AN: Okay, first things first, if you're looking for a happy ending, then you're looking in the wrong place. I can't imagine a happy ending for anyone in this story, as of yet. Second, I'm just posting this as a trial, I guess, to see the amount of publicity it gets. If people like it, then I'll update regularly. If not, then I'll just update whenever I feel like it. So, I guess you kind of been warned? Don't expect happy things to happen. So, don't say I didn't warn you!

Also, anyone watch Wayne's World? Remember that scene towards the beginning where they're introducing the diner guy? He looks at the camera and says, "Why is it, that when a man kills another man in battle, it's called heroic, but if he kills another man in the heat of passion, it's called murder?" Yeah, this story actually came off that line. Heh, funny, right?

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. I am not doing this for any sort of profit. This story is purely for the enjoyment of those who enjoy dark stories with lots of swearing, some death, fires, and jealousy. So, R&R and tell me what you think.

~.~

A sigh escaped her lips as she watched the scenery fly by her. It wasn't anything new - the same trees, bushes, towns, and people she's seen every spring and fall of her short adult life. Hopefully, if all were to go as planned, this would be the last time she'd have to endure it.

This was the last year of school, and then she could say goodbye to that miserable, depressing campus, and this boring train ride. She smiled as she turned away from the window, her gaze falling onto her clasped hands in her lap. She held her end of the bargain - she completed college, top of her class, valedictorian - so her parents had no other option than to let her follow her own path, her own dreams.

Her father was especially reserved, the one she really had to impress. According to his plan that he's had since she was a child, she was supposed to go to school, get a top education, and, when she'd graduated, she'd take over the family company, get married to the man she'd been arranged to marry, and have a family all on her own. She was able to get her mother into talking her father into this bargain. He would approve of her own future that she chose for herself, as long as she was number one at school. She had gone to a very prestigious school, so becoming number one wasn't an easy feat; in fact, she almost lost all hope towards the end, but fate was on her side when her rival marked one of the answers on his math final wrong, and she had gotten a perfect score, plus extra credit.

Oh, that victory was the sweetest sensation she's ever felt. How smug she had been, rubbing her final score in that egotistical bastard's face. The scowl he had given her was good enough to kill, but she was still living, and she was free to live her own life. He hadn't known why she was working so hard to beat him - he thought it was a pride thing, since that's the only reason why he was working so hard, but little did he know that her entire life was on the line. She didn't feel he needed an explanation, either, so she allowed herself this victory, and celebrated long and hard with her roommates, ending the night with a bout of passionate screwing with her rival, five years worth of pent up frustrations, one last battle to see who was better than the other. She was, naturally, but he wasn't too bad himself. Besides, they weren't ever going to see each other again, so why not?

The train jostled slightly, pulling her out of her reverie.

"Would you like a drink, Miss Heartfilia?"

Lucy blinked up at the stewardess, and politely declined. She was floating on cloud nine, and she couldn't afford to let anything pull her down. Alcoholic or not, she didn't want a drink. However, she did feel she deserved a nice smoke. Mavis, she hadn't had a cigarette in forever, or at least that's how long it felt. She was proud of her self control, able to focus on other things than be pulled into the world of addicted to nicotine. However, now that she could afford to free her mind, she knew it was only a matter of time before she became one of those smokers, but she didn't mind, not right now, anyway.

She stood from her seat and made her way towards the back car. She was sitting in the first class car, so her journey would be a little long, but the ending result would be worth the trek.

She was able to easily navigate through the cars - passing the lower class seating cars, the dining car, the baggage car - until she could take a break in the last one, another baggage car. She sat on a crate and took out her pack. She had bought this one at the beginning of the school year, and only three of the twelve were taken out. Lightning her cigarette, she leaned back against another crate, pulling her legs up folding them at the knees.

