"So this bastard's always had this strange- Fixation- For Natsu?" Sting whispered. "Even before he was a young adult?"

"Apparently," Laxus muttered, as he shifted through the stacks of papers and books. He looked up, eyes falling one picture before plucking it off the wall. "According to this one, date puts him to have been at this since the little Firecracker was 3."

"Sick-" Sting breathed. He took a step back, holding his clenched hands close to his chest and trembled. His breathing came out in gasps. "Sick fucking bastard-"

"I don't get it..." Gray whispered.

"Get what?"

"This." Gray waved his hand to the entire room. "All of this. Why did he wait so long to act? If- If he's been watching Natsu since he was like three- then why- why-"

"Why not grab him then?" Gajeel finished, Gray nodded. "Yeah- I've been kinda wondering about that myself actually."

"What do you think?"

"I think we might have something akin to a twisted 'destined soulmate' case."

"What's that?" Sting asked.

"Every watched a Disney princess movie?" Gajeel asked. "Like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty? The older ones basically-"

"The closest thing I watched recently was with- what's her face-" Laxus frowned, closing his eyes and folded his arms. "Uh- Cinderella, I think it was. I had Wendy and her girlfriends over and Freed said I had to be nice and let them watch what they wanted- Whether I liked it or not..."

Laxus cringed.

"Okay." Gajeel nodded. "We'll use that then. You all know the reoccurring theme in all of those movies right? With at least the first four Disney broads?"

"You mean between Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora and- uh- Ariel?"

"Yeah-Those four- Whatever." Gajeel rolled his eyes. "Look, you know how like, in the first twenty minutes of their movies, the guy and the girl, after meeting each other for the first time or if one first saw the other and other is oblivious until later and then they automatically fall in love and in like, two days worth of time later and they live happily ever after right and that all that bullshit?"

"Right..."

"Well, we got ourselves something like that," Gajeel looked back to the wall. "But not in a way that could be seen as romantic or normal. More or so as a twisted obsession."

"So- he started out as a pedophile before upgrading to stalking killer then upgrading to a kidnapper slash rapist? Once my brother grew older?" Sting asked, disgust still evident.

"No... Well- Maybe," Gajeel sighed massaging his temples. "Twins above, how can I explain this-"

He blinked, looking behind him before turning around entirely and moved toward the messy table in front of him as if realizing something. Ignoring Gray's demand of finishing what he was about to say, he suddenly reached forward and snagged a leather-bound book from the precarious pile of papers causing them to tumble onto the floor and spread everywhere, like spilled milk. Gajeel snorted at mess underneath his feet and at Laxus's growl with a roll of his eyes and began flipping through the pages, tongue between his teeth.

"You gonna tell us sometime today, Metalhead?" Gray asked in angered annoyance, placing his hands on his hips. "I don't wanna trouble you-"

"Alright, I think I got it. Here's a good example," Gajeel answered, ignoring the insult. "Okay, so Blondie's was somewhat right on the dot, but I think I can now explain it bit better."

"How?"

"His journal," Gajeel responded, holding up the the book in his hands. "From the dates printed here, he's been writing in this one when Pinky first caught his eye, up till he was 5. So there might be more of them lying around here somewhere-"

His eyes briefly looked to the remaining piles on the table, which Laxus caught sight of and started looking through the piles upon piles of papers on the table as Gajeel returned back to the journal in hand.

"Okay here, we have him first writing on the day he first met Pinky and about his strange reactions-"

"Reactions?" Gray asked, folding his arms and raising an eyebrow. "Is that what we call that?"

Gajeel ignored him. He held the book out toward Gray and Sting. "Read."

Gray narrowed his eyes before snatching the book out of Gajeel's hand and began to read with Sting peeking over his shoulder and reading along with him;

It's been so long since I written in a journal, must've been 12 since I last wrote in one.

Today, I moved recently into a new town and I saw this kid.

A kid like no other surely. A kid who had to be no older then three or four, with bubble-gum colored hair and with eyes that I couldn't begin to describe. Such oddity- With hues of liquid gold, honey tones and caramel fillings-

"So he's always had this fetish for Natsu's eyes." Gray said, looking up from the passage. "Even when flame-brain was like what- 4?- What's that proving?"

"A lot more then you think- Now I want you to read this one."

Gray blinked as Gajeel suddenly ripped the journal from the ravenette's hands and he flipped through the pages until he found the desired one, handing it back to Gray just as Sting leaned in closer for another look;

Saw the kid.

