A/N: Hi again! If you're reading this, thank you! I've realized that I haven't been putting a disclaimer on any of my other chapters, so I'll add one here. (Sorry 'bout that).

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Fairy Tail

In a forest near Magnolia...

"...Levi?" Asked the blond man, wrapping the cloak tighter around his shoulders. "It's getting colder. And we need to eat lunch. Should we eat here? It'll take about another hour to get to Magnolia, and I don't think I can wait that long."

There was no answer from the blond man's companion, so hesitantly, he tried again. "Levi?"

"Yeah." Snapped the green-haired man, Levi. His sharp tone scared his companion, who was shaking his head.

"Honestly, Ansel. I said I was going to get firewood. We've been a team long enough for you not to second guess me." Levi muttered, quite fed up with his team mate questioning his actions.

"Are you okay?"Ansel inquired. "You seem like you're in a worse mood than usual."

"Whatever." Levi huffed. "I'm going to go on a walk. I'll bring back firewood so we can eat."

With that, he walked off.

When Levi got to a river that was blocking his path, he stopped walking. He crouched on the riverbank, deciding that since he was there anyway, he might as well wash up. He submerged his hands into the cold water and caught sight of his reflection. His was knitting his eyebrows, and his mouth was fixed in a scowl. He thought about Ansel's words from earlier. "...You're in a worse mood than usual."

Levi sighed. "Why am I so down in the dumps?" He asked himself. A ripple formed in the clear surface of the river. Levi's first thought was that it had started to rain, but another drop fell, and he could tell that it wasn't from the sky.

He cursed. "Why am I crying?" He asked himself. But he knew why. The tears kept streaming down his face, and the sorrow overtook him. He keeled over, clutching his cold hands to his chest in a futile hope of stopping the pain that was ripping its way out of his heart.

Reluctantly, he answered his own question. He tried to say it out loud, but the words stuck in his throat. He made do with thinking them to himself.

He would have been ten today.

Back in Magnolia...

Natsu and his daughter had been making their way around Magnolia for the better part of the morning, and into noon. They had stopped at countless street vendors, with no luck.

What gives? Natsu asked himself. This quest was supposed to be easy as pie! Stupid snow globe...

The request simply stated that someone had stolen a family heirloom from the client- a magic snow globe. The mission was to find it. "It is most likely to be in one of the street vendors, being sold," Was what the request page said. It then went on to give a brief description of the missing snow globe. When Natsu first saw the request, he wrote it off as nothing he would waste time over. Why would somebody contact a wizard guild over a snow globe of all things? He had thought. The ending line of the request answered Natsu's question, more or less. "I would go looking for it myself, but I am an elderly man, and I don't think I would make it very far outside on my own."

Nashi's stomach growling is what made Natsu realize how long they had been out.

"Hey, kid. Why don't we take a break?" He asked. "Let's go get some food, okay?"

"I'm not hungry." Nashi protested. She was in a mood because she thought they would be going on a "real adventure". To her, this was just a casual walk around town, and she was bitterly disappointed, to say the least.

Natsu didn't even try to argue with his daughter. "Well, I'm hungry. So let's take a break, alright?" He said. And I've really gotta find a bathroom...

Nashi's response was a puff of air blown sharply through her nose. Natsu took this as her form of agreement with the plan, so he took her hand and led her away from the stand of antiques they were currently standing over, in the direction of the food side of town.

"So, what do you want to eat? You can pick anything you want!" He said excitedly, in an attempt to cheer her up.

Nashi considered his offer for a few steps, trying to find some way to argue with it. Then she remembered the pancake shop a few blocks into town. They didn't normally go there because Lucy said it was too expensive for their family of four. But now there's only two... she reasoned. "Can we go to the pancake place, Daddy?" She asked.

Natsu glanced down at his daughter's face and was happy with her expression. Her features were arranged in a perfect show of excitement and anticipation, and her deep brown eyes were lit up. He knew exactly where she wanted to go, and was halfway expecting that she ask to be taken to this particular pancake shop. "Of course we can go there, sweetheart. I said you could pick anything, didn't I?"

Nashi's whole manner seemed to liven up when she was told she could eat at her favorite place, and she started tugging her father's arm so he would move faster. "Come on, Daddy! Come on!" She ordered, skipping up the sidewalk.

Natsu was happy with himself; not only had he cheered his daughter up, he was also getting food. Sadly, they had barely made it past the last street vendor by now, and Natsu had to use the bathroom. He scanned his surroundings and was very pleased when he saw an outhouse just across the street.

"Nashi." He said.

"What?"

"I've gotta use the bathroom. There's one right there," He pointed. "So let's cross the street, okay?"

"Okay!" Normally, Nashi would've impatiently insisted that Natsu wait until they got to the restaurant, but she was in an agreeable mood, so she crossed the street with him.