She held out her left hand, and inspected the ring on her fourth finger. She never thought she'd be happy to end an engagement, but she was, oh, she was absolutely ecstatic. The gaudy diamond shimmered in the low light. The diamond was so comically huge, that she had been the object of much teasing since she was sixteen and forced to wear it. Unable to hide her smile, she easily pulled the golden band off her finger, and, without another thought, slanted her hand and let the ring tumble to the floor. She didn't bother to watch where it fell, nor did she care. If her ex-fiance demanded it back, her father could easily afford to pay it off. There was no way that ring was of any significance to his family, so there'd be no issue.

Good riddance to the little worm, was all she could say. She took a long drag of the cigarette, and leaned her head back on the crate behind her, closing her eyes and allowed herself to relax. She felt like she was on those drugs that her friends had tried to pressure her into using. They said the little pills made her feel weightless, and content with the world. That was how she felt now, allowing the nicotine and jostling of the train lull her into a comfortable happiness that she couldn't even begin to describe.

She brought the stick up to take another drag, but jumped as she felt it slide from her fingers. She opened her eyes and jumped up to a straight sitting position, afraid that she'd lost hold of the cigarette and it had fallen to the ground. Her panic subsided when she realized that she didn't drop it, it was taken from her.

She blinked up at the man standing next to her, smiling down at her, the cigarette held between his thumb and forefinger. He was tan, his onyx eyes and pink hair taking her breath away. He wore a white button up shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and a black, open vest over the shirt. He wore black slacks, and nice shiny black shoes. The only thing that seemed out of place with his outfit was the white scarf that hung on his shoulders. It was an odd thing to wear, especially since it was so warm in the last car, even she could feel herself perspiring a little.

He was handsome, and the way he smiled down at her made her stomach flutter with false anticipation. There's no way anything romantic would happen between them, but it was fun to think about. She was, after all, going to be a journalist, an author, so her mind was overly creative.

"This is bad for your health, you know?" he said quietly. Without waiting for an answer, he crushed the burning end against the crate she was sitting on, effectively killing the burning poison. She watched him with fascination. Oh, he was handsome all right, and she was officially a single woman now, she was allowed to admire - not like her engagement stopped her before.

Speaking of which, he held up her ring with his other hand. "Is this yours?"

A laugh escaped her lips, and she didn't bother to stifle it. Technically no, it wasn't, and she was trying to get rid of it. Honestly, she had hoped she would never see that offensive object ever again. Who knew she'd see it not two minutes after dropping it, and being held by a handsome stranger, of all people!

He looked a little baffled, like he was unsure of her meaning behind her laugh. She waved her hand in front of her as she tried to calm down. She took a couple deep breaths before gently taking the ring from his grasp. She rolled the ring around on her palm as she settled down.

"It was," she murmured, but then tilted her head slightly. "No, actually, I don't think this ever belonged to me, even though I've been wearing it every day for the last nine years." She grabbed his hand and gently placed it in his palm, and closed his fingers over it. His hand felt warm, and, even in the current heat, she rather enjoyed it. "You keep it. Use it for your loved one, pawn it, sell it, I don't care." She reluctantly let go and leaned back against the crate.

"I can't accept this," he breathed out, holding his closed fist to her. "This looks way too expensive, and meaningful for you to just give to me."

"Think of it as a reward, then. You gave me valuable advice about smoking, so I give you that ring in gratitude for saving my life."

He shook his head and thrust his fist at her again. She sighed and shifted, throwing her legs over the side of the crate, facing him. She covered his hand with both of hers, and gently pushed his hand against his chest. She didn't fail to notice that, the way she was sitting now, she could be straddling him if he just stepped in a little, but she didn't hold her breath.

"This ring symbolizes my imprisonment to my old life. I don't want to see it, ever again. Please, take it."

He bit his bottom lip and pocketed the evil trinket. He shoved his other hand in his other pocket, and shrugged a little. "Did he break your heart?"

She laughed again, shaking her head. "Actually I'm the one breaking it off."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It was an arranged marriage, so there were no feelings involved anyway."