He is now five according to the banner held between the park trees. His name is Natsu Dragneel. Odd name for a child but I shall not question it for his father has a far odder one, Igneel his brother, Zeref. A strange family.

His eyes, his hair, his beautiful smile-

Why can't I stop seeing them? Why do they haunt me the minute I close my own? What power does this kid possess- To make me desire him?

I introduced myself to the father and connected with the children. I was allowed to pick up and hold Natsu. He was so soft, so warm- Beautiful. Perfect.

I'm- I'm in love...

I want him!

"What?" Gray asked, holding the book away from him and Sting like he had just seen the most revolting thing in the world. "This bastard- This sick twisted son of a bitch-"

"Oh wait. It gets better." Gajeel grunted, jabbing a thumb at one of the newspaper clips. "Now I want you to read this."

Gray found his eyes wandering to the wall once more until they found the article Gajeel was pointing to and he nearly blanched;

MYSTERY DEATH OF FIORE'S BEST FIRE CHIEF

In the morning of July 7th around 3:07 am, a violent act had broken out in the quiet town of Magnolia as a fire raged out of control inside of an apartment complex, killing 4 and wounding several others. Igneel Dragneel, 47, was one of the four found dead, charred beyond recognition and leaving behind a seven year old son, Natsu, who at the time was at a friend's house for a sleepover. A well-known fire chief that was head of Fiore's Fire Department had to be identified by means of dental records. His death sparked many cries of anguish as well as cries of anger.

So what happened?

The Forensic team in Blue Pegagus, who were handed the case over by Fairy Tail as they had felt that it would be too personal, hadn't confirmed anything but they aren't finding much in the charred wreckage either.

'We aren't ruling anything out. We are open to different possibiltes.' Said one representative. 'But all we can say is that it that right now, all evidence seems to point to an accident.'

One of the survivors of the fire, who wishes to remain unnamed, claimed that before the fire broke out, he swore that a little after 2:30 am when he was returning home from a late night shift that he heard Igneel arguing with someone.

'Sounded like he was mad.' The witness claims. 'There was someone else with him, yelling at him. Never saw them, must've came when I was at work. Only thing I remember was it had something to do with some kid and then- about half an hour later- we smelled smoke. The whole place was in flames.'

Though Blue Pegagus have looked into these claims they had not found much to support the witness's theory since the apartment had no video survallience or monitoring systems. Meanwhile, around 7:16 am on the same day, on the other side of town, one of Igneel's closest friends, Weisslogia Eucliffe, 39, was pronounced dead at the scene of a hit and run after dropping his 13 year old son, Sting, off at school, which helped Blue Pegagus to take a look at the possiblities that both Igneel's and Weisslogia's deaths may have been murder based and the that there may be a connection.

The driver is still at large.

'It is rather bizzare.' Said a responding EMT. 'But this can't all mean nothing. If you ask me, I think the guy shoved right in front of the other guy's car and the other guy, scared, ran off.'

It further encouraged Blue Pegagus's efforts when another two of Igneel's closest friends, Skiadrum Cheney, 42, and Metalicana Redfox, 46, were found bludgeoned to death at the Redfox household the same day around 11:32 am while their childeren, Rogue, 11, and Gajeel, 14, were at school and the killer remains at large-

"Kid?" Sting whispered, eyes never leaving the clipping. "My dad-? What are they-?"

"Didn't Weisslogia mention anything to you, about a settlement of of affairs prior to July 7th?" Gajeel asked. "I sure as hell know for a fact Metalicana didn't tell me shit. Never told me shit anyhow-"

"No," Sting muttered, shaking his head. "I don't recall him ever saying anything about a 'settlement'. So Weisslogia- My dad- His death wasn't- wasn't an accident?"

He looked to Gajeel, tears shimmering. "He- Montoya or this- This bastard- He- They killed them?"

"Dunno," Gajeel replied. "We won't know for sure until we can find viable proof or another one of his journals to prove it. Rogue and I always knew our fathers were killed by some asshat. But to know that our mystery guy or Montoya may have had some part of it just cause they wanted the lord of Pinks- It just pisses me off."

"So- Igneel's death wasn't an accident either, was it?" Gray whispered, hair shielding his face. He gripped his hand tightly feeling blood slipping through the clutched flesh. "I'll kill him."

"Gray?"

"I'LL KILL HIM!" Gray roared, lifting his head revealing the fire in his eyes that had Sting quickly back away. "I'll kill him! If I ever see him again, there won't be mercy! Death! JUST DEATH! I've made too many excuses for people like him! He's been torturing Natsu far too long! Not anymore! Not once I get a hold of his throat!"

