The great mountain of Mount Olympus was vibrating with excitement and anticipation. A call to invitation stretched out from the highest clouds to the lowest, where it was paved with a crowd of gods and goddesses, dressed in mystical robes and dresses most fair. Eventually, the population assembled in the throne room of Igneel, the ruler of Olympus, for a momentous and joyful day.

A grand celebration was hosted, where the gods and goddesses of Olympus gathered to celebrate the birth of the newborn son of Igneel and his wife Cassandra, the Queen of the Gods. Among the great deities invited were Grandeeney the Goddess of the Sky, Metalicana the God of Metal and War, Weisslogia the God of Light and Purity, Skiadrum the God of Shadow and Stealth, Taurus the Blacksmith God, Mavis the Goddess of Love and Kindness, Imitatia the Goddess of Childhood, Chagot the Goddess of Seasons, Kemo-Kemo the God of Plant Life and Harvest, Aquarius the Goddess of the Seas, Cancer the God of Fashion, Aries the Goddess of Emotion, Lyra the Goddess of Song, Virgo the Goddess of Earth, Sagittarius the God of the Hunt, Scorpio the God of Adventure, Gemini the Twin Gods of Fun, Capricorn the God of Virtue, Libra the Goddess of Wisdom and Knowledge, Pisces the Goddess of Shape and Form, and much more.

The sunlight of the sun god Atlas Flame pierced through the clouds, giving a comforting warm glow to Cassandra's newborn baby. The goddess in question was a beautiful woman with glowing skin and wavy brown hair, wearing a glittering pink dress and a silver tiara.

"Natsu, my dear!" Cassandra cooed, as her baby boy reached up to her tiara and removed it. Laughing playfully, she took the tiara and placed it back on her head, and laid the baby onto a crib materialized from the clouds. "Behave yourself, darling."

Natsu blinked around the cloudy atmosphere when the face of Igneel leapt in front of him. "Awww, look at this. Look how cute he is." The God of Fire made babbling noises to appease his baby boy, waggling his finger in front of him. Natsu giggled back, and he grabbed Igneel's finger and lifted him above the cradle.

"Hah!" Igneel said in amazement. "Wow, he's strong. Just like his old man."

"Whoa! Excuse me!" a voice cried. "Hot stuff comin' through! Excuse me! One side, Metalicana."

Flashing past the gods at a speed of light was a young man with largely spiked brown hair and dressed in a black tuxedo and sunglasses. His name was Leo, the Messenger of the Gods. Approaching Igneel and Cassandra, he smiled charmingly, "Good morning, Queen Cassandra. My, do you look fabulous this morning." He bent down on one knee and presented a bouquet of flowers to Cassandra, "I brought you these flowers, grown from the gardens of the Celestial Spirit World."

Cassandra remarked, "Why, Leo, they're lovely."

Leo nodded, "Yeah. I had Pyxis and Caelum do the arrangements." He flew up to Igneel, "Fabulous birthday party for your newborn kid, ain't it, Igneel? You know, I haven't seen this much love in a room since Aries discovered herself."

Sure enough, Aries was seen looking at her reflection in a mirror, and she blushed just looking at it. "Oh, gosh…" she whispered to herself.

Cancer appeared beside Aries and asked, holding up his trademark crab scissors, "Would ya like a trim, baby?"

Aries replied blushingly, "No thank you, Cancer." She touched her hair gently, "I like it this length."

Leo noticed something from Natsu's crib. He said, "Hey, check it out. Your kid's playing with one of your fire balls from your nimbus closet."

Igneel and Cassandra turned to see Natsu grabbing his father's fire ball and nibbling on it playfully. Cassandra was concerned of the baby's safety, as mortal mothers were; though Natsu was born a god, he was still a baby.

Cassandra said to her husband, "Igneel, keep those away from the baby."

"Aww, Natsu will be fine," Igneel assured his wife with a sly smile. "He inherits my fire magic. It grants him the ability to absorb and devour any attribute of fire, and his strength increases every time he eats it. The more fire he eats, the more strength he gains." He wrapped his arm around Cassandra's shoulder, "So don't worry. He won't hurt himself. Let the kid have a little fun."

