Of Dragons and Assassins

“Today’s mission is a real prize. You should be happy I gave you this mission.” The Master spoke to me, his piercing black eyes locked on mine. I was sitting in the hall of my guild, Black Dragon’s Heart, looking up at the Master who was sitting on top of his throne.

He annoyed me.

I couldn’t seem to understand him at all. It was like he had these layers that I couldn’t breach. His mood swings were dangerous too, every time when I thought I got him figured out, he did the exact opposite, most of the time resulting in a beating for us.

“Why can’t we do this mission? It’s obvious Natsu-san doesn’t want to.” The blonde idiot suddenly interrupted.

He annoyed me too.

I couldn’t stand him, always being so confident and arrogant, but I couldn’t really blame him. He was what girls would call ‘hot’. I remember this one time when me and Sting were forced on a mission together and a couple of girls kept fussing over his body. ’Oh, look at that muscled body of him. Oh, I love how he wears his vest open like that.’ It just sickened me. Of course, Sting’s ego grew more and more, making my own resentment for him grow as well.

“Let me and Rogue do this one.” He said as he rose from his seat. I prepared myself. Even though I said that the Master could be unpredictable, I already knew what would happen next.

“Be quiet!” A mighty roar resounded through the room and, just as I had expected, a black energy beam was released at Sting, barely missing his neck. I swallowed, wondering if Master missed on purpose.

Gajeel started to snicker, making me glance his way. Sting wisely sat back down without another word. His face was hilarious and I couldn’t help but follow Gajeel’s example. When Sting heard us, he shot us a glare, making me grin even more. I knew for sure that he was dying to plant his fists in our faces right now and the fact that he couldn’t was even more amusing.

Something in my mind suddenly clicked, though. If Sting did this job, I wouldn’t have to. It was as simple as that.

“Master, why the hell do I need to go anyway? How big of an idiot Sting is, I’m sure he can’t possibly screw this up.” I stood up cautiously, my eyes fixed on Sting, but my senses on alert, watching and trying to anticipate the Master’s reactions. Something distracted me, though, the feeling all too familiar as my stomach clenched in agony, reminding me of the sparse amount of food I had in my system. My eyes wandered around the room and finally settled on the fireplace to my left as I swallowed hard, trying not to drool.

Strangely enough, Sting hadn’t made a comment about what I said just now, which meant he would probably pull a prank on me later. I sighed. I really wasn’t in the mood for that.

“Because you’re the youngest,” My head snapped back around, my eyes firmly set on the Master’s. I opened my mouth, wanting to say something about Wendy being the youngest, but refrained from doing so. “Also, our target’s around your age. Tomorrow, there’s going to be a big party at the target’s mansions.” I tried not to look irritated, but I was. I always got the spoiled little rich kids. Probably because Master knew how much I hated highborns. To be honest, though I didn’t want anything to do with them. I didn’t feel the need to interact with them nor did I want to get near them.

“Her father wants to connect more with the commoners surrounding his estate. This’ll be the perfect opportunity to get the job done.” I stared back, still hiding my irritation as I noticed the gleam in his eyes. I knew, just by looking at him, what he was about to say, though that was only because he allowed me to notice. The master was not one to easily reveal his motives or secrets, always having these fake expressions throwing me off. “The target must be eliminated on sight.” And there you had it.

I was fully aware I was part of an assassins’ guild, but it still struck a chord whenever I got assigned to eliminate someone, to murder someone. True, over the years, I had grown quite accustomed to it. Something inside me, however, was fighting against it, even though I didn’t want to resist. A part of me also relished in the kills I made. The feral personality that always rose to the surface was something that I both loved and hated. I guess it was because I’m a Dragon Slayer that my body had the urge to want to taste blood, but I would never blame this on dad, I couldn’t. No, this one was on me. The blood of all those people was my responsibility and mine alone.