"Now hold up there, Frosty." Gajeel said, holding his hands up. "We don't know that this guy is the one responsible for Weisslogia's and or Igneel's deaths, heck if he's even responsible for Skiadrum's or my old bastard's. And no, I ain't defending him either." He countered upon the look on Gray's face. "What I'm saying is, that it is possible he might've played a small part to it by simply hiring a guy to do the work for him. All we're getting is that he was barely coming to terms with his feelings toward Pinky and he that he may have had some knowledge our parents and that he indeed got close and spent time with Natsu."

Gajeel sighed, before looking to the wall behind him.

"And that's another thing that's bothering me-"

"What's bothering you?"

"FOUND THEM!"

All three men turned to look at Laxus, whom they seemed to have completely forgotten about, as he held high above his head another leather-bound book and a couple more under his arm. Each identical to the one in Gray's own hand.

"Bastard had them hidden in a box behind the desk."

"Good good." Gajeel replied holding his hand out. "Let's see the evidence come to light at long last."

Silence fell over them as Gajeel began speed-reading and flipping the pages, folding ones he deemed essential. His eyes roved over each page at such a pace that Gray actually questioned himself on whether or not the dark haired man was truly reading it. He snorted after awhile and held his hand out behind him toward Laxus.

"This one doesn't explain shit, other then his sudden desire to be with Natsu fascination to the 'beauty' Natsu had grown into. Dates have him when Natsu was around 13 maybe 14 and he somehow losing Natsu to- oh big surprise- Gray. Didn't sound too heartbroken neither. Apparently his desire to mutilate Gray kept him occupied- " Gajeel muttered as Laxus pressed another book into his hand. He opened it and quickly flipped through it. "Here we go. This one happened the day after the deaths of our parents."

Gray and Sting moved in closer, wide eyed as Gajeel cleared his throat and began reading the passage;

This power I feel, there is probably no known word to describe it just yet and yet it is the most wondrous that I had ever felt.

This power?

Did my love for Natsu grant me this?

Though I pity the man who would have been his second father, Weisslogia and the child he had with him. That poor boy that I had now orphaned. Neither hey needn't need to suffer for Igneel's foolhardy behavior. But Natsu.

Natsu.

The poor boy. He has no one now, does he? I saw to Igneel's other broad, Metalicana and Skiadrum, same day I killed Igneel and Weisslogia and the woman Grandeeny, I need not worry as she had passed away on the same day after losing a long battle with a fatal illness. So, what will become of Natsu?

Will he be mine? We'll see.

We'll see.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Sting asked.

"It means that only did he just confirm that he killed both your parents but it also confirmed that he knew of Rogue and my dads and silenced them too." Gajeel replied, flipping through the pages. He furrowed his eyebrows. "It doesn't tell us what name he used to gain their trust or tell us how he did it either. It focuses more on his conflicting feelings and of-"

"Why do you think he used a different name?" Gray asked.

"Call it a hunch, but I have a feeling he may have already had quiet a bloody history long before Natsu came around the corner," Gajeel answered as he plucked another book from Laxus's arm. "And since Igneel, being Fiore's best firefighter and basically had friends in all the right places, would have had access to any and all criminal and police records, he probably didn't want a criminal within a twenty mile radius of his son and our mystery guy, Jeremy, Lyon said his name was, was no doubt desperate to connect with Natsu, as mentioned in here, didn't want Igneel to know who or what he was until it was too late and had Natsu in his clutches."

"So- He ended up being a pedophile?" Sting asked, folding his arms and fixing Gajeel with a glare. "Cause that's what it sounds like."

"Were you not listening, Blondie?" Gajeel growled, eyes still glued to the pages, "He's wasn't exactly a pedo since it isn't written that he chased any other kid-"

Gajeel froze.

"Gajeel. You look a little pale," Gray said, placing a hand on the man's shoulder. "Is something the matter?"

"He knew Hayden." Gajeel answered, voice barely above a whisper.

"What?" Gray whispered, granted, he heard what the man said but he could not stop the feeling of anger and hate poisoning his very blood stream.

"He knew of Hayden. He earned Hayden's trust," Gajeel responded, eyes wide as he slowly looked to all of them. "I don't know how but he did, since doesn't trust anyone easily which also means-"

He waved the book in hand back and forth.

"We need to talk to Valerian," Gajeel suddenly declared. "And Hayden. We need to talk to both of them immediately!"