Then, as if drawn by a mystic force, every trace of the small ball of flame was sucked into Natsu's nostrils. Feeling a strange sensation in his nose, Natsu sneezed, spitting out a strong torrent of fire. Several gods yelped and jumped out of the way, until Grandeeney whacked it with a sword. The flames instantly destroyed a pillar, which immediately mended itself, luckily because the pillars were made out of clouds.

"Oh, dear!" Grandeeney exclaimed. "I have to say, Lord Igneel, your baby child is rather reckless."

"Kids these days," Igneel chuckled, rolling his eyes. He then projected to his fellow gods and goddesses, "My brothers and sisters, on behalf of my son, I'd like to thank you all for your wonderful gifts!" He gestured to a huge pile of golden toys presented by the Olympians as homage, tribute, and respect to the infant.

"What about our gift, dear?" Cassandra reminded Igneel that the two had to give a gift of their own.

"Well, now that you mention it, let's see here…" Igneel pondered, trying to come up with the perfect family gift. He noticed a few clouds floating nearby, "We'll take, hmm… yes, a little cirrus, and a touch of nimbostratus…" He mixed the two pieces of clouds together into the shape of a small creature, "…and a dash of cumulus." To put the finishing touches, he slammed the last piece of cloud into the back of the creature, forming wings.

Igneel moved the cloudy creature in front of Natsu. Just then, out of the bodily cloud popped the head of a blue cat with big black eyes and pink ears.

"His name is Happy," Igneel explained, as the newly bred cat-like creature shook the rest of the cloud off. The rest of his body consisted of a white underbelly, blue fur, a tail with white fur on the top, and white feathered wings. "An Exceed, a bluebird of happiness. And he's all yours, son."

"Aye!" This was the baby Exceed's first word. He almost fell off Igneel's hand, until his wings stretched and flew him upward. He flew over to Natsu, who promptly bonked his head against the little Exceed's.

"Aye!" Happy cried again, and he licked Natsu's face with his tongue. Natsu was sacred and anxious at first, but when the Exceed snuggled in with him, the baby placed his arms around his new friend and hugged him. The rest of the gods said "ooh's" and "aah's", touched by the emotional meeting between the two young friends.

Metalicana remarked, "Hey, Ig's little brat is so cute. So is that cat."

Weisslogia nodded, "Agreed. Those two heavenly birds are perfect for each other."

"Mind his head," Cassandra stated.

"He's so tiny," Igneel grinned. He picked up Natsu, who nibbled on the white scaled scarf around his neck. The scarf's two prominent marks were the symbol of Olympus at the front, and Natsu's name at the back. In the end, Natsu surrendered to the temptations of sleep as he yawned. Igneel gently placed the baby back in his crib and wrapped a blanket.

"My boy," Igneel whispered. "My little Natsu." He concluded with a gentle kiss on the forehead. It would appear that nothing could ruin this touching moment…

"How sentimental."

A deep, condescending voice echoed from the clouds of Olympus, catching everyone's attention. It belonged to a tall man with long and wavy black hair reaching his shoulders and tied up in a very large ponytail, and dark slanted eyes. He donned a long-sleeved black jacket trimmed with a light-colored flame pattern and white rolled up cuffs, a purple v-necked shirt adorned with a buckle just below his clavicle, light-colored pants, and black boots. His name was Mard Geer Tartaros, the God of the Dead and ruler of the Underworld, as well as Igneel's brother.

"You know, I haven't been this choked up since I got a hunk of moussaka caught in my throat! Huh?" Mard said, asking an opinion from any of the gods and goddesses. Of course, their only reply was a frown. Mard had gained notoriety over the eons as a nasty, sleazy deity that had caused a lot of problems for both gods and mortals. Though he played an important part in helping Igneel overthrow the Etherious in the historic battle known as the Etheriomachy, Mard was not accepted in the Olympian pantheon. Mard was dissatisfied with his promotion as God of the Underworld, but had no choice and became the ruler of his new realm, where the souls of the dead journey. He had been longing to place himself higher on par with the Olympians ever since.

Mard said dryly, "I don't know if this is an audience or a mosaic." He made his way through, greeting those he passed by, "Hello there, how are you doing? You're looking good, Chagot. Nice dress."