I don’t remember the first kill I made, though I do know it was unintentional, really. It was seven years ago, in the first year that I had joined the guild. The thirteen-year-old me of that time was a completely different person from the person that I am now. I was still innocent back then, but I was also blind. I couldn’t see what a horrible place this world was that we’re forced to live in. Even though I had left everything that I once held dear behind, I was still able to smile. That was my first mistake.

When I first joined this guild, I followed Laxus everywhere and I, in return, was followed by Wendy. I guess Laxus found me as annoying as I found Wendy, but I didn’t realize it at the time. One night, Laxus left for a mission and of course, the stupid me of that time followed him.

I don’t remember what events took place that night, but Laxus told me I had saved him that night, though I hardly believed it. He was an S-class mage after all and I was just a brat. Despite that, he kept on telling me I was the one who saved him so I guess I started to believe it too. After the ‘incident’ he told me I could join him on missions if I wanted. I was so happy, all of my other worries long forgotten, as long as I could stay by my brother’s side.

My second, real mission was the assassination of a young girl. She had been stealing some valuable information and needed to be eliminated. I was thirteen at the time, I knew nothing about the world and back then I guess I cared too much, nearly getting myself and Wendy killed because of it. After that I learned it was best to not ask too many question. Laxus told me that it was best not to think about all the complicated stuff and let him deal with that. So I pushed my doubts and questions aside and became one of the seven puppets that danced to our Master’s wishes.

The girl I had to kill was the only target I could clearly remember, though I don’t know if that was because Laxus had let me read the report or because I really did remember myself. He had told me that we didn’t always get second chances. It was either them or us. So I made a decision.

Whenever I thought about the people I had killed, the image of the surroundings was the first thing that popped into my head. Like that first time – the real, assigned first time – I remember how the walls were dripping red. How the white carpet on that mahogany floor looked like a canvas, the art painted with my victims’ blood. The room or the surroundings were always the first thing that I remembered, after that, the details about the target started to fade in one by one. What he or she looked like, their age, name, even their smell.

Though, never the actual deed. No, I never could remember the way my victims lost their lives, I only remember the aftermath, rooms or hallways becoming my own art.

Red. Another thing that I hated, but also loved.

‘Kill her on sight..’ I swallowed again, trying to collect my voice to answer, but Gajeel beat me to it.

“You want him to kill her in that mansion full of witnesses? Isn’t that a little messy?” Knowing myself, it would be. “I mean, normally with this kind of thing, we usually let Rogue sneak in or let Sting create a diversion. Sending Natsu into a mansion full of potential witnesses is asking for exposure.”

Gajeel was right, this was really strange. Normally, Master would always yell at us not to blow our cover and here he was, telling me to just rip her head off in the middle of a ballroom. It didn’t make any sense.

“I don’t care where you do it, as long as she dies. This is a personal mission. She’s a danger to us so she needs to die as soon as possible. If you do this for me, Natsu. I’ll try to see if I can get some information about your parents when I leave for the Underground Meeting in four days.”

I perked up at this. I would’ve done the job either way, but seeing as how Master was willing to give me this extra bonus, I couldn’t help but get excited.

“Alright, I’m all fired up!” I grinned, fists ablaze and fire visible in my eyes.

“That’s my boy.” He stood up from his seat, already starting to walk away. “I put the information in your room.” He probably knew from the start that I wouldn’t refuse, or rather, he knew I couldn’t. “You’ll leave tomorrow.” He turned back to face me. “Please try to behave. You don’t want to blow your cover too quickly.” He shut the door behind him as he entered his personal chamber, telling us we were dismissed.

I fell back down on the couch, waiting ’till everyone finally left. Silence. I grinned and immediately shot up from my seat, rushing towards the fireplace, but I stopped at the last minute. If Master noticed I ate the fire again… Damn that man! He would probably punish me again. As I thought about it a shudder ran over my body, remembering Cobra’s torture-training I had to endure last time. No. I had to control myself. Well, that was easier said than done, but I was glad I at least managed to remember in time.

I heard footsteps behind me, already knowing it was Gajeel. Since I wasn’t in the mood for a fight, I didn’t even bother to look at him, but he stopped me nonetheless when I tried to walk past him.

