Lucy grinned at the playful catcalls and cheerful hello's as she walked into Fairy Tail, and waved to everyone on her way to the jobs board. It was time she began looking for a well-paying mission or two so that she could make her rent by the due date. And since she had business to attend outside of Magnolia, as well, she needed to start looking for a good job now, even though she'd just paid this month's rent.

She spent a few minutes looking through the different postings. There were some possibilities, though nothing that really tickled her fancy and was in the right direction. But finally she came across one that was half-buried under newer listings, and as soon as she'd read over it a pleased smile crossed her face and she spun around to head to the bar and let Mira know which job she was taking.

"Good morning, Lucy!" Mirajane smiled brightly at her, before pulling out the jobs ledger to take note of which posting the blonde had chosen. "That time again, eh?" She read over the information on the job, and when she saw the reward amount, her brow lifted. "Oh, wow! That should be enough to pay your rent for several months. It'll be nice not to have to worry about it for a while, right?"

She laughed. "Yeah, that's for sure. Hey, have you seen Natsu? Or maybe Gray or Erza? I wanted to let them know that I'll be gone."

Mira blinked, then looked a little uneasy, though Lucy had no idea why. Before she could ask what was wrong, the barmaid said, "I haven't seen Gray or Erza so far today, but Natsu went on a job with... with Lisanna for four or five days. They left early this morning."

"Oh," she responded blankly, then shrugged. "Okay. Well, when you see Erza or Gray, could you let them know for me, then?"

"Sure thing!" the blue-eyed woman replied. "You want me to tell them that you'll be back in-" she glanced at the job listing, "-two weeks or so?"

Lucy shook her head. "No, actually I won't be back for about three weeks. I have some... personal business to take care of on my way home, and I'm not sure how long it will take me to finish that. But if you could make sure the rest of the team knows so they don't freak out, I'd appreciate it."

"Is everything okay?" Mira asked, concerned. For just a moment, there had been something in the younger girl's tone...

At that question, the blonde just laughed. "Of course! No worries, everything's perfectly fine. Well," she said, "I'd better get going so I can get my gear from my apartment and make the train. See you, Mira!" she waved as she turned and headed for the doors.

"Take care, Lucy!" the eldest Strauss sister replied, and her voice was echoed by some of the others as the celestial mage called her goodbyes cheerfully back.

Mirajane watched the girl disappear through the doors with a slight frown. "I thought she'd be upset that Natsu went off with Lisanna, but she didn't react at all," she murmured to herself as she went back to tending her bar. "Maybe she really doesn't have those kinds of feelings for him."

~~LoLu~~

Whistling rather cheerfully, Lucy locked her apartment door after making sure her window was also closed and locked so no one (read Natsu) could sneak in while she was gone. Throwing her pack over her shoulder and making sure her precious keys were firmly attached to her belt, she headed off towards the train station.

It was a beautiful day, warm, clear skies of a gorgeous blue with a white, puffy cloud passing by every so often, and occasionally a light, cool breeze, as well. All around, an auspicious day to start a journey, or so it seemed.

If only she'd known what was coming...

It didn't take long to reach the station even with the busy streets, and within fifteen minutes she was boarding her train and settling in for the three days it would take to arrive in the town where the job was. She took the listing out of her bag and looked it over again out of curiosity. It wouldn't be a very difficult job, unless the listing was deliberately misleading. The client, one Elias Sevrence, wanted something of his found. Apparently, whatever the object was had been stolen from him, and while the guilty party had already been apprehended, his property had never been recovered. All the clue the thief gave to its location was a complicated riddle of some sort, which the client would reveal once she arrived.

So far, no one that had attempted to complete the request had succeeded.

But she had always been very good at riddles, and she had high hopes that she'd be able to figure this one out, as well. Glancing back down at the listing, she couldn't help but wonder just what the stolen object was, for the client to be willing to pay so highly for its return.

After a little more thought she put the paper back in her bag and stretched. The train had pulled out of the station a few minutes before, and she finally looked around at her little sleeper. Small, but clean and neat, she nodded to herself. It would do. Then she chuckled. I'm glad Natsu's not here. Three days stuck on a train with him... Ugh. She shuddered. Better Lisanna than her!

Settling her small bag under the little bed, Lucy decided to go take a seat in one of the regular cars. She just felt like watching out the windows as she let her mind wander wherever it wanted.

Thoughts of Lisanna and Natsu brought her mind back to her earlier conversation with Mira, and her odd expression when she'd mentioned that the two had gone off on a job. She couldn't help but wonder what had been up with that. Was she worried that I'd be mad that he went on a job without me? Or was it... something else? Could she have really thought I'd be... jealous?