"What?" Sting blinked. "Why?"

"Cause you fucking dumbass," Gajeel responded, gritting his own teeth. "If anyone payed any attention to our surroundings and the people that visited us as we grew up it would be Hayden and Valerian, since they have been with us since we're young."

"Who are you calling a 'dumbass'?"

"Who are you calling a 'jackass'?"

"ENOUGH!" Laxus roared causing both men to freeze and tremble under the mere sound. "Let's just grab what we can, get your guild down here to rope this area off so if the bastard comes back we can nail him, we'll haul Valerian into questioning when we get back to Fairy Tail."

He quickly rounded on Gray.

"Frosty! When's Valerian getting home?"

"I don't know," Gray shrugged, "He's got a delivery to the kingdom Fiore and isn't supposedly coming home until another couple of days."

"Alright then. Let's get the hell out of here. Being here is giving me the creeps"

"Fine."

"Tch."

Both men quickly shared a quick death glare the second that Laxus turned his back on them and began looking for papers that he deemed important. After a few seconds or so, they decided to help Laxus and began gather stuff up as well while Gray picked up all seven of the leather bound books, placing them all in a bag before picking up the last one and stared hard at the last one.

What other dark secrets did these little books hide?

Three days had passed and not only was Jeremy still on the loose, Gray had managed to read all seven books and began to reunite himself once more with the feeling of fear and disgust as well as a rather large dose of pure hatred.

Jerome had to be the most sick minded individual Gray must of had the displeasure of ever knowing or reading about. This man, granted while Gray already knew of the man's strange fixation with taxidermy and the need of mounting his victims eyes on the art he made, but it wasn't till he reached the end of the sixth journal did Gray feel a mixture anger as well as regret. Not only did this prick not once discussed his strange habits or any of his previous kills, he also finally began discovering his sexual fantasies of his pinkette. They eventually managed to pick up Gray and Natsu's neighbor, Valerian, who had come home weary from his truck delivery and asked him as many questions as possible.

Flashback

Valerian yawned as he jumped down from the last step of his big rig truck and onto the concrete in front of his house. Stretching his arms as high as he could until he heard a satisfying pop in his back.

That did the trick.

"Home sweet home."

He looked to the house he knew that Gray and Natsu shared as a smile spread across his face. He wondered if Gray was home yet and how Natsu and Happy were doing since it was just the two of them. He chuckled as he looked to his truck and began wondering if the three would appreciate the souvenirs. He hoped they like them- Especially Gray-

"Valerian!"

He blinked and looked back to the house next to his and found the man in question running toward him, face full of desperation and anxiety. Valerian smiled and waved toward the dark haired male.

"Heya Gray," he said, "How's it going?"

"I need you to come to Fairy Tail with me."

"What why?" Valerian was lost. "What happened?"

"Five days ago, Natsu was kidnapped-"

"WHAT?!" Valerian could not believe what he just heard! "What happened?!"

"Someone broke into my house but don't worry- we got him back. Safe and Sound," Gray quickly explained, "But that's where you come in-"

"Huh?" Valerian was defiantly confused. "How on earth do I plan any part of this?"

"According to some written records, the guy knew of Igneel and Hayden and earned their trust-"

"Uh huh."

"Which means you may have known him!"

"Who?"

"Please tell me a Jeremy Valmen sounds familiar to you."

"Unfortunately no, it doesn't." Valerian shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry, son. Is Natsu okay?"

"He's okay... For now."

End Flashback

They had hit a dead end and matters were made worse for them when Gray had finally gathered the courage and grew a pair and finally called up Hayden and asked him the same question and was met with the same answer that he was given by Valerian. The only upside was that the skull and skeleton were indeed a match to each other and Hayden confirmed that it was indeed the old man and had been dead a good decade prior to the whole ordeal and had died of natural causes though this didn't stop Hayden from threatening to castrate Gray for his inability to protect his 'son'. More bad news came when it had been discovered that the microchip was implanted on Natsu- at least, according to one of the journals- the same day the bastard had the gall to attack Natsu that night the pinkette decided to walk home alone after after having gone into a rather messy fight with Gray that same night. He brought his findings to Gajeel and Lyon, who was hacking into Jeremy's hard drive and had it confirmed the minute Lyon gained access to Jeremy's files.

"You said when the bastard snuck up on him, he injected a type of sedative into Natsu's bloodstream to make him more complacent?" Lyon said, looking to the inky-haired male. "By means of his neck right?"

