To say that Lucy had a terrible start to the day would be a complete understatement.
For starters, her nightmares have gotten increasingly worse, and to the point where she wakes up at least 3 times a night screaming. She only stopped trying to go back to sleep after the third time and realized that her latest dream wasn't a dream, but a memory. One from when she was still enslaved. She can vividly remember all the blood, pain and screams.
She was trembling from her panic attack while constantly checking her surroundings to make sure she was still in Magnolia. She refused to cry at all, fearing she wouldn't stop if she started. Once her emotions were stable and intact, she got out of her bed, careful not to wake up Plue, and made her way towards the bathroom to freshen up. She left for a walk in the park. It was already 5 in the morning and the sun was just starting to come up.
Once she had returned, she went to wake up Plue to see that he was already awake. Since it was the day of the mission, she was going to leave him with Levy once they got to the guild. Once they arrived, she realized that no who was coming with her on the mission was there besides Wendy and Charla. Even Erza was missing, which was a little suspicious considering she's Erza. By the time they all arrived, Lucy's coffee had already worn off leaving her to drowsily drag herself to the train station and brace herself for a train ride that'll take more than a few hours. The train didn't come for another two hours though.
And that leads us to their current situation.
"It's been ten freaking minutes. Why is no one answering?" Gray grumbled ringing the doorbell for what seemed like the hundredth time.
"Maybe we got the wrong address?" Wendy suggested.
"No, this is the right place." Erza replied reading the job flyer over again. "The owner is probably just out."
"No one's home? Great. Now can we get out of here? This place is giving me the creeps." Lucy rushed out quickly walking in the other direction.
"You know i have to agree with Lucy on this one." Wendy said softly before catching up to Lucy.
Just as Lucy was about to turn around and yell at them to hurry up, the doors slowly creaked open. Seems Lady Luck was just not on her side today. But then again when was she ever?
"Finally!" Natsu whined. "Now get your wimpey butt back here Blondie. You too Wendy. We got work to do."
"I'll just act like i didn't hear that ."
The mansion was eerily quiet and not all at welcoming. It was dark and plain with almost everything being black or red. The only things that were not either black or red was the golden griffin directly at the center of the room. It's familiarity only put Lucy more on edge.
"Hello...?" Wendy's voice echoed through the room bouncing off the walls. Bravely she continued. "Is anybody there? We've come from Fairy Tail." They were only met with silence.
"See guys? I told you no one is here. Now lets go so we can catch the next tra-" Her pleads and slow advances to the door was interrupted with anther creek of a door in an unknown location. She slowly, (and dramatically) turned around the room looking for the source but had no luck.
"Fairy Tail you say?" A croaky and ragged voice hissed, bouncing off the walls, and successfully spooking Lucy and Wendy enough for them to both hide behind Natsu. He stood still, either not noticing or just not caring enough. Either way he along with the rest looked around trying to pinpoint the source of their unease.
"Yes, that's us." Erza replied, hesitantly. Never a good sign.
"Goooood. Now where is the girl i requested?" He asked, his voice suddenly turning dark. "She better be here."
"I'm sorry sir, but i'd appreciate it if i knew where you were. It makes me a bit uneasy not knowing who i'm talking to." Erza crossed her arms and spoke sternly.
"Only when i know she is here."
Erza sighed. "Of course. She's she's here. Lucy?"
"U-um i'm over here." She squeaked from behind Natsu.
"Perfect." The voice hissed in satisfaction. The man behind it was suddenly appearing in front of them, still covered in shadows. It was still pretty obvious that this man didn't have the most appealing appearance however.
"Alright, I think that's enough interrogation." Gray huffed, shifting his weight and crossing his arms. "What do you want us to do?"
"Okay," The voice answered. " South of here is Foggy Forest. It's really foggy there."
"Really?"
"Couldn't tell."
"No kidding."
"Eough sarcasm. Let him speak."
"That's where you'll find the beast." Hstated slowly retreating into the shadows. "That's all you need to know."
"What?" Happy questioned. "You're not even gonna tell us how it looks like or how to beat it?"
"Nope."
"Well why not?" Charla asked not so happily. The strange man merely chuckled before once again retreating.
"Wait!" Natsu called out. "Who the hell are you and what do you want with this idiot of all people."
"Keep talking and i swear i'll murder you Natsu."
"That's a story for another. For now you have a monster to kill." The creepy man finally retreated all the way, leaving a very confused group of Fairy Tail members.
"Alright now that that's over lets get out of here!"
Erza stood still, gazing at where the man once stood. Something was off about him, and it was pretty obvious from the start. The way he only revealed his existence when he was sure of Lucy's presence was more than enough for anyone to raise suspicion. She'd have to keep a close eye on Lucy. None of this was adding up.