While strange, Lucy couldn't dismiss the possibility that Mira might have been under the impression that she had a thing for Natsu. They were pretty close, but honestly, it was just as nakama. One of the closest of her friends, like a brother. She trusted him with her life. But she wasn't in love with him, and he wasn't in love with her. No... she was in love with a far different man – and one who, just like Natsu, wasn't in love with her. Not really. Sure he flirted, but he flirted with every girl, not just her. She sighed.

Slipping into the second to last train car she smiled a little, pleased when she found it almost empty, and after looking around for a moment she chose a seat at the very back. Then she made herself as comfortable as possible, and turned to stare absently at the passing scenery.

She knew Loke cared for her. But she wanted so much more, and sometimes it was really hard to call him out of the spirit world, even when she was in danger. He would inevitably flirt, and it hurt when he did because it wasn't real. Sometimes she'd get upset and her thoughts would go dark, and in those moments she was almost ready to believe that he was doing it on purpose, teasing her with what she could never really have. She knew better, though. He wasn't like that, and truthfully, if he knew how she felt he'd stop flirting immediately so as not to hurt her feelings any further.

Lucy was pretty sure that he didn't have the first clue about how she truly felt for him, though. She'd managed to hide it pretty well, after all – even Mirajane, Fairy Tail's own Miss Matchmaker herself hadn't figured it out, apparently believing she had feelings for Natsu. No one knew the truth, or she was positive she'd have heard rumors about it by now, and she hadn't even told Levy. It was just too painful to share with anyone else, and she didn't want news of her feelings to somehow get back to Loke. That would not only be humiliating, but would make him feel guilty that he didn't love her back, and she didn't want that. You can't help who you love and who you don't, it was as simple as that.

With another disheartened sigh, she decided to stop thinking about that matter and concentrate on something else. It was just too nice a day to waste on getting depressed – she could do that another time.

~~LoLu~~

It was just after breakfast on the second day out that trouble found her.

Well, to be precise trouble found the train, not her specifically, but since she was on it she was caught up in the mess as much as anyone else. It was just fortunate for her that she had been in the restroom when the train was attacked. The two men she could hear come through from the caboose missed her as they headed to the next car, forcing the only other person who'd been in the car with her besides the conductor to go with them. As soon as she heard the shouting going on through the rather thin wall and realized what was happening, she growled inwardly; she'd have to call her lion out, and maybe Gemini, too.

As soon as it got quiet she cracked open the door and peered out, just to make sure there wasn't anyone else there. Now to call for Loke...

However, before she could even touch his key the spirit appeared in a burst of radiance by her side, already holding his arm up and charging his magic. "What's wrong, Lucy?" he asked hurriedly, looking her over carefully to make sure that she was okay when he realized that she wasn't already under attack, though he didn't let his guard – or his arm - down. He could literally feel her anxiety.

"How did you know something was wrong?" she asked, momentarily diverted from what was going on by that question.

"I felt your sudden tension. Now, what's up?"

"The train's under attack. Bandits. Two already came through here, but I'm sure there are more. They probably entered the train closer towards the engine," she reported quickly. "They forced the man who was in this car and the conductor to go with them, but fortunately for me I was in the ladies room when they showed up, so they didn't know about me."

Loke's eyes narrowed. "If there were only two that came this way, then there's definitely more somewhere else. No one's stupid enough to rob a train like this with only two people. Summon Gemini, then follow behind the ones that passed through here. Try to free the other passengers if you can. I'll go take out the rest of the bandits before they can do any real damage."

She nodded solemnly, not at all put out that he was basically giving her orders, then met his eyes. "Be careful," was all she said. She knew he could take care of himself, but that didn't stop her from worrying. It was part and parcel of caring for someone, after all.

Gaze softening, Loke reached out and touched her cheek affectionately, his eyes smiling at her through his blue shades. "I will. And you... don't do anything crazy and get yourself hurt, because then I'd have to kill whoever did it."

With an inclination of acknowledgment from her he vanished, and she quickly pulled out Gemini's key and summoned them, ignoring the pang in her heart at the softness he'd looked at her with. There would be time enough later to wallow in her heartache – after the train had been saved. She told the twins what was happening and what Loke had told her to do, and the two transformed into her without even having to be asked.

"You can count on us!" the now-combined and transformed Gemi and Mini exclaimed with an excited grin.