"Yeah-"

"After the whole ordeal, has Natsu ever complained to you or anyone of any pains or discomforts in or around his neck area?"

Gray actually had to think real far back on that one.

"No." He admitted after a lengthy silence, he closed his eyes, tilted his head to one side and folded his arms. "But- But he did massage and knead his neck- Rogue's even caught him at it at one point... In the same spot where Owen dug the chip out..."

And then Gray felt like the world's biggest idiot.

With that aside, Gray had to reacquire himself with another feeling almost long forgotten; happiness.

He heard news from Sting that Natsu was finally free from the tyranny that was his medicines but would still be in the hospital until the end of the week. So naturally, Gray was well beyond what anyone would consider normal ecstatic behavior and made his way to the hospital, not caring how disheveled, dirty or half-naked he may appear to the average civilian. He had to see Natsu.

A whole two weeks of not seeing his pinkette was long enough.

And he refused to count Natsu's run-in with Erza's car, his near-death experience on the way to the hospital and his after-surgery visit as 'seeing him'.

He sped down the roads toward the hospital, scaring poor Lucy in the process, before he was able to park, again, scaring poor Lucy, and made a mad dash into the hospital. He ignored the many different voices that expressed their opinion on his attire as he dashed past the front desk and ran down the hall before Owen, who was leaving the room of another patient, suddenly appeared in the middle of Gray's path. Both set of eyes went wide as Gray skidded right into the man, everything that was in the hippie's hands were sent flying as the two men tumbled onto the floor and both groaning as their bodies made contact with the hard tiled floor. Gray was able to recompose himself and get back up onto his feet rather quickly.

"Sorry Owen," He panted, offering a hand out to the fallen man. "Didn't see you."

"It's all fine Snowflake." Owen grinned, accepting the hand and being pulled up onto his feet. "What's got you in such a hurry?"

"Natsu." Gray couldn't help grinning like mad as he gathered all of the fallen items off the floor. "He's finally better. All better."

"I don't know if he's all better." Owen said, smile dropping slightly as he held his hands out and accepted the items. "We haven't actually seen what his exact state of mind-"

"We'll get to the bridge in a moment!" Gray called back at the surprised man. "Right now! I gotta to see my baby!"

"Have fun then." Owen smiled and waved as he watched the ravenette run deeper into the halls.

Gray continued his trek until he skidded to a halt right outside the room he knew held his lover. He quickly braced himself and took a deep breath (all very hard with his giggling school-girl like antics) before he opened the door and felt his very heart attempt to break out of his chest at the sight.

Natsu. His Natsu was sitting up, looking quite adorably child-like and was being spoon-fed by Rogue, who was smiling like a mother who had her wish granted and her child remained little, along with Freed and a young woman with light brown hair, arranged in a sidewards ponytail dark brown eyes that hid behind a pair of oval glasses and very voluptuous figure, whom Gray had to guess was Evergreen (again, he rarely saw her) as both of them awed the scene before them. Every time Rogue presented Natsu with a spoon full of hospital gruel (at least, that's what Gajeel called it) the pinkette opened his mouth wide, swallowing the spoon before allowing Rogue to pull it out and scoop up another spoonful of white-gray mush while Natsu bounced and danced slightly in his bed, munching his food while moving his head side to side to some unheard rhythm and humming.*

"Natsu..." He breathed as tears began to sparkle as he took a step forward. "Natsu..."

Natsu blinked and looked up at the sound of his name being uttered and locked eyes with the familiar set of dark blue eyes. Tears began to shimmer in those beautiful golden eyes as a weak smile began to form on his lips.

"Gra-"

His voice died the minute Gray ran and practically scooped him up into a tight hug (still being careful with the IV and his wounds), just Freed and Evergreen moved out of the way. His tears fell and sprinkled Natsu's face as he began peppering his face with kisses.

"I missed you." Gray whispered between every little kiss. "I missed you."

Natsu grinned and laughed lightly as he nuzzled into Gray's chest before his lips were captured by Gray's. Natsu's eyes fluttered shut while the tears kept flowing, he sighed into the kiss and it wasn't long before the kiss was broken and Natsu gazed into the tear-stained happy face of his lover.

"I missed you too." Natsu breathed against his lips.

* = Does anyone remember watching the Pixar movie, Monsters Inc. where when Mike and Sulley hid the little girl, Boo in their apartment, Sulley feeds her these Cheerio like cereal bits to her from behind the chair and she does a little dance while she eats it?

I recently re-watched Monsters Inc. and that scene just reminded me so heavily of Natsu in a way... X3