“Oi! Do you really think you can do this alone? A dragon hunts best in its pack, you know that.” Our eyes met. “There’s a lot dependin’ on ya. You sure you can handle it?”

He didn’t need to remind me. I knew I couldn’t screw this one up. “How hard can it be to kill a spoiled little girl? Don’t worry ’bout it.” I lazily crossed my hands in my neck and continued my way further up the stairs towards my bedroom.

As I opened the door I couldn’t help but sigh when I noticed the state in which my room was in. Saying my room was a mess was an understatement. I knew I was really happy when I got to share my room with those other three, but now I regretted it so much. We each had a separate bed in one corner of the room – mine on the far left side, next to the bathroom door and the window. Across from mine was Gajeel’s bed and Sting and Rogue’s beds were closest to the door through which I had just entered. I lazily skimmed my eyes over all the mess and a blur of pink suddenly came into my line of vision. On Rogue’s bed, to my left, sat Frosch.

“Hey, what’re you doing here?” I asked the little green cat as I crouched before her, sitting at eye level. “I thought you and the rest of the Exceeds were with Wendy.”

She looked at me for a moment before averting her eyes. “Frosch doesn’t like to be separated from Rogue-kun. But please! Don’t tell Master!” I saw her little body starting to shake as she choked the words out, eyes full of fear.

“I won’t.” I petted her head before I turned around. He would probably hurt her if he knew. I heard her utter a thank you which made me chuckle.

I then looked at my bed, preparing myself to try and reach it through all the mess. As expected I failed miserably, landing face first in a pile of dirty clothes. I cursed, igniting the stupid clothing and tossing it aside. I let out a deep breath as I finally reached my bed, snatching the file off it and flopping down.

~

Lucy Heartfilia

Age: 17

Gender: Female

I stopped. “How come Master didn’t see you when he brought the file over?” I looked up at Frosch in the opposite corner.

“Frosh pretended to be a stuffed animal between all the mess. And Master just threw the file from the door. He also said he would let you guys clean it with you mouths if he saw it like this again.” Great. I made a mental note to tell those idiots to clean up when I’d leave tomorrow.

My attention was back at the file in my hands and I continued to read.

Hair: Blonde

Eyes: Brown

What a pain! They could’ve at least put in a picture. Another sigh escaped my mouth, anger and irritation growing inside.

I reached under my pillow, looking for the box of matches that I had hidden there. Frosch looked up when I lit a match and put it in my mouth, but she didn’t say anything about it. I skimmed through the pages really fast before I put the matches and the file under my pillow and got up.

“Gonna hit the shower for a bit.” I said out loud, though I didn’t really know why. Surprisingly, I got a reply from Frosch, telling me that training would end in ten minutes, which meant I still had ten quiet minutes for myself until those three returned.

I threw off my clothes and stepped into the warm stream of water. I turned the water to ice-cold because of my body temperature, which was naturally hotter than any normal human’s. I liked my showers cold every now and then, that moment being one of them.

As the water domed down on my face, my mind started to wander to my mission.

So the target was the only daughter of the Heartfilia family, which meant she would be guarded by their army because she was their prized possession. I knew I probably shouldn’t underestimate the guards since they were the best and strongest money could possibly buy, but I already knew they wouldn’t stand a chance against me. Even though Master told me to kill her on sight, I thought it wouldn’t be that hard to just snatch her away and do it somewhere quiet, maybe the woods or something.

The girl’s mother wasn’t important since she was already dead. The father wasn’t even a mage so I didn’t have to worry ’bout him either. What was his name again? J-Jude? Yeah, Jude Heartfilia. And then there was her, the spoiled little princess. She was nothing special either, just rich and snobbish like the rest of ’em. Though I did wonder what kind of danger she could possibly be for a Dragon Slayer’s guild.

Not that I should’ve even concerned myself with that. I would just leave it to the Master.

