Chapter 1:

Betrayed, lonely and a little bored, Lucy Heartfilia wandered over to the Request board in Magnolia's favourite, rowdy guild, Fairy Tail.

After a small consideration, Lucy pulled off a paper and went over to the perky, white-haired girl behind the bar.

"Hey Mira, I'm taking this one ok?"

HELP US!

Bandits in Waas Forest!

…

Reward:

100,000J

"Sure Lucy" Mirajane smiled. "Be careful"

"Will do. Later"

From behind she heard a little giggle that set her nerves on edge. Great... it had to be her...

"Why, hello Lisanna," Lucy pasted on her best doll smile and shoved down the hatred and blood-curdling rage that came with every time she set eyes on the Take Over, long-lost princess.

"Do you really think you can take that? On your own?"

"I can do a right bit better than you ever could, princess" she smirked at Lisanna's grimace at the less than flattering nickname, and left before a fight could break out. Despite the fact that even after Natsu kicked her from the team she had gotten a lot stronger than before, Lucy still didn't enjoy fighting. It held no interest for her.

At Lucy's apartment:

Lucy quickly packed the essentials before she caught the night train to the small town nearest to Waas Forest. Tossing in a few pairs of underwear and two changes of clothes she folded and carefully placed the clothes into her little black shoulder bag. Just as she was about to leave, a loud crash came from her window. Right... I should probably lock that while I'm gone... glancing towards the window she took in the pink hair and the almost scary glare.

"Natsu... how many times have I told you, not to come in through the window..."

"Why are you so mean to Lisanna?"

"Why not?" Lucy chuckled, at that Natsu narrowed his eyes.

"What happened to you Lucy? You used to be so much fun?"

"I got left behind" her face let go of the small smirk and her eyes filled with pain for a split second before she raked a hand through her hair and she sighed in exasperation.

"Look, Natsu. I'd love to stay and chat, but I have a job to get to, so if you'd please, exit the way you came in so I can lock up?"

"Lock up? But you never lock the window." Natsu frowned.

"Yea, well things change. Now scoot ash-tray." She said giving him a push over the sill.

After locking up Lucy made her way to the train station meeting Gajeel along the way and they waited for the next train out together.

" So where you headed?" Gajeel asked.

"Waas Forest. Got some bandits that keep bothering people, gonna see if I can do something about it. You?"

"Headed to Hargeon. Waas Forest, huh? That's a while away. You going that far for a reason?" For the first time since they'd met up the way to the station, Lucy turned her head to glance at Gajeel.

"Nope. No reason in particular." She calmly replied, turning back to face the tracks just as the train rattled into the station.

"Good luck." She said as final farewell and boarded the train without looking back.

Natsu wandered the streets of Magnolia, hands in pockets and head hung low. What had happened to Lucy? She couldn't still be mad that we had her trade places with Lisanna, could she? Kicking stones he made his way back to his house. Back home, huh? Well I can't go to Lucy's anymore. She locked the window. I could always use the chimney, but she locked the window for a reason, and she obviously didn't want me there when I came by before.

"Oi! Flame brain!" A familiarly irritating voice silenced his thoughts.

"What?!" He yelled back as Gray came jogging up behind him.

"I'm looking for Lucy, you know where I can find her?"

"No, what am I? Her keeper?" Natsu asked, a little irritated that everyone always asked him when they were looking for Lucy, and vice versa.

"Alright. Geez, I was just asking." Gray said, turning back.

"Wait," Natsu sighed. "You just missed her, she left on a job."

"A job? Where to? I need to ask her something."

"I dunno, she pushed me out the window before I could ask." And then she called me 'ash-tray,' but I'm not telling him that.

"Well, I'm not surprised, you always barge in. And through the window no less."

"Like you're much better, Santa." He snarked and watched as a Gray's face pulled back in a snarl.

"Anyway!" He ground out. "Thanks for the tip. I'll just have to wait till she gets back." And he turned to leave.

It would be a few more hours before Lucy arrived at the station in the small town near Waas Forest, then she'd make her way to where Cait Shelter used to be, and go from there. The old Cait Shelter would be her camping spot, she guessed that she'd get there about mid-afternoon and do some recon and attack the bandits in their tents at night, taking out their leader first. As a plan formed in her head, Lucy closed her eyes and listened to the wind rushing past the outside of the train, to the rattling of the train cars as they wobbled from the speed, and she let go of all her thoughts. When I come back to Fairy Tail, I'll be different. I'll be stronger and Team Natsu will beg me to be back on their team and I'll watch with satisfaction as they face rejection. I'll be a different Lucy when I get back... she whispered in her head.

…

She had no idea.

Chapter 2:

A loud hissing could be heard through the whole of the station as Lucy's train pulled in, and people began to flow out of the doors. Among the heads bobbing up and down, came Lucy. Breaking through the crowd at a break neck pace as she raced to her meeting with the client. Shit! I'm late! She was panicking and she knew it, but after this mission, she'd have enough money to leave Fairy Tail.

