AN: Yay for multichapters! Yay for AU!

To clear things up for non-British readers, "sweets" is the British word for "candy".

RATED T FOR DARK AND MATURE THEMES, CURSING AND FUTURE GORE.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail, Phantom Lord, Lamia Scale, Manga, a life, a unicorn…

~ Black and White ~

Trudge, trudge.

They were so loud.

Clomp, clomp.

Did they not know what stealth was?

Stamp, stamp.

This was going to be too easy.

Thump, thump.

Had these guys ever thought about the noise they were making?

"Thank goodness it's not raining…" one of the men murmured, sounding miserable all the same. Their figures moved like blurs in the mist, lanterns only dying certain cloudy areas buttercup yellow and in no way guiding them.

But the mist was her friend, her veil. For she relied on more than just her sight, she could sense them- hear them, feel them, taste them. She would have been able to do so blindfolded. Slinking out from behind the stable, she slithered through the shrubbery before coming out at the summer house, which she nimbly and almost soundlessly scaled. Crouching on the roof, she reached into the folds of her dress with frozen fingers, for the night was bitterly cold and thin linen cloth did little to insulate the chill from seeping into her core.

The distinct crunch of boots on frost became audible, alerting her that the targets were approaching. That was something to be glad for the cold about. Any second now…

The men went to walk past, yet one stopped, squinting at the blurry figure in the fog as he held up his useless lantern in a futile attempt to improve the visibility. That was a mistake, one fatal mistake that sealed his fate. "What's tha-"

He was silenced when a knife was thrown at his chest with stunning accuracy, sending the unfortunate man crumpling to the ground where his lantern spluttered out and causing his companion to start and yelp before she leapt down and slit his throat, silencing the man and ending two lives in the space of ten seconds. Discarding her gargling victim aside, the young woman watched as the others readied their weapons, retaining such a poker face that none could sense the adrenaline rush she felt, another blade coming out of her sleeve, wickedly sharp and glinting, eager to serve.

She saw them prepare, bringing out makeshift weapons. These weren't trained assassins, but they had come with a purpose and weren't about to let a maid stop them.

"Juvia thinks that you'd better say your prayers. Fast."

The eight year old stretched her legs and yawned before once again curling up in a ball, shivering on the doorstep. She might have gone inside had her mother not been busy with a client, and Juvia was fine with being outside, ready to pickpocket the man as he came out.

Juvia was odd in many ways. The most obvious was her appearance, her curly, powder-blue hair and large navy eyes, coupled with her slim and lean figure. She was a unique person as well, with her third person speech and overactive imagination. But the blunette was nice and perky enough, so the townsfolk allowed her to play in the street, and some would even toss her coins. But generally they would steer away from the prostitute's daughter, who was as much an outcast of their society as her mother was.

She would pretend to be fine with it, but sometimes the child felt lonely, sitting there on her doorstep, rubbing her hands together in hope that they would unfreeze. Winter's icy grip was beginning to take hold, leaving the air decidedly crisp and even lightly dusting the pavement with frost, numbing her feet and tinting them a rather worrying shade of blue. She wondered if Jose was coming soon.

Jose was one of her mother's clients. Sure, he was creepy, but he talked to Juvia sometimes and would even give her some pennies on the odd occasion to buy sweets with (saved her the trouble of having to pickpocket him). He made her laugh, and she liked that. Her mother didn't like him- then again, the young woman didn't like any of her clients. She didn't seem to like anyone, not even her daughter, whom was apparently the cause of all her troubles and often paid for her existence with beatings and curses.

Yet another reason why she was fine just sitting on her doorstep.

People noticed her bumps and bruises, of course, which would range from blue to black to purple to yellow and several other colours of the rainbow. But they said nothing, because there was nothing to be said or to be done. Some people in life were unfortunate and Juvia just happened to be one of them. Besides, everybody knew she had no future- no family, no education. The best she could hope for would be crime.

Jose came and tossed her a coin, telling her to get herself something warm for the weather. He didn't seem so comic as usual, but the girl didn't dwell on it. She was cold and now she had money. So Juvia skidded off to the nearby shop and bought herself some bread.

When she returned (trying to eat without getting crumbs down her dress), all she could hear were raised voices. She sat beneath the windowsill and tried to catch snippets of the conversation. It was heated, she could tell that much, but none of it seemed to make sense until the screaming started.

Next thing she knew, Jose was outside with blood down his suit, grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her along the icy pavement. Her screeches and attempts to break away were aided by none- those yells soon stopped when a cold blade was pressed against her skin.