If I remembered correctly, the brat’s room was located on the.. First? First floor so it should be easy enough to find since her name would probably be painted on her door or something in pink frilly letters. Maybe she had a door with diamonds on it, just like that one spoiled brat Cobra told me about.

The file said I shouldn’t get blinded by her beauty. As if she could be that beautiful. True, rich people tended to be hotter than normal people, but even if she was the most beautiful girl in the world, it wouldn’t stop me from ending her spoiled highborn life. Besides, she wouldn’t see me coming anyway. I would knock her out before she even knew what was happening. That way, I could also avoid any guards following me when I would take her out to the woods to finish her off.

…

But.. If she’d be unconscious, I wouldn’t be able to hear her screams or feel her struggles.. I guess I’d just have to wait ’till she wakes up then. The thought crossed my mind to maybe thank Master later for this job; at least now I got to spill some innocent, young blood again. I couldn’t help but grin at the thought, getting excited as I felt the adrenaline already rushing through my veins.

“Oi! Natsu! Cool it down a bit will ya!” I heard Gajeel yell from the other room, breaking off my train of thoughts. When I opened my eyes, I noticed how the entire bathroom was filled with steam. I guess I subconsciously rose my body temperature, making steam appear as the ice-cold water collided with my hot skin. I turned the water down and stepped out, drying myself by heating up my body before I put on my black boxers. A deep breath escaped my mouth. That idiot Gajeel. I was just thinking about something fun. It even made me smile again, but my smile soon disappeared as another thought entered my mind. What if she- No! I shook my head trying to rid my mind of the thought. I couldn’t think about that! I couldn’t sympathize with some stupid brat!

I opened the door and stepped into my room, seeing Gajeel getting into his bed. Sting and Rogue were already asleep and I suddenly felt the urge to slam the bathroom door really hard, but since I didn’t want to hear their complaints, I controlled myself.

When I was finally able to reach my bed, exhaustion hit me and I instantly fell asleep.

The excitement that I had last night about this important mission had already faded and was now slowly being replaced by irritation and frustration. I was really pissed right now because Master gave me this mission at the last moment, just a day before that big party. I wouldn’t be this mad if I could’ve just walked to the damn town, but of course the mission was in a town too far away to walk to. So here I was, currently dying inside of a stupid carriage. The damn thing didn’t stop wobbling and I could feel my stomach flip with every motion.

I left really early this morning and everyone was probably still asleep so I left as quietly as I possibly could. I didn’t want to wake Happy up to ask him to fly me over, a decision I regretted now. Having him fly me would’ve been faster, not to mention more comfortable. I often wondered how a small feline like himself could even hold my weight, the science just didn’t make sense. Then again, I was not the type of person that thought too much about that kind of stuff.

I’m a Dragon Slayer and I was taught magic by the King of the Fire dragons. At the age of 5 I was already strong enough to demolish an entire mages’ guild. Normal people could think about all that complicated stuff, but I didn’t really needed to. I didn’t need my brain; I only needed my powers. Not everyone had that luxury, though. Happy, who had his valiant heart trapped in a cat-body, wouldn’t be able to afford it to think the way I did. I never thought about things, I always charged and dealt with the consequences later.

Wendy was the same. Even though she had powerful magic inside of her, granted by the Dragon of the Sky, Gandeeney, her fragile body could never handle these destructive Dragon Slayer powers. That’s why I didn’t want neither Happy nor Wendy involved with this kind of business. Truthfully, I wanted to keep them as far away from this life as possible, but they refused to leave me here all alone. I had to say that I was lucky that they had my back. They understood why I was living this dangerous life and they supported me with their entire being. In return I kept them safe. No matter what it would take.

I leaned against the side of the carriage as it started to shake violently, making my stomach turn once again. When we arrived I felt relief wash over me as the death vehicle came to a stop. But my body was still shaken up, making it impossible for me to move.

Suddenly, the door was pulled open from the outside and my body turned weightless for a moment before I made contact with the cobblestones beneath me. I glared at the damn rocks and I even had the urge to burn them to a crisp for making that carriage shake so much and treating my face with so much roughness.

