Lucy's heart beat painfully within her chest, as she ran faster than she'd ever thought possible. She didn't know what was behind her, and she didn't want to know; whatever the thing was, it happened to be both terrifying and gaining on her. Suddenly, a hole opened up in the ground before her, and Lucy fell into it. She clawed desperately at the dirt walls that encaged her, attempting to climb out, but it was useless; she was trapped. The air around her grew cold as the thing that had been chasing her peered down on its prey, preparing to pounce.

Lucy Heartphilia woke to the sound of her own screams. ' Just another nightmare,' she thought to herself as she turned on her bedside lamp. 'Simply another horrible, repetitive nightmare.' The stellar mage sighed, glancing at her alarm clock. It was only 3 a.m, meaning she didn't really need to be out of bed for at least four more hours. However, as she'd learned in the past few weeks, once she was awake, it would be difficult to get back to sleep. Giving in to this reality, Lucy pulled out a novel, and began reading it to calm her nerves.

The nightmares had begun without warning two weeks ago, while Lucy had been returning from a mission with Natsu, Erza, and Grey. After falling asleep on the train, Lucy dreamt that she was being chased by a creature made of shadows. Fortunately, the dream didn't last long, as the train ride itself was rather short. Once Lucy was 'safe' at home and comfortable in her own bed, though, there was little to wake her from her nightly terrors except fear itself.

The basic idea of the nightmare was always the same, although the details often varied. Sometimes Lucy found herself running through unending hallways with many locked doors, other times she found herself lost deep within a dark forest. The shadowy figure that chased her ,however, was always present., and always only a few meters behind her.

No one in Fairy Tail had said anything to her yet, but she was beginning to suspect that people were noticing that something was wrong with her. At first she had been able to deal with her lack of sleep by simply increasing the amount of caffeine that she drank on a daily basis; after a few days, though, this strategy began to fail; the circles under her eyes became too dark to hide completely, and her appearance steadily became more and more worn down.

Sighing, Lucy set aside her book. No matter how hard she tried, her exhausted mind refused to allow her to become engrossed in the plot of the story. Her only option was to close her eyes, and pray that the next few hours would be peaceful enough to provide her with the energy she needed to complete the next mission with her friends. 'I'll talk to Mirajane tomorrow, and see what solutions she can come up with for my sleepless nights ', she promised herself as she buried her face into her pillow.

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The next time that the alarm clock went off, morning light was pouring in through the window, causing Lucy's bedroom to glow as it reflected off of her lightly painted walls. The girl stifled a groan with a pillow, wishing she could go back to sleep. She'd managed to doze soundly for at least the last two hours, and wanted nothing more than to continue doing so. Unfortunately for her, fate had other plans, and a light knocking at the door finally roused Lucy from the comfort of her bed a few minutes later.

Glancing out the window as she slipped a robe on over her pajamas, Lucy saw what appeared to be a mail delivery man holding a large red envelope . 'Why's he bringing the mail to my door today?', Lucy wondered to herself. 'Doesn't he normally just drop it off in my mail box?'.

After signing for the envelope, Lucy set it down on what doubled for her as both a living room/kitchen table, and began to exam it. On one side was written her address, and the words 'priority shipping' were stamped across the middle. The other side was blank, except for the design of her family seal pressed into the wax that held the envelope closed. With a groan , Lucy broke the seal, reached her hand into the envelope, and pulled out a stack of papers. The majority of them looked official, and were written in such technical, legal lingo that Lucy was unable to understand anything more than a few words. One piece of paper, however, appeared to be a letter written to her.

'Dear Miss Lucy Heartphilia', the letter began.

' It is my sad duty to inform you of the death of your father, the honorable Sir Reginald A. Heartphilia, who died peacefully in his sleep after many weeks of fighting against a vicious form of pneumonia. Unfortunately, there is little time for you to mourn him privately. Considering that you are his only surviving relative, and, according to the will, his sole heir, you are left with the difficult task of overseeing your father's funeral arrangements. Also, there are many details of his estate which we must discuss in person, as soon as possible. When you are ready, please visit my Magnolia office , which is located at number xxx Fairfield Lane.'

'My Deepest Sympathies'

'Willard J. Fritz'

'Estate Lawyer, Mediator, and Trust Fund Overseer'

Lucy held the letter in her hands, staring at it in disbelief. Her father had been sick for weeks, and now he was dead? Why hadn't anyone ever told her that he was sick? Her father was the traditional type who would have wanted everyone around him as he lay coughing on his deathbed, so why hadn't his only child been informed that he was sick until it was too late?

'Would I have gone even if I had known?' Lucy wondered. Sure, throughout her entire life, he'd ignored her, neglected her, even abused her, but still, children were supposed to love their parents unconditionally, weren't they? 'How would people react if they noticed that the death of my father caused barely any sorrow within my heart? Shouldn't I be crying right now?'. Lucy put her head down, confused by the overall neutrality of her feelings.

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Hours later, Lucy stepped out of the office on Fairfield Lane, her head spinning. The short balding man behind her, Mr. Fritz, pulled out a huge ring of keys to lock the door to his office, as a woman sweeping beneath the awning of the entrance to the store across the street glared at him.

"Closing at noon today, now are we, Mr. Fritz? "

To Lucy, this sounded more like an accusation than a question.

"I'm only closing this office for a few days, Agatha. I have some very important business that needs to be attended to immediately."

"What's so important that you'd voluntarily leave everyone who's ever entrusted you with a will down shit creek without a paddle, should anything happen to them?"

"You see this little lady right here? She's just inherited the entire Heartphilia railway business, as well as the family estate."

"Well, if that's so important, I'll make sure to tell your clients not to die until you get back."

Unlike earlier, Lucy's emotions were now clear. Her chest ached as her heart slowly ripped itself into two, if not more, pieces. How would she be able to tell her friends that she was leaving town, and didn't know when she'd be coming back?

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I've only recently become interested in Fairy Tail, but it's already up there with my favorites. When I'd finished reading all of the chapters currently out, I decided to feed my addiction with fanfics. Much to my disappointment, however, there aren't all that many. Oh well, at least I've been inspired to get back into writing.

I hope everyone liked this chapter, and the second one should be out soon since it's almost done. Maybe one of these days I'll finish my old work…too bad I lost my half-typed up chapters when my computer crashed. As a disclaimer, I'd just like to mention that I don't own Fairy Tail and never would want to, as owning it would take away the excitement and happiness I get from not knowing what to expect the characters to do next.

Misfortunate-Unlucky Happenstance-A Chance Event or Occurence