The mayor was the client, so she booked it to the centre of town and made it there with 2 minutes to spare. While she rested outside the door of the mayor's office, Lucy tidied herself up and moulded her face into a carefully constructed, blank and feelingless expression, raised her hand to the oak wood, and knocked.

"Enter." Came a deep voice from within, and Lucy stepped into the premises. "Ah! You must be the mage from Fairy Tail, I assume?" And at Lucy's assenting nod, the mayor indicated for her to take a seat as he moved around his desk to stand in front of her, lean against the front of his desk and cross his arms over his chest. Lucy had to admit, like that the mayor was looking quite professional and handsome. But there was no time for thoughts such as that, she had a job to do.

"How desperate is the situation?" She inquired.

"Yesterday a caravan of people was making it's way through the forest, and were taken by the bandits."

"So the thieves just became kidnappers. I knew this job would be interesting, it's like Christmas come early" she smirked, as the mayor gave her a re-assessing glance.

"Yes, well. I'm willing to raise the reward if the hostages come back alive."

"I think I can work with that. Although I can not promise there aren't going to be any injuries. It's difficult for me to tell how violent the criminals are with the little information you have provided me with."

"Will it be an issue?"

"No, sir. I'll have them back by dawn tomorrow."

Lucy didn't particularly enjoy camping, but it was the lesser of two evils on missions such as this. When she reached the old Cait Shelter camping grounds Lucy unpacked her black hoodie and black torn jeans and slipped on her ballet shoes, and stowed her belongings in a corner of one of the broken-down houses. Now was the recon part of her job. The sun was setting, so her black attire worked as perfect camouflage in the darkening underbrush. The mayor, though he hadn't told her much, he had told her the location of the bandits/kidnappers base of operations, so she didn't have to scout the whole forest. This would save a lot of time in the rescue of the captives.

As Lucy creeped up on the bandits hide out, she began to assess the kind of magic she judged they would be users of. The mayor had also given her a list of the magic type users that his men had come into contact with when they were caught scouting the land. Sloppy, she had thought. There was a sand user, a teleport user, a darkness user and a earth user. Lucy counted out twelve of the men, and found it difficult to believe that only four of them were able to take out ten of the mayors men, but it's difficult to judge their magical strength by looking at them. Fancy that... she chuckled at a boy with pink hair that reminded her of an old friend. Maybe this job won't be so bad after all. Lucy waited for the sun to set, setting the camp into complete darkness until the bonfire was set. It didn't seem like there were any fire users, not even the guy with pink hair, so she was at least granted the mercy of not being burnt to death if she lost. Which I won't. She reminded herself. She'd come back from this a stronger and a newer Lucy.

She watched as the men gathered around the camp fire, and watched as their leader retired to his tent, the large one in the middle of a row of tents. If the tent hadn't been so damn big, Lucy wouldn't have been able to tell which was which, Thank god for their master being an egotistical douche bag. Crawling through the underbrush around to the back side of the large, Lucy lifted the edge of the tent and silently slipped in. Hiding behind the nearest object, Lucy listened as the leader and, who she guessed was, his second in command talked over their next raid. Too bad you won't be going through with any of those plans, she thought. Soon the leader dismissed his second in command and turned to the box that Lucy had been hiding behind.

"You can come out now." Lucy slowly stood. "So you're here to kill me? You're a bit too pretty to be an assassin." He commented.

"That's what makes me the best of my kind." She giggled, putting on her best doll smile.

"You realise that I won't go down without a fight."

"Oh, I'm counting on it. See, I've been kind of bored these last few days, and I really need someone to give me a good rush. Think you can help?" She asked, showing him her large, innocent eyes.

"I think I might be able to oblige," he said, charging out of his seat. When he came within reach Lucy's hand shot out from behind her back and time stopped for a second. Blood came spurting from the leaders throat as he grasped at it in a vain attempt to staunch the bleeding. In Lucy's hand was a small throwing knife, without a single blood stain on it. The blade had passed so quickly through his skin and veins that there wasn't even enough time for him to shed any blood on it. Sighing, Lucy walked up to the man collapsed on the floor and rolled him onto his back with her shoe.

"What a shame. You could have at least lasted a little longer, you gave me no entertainment. Looks like I'll have to play with your friends now. They looked like they knew how to have a little fun," she winked as the mans eyes widened, he took a hand away from his throat to reach out towards her, and for a moment, he thought he eyes softened, but then it was gone, and Lucy let out a giggle at the thought of playing a new game as she stepped out of the tent.

Walking over to the bonfire, she sat down next to the closest man. Everything continued on as normal till one of the men noticed the extra in the group. Lucy stared into the fire as slowly, all the men became aware of her presence.

"Isn't fire beautiful?" She sighed, "Such beauty in the destruction it causes." The men stood and readied themselves for battle.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but we're gonna hafta take ya captive now." One of them said.