I tried to move, but my body was still resisting. I heard someone sigh and I readied myself to send a death glare at the stupid charioteer, but to my surprise, it wasn’t him that had sighed just a few seconds ago. When I turned my head to the other side to take a look at the origin of that sigh, I saw a glimpse of black and blonde before the air was pushed out of my lungs.

“What the..?!” The girl, who had just tripped over me, looked back at me, annoyance on her face. My mind started working when I took in her appearance. A young girl with blonde hair and brown eyes… I smirked. This couldn’t get any easier.

“What’re you smiling for! Can’t you watch where you’re lying!?” Her high-pitched voice yelled out, making my ears ring. I wanted to react, but I actually had no idea how to speak to a highborn girl. “A-are you alright?” She asked, this time a little softer as she crawled closer to me. I saw worry flash over her features before she turned her head towards the charioteer who had just called out to her.

“Miss, he just fell out of the carriage like that when I opened it. Is he alright? I really need to get to my next customer…” This pissed me off. He didn’t even bother to check if I was ok. What kind of service was that!

“Oh, don’t worry! I’ll take care of him.” Again, a smirk appeared on my face as I heard the words, but it vanished just as soon as the charioteer spoke again.

“Thank you so much, Miss! Oh and he had this with him.” The charioteer quickly shoved my file into the spoiled brat’s hands and before I could grab him and burn him to a crisp, he drove away at such a speed, it left dust in its wake.

Panic took over me when I noticed that brat looking at my file, but I quickly calmed myself down. Even if she opened it, I would just have to kill her right here, with all these witnesses. It didn’t even matter that there would be witnesses because I’d just kill them too. I felt adrenaline rush through my body at the mere thought of it. I stared at her. She seemed like a runner or screamer, maybe both. I hoped she wasn’t a screamer. The last yelp she let out nearly made my ears explode.

But the girl surprised me when she laid down the file next to her feet and leaned closer to me and grabbed my hand to pull me up. “Can you stand?” I didn’t give her a reply, the excitement I had felt moments before now replaced with a feeling I didn’t quite understand. I didn’t ponder on it any further, the mission at hand forcing me to put my game face on. I let my body go limp, making it harder for her to get me up while keeping in mind that this way, she’d be too tired to run away later.

She was standing before me now, leaning forward to touch her hand against my forehead. “Hey, are you alright?” She asked again.

I froze.

For a moment, she reminded me of Wendy. She had asked the same question with that same expression of concern on her face when she first met me.

This annoyed me. I couldn’t have her look like Wendy! I quickly pulled my head back. “The hell do you care!” I snapped at her, making her back up.

I instantly regretted my outburst. God, I hoped she wasn’t going to cry.

“You don’t need to yell at me!” She finally countered, surprising me again.

Of course, a highborn would never let someone speak to them like that. I should’ve known she wasn’t going to cry. I huffed at her as I took in the sight of her. Something made me doubt myself. Somehow, I couldn’t help but think I got the wrong girl. Besides, I didn’t even know what Lucy Heartfilia looked like so this girl could be the wrong brat.

To be honest, this girl looked more like a street kid, with the torn socks and dirty clothes.

“You’re bleeding.” I didn’t even mean to say that out loud as I looked at her wound. And she was as shocked as I was to hear the words.

“W-what?” She stammered with a hoarse voice.

“Your knee, it’s bleeding.” I suddenly realized that I seemed concerned about her or something so I quickly corrected myself. “You must be a real idiot to fall and don’t even notice you hurt yourself.” I laughed, effectively making a vein pop on her head.

“Who’s the idiot! I didn’t have time to worry about my knee since you were laying there in the middle of the freaking road!” She let out while crossing her arms defensively in front of her chest.

“So what? You should’ve just left me there. It’s not my fault you’re so clumsy to fall down.” I saw her clench her fists at my attitude.

“I fell over you! You’re the clumsy one to just fall on the ground like that!”