The next eight years were her assassin training and practice. They branded her with the Phantom Lord mark, and taught her how to kill. Turns out she was a natural – one of the best, in fact – and became one of the elite at just thirteen. A promising student with a bright future; well, bright as it could get considering her occupation. During those early days, it was only training, practice on dummies.

Her induction had been different. Juvia would never forget the first time she killed a man in cold blood, would never forget the look on his face as she focussed- throat is best, throat is always best – and slashed. She would not forget the pleading look in his eyes that changed from panic to emptiness, nor would she forget the days afterwards when she would stare at her reflection for extended periods of time, squinting as she tried to make out any remains of splattered blood on her face.

He had been innocent. And alongside that innocent man, Juvia's own innocence died.

She was one of the only girls there, something that Gajeel - a tall, well-built boy who was a year or two older than Juvia- often teased her about. But he was her friend, in a weird way, a comrade and partner. None of the others were like them; most left or even committed suicide, too soft for the life of an assassin. Juvia and Gajeel were different, they became hardened and built strong exoskeletons until each throat was just another to their grand total. Those two were the future; ruthless killers who had sacrificed their humanity.

They began taking missions just before her fourteenth birthday. They were good, very good. Flawless in fact. Sometimes a team, sometimes solo, but undoubtedly two of Phantom Lord's best. The bodies piled up and their trail of blood became longer, but the duo pleased client after client. Just over three years passed without a failed mission.

It was one of the greatest missions she would take, and certainly one of the hardest. The criteria was simple-

Assassinate the Lady Erza Scarlet.

Juvia neither knew nor cared who the client was, so long as she got the money in the end. In fact, she wasn't too bothered about the payment either- each successful mission meant board, lodging and equipment from Phantom Lord. Besides, this was her life now- she'd lost her reason for existing other than to kill. She had heard much of the lady knight who had won many a battle for the king, but didn't give a toss. What she did care about was the fact that Lady Scarlet forever wore armour, which left two options- to poison her or kill her as she slept.

Option 1 was preferable- less messy.

Using the information gathered, Juvia made her way through the garden and over to the west wall, slowly but undetected. The lady made sure that her mansion was heavily guarded at all times, which meant that Juvia had to apply all her skills in order to remain undetected- she wasn't in the mood for a mass slaughter. That was one of the main differences between her and Gajeel- the latter took a rather kamikaze approach to his profession, arguing that it was just easy to kill anybody in the way- got the job done much faster and provided more of a thrill. Juvia preferred stealth and silence, to be no more visible than the air around her.

She did end up quietly ending the life of one unfortunate guard who was patrolling the left side of the building, whose body she dumped in a hedge. But that was necessary, she decided, as she set to reaching the third floor balcony.' Do what you must, but do it well.'- that was her motto. Scaling nimbly up a decorative alcove, the assassin heaved her way onto the second floor balcony, leapt to a neighbouring one and shimmied up a flagpole before once again performing a leap of faith. After hauling her way up onto the balcony, she grinned in pride at her achievement. Climbing was one of her favourite parts of the job, and definitely one of her fortes next to swimming. The rush of air past her whilst she flew, the feeling of satisfaction at looking down.

If her information was correct, she was outside the dining room, and dinner would be served in just over ten minutes. So she waited, hiding as the servants bustled around in a frenzy of preparation. None noticed her crouched under the window, listening in on mostly uninteresting conversation. Despite her heavy guard, Erza had few servants- picking out voices, Juvia could only hear two.

"The cake, you say? What about the cake?"

"It burnt!"

"But without cake…"

The two potential witnesses ran off in terror, and Juvia waited for a minute or so - nobody came in. She slithered her way in, landing soundlessly on the polished marble floor.

Well, it seemed like the Lady Erza was in no way financially vulnerable.

Juvia shook her head to rid it of pointless thoughts as she swiftly made her way over to the table. Reaching inside her small pack, she retrieved a vial of clear liquid- perfectly scentless and extremely deadly. Working quickly, the girl removed the stopper and tipped the poison into a drinking cup filled with what appeared to be water.

"W-we will have the cake done by the time you are finished, L-lady Erza…"

Oh shit.

No time to replace the stopper- Juvia placed her thumb over the bottle to prevent a spillage and scrambled out of the window, once again hiding behind a small section of wall, right next to the French doors.