"Arranged? People still do that?" He looked away and scowled. "It's disgusting how parents can force their children to marry whoever the hell they want them to marry, just to further their own successes."

"Speaking from experience?"

"No, but the whole concept is just appalling. People should be allowed to marry for love, not money. Now, I'm not completely ignorant to know there are people out there who do marry for money, but at least they chose to live shitty lives, and it wasn't forced upon them."

Lucy stared at him as he rambled. She wanted nothing more than to grab him and kiss him for the way he was, unknowingly, defending her right to do what she wanted with her future. She bit her lip and glanced down, holding herself back from doing anything she'd regret later.

"So, uh, what brings you on the train?" he asked after a few minutes of silence. She raised her eyes to look at him through her bangs, a slight smirk on her lips. "I mean, other than the obvious."

She took a deep breath. "I'm going home. I just finished my last year of college."

He nodded. "Congratulations. I never had a chance to go, myself, but with my line of work there really was no need. I'm a firefighter," he answered after seeing her questioning look.

"Oh, keeping an eye on our train to make sure there's no danger?"

"Not really, but it's a good thing I was here." He took his hand out of his pocket and reached over to pick up the dead and almost forgotten cigarette that he had lay down next to her, his body getting closer to hers. "Not only are these bad for your health, but there's also no smoking on this train." He leaned close to her to whisper that last part, and she could almost feel herself get pulled closer to him, almost as if they were opposite sides of magnets. He cleared his throat and straightened himself out.

"I know, that's why I came back here to smoke it," she answered with a shrug. "I didn't think anyone else would be back here." She smirked. "Why are you back here, if not to break the rules?"

"Ah, I have terrible motion sickness." He rubbed the back of his neck and laughed nervously. "I came back here to ride it out until my meds kicked in. My wife can't stand my moaning and groaning."

Immediately her smile dropped. To say she was disappointed was an understatement, but she knew not to expect anything to happen with him. He's married. Of course he's married. A good looking guy like him? There's no way any girl in his life would let him walk around as an eligible bachelor - if she had known him on a personal level, she'd have snatched him and made him unavailable the first chance she got.

He blinked down at her, obviously noticing her disappointment. He felt a little bad for unknowingly leading her on, so he was glad he mentioned his wife when he did. She was a very attractive young woman, he wasn't going to deny, and, if he hadn't been married, he probably would have made a move on her. He probably mentioned his wife as an unconscious warning to himself not to get too close to this woman, especially with the way she was sitting...Her legs situated on either side of his own legs, only inches away from him. Her low cut shirt gave him a full view of a pair of very pleasing-to-the-eyes mounds.

He gulped as the warmth of the car seemed to sky rocket, and he could feel himself start to sweat a little.

Lucy took a deep breath as she pushed herself off the crate, nearly bumping into the man in front of her. She squeaked as the train jostled again, and she lost her balance, crashing into him. He instinctively wrapped his arms around her to steady her, and they both regretted the contact. She could feel his well toned, firefighter body under his shirt, and she inwardly groaned in disappointment. She thanked him for catching her, and she reluctantly pushed off him.

"Well, I better get back to my seat." She walked backward a couple steps, clasping her hands behind her. "It was nice to meet you, Mr…"

"Ah, Dragneel. I'm Natsu Dragneel."

All of a sudden Lucy's face fell and she felt like she wanted someone to appear out of nowhere to dig her into a giant hole. Dragneel was the surname of her academic rival. It was just a coincidence, right? Natsu didn't look anything like him...yeah, it was just a coincidence.

"Well, it was nice to meet you, Mr. Natsu Dragneel." Her voice came out rushed and breathy. She bit her bottom lip, wondering if she should chance telling him her name. Sure, it was the polite thing to do, but what if he was related to her rival, and he happened to bring her name up, and her rival tells him stories about her college days? Oh well, who cared, right? It wasn't like she was ever going to see them again. "My name is Lucy. Lucy Heartfilia." She waved at him as she turned away from him. "I hope we meet again!" she called as she rushed out of the car.