Natalia wasn't even in preschool when she began to have vivid dreams. She was playing with some dolls and was over hearing the conversation her mother was having with her aunt. It had to do with an ancestor who hid gold in his land during the war. He wanted to make sure he wasn't left with nothing. So he took a jar and filled it with as many gold coins as he could. Then before dawn he hiked the woods to dig a hole. He made sure he wasn't followed so that only he knew where the gold was. Then once the war ended the man told his descendants where the gold was hidden. They men gathered supplies and dug through that forest without finding anything. Natalia's mother then said it was probably because the gold moved with the shift of the earth.Her aunt said that was crazy and that there was probably never gold. It was just a senile man's story. Natalia fell asleep on the floor as they kept talking.
That night Natalia dreamt of a giant man in comparison to her size. He was wearing overalls and had a large beard. He walked into the house and dug a really deep hole in the middle of the living room. Then he left and walked back in with a large boulder that glowed yellow. As Natalia walked closer to the middle where the hole was, she saw the man drop the large boulder into the hole that turned into many coins. She looked down and saw the piles of gold coins in the bottom of the hole. It looked to her like lava. She looked at the man who then turned to look at her and then she felt the floor beneath her disappear. She was falling and Natalia woke up panicking. When her mother tried to calm her down and ask her what happened, Natalia just said, "the gold is under the house." Her mother looked pensive and then said, "it's fine honey, no one will find it." Natalia's mother then began to call her little star after that.
A few days passed and Natalia had another dream. This dream was of her walking and skipping in darkness. She was humming a song and twirling like a happy little girl. Then she saw a bright light appear. She walked closer to the light and it was shining over a lady. The lady was on her knees and praying. Her hair covered with a cloth and her face was barely noticeable. Natalia approached the lady that prayed fervently with her head down. There were only whispers in the area. Natalia got close to look at her face. She had soft features and looked like a young adult. Then Natalia noticed she was crying while she prayed. Unsure what was going on, Natalia asked her, "Why are you crying?" Her words of a child in the room were loud and it echoed despite them being surrounded by total darkness. The lady continued to pray and Natalia stood there trying to listen to her whispers, but then total darkness consumed them. A pressure over her was felt. She felt like the air had changed. There was something that held her down. Then she could smell something familiar. It was that smell of alcohol escaping the pores of once body. Paired with the hot air of someone's breath who has been drinking. Then Natalia woke up as her senses told her she was no longer dreaming. She saw the man her mother was living with as she opened her eyes. Tears began to flow from her eyes as she felt an excruciating pain in her lower body.
Eden jumped up gasping for air. She looked around and saw she was in her room. She looked at her body and covered herself with her blanket. Still catching her breath from what she re-lived in her nightmare. She pulled all the sheets closer and covered her face. She knew she was about to start diving into an emotional state. There was no one to comfort her and tell her that it was just a dream. But even if there was someone to tell that, she knew that these were just memories of her childhood she long wished to completely forget. It was a past she hated being reminded of because she didn't want to be weak or for anyone to feel sorry for her. She just wanted people to like her for her, not for her struggle.
In her life before Evansly, she had dealt with that man. After years, that man was placed in jail and his fate was sealed. The lowest of the lowest criminals got the most punishment by their fellow inmates. However, nothing replaces what was stolen or makes up for a lifetime of constant internal struggle. Thankfully, she grew up with the determination to seek justice and protect others from experiencing such cruelty. The only problem was that sometimes she felt alone. Others like her would go into solitude and not openly share their pain. She learned to diminish her experience for the sake of others. While sitting there thinking about her past and how she can negate those feelings she heard Erza say, "give it all to God, lean not on your understanding." Eden looked at Erza and thought, that's right, I'm not alone, but it sure does hurt. Then she took a deep breath, did a prayer and went back to sleep.
Natalia was now around seven and she was already home from school grabbing a snack, milk and cereal. She was dancing when she heard a knock on the door. She thought it was the nice tenant lady who rented a room with her husband. She ran to the door and greeted with a loud cheerful smile, "Mago!" But to her surprise, it was her mother with a very sour face. Her mother was angry and she suddenly slapped Natalia in the face. "Why did you take so long to open the door!" She yelled at her and continued to beat her. Natalia cried in pain, "what did I do wrong." Her mother looked up at the table and yelled, "you're wasting milk? You left it open!" Natalia tried to cover her face as the swings of her mother kept hitting her. Then her mother looked around and said, "you haven't even done your chores, yet you sit around doing nothing!" Natalia trying not to scream or yell because it would only make it worse for her, she answered, "I was going to have a snack and then do my chores." Natalia didn't receive lunch that day at school because she was late to the cafeteria after being on time out for talking in class. She was always cheerful and talkative with her classmates which got her in time out. The teacher wanted to teach her a lesson for not being quiet during class. So she deliberately made her stay behind and wait until lunch time was almost over. However, Natalia got distracted on her way to the cafeteria with one of her friends and the food was already put away. She went without eating lunch that day. So getting home to eat something was her top priority. A smack on Natalia's head was felt. It was her mother hitting her with the broom. She said, "since you don't use this, then I'm going to punish you with it." Finally, after so much emotional and physical pain, Natalia fell unconscious under the table where she found refuge from the violence her mother was using.
The next day Natalia felt sore from the punishment she received. She continued her day as if nothing happened and got up to do her chores. She then noticed her mother sitting at the dining table drinking coffee. Afraid to enrage her she quickly went for the broom to sweep the floor. Her mother said, "You don't need to do chores today, it's already done." Natalia looked around and saw it was clean. Then her mother asked, "is there a place you want to go? Somewhere special?" Natalia said without a second thought, "the fair, there's one in town that we always drive past. We never go." Her mother smiled and said, "okay, I'll take you there. Go get dressed and tell your brother and sisters to do the same." Natalia ran back to her room in excitement and shook her siblings to get up. They got ready right away and planned out what ride they wanted to get on. They all agreed on the ferris wheel because it was the highest and they could see the city. Then a knock on the door was heard. Her cousins had arrived with her aunt. Natalia told them of where they were headed and her cousins begged their mom to go too. Her aunt agreed, but asked Natalia's mother "why are you taking them to the fair?" "Because I took my anger out on her and I'm trying to make up for it," answered Natalia's mother.
Everyone was getting ready to leave, the kids assumed that they were going to go in Natalia's mothers' car parked across the street, but she said they were taking the van. Then they all started to get out of the car and run across the street to get in the van. Natalia was the last one to get out of the car and then ran behind them to catch up. That's when a car hit her. In that instance she saw everything go white. When she opened her eyes, she saw a big tire. She tried to move her body but couldn't. Then she saw her sister run towards her and tried to pull her up to stand. Her mother stopped her and said, "you shouldn't move her." Minutes had gone by and she was then transported via ambulance. On the ride to the hospital, the paramedic kept talking to Natalia, "don't go to sleep, stay awake sweety." The only words Natalia was able to say were, "where's my mom? I want my mom." Her mother was crying and saying, "I'm here! Don't worry baby, I'm here." Then Natalia fell asleep.