“I didn’t fall!” I defended myself, getting in her face, but she didn’t back away, looking back at me with fierce eyes. Again, the doubt resurfaced. Was this really the right girl? I mean, it was not like Lucy Heartfilia was the only blonde girl in this town. “I can’t handle transportation very well…”

As I realized I just told the enemy my weakness, my cheeks flared out of embarrassment and frustration. Why the hell was I telling her all this!

“T-then you shouldn’t be riding them.” Great, now she was looking at me as if I was some kind of idiot.. “You should just do like me and walk. It’s cheaper, plus it’s good for you.”

I didn’t know what to answer to that, but the fact that she walked everywhere, meant she didn’t own a carriage. She even said it was cheaper, so she probably didn’t have much money…

Great. It wasn’t her. She wasn’t the one I was looking for after all. I let out a sigh as I realized it.

“It’s not that I had a choice in the matter, y’know. There’s somewhere I need to be tonight and if I had walked, I wouldn’t have made it.” I finally answered her.

“Oh, so you’re in a guild, right?” She said, making me freeze on the spot. I looked up at her, but her face didn’t look like she knew something.

“So what if I am?” I turned away, my attitude startling her.

“It must be nice… I wish I could join a guild… You must have a lot of friends. You wouldn’t believe what I’d give to be as free as you are…” I stared at her, not believing what I just heard. Was she delusional? I wasn’t free. If anything, I was more chained down than anyone.

Suddenly I realized something, panic taking over. I frantically started to look around, searching for the file that was missing.

“Are you looking for this?” She held out the file in her small hand.

I snatched it away, making her flinch. “Did you read it?!” I spat at her.

“N-no,” She composed herself, swallowing hard before speaking again. “I didn’t. It’s none of my business.”

“You’d better not be lying…” I eyed her suspiciously.

“What? You’d have to kill me if I did?” She laughed, but I didn’t find it amusing at all.

Silence ensued after that, making me feel a bit more uncomfortable. I glanced at her, small fingers fidgeting with the hem of her black miniskirt.

“It’s just very important and I can’t screw this one up.” I finally said, breaking the awkward silence.

I didn’t expect a reply from her, so her words surprised me. “You’ll do fine.” I looked up seeing a smile on her lips. I didn’t understand her at all. Why was she so kind to a stranger? She totally let her guard down, too. She almost looked like she felt at ease. “What?” Her question pulled me back to our conversation.

“I don’t understand you. How can you still be nice to me if all I’ve been doing was yell at you?” I voiced my thoughts before I even realized it.

She looked at me, confusion reflecting in her brown eyes for a moment before she astonished me again. “I like you.” She simply stated, making me look at her as if she was mentally ill.

“What?” I didn’t know what else to say. This girl was seriously weird.

Her face turned red. “N-no! Don’t get me wrong!” She started to wave her hands in front of her. “I mean you’re a nice… Well, not a nice guy, but you’re the first one to treat me like a normal person.” Was she stupid?

She noticed my expression and turned away, not meeting my eyes anymore. I recognized the shame in her eyes. She was embarrassed, I could tell when her eyebrows knotted together and her grip on her skirt intensified.

“Aren’t you a normal person then?” She looked up, surprised by my question.

“S-sort of…, but I don’t get treated that way.” She stared me down as if she was trying to look for something in my eyes.

“Then you should tell those people how you want them to treat you!” This girl annoyed me so much I couldn’t keep my voice down. “If you want something, you should just make sure you get it!” This was basic knowledge. How could she not know how to stand up for herself?

“It’s not that simple.” She smiled, though her eyes held sadness and disappointment.

“Then you shouldn’t complicate things.” At my statement her whole face lit up, both with amazement and confusion.

“What’s your name?” The question took me by surprise and I didn’t even have time to think about giving her a false name because her staring eyes kept my mind from working properly.

“Natsu.” I replied, though I cursed myself for not coming up with something better to say. I could’ve changed the subject. I could’ve asked her name in stea-

“I’m-” She cut off my train of thoughts, but didn’t finish her sentence. The bells of the church were ringing in my ears as it struck three ’o clock. I saw her expression change and she instantly shot up from her seat. “God! He’s going to kill me if I’m late! I’m sorry, but I really need to go!” Her skirt danced in the air, almost giving me a perfect view of her panties.

