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There were few things in the world that could stagger Lucy Heartfilia.

She had seen too much. Done too much. She was completely and unchangeably affected by the darkness that tainted the world.

Despite the meaning of her name, she could no longer see the light. She could no longer feel the joy that her younger self had felt so often.

This was all fine. She no longer needed such things. In fact, over the years… she'd come to believe that joy was a weakness that an enemy could use against her.

Despite all of this, the finger on the trigger of her M89SR twitched as she peered through the scope and stared at the shocking head of rose colored hair.

She hesitated.

Because she hesitated, she missed her chance to bury a bullet into her target.

"Shit." She muttered under her breath before frowning and pinching the bridge of her nose.

After almost eight years of doing this kind of thing, she had truly thought that she'd managed to erase every trace of her former self. Though now… it was clear that she hadn't.

Slowly, the blonde sat up from where she'd been laying flat on her stomach.

That had potentially been her only chance to kill the person who had been the source of so much of her pain all those years ago. To effectively remove him from this world as he had so easily removed himself from her life.

Merely thinking about the betrayal was enough for Lucy to become angry. Proof that while she had become so much stronger both mentally and physically… she still couldn't help but falter a bit when it came to him. The man who had so easily left her when she was at her most vulnerable.

Natsu Dragneel.

She had been a little bit surprised when she read his name on her most frequent clients hit list.

At twenty-six years old, Lucy had truly believed that she would never have to think about Natsu ever again. She'd believed that she was done with that phase in her life.

Clearly, that had been a naive thing to think. Especially considering the fact that he was alive.

Now, she couldn't help but wonder when he'd learned of the accident that had involved their guild. She could only imagine that he'd feel guilty for leaving them all behind in the first place. Part of her had expected him to kill himself.

Mavis knows how many times she thought of doing that herself before she found herself joining a military-esque guild instead.

They'd effectively broken her down and built her into something of a much stronger version of herself. A version that she never would have been able to attain had she not gone through all of that loss all at once.

First her precious friend, Aquarius. Then her entire guild.

Lucy remembered the feeling of complete and utter betrayal that she'd felt when she found Natsu's letter after finally returning home from the charred remains of their guild and all of the people who had been trapped inside during the horrible event.

Lucy had not smiled once since that day.

Almost as an afterthought, Lucy reached up and touched the corner of her mouth. It was turned down, as it often was. She wasn't even sure if she could remember how to smile. Sometimes she tried, when she was alone and in front of a mirror.

It never looked genuine.

Her eyes lacked that shine, that glimmer in which smiling was supposed to bring about.

Besides, it wasn't as though she had a real reason to actually smile. Lucy did not feel drawn to a single one of the people in her life now.

Sure, she'd managed to meet new people. She'd managed to make acquaintances with a few of those who were in the same military guild as her. Though she only ever spoke to them when the topic related to work.

Lucy refused to put herself in another situation that would make it possible for her to feel that same kind of pain that she'd felt eight years prior.

"Lucy." The blonde didn't move at the suddenness of the voice that spoke her name. She'd heard the soft footfalls that had alerted her to the presence of her guildmate.

"What is it, Lilith?" Lucy asked without moving her gaze from where she'd seen Natsu mere minutes ago. She didn't need to look in order to confirm who it was that stood behind her.

The brunette was the only person who bothered with speaking and interacting with her these days.

"I don't think you should take this job." The words were quiet, yet firm. "It would be reckless for you to do so, you aren't ready for something like this."

Lucy only blinked.

"He is here looking for you, did you know that?"

Lucy hadn't known that. She'd simply been told that the target would be in Hargeon and that she needed to be there so that she could take him out before he left.

"How do you know?" Lucy asked after a long moment of silence, still not turning her head.

"He asked me about you. He has been asking every single person in Hargeon about you, I don't think he knew that I actually knew who you were." Lucy could hear the frown in Lilith's voice. "He is very determined to find you, Lucy."

