to warm up.

"Yup! I got a pink one on my right arm!" Nashi said, grinning as Natsu sat on a chair, pulling her down. She gently put the hot sauce bottle on the table as she sat on a chair beside her Dad.

"That's my Dragon!" Natsu grinned as he got up to get some water.

Noticing the absence of the blue feline, Nashi asked, a little worried,"Where is Happy?"

Natsu pulled out the meat from the oven and placed it on the table as Nashi began pouring hot sauce over it. He answered while taking a seat beside her again,"He is with Charla. Giving her fish."

Nashi slapped her forehead, making an irritated face at the new piece of information, making Natsu chuckle. She said in a soft voice,"She always rejects Happy. I don't understand why the stupid cat is so stubborn to win her over."

Natsu bit his lip as Nashi addressed Happy as stupid, just like Lucy did. Nashi observed the change in her father's figure as it went from happy to gloomy in a few seconds. She quickly apologized,"Dad! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you!"

Natsu shook his head as he affectionately rubbed his hand on her head,"Don't be weird. You can't offend me even if you try My Little Dragon!" Nashi chuckled at his nickname and Natsu grinned along with her. For a moment, Nashi thought her father would go to that depressed state again.

Nashi sighed in relief as she watched her father having his food and feeding her too. She knew how his mood always darkened whenever her mother's topic was raised. Natsu looked tired and she didn't want to trouble him furthur, also after the difficult, hardworking job he had just returned from.

Maybe the question about her mother could wait for another day.

.

Thanks everyone for all the favourites, follows and reviews! It made me really happy. And to be honest, I'm a little excited to write this too. I've planned half of it and hopefully can write it down soon.

If you're familiar with my work, you will notice that I update without a fixed schedule. So, don't be surprised if you get multiple chapters a week or once a month. Hopefully I can update often. And the story will be somewhat like this, the italics part as Natsu's past but without anyone's POV and the second part as present time.

~ darkestlightofhope