I definitely had the wrong brat. No highborn would walk around in a miniskirt.

“See you around, Natsu!” She waved goodbye. I didn’t even have the chance to react, my mind overwhelmed by the sounds and smells that I hadn’t noticed before. I watched her back disappear in the crowd, making me wonder what her name was.

I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. We probably wouldn’t meet again since I wouldn’t be in town anymore after tonight. I was only here for my mission.

It was only now that I noticed I had stood up, my hand reaching out to her disappearing back as if I wanted to tell her that. Maybe I should’ve said that before she ran off. I shook my head. What was I thinking? I wasn’t even supposed to be seen in this town and now I had already gone and told her my name! I slapped myself on the forehead, thinking about my stupid action. I didn’t know what had gotten into me. Maybe it was a result of that motion sickness. Or maybe it was just her. I couldn’t help but notice the resemblance she held to Wendy.

“Hey Flamebrain!” I turned my head as the familiar nickname reached my ears and I instantly regretted turning around when I met with dark blue eyes.

“What’re you doing here?” I definitely wasn’t in the mood for this.

“Don’t be like that, I thought we were friends.” He grinned at me, but it just made me want to hit him even more.

“Gray, don’t call us friends ’cause we’re not. Not anymore.”

“And whose fault is that? I’m not the one who left Fairy Tail.” I clenched my fist as I heard the name, but I couldn’t manage to say anything, nor did I have the right to talk about that guild. I didn’t belong there anymore. I had a new family now – one that could kill us both if they saw me talking to Gray right now. A thought entered my mind that it wasn’t safe to be talking like this in public, but I knew that Master trusted me. Well, enough to not send spies after me to check up on me. I took a deep breath before relaxing again.

“Who’re you gonna kill?” My body froze at his question, but it didn’t surprise me. He had been eying the file in my hand for a while now.

I flashed him a grin. “Wouldn’t you like to know.” I wanted to leave, I wasn’t sure if I could continue this conversation without punching him in the face.

“Natsu, you know I don’t approve of this kind of life and-”

“I don’t care what you think about it! It’s the only life I have! You don’t even have the right to disapprove of this with your own perfect little life! Friends who stay by your side, a girlfriend and enough money to keep both yourself and her alive! You have no idea what I have to do to be able to have something like that! I don’t have a family anymore that I need to fight for! This is my life now, go live your own and leave me the hell alone, Gray!” It took a lot of effort not to just punch him in the face right now and my hands were trembling while I tried to control myself.

“You had a family, but you threw us away.” He turned and I felt my heart wrench as I watched my friend walk away.

For the second time today, I had the urge to call out. The urge to make them stop from leaving. But I couldn’t. I didn’t have that right. Not with the girl I had just met and not with Gray. I wasn’t like them. They were part of a world I could never reach again, not with the things I had done.

I looked up to see Gray vanish in the growing crowd that had come to Magnolia. The noise and the people pulled me back to reality and I realized that it was time to get my head back in the game if I wanted to succeed tonight.

Hi, guys! I hope you liked it!

I know it’s been a while and I apologize for my absence. I know I already have four other stories I desperately need to update, but I’m kinda stuck with ’em.

To be honest, I have a lot of stories (14 to be exact) of which the first few chapters are ready, but I haven’t uploaded them yet. Whenever I get stuck with the ones that are already online, I work on the others. So yeah…

Regarding my other FT stories, the chapters are in the making. I try to write in between sleeping, studying for my two resits (? Don’t really know if I’m using the right word :p), and working my ass off at my summer job.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Fairy Tail and sadly never will...

Fun detail: I originally wrote this entire story in Lucy’s POV, but one day I suddenly had the urge to try something new and rewrote everything in Natsu’s. :D

If you all behave, I might throw in some scenes in her POV ;)