When they got to the building, Natsu was severely disappointed. It didn't have a family bathroom, and Nashi was too old to go into the men's room with Natsu. He almost told Nashi that they would keep walking and look for a different bathroom, but he knew there weren't any others for a few blocks, and he didn't think he could make it that far. He turned to his daughter.

"Nashi." He said, in a no-nonsense tone. "You have to wait out here, okay? You put your hand here," -He took her hand and placed it on the wall closest to the door- "and if anybody tries to touch you or talk to you, you scream, okay? Do you understand?"

Nashi nodded. "I yell if anybody tries to take me!" She repeated confidently.

"Okay. I'll be right in here. You stay right there. Okay? Don't leave!" And he walked into the men's room.

Nashi looked around the parking lot that the bathroom was by. It was empty, if not for the handful of vendors arranged in a line. There were a few people roaming around, looking for something that would catch their eye. Then Nashi remembered why she had come out with her father in the first place. The snow globe!

Maybe one of the shops has the snow globe. I should go check! But Daddy said to stay here... but he's taking so long. I'll just go run over and see. I'll be back before he gets out for sure! She decided. Removing her hand from the wall, she walked the few meters to the closest vendor. There were no snow globes there, so she moved on to the next one. She was getting pretty far from the bathroom now, and all ideas of returning to the restroom were forgotten. In fact, she had forgotten that her father wasn't right behind her. She could sense a presence a few feet back, and she just assumed it was Natsu.

Nashi was looking at the fourth stall when she saw a snow globe nestled in with the rest of the belongings. She was so excited, and she turned around to tell Natsu. But instead of her father behind her, she instead ran into a green-haired man who was wearing a black cloak. The force that she bumped into him with knocked him backward into a potion vendor behind them. Remembering her dad's directions, she started screaming.

Natsu, having come out of the bathroom to find his daughter missing, felt his blood run cold when he heard a high pitched scream. Nashi! He knew it was her calling out. I told her to stay right here, dammit! He was already running towards where the scream came from.

The scene was not what he was expecting. His daughter was on the ground, next to a wrecked stall. A middle-aged woman, who Natsu assumed was the owner of the stall, was crouched down. Nashi's head was in her lap, and the shop-owner had a panicked look on her face.

"What did you do?!" Natsu roared, pushing the woman away from his daughter. "What happened?!"

"I didn't do anything! She ran into some guy, and he fell onto my table of potions. He broke a few of the bottles, and I think she might've gotten some of the potions in her mouth, since she was screaming-" The woman was trying to explain what had happened, but Natsu interrupted her.

"She ran into somebody?" Natsu's head was already swiveling, looking for anybody who was close to them. This didn't do much good, however, because a small group had gathered around. Undoubtedly, they were the shopkeepers of the neighboring stalls, as well as the customers that had been mindlessly roaming. "Where is he now?"

"He ran away a few seconds after you got here. It looks like he disappeared..." She trailed off.

Natsu felt his heart racing. His daughter was in his arms, and she was completely relaxed. Not in a 'getting comfortable' way. In the way that Natsu would imagine a dead person would be.

"Why is she so still?" Nasu asked. His voice had lost all emotion now.

"I honestly don't know. Like I said, she got some of the liquid brews in her mouth, but I don't know which ones they could've been, since so many were broken."

"What's going to happen to her?" Natsu asked. His voice was grim this time. both he and the woman knew what he was really asking.

"Nothing that I sell can kill somebody, if that's what you are referring to. And she only swallowed a little bit, so it won't have that long of an effect... I think."

"What do you mean, you think?!" Natsu was mad again. The woman opened her mouth to explain herself, but Natsu didn't even let her start. "Never mind." I'm going to take her back to the guild and see if they can do anything for her. His ears didn't even register the shopkeeper;s apologies, and he didn't think to offer his help in cleaning the broken glass from the street.

He picked up Nashi and carried her, bridal style, all the way back to the guild, all the while thinking only one thing.

What am I going to do?

A/N: MWAHAHAHAHAHA! Sorry about the cliffhanger (kinda not sorry at all :) ), but if I wrote the next scene, the chapter would be too long. Sorry! I'm thinking that I'll be updating maybe once or twice a week now, since I've written three chapters this week already... So be on the lookout for chapter 4 sometime in the next week or week after (it won't be tomorrow or the day after, I'll be busy, and that's too soon, I think). I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and hopefully you'll leave a review for me :). Also, somebody faved the story, and followed it! (Actually, it might've been two different people, but I'm not sure if I can even check that... can you? If you know how to see, would you please PM me? Sorry, new user...) But anyway, thank you/both of you! It means a lot to me :) And shout out to the first reviewer! Thank you so much! (I don't remember your username, or I would put it here, and I'm to lazy to check. Sorry!)

That's all for now. Bye!

-K