~
The next few days were pretty uneventful and boring. They spent hours searching the forest, but with all the fog there, it had been pretty hard to do so. It's already been two days and Lucy's just thankful she got a hotel room to herself. That way, she wouldn't alarm anyone with her midnight frights.
They found it awfully strange that the villagers were soo peaceful. Shouldn't they be sad and scared of the fact that they have a rampaging monster on the loose. No one there had a fear of this creature. It was almost as if it didn't exist.
Now, it's saturday, and they were getty pretty damn tired of this wild goose chase and just wish to be home already. The gang took turns going back several times to try and get more information, but this time no matter how long they stood, no one answered the door. So instead, they decided they would stay until the end of the week and if this mysterious creature still had not shown, than they would go home.
At the moment, they were now once again searching the forest looking for this unidentified being.
"Ughhhh!" Lucy groaned. "This is never gonna work. I personally think this is stu-"
SCREEEEEECH
"What the fu-"
"Shut up Natsu, Wendy is here."
"That is the least of our worries as of now." Erza summoned her sword and pointed it in the anticipated direction of the loud noise. She suddenly ran at it, figuring it wasn't going to be coming to them anytime soon. Catching on, Gray started running as well.
Natsu and Wendy decided to use their exceeds to fly, completely leaving Lucy (the one they were supposed to be protecting) completely in the dust. "Weren't you supposed to be watching over me!"
By the time Lucy arrived at the scene, the others were deep into combat, dodging and swinging at the creature before them. It was a weird combination of a human women as the head and the body of a bird. At first Lucy had no idea what she was looking at. But after a minute of squinting, she realized what she was looking at was a harpy. She had encountered them many times in her childhood and knew exactly how to get rid of it.
"Everyone!" SHe yelled, trying to gain their attentions. "I Know what that thing is. It's called a harpy."
"Happy?"
"It doesn't look at all like me!"
"Harpy, not Happy you idiots!"
"That's great and all, but how do we beat this Happy?" Natsu yelled, jumping out of the way of it's claw. Lucy didn't even bother correcting him this time. She simply rolled her eyes.
'Hurry up and tell us Lucy, because i'm really about to stick this sword up it's ass!"
"Yes! Do just that!" They stared at the blonde in disbelief.
"This is really no time to be making jokes!" Charla exclaimed. "This is a real crisis you know!" Lucy flinched at the intensity of Charla's voice. "But i'm not joking! It's heart is located near it's rear end, so that should be enough to kill it. Hit it anywhere else and it just regenerates in a matter of minutes."
"Ya, kinda figured that out."
"Well if you want to be such a smartass Natsu, then you do it."
"What?! No way in hell!"
"Stop complaining and take this sword or else I'll shove it up your butt instead and make you use your hands." Erza proposed (more like demanded).
"Yes ma'am."
Natsu stared warrily at the creature he was supposed to impale. Pushing aside his discomfort, he made a mad dash for the harpy while the others were distracting it. He quickly swung under it and stuck the sword up it's butt. The beast roared with pain, but didn't go down.
"I thought you said this was foolproof!" Natsu exclaimed angrily.
"Idiot! You didn't stick it in far enough!"
"Ok, so now what am i supposed to do?"
"Push you fool! Push like your life depended on it cause it kinda does."
Irritated, angry, and tired of this thing, he used Lucy's words as fuel to do just that. The harpy went down with a cringeworthy cry and disintegrated into nothingness.
"Huh, it really does kill it."
"Guys." Wendy called for their attention. "Was this always there?" She pointed to a tree trunk with a single word written on it:
ONE.
~
He didn't even see it coming.
All he wanted to do was go home and get a few items he had left behind. He was supposed to be staying with Levy, and it wasn't supposed to happen.
Though it really wasn't smart to walk alone in the dead of night, even if you're so small and barely noticeable. Anything could be lurking around the corner, and you would of been oblivious to it. You wouldn't notice until after it hit.
The shadows just seemed to follow the little white creature as he made his way home, unsuspecting of anything or anyone.
The man in the dark cloak, who was mostly acquainted with the dark, watched from afar. He knew exactly who his target was: Lucy Heartfillia's little partner, and one of the only reminders of her past. His job was to eliminate this link, so he set out, tailing the little white creature all day so he could do just that.
And finally the time came.
He watched the little thing walk inside his home, unaware of the impending danger.
That night, firefighters, and water mages dis their best to control the roaring inferno that raged on through the night that assisted in the departure of an innocent soul.
No one saw that coming.
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Yup, i'm baaaaack!
Man school sucks, doesn't it?