This was bad. Very bad. As a precaution, Juvia did not replace the stopper, hugging the vial close to her chest. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and well… she would not betray her guild, even if doing so would cost her life. Because betrayal would be the end of her anyway, and suicide was a more dignified way to go.

Juvia could only pray that such action would not be required.

There was an uncomfortable silence, with the resounding clink of plated and cutlery being absurdly loud. Then even that ceased. But there was no sound of choking, coughing or spluttering.

And then she heard the voice, oh the voice. Juvia would never forget the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as failure dawned upon her.

"You can come out now, assassin."

Juvia pressed herself against the wall, attempting to stop her breathing, hand balled around the small vial of death. If she was still enough, perhaps the Lady would forget about it. Maybe she was just paranoid…

And then the French doors opened and an armoured woman was in front of her.

"Assassin, I admire your skill. Unfortunately for you, I am no imbecile."

It was time, time to go, time to pay for the lives she had ended. Juvia slipped her thumb away and made to poison herself before the Knight smacked it out of her hand, shattering the glass. Instinctively, she reached for the second option- her knife. It would be slower and more painful, but…

"There is no need to kill yourself. Come on in."

In days to come, Juvia would question whether or not she had made the right choice at that moment. When she was watching yet another body lose its life, when she was dashing her way through scenes of carnage, when she looked back to the small, vulnerable daughter of a prostitute who was content with sitting on a doorstep- all those times, she would ask herself one question.

What if she had not hesitated? What if she had plunged the knife into her chest, to die for her client, considered a martyr by her guild?

The woman took advantage of Juvia's pause and drew her sword with one hand, hauled the girl up with the other and dragged her inside. In the light, she could make the woman out much better- she was beautiful…

…and she was pointing her shiny, well-forged sword her throat.

"Name?"

"Juvia."

"Surname?"

"None."

"Age?"

"17."

"Guild?"

The last question was answered in a wheeze as Juvia was strangled by her own betrayal. She had broken almost every written rule of her guild and probably a few unspoken ones as well.

"Phantom Lord."

The Lady Scarlet nodded. "Juvia, I'll leave your guild alone on one condition."

Juvia's nodded eagerly, ready for whatever offer this woman had. If this was her chance of redemption, then she would sacrifice whatever was necessary. Because her gut was twisted into angry knots and the situation was dizzying, confusing her no end with its surrealism.

"A friend of mine is in need of a bodyguard. I believe that you would be good for the job."

Juvia adjusted her skirt, striding along the corridor. Usually, such places were off limits to servants, but the woman's position had its benefits. Taking one last chance to comb her fingers through her hair, Juvia took a moment to compose herself before knocking softly on the door and entering into the dim room.

"Your majesty, Juvia has arrived to wake you up."

A moan came from the bed as its occupant stirred, sitting upright to look at his maid with bleary eyes. He waved a dismissive hand and went to go back to sleep, covering his head.

His maid tutted in disapproval at such 'regal' behaviour that her master would display daily before drawing open the heavy curtains and allowing piercing sunlight to flood the room (a welcome change from the previous evening's mist.) The now illuminated man groaned and flung off the bedcovers.

"Oh. Juvia." He deadpanned sleepily, running a hand through his rosy hair. The blue haired girl rolled her eyes before handing him his clothes.

"Master, we will be departing shortly in about an hour or so. Juvia hopes that you will be ready by then so that we can arrive at our destination by this evening. As you know, the Lady Scarlet will be enraged if you fail to attend on time."

Her master shuddered at the mention of Erza's name before beaming at her. "Thanks, Juvia!"

She bowed and turned to leave before he stopped her.

"You have some blood on your apron. Make sure to change it."

The maid flushed bright red- she knew she had forgotten something! "Of course, Prince Natsu. I shall do so." And so she scurried away until he spoke up yet again.

"Oh, by the way, where are we going again?"

Juvia sighed- Natsu always forgot the most important details! "We are going to visit the Lady Erza Scarlett, with whom you are to visit the town of Clover in celebration of their harvest festival. As is traditional of the royal family."

"Oh… Clover? Yeah, I remember that."

Juvia smiled good naturedly before leaving the Prince to change. No doubt there would be complications- she had thwarted three assassination attempts in one month alone, and a festival would be the perfect opportunity to attack the young possible heir.

Possible heir was the term she used for Natsu's position. Why?

It's complicated.

AN: Second multichapter! Hya! Ninja! Anyway, thanks to AkumaNoKiseki for helping me with ideas. Expect the next chapter when I have the muse for it. Reviews are nice. Almost as nice as banoffee pie.