"You think so? Well, he certainly sucks at finding people then. Eight years is a long time to search for somebody without any luck." The bitterness that Lucy felt seeped into her tone and she felt a grimace form on her face as it did so.

"You're right, you know I've never been the best at stuff like this Luce."

Lucy stopped breathing at the second voice. It was a voice that she never would have expected to hear again, a voice that was able to immediately cause her blood to run cold.

Slowly, Lucy stood up and turned to face the man that was at the center of her resentment.

He didn't look like he aged a day. Save for the fact that he was a bit taller and how his hair had grown out. It now reached his shoulders in a mess of rose colored spikes.

His eyes looked tired, though the smile on his face forced Lucy back a step as she recoiled. He might as well have slapped her.

That smile was genuine.

For some reason, instead of reaching for the revolver that rested at her hip within its holster… Lucy strode forward and smacked the young man plain across the face. The sound almost seemed to echo as she glared daggers at the face that no longer was pointed directly at her.

Natsu seemed to be stunned by her action as he reached up and touched the already reddening cheek that she had struck.

"How dare you address me so casually, how dare you come here and call me 'Luce'." Lucy could feel her own cheeks heating up as she felt the long dormant rage begin to settle in.

"Lucy…" Natsu trailed off as he slowly turned his eyes onto her, clearly hesitant about doing so. "I'm sorry…" though he said these words, it was clear that he knew an apology could never mend things between them. He could see the look on her face and see the years and years of pain that had accumulated so much.

"Lucy… I had no idea about Aquarius before I left." He said quietly, words that shot through Lucy in a way that she had only imagined that a gun could manage. "There is no way I would have left if I knew what was going to happen to the guild so soon after too… Luce, I would have never left your side if I had known."

The blonde could see the pain in Natsu's eyes and she knew that he was being honest.

Despite that, how could she possibly forgive him for what he'd done? How could she do that when she had been spending the past eight years coming to resent him? Using that resentment to build herself into a new person?

"Natsu… I'm not the Lucy you once knew." she explained after a long moment of struggling to think of something to say. "The second I read that letter you left for me, the Lucy you knew died." Natsu flinched at these words as he watched her face.

"You will always be the Lucy who I care about. Who you are will never change, no matter what things you might go through. No matter how much you tell yourself that you have changed… you will always be Lucy. My Lucy."

"No…" Lucy took a step back, "I am different, I have done things… horrible things…" she trailed off as she took another step back. She wanted to run away, she needed to run away. But where could she go? There was nowhere. She was on the roof of a fairly tall building.

"I don't care what you've done, it doesn't matter! Please Luce, let me back into your life."

The blonde shook her head and took another step, only this time her foot caught on something and she yelped a little as she began to fall backwards.

Immediately she realized the mistake that she'd made.

Everything happened so quickly that she almost hadn't even had time to react to the fact that she likely would have tumbled to her death had it not been for the fact that Natsu had so quickly reached her and pulled her to him.

They sank to the ground and the tears were welling up in Lucy's chocolate orbs as she felt his warm arms tighten around her.

For how long had she been cold?

"I'm here for you Luce," Natsu said quietly, "I will never leave your side again."

That was all it took to shatter the dam.

Lucy sobbed for a long time, the tears effectively soaked through the front of Natsu's shirt as he held her.

They remained like that for a long time, hours easily passed and it wasn't until both of their stomachs began to growl that Natsu suggested they went and got something to eat. A suggestion that Lucy agreed to, despite the part of her that wanted to protect herself from the pain that stemmed from friendship and love.

However… the part of her that had yearned for Natsu's touch all these years had grown quite a bit as he'd held her.

Lucy knew that while she had been peering at him through her scope not a full two hours prior… his aim was entirely different now. She would do everything in her power to keep from losing him a second time.

She aimed for a future with him that nothing could get in the way of.