Returning theirs with a tight one of her own, Lucy turned and headed for the door into the next car, moving quietly but quickly, Gemini right behind her.

That car was empty, as was the next, but the closer to the front of the train they got without spotting anyone the more cautious she became. While not full to capacity by any means, the train still had a good amount of people aboard, so they would have to have been stashed somewhere that was big enough to hold them all. She actually hoped that they'd been put in several cars, simply because she wouldn't be able to move around enough to fight if it was too crowded, and she didn't want any of the innocent passengers to be hurt.

Finally, three cars in, Lucy heard the murmurs and frightened cries of some of the other people aboard, and just peeked her head up enough to see through the window in the door so she could take stock of what the situation in the car ahead was. It looked like there was one bandit with a weapon of some sort keeping about a third of the passengers hostage, which meant that she'd been lucky – her hopes that they would all be split up had at least partially panned out.

"This is what I need you to do," she told her look-alike, keeping her voice soft. "I'll go in first and fast and take on the guy in this car. You run straight past as soon as I engage him and through to the next car, and try to take out whoever is in that one with the other passengers, okay? If they aren't in the next car, keep going 'til you find them, but be careful."

"Sure thing, piri piri."

Just then she heard a muffled explosion from somewhere up ahead, telling her that Loke had caught up with some of the other bad guys and was now fighting them. Before the bastard in the car ahead of her could try to find out what was going on, she slid open the door and immediately attacked him with her whip as Gemini raced through that car and into the next one.

It took less than a minute for Lucy to have her opponent tripped up due to the surprise of the swift attack, and the other passengers cheered as she immobilized him. She looked up with a smile. "Someone have something he can be tied up with?"

A man in a conductor's uniform replied in the affirmative and reached up to one of the overhead compartments, taking out a length of rope, which he then used to tie the cursing bandit up. When she was sure he was unable to move Lucy unwound her whip from around him, and grinned at the uniformed man.

"Thanks! If you don't mind keeping an eye on him, I have to go help my friends get the rest of the creeps."

"Not at all, ma'am," the man winked with a smile. "Good luck!"

"Thanks again," she replied with a small wave as she hurried off, following on Gemini's trail.

~~LoLu~~

Gemini was in the next car, but they weren't doing quite as well as she had, because there were two bandits and more passengers to try to fight around and defend. The two men had the transformed twins backed into a corner, but when she burst in and immediately attacked, drawing one of them away, her twin was able to beat the one that was left with relative ease.

Within a few minutes they had those two bandits defeated and tied up, and the damage was minimal – Gemini hadn't been hurt at all, but Lucy had a long, though shallow cut from wrist to elbow that she got from being sliced when her opponent had drawn a hidden knife on her. It was bleeding sluggishly but was already starting to clot up, so she dismissed it as unimportant for the moment and went on, looking for Loke.

It suddenly became important when they found him. The next car had been empty, and they'd quickly moved on into the one after that, which was where her lion was fighting what turned out to be the rest of the band of criminals, at least one of which appeared to be a mage.

As soon as she and Gemini burst in, the five bandits still standing turned to stare – most in surprise at her and her celestial double – but the moment Loke saw the blood dripping down her arm, the fight was over. He used his weakest attack, which knocked them all out and even overwhelmed the wizard, and was by her side before most of them even hit the floor.

"What did they do to you?" he snarled as he took her arm and looked it over, being careful and tender with her even while being so terribly angry.

Lucy's heart panged again, but she ruthlessly shoved the feeling aside. She couldn't afford to give away her heartache, especially right in front of the unknowing cause of it.

"It's fine," she said as soon as she felt like she could speak without her voice wavering. She put on a bright smile. "It's not very deep, and I'll see about getting it cleaned and wrapped as soon as we get these guys-" she gestured over her shoulder at the seven men laid out around the car with her other arm, "-restrained."

Loke glared malevolently at the bandits, muttering unholy things Lucy was pretty sure she was glad she couldn't hear, and refused to relinquish her arm until he'd inspected each centimeter of the cut to make certain she wouldn't make it worse by using the limb. When he had assured himself that she wouldn't be dying because of it anytime in the next ten years or so, he relented and released her.

"Bastards," he grumbled under his breath. "Do we have anything to tie them up with?" he asked after a moment. "I want to get that cut taken care of as soon as possible." And then I'm going to find out which one of those punks did this to her and teach them a sorely-needed lesson. His fingers twitched, and he had to force them not to curl into fists at the thought.

Lucy nodded and went to the overhead storage areas as she'd seen the conductor do and opened one up, rummaging around until she found more carefully coiled ropes. She tossed a length to Loke as well as Gemini, and they tied the men up individually and then all together to discourage any escape attempts.