"Thank you for the warning shirt," she smiled serenely, "But I'm sorry, I can't oblige to your request. See, I have a job to do. Now your leader is dead, and I'm really hoping you'll put up a better fight than he did." Rising to her feet, she held her hands towards the men, turned them palms up and made a "come-at-me" gesture with her fingers. At that obvious challenge and the insult she said about their leader the men charged, with a mighty battle roar. A grin seemed to split Lucy's face in half as she drew her knives, and a maniacal laugh escaped her mouth as she dodged and weaved through the crowd of attacking apes. There's no strategy to them, they just attack and expect me to sit down and take it. Madness took her as she stabbed the last of the men and watched him fall to the ground. From the corner of her eye she saw the second in command standing in shock between two of the tents to Lucy's left.

"Oops" she giggled."Looks like I've been caught."

"H-How could you do this? These men have done nothing wrong. They were just doing the orders of the master."

"Nothing wrong? Would you say that someone that assisted in mass murder under the orders of his master had done nothing wrong?" She asked, tilting her head to the side. "The jury has voted and the punishment has been implemented. If you're unsatisfied, then you may take your revenge." Lifting her arms, Lucy stood straight up, pushing out her chest and extending her arms to either side of her. She looked a bit like Jesus on the cross.

Taking in her appearance in the dying light, the last man standing asked, "What is your name?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk" she tutted, and lifted a single finger to her lips "some secrets are better left hidden. Don't you think? Cronus?" His eyes widened and Lucy cackled.

"Cocky name for someone without the guts enough to attack a girl! There must be a reason it is you who is second in command and not any of them." She taunted, sweeping her hand over the horrifying image of her massacre.

"There is," he smiled, summoning light around him. "I'm a light dragon-slayer." Lucy gasped, her face a mask of horror. But it soon cracked into a grin as she laughed at how the look of triumph on his face sank to a look of confusion. "Sorry honey, but I used to have a dragon-slayer for a friend, and you just made me want to kill you even more." Shifting into a ready stance, Lucy and Cronus faced each other off.

Cronus was getting impatient, but he knew better than to act rashly. He could feel the insanity pour off this girl. In this light she was gorgeous, but what he saw in her eyes, he never wanted to see ever again. Tension built in his leg muscles as he prepared to attack, but she seemed to be one step ahead, reading his thoughts like an open book. But that was impossible, right? Right? Even a telepath couldn't read the thoughts that his brain was unconsciously sending to his legs. The girl launched herself at him, with such speed and such grace that he stopped to watch it, but his head snapped back into the present, and he dodged before her knives could connect with his flesh. The ordinary couldn't follow their fight, they were mere blurs to any onlooker. But Cronus knew that as far as physical strength was concerned, then he outmatched her, but her kind of speed, and the way her movements didn't seem to have any logical path and that her movements were almost too fast for his eyes to catch, she was on a completely different level to him. He knew he would lose, but it was too late to back out now. He'd just have to make sure that she didn't win. No matter what. His feet touched the ground for a split second, but it was a split second too long, the girls foot slide next to his and took it out from underneath. He lost his balance, closed his eyes and braced himself for when he hit the ground. It didn't come. As he opened his eyes he saw her hand grasping the front of his shirt. But her eyes were different. The madness was gone, fear and guilt had replaced it, then they were gone, and the madness came back as her face twisted into a cruel smile as she pulled him up by his shirt front and tossed him into a nearby tree. Cronus felt his breath rush out of him as he heard the sickening crack of a body hitting a tree trunk. Opening his eyes, he saw he doing a small little dance and laughing with her head thrown back to let the moonlight wash over her face. Her head snapped to face him and a grin spread across her face, stretching from ear to ear. He watched as she dropped to the ground and began crawling towards him on all fours, her movements as smooth and creepy as a snake, till she sat in his lap, one leg either side of his torso and her knife pressing up against the soft part of his throat. He didn't feel it pierce the skin, only the single drop of blood that slowly ran down his neck to his collar-bone. She leant down to his neck and began licking it off of his skin. Every time her tongue touch his skin he felt shivers rack his body.

Suddenly her head shot up and stared at him with wide eyes. She quickly back pedalled off his lap and covered her mouth with her hand as she took in her surroundings. Her face twisted into a cruel grimace as she stood and said something.

"No! I'm not done with him yet!"

"Yes you are!" Was she talking to herself? No... she couldn't possibly be... Her hands reached up to either side of her head and squeezed. "You've done enough! Leave!" her voice changed too. She didn't sound like she had before, her voice was lighter, less dark, and less deep.

"No! He must die!" She screeched, the deep voice was back. Cronus watched as the girl seemed to have a battle, one that was going on inside her head. "You... have... done... enough!" She said through gritted teeth, looking around for... something.

Come on! There has to be something! Anything! Lucy thought, frantically looking around. A tree! A tree would work, right? If I run at it fast enough! Then she did something Cronus had not expected. She ran at a tree at top speed. When she collided there was a loud sound like a thunder clap and she collapsed at the foot of the tree, unconscious. Gripping his bruised and injured sides Cronus got up and searched for a weapon as he approached the girl. Finding a sizable rick nearby he stepped the rest of the way towards her. She didn't look like the girl who had killed about thirty people on her own without using any magic. I should kill her. He thought, raising the rock a little higher. But when he looked at her face, he just couldn't bring himself to do it.