"So, Mard Geer, you finally made it!" Igneel grinned. He approached Mard and gave him a bone-crushing hug, and placed his hand heavily on his brother's shoulder. "How are things in the Underworld?"

Mard shrugged, removing Igneel's hand, "Oh, as usual. Things in the Underworld are just fine. A little dark, a little gloomy, and as always, full of dead people. What do you expect from someone who ruled the dead for so long?"

Upon noticing Natsu in his cradle, the Lord of the Dead approached the baby with a cruel smirk. "Ah, there is the little fire breather, my nephew, my little smootchie." With a flick of his hands, Mard materialized a sucker with a spiky skeleton head from a small cloud of black dust. "And here is a sucker for the little sucker. Here you go, you just…"

Mard went to put the sucker in his nephew's mouth, but Natsu grabbed his uncle's hand before he could do so. Mard cried from the intense pain, and after a struggle, he managed to get his finger free, which had been slightly broken as a result of Natsu's strength.

Metalicana laughed in amusement, "All of a sudden, I'm a member of the brat's fan club!"

Mard cringed, painfully holding his broken finger, "What a powerful little tyke."

"Come on, Mard, don't be such a stiff," Igneel pouted, throwing his arm around Mard. "You should join the celebration. Enjoy the party and live a little."

Mard ducked under Igneel and replied, "Well, I could use a little rest and relaxation, but unlike you gods having the time of your lives above Earth, I regrettably have a full-time gig that I must attend, which you, by the way, were so charitably generous enough to bestow upon me… Igneel." He said his brother's name with much loath and contempt in it. "So, I can't. I'd love to, but I can't."

Igneel insisted, "You oughta slow down; you'll work yourself to death." He then paused and began to laugh hysterically at the joke he just made, "HA HA HA! WORK YOURSELF TO DEATH!"

It wasn't long before the gods and goddesses joined in the laughter. Mard, however, was not pleased. It was true that he had spent an eternity ruling the Underworld and watching over the souls of the dead. But he wanted better; he deserved to be respected among the gods. He deserved to be placed higher. He deserved to be worshiped.

Igneel collapsed on a chair materialized from the clouds, pounding his arms and shaking with laughter. "Oh, I kill myself!"

"If only," Mard laughed politely, as he turned away and departed from the throne room. His voice then turned bitter, "If only…" By the tone of his voice, it would appear that he wanted his brother to die. Better yet, he wanted to kill Igneel personally when he had the chance.

We now go back to the gallery, where the Muses stood at a vase depicting Mard Geer walking down the stairs of Mount Olympus to his realm of the Underworld. He stood on a rowboat at the River Styx, the river of endlessly floating souls, operated by an undead servant.

Ultear stated, "If there's one god you don't want to get steamed up, it's Mard Geer Tartaros."

Meredy added in a scary tone, "Because he had an evil plan." The image then turned back into the real world, where Mard Geer was rowed across the River Styx.

Brandish: He ran the Underworld,
But thought the dead were dull and uncouth

One of the souls in the river crept onto the boat, and tried to claw at Mard's feet. The Lord of the Dead replied with a blast of dark lightning from his hand, knocking the soul back into the river. Satisfied with his work, he blew the smoke from the tip of his fingers.

He was as mean as ruthless
And that's the gospel truth

The boat then approached a large gate that opened, and suddenly the sounds of snarls and snapping of teeth resonated within the dark depths. Standing on a platform was a massive dark blue humanoid demon covered with a series of spikes all over his body. His name was Deliora, Mard Geer's pet and guardian of the entrance to the Underworld. The monster growled ferociously, expecting something his master found from the world above.

He had a plan to shake things up

In response, Mard threw a hunk of meat at Deliora. The spiked demon grabbed the meat and carnivorously munched on it like a dog hastily eating his meal.

And that's the gospel truth

Upon reaching the entrance, the boat arrived at Mard Geer's lair; a huge rock formation shaped like a skull, brimming with eeriness and empty shadows. The dark headquarters of the Lord of the Dead defied the curtain of shadow with endless souls travelling from the long line to the center.

Indeed, the Underworld was very dull for his taste, but if everything went as he had hoped, Mard Geer would get a big promotion very soon.