Once that was done, Loke ordered Gemini back through their gate and practically dragged her to the car where the conductors were trying to get the passengers calmed down and resettled.

The first one he saw he peremptorily ordered to get water, antibacterial ointment, and bandages so he could tend to her wound without further delay. The conductor hurried to obey with an odd look at the immaculately clad, ginger-haired man, but when he returned with the requested items and offered to clean and bind the injury the lion curtly denied him. He had no intentions of letting anyone else take care of his mistress save for him.

Though somewhat taken aback at his rather possessive behavior, Lucy could see that protesting would accomplish nothing, and so docilely allowed him to tend her. He was extremely gentle, taking his time and being more than thorough, and every time she would wince or make a pained noise he'd start muttering curses again. By the time he was done he was tight-lipped and far more upset about the relatively minor injury than she was.

"So... where's the rest of your team?" he asked, once he'd calmed down a little as they sat together quietly.

Lucy blinked, then shrugged. "Gray and Erza weren't at the guild when I went in and Mira didn't know where they were, and Natsu was already on a job with Lisanna and wouldn't be back for five days or so. I needed to take a job then, so I couldn't wait around."

"Do you mean to tell me," Loke began angrily as his fists clenched yet again and began to glow slightly with his frustrated fury, "that Natsu went on a job without you? He took Lisanna instead? That bastard... you're his teammate! I'm going to kick his ass for leaving you alone like that!" He grabbed the startled girl and pulled her into an embrace. "I'm sorry, Lucy," he whispered painfully. "I know you like him, and-"

The young woman squawked and pulled away from her spirit's firm, muscular chest - no, bad Lucy! - with an indignant glare. "Wait, you think I like Natsu, too?" she snapped. "Sheesh, I can't believe it!"

The lion just stared at her for a moment, nonplussed. Then he said, "Wait a minute – are you trying to tell me you aren't in love with that ashes-for-brains? … And who else thinks you are?" he tacked on belatedly.

"No!" she burst out, starting to get really annoyed. "Gods, what is it about our friendship-" she deliberately emphasized the word, "-that makes people think I have feelings beyond that for Natsu?" Then she scowled belligerently up at him. "And since when do I have to take other people on jobs with me? I'm not helpless, you know! I can do things by myself!"

Loke's face gentled at her words, and he smiled at her. Oh, Lucy... "I know that, Princess. You're one of the strongest, most determined people I've ever known. That doesn't mean I don't worry. I always want you to be safe. That's what happens when you care about someone, right?"

Hearing her earlier thoughts on just that tossed back at her by the same person she was thinking them in regards to just about broke her heart right then and there. Because there was simply no way he felt them in the same way she did. He was worried for her as a friend and as his mage and nothing more, and she meant it in a far deeper way. Unrequited love sucks, she thought, suddenly miserable.

"Yeah," she replied flatly, looking away defeatedly, "I guess."

Loke frowned in concern at her sudden downturn in mood. "Lucy, what's wrong?"

She shook her head with a brittle laugh. "Oh, nothing. It was just what you said – it reminded me of something else, that's all."

Unhappy as he was with that lack of answer to his question, he could see that pushing her wouldn't accomplish anything except to upset her further, so instead he reiterated one of his earlier ones. "You never did say who else thought you had a thing for Natsu," he prompted softly.

The blonde harrumphed at that, disgruntled. "Mirajane, apparently. She thought I'd be upset when she told me about him going off with Lisanna for a few days. She seemed really surprised when I wasn't."

"Mira, huh?" he mused. "Well, she's usually right about things like that. I always kind of thought it was some weird part of her magic or something," he chuckled faintly as he looked down at his hands. "So I would say she probably was really surprised that you don't have a thing for the flame-brain." He paused, then hesitantly admitted, "I can't say it upsets me... you know, to hear that you aren't in love with Natsu. I'm... actually quite relieved."

"Wha-" Lucy began, startled by his quietly-spoken words, but before she could finish one of the conductors came back in and interrupted their conversation.

"Pardon me, ma'am, sir," he said respectfully, "but we need to know if you want us to put the men you tied up in the other cars with the seven in the front car?"

Loke stood up, absently readjusting his suit jacket. Now's my chance to get my hands on the one that hurt her. "I'll help. It would be easier to have them all in one place." With one last, enigmatic glance at Lucy, he followed the conductor into the next car, leaving her confused and alone with her thoughts – and her pounding heart.

What was that?