Prologue

She never liked goodbyes.

She didn't like the feelings that came with them, the definition of the word, nor the way the word itself lied under the pseudonym of good. She didn't like the way it tore and ripped and made friends into strangers.

So when she left, that's all she did: no goodbyes included.

Fairy Tail was more than a guild, to its members: it was home. And the people in it were all an extension of each other: all of them were just fragments of the same whole.

But she didn't fit in with the rest.

Even before Tenrou, before she admitted to Guildarts her true identity, and before Lucy arrived, fitting in better than she ever did, Cana knew she was different. She drank so much as to forget this fact; so she could lie to herself just a little longer, and buy herself just a little more time.

But that's all it was: buying herself time until eventually she ran out of it.

She thought that one day, the feeling of displacement would stop. She thought that one day, she would come back from a mission and be able to smile and say: "I'm home". But that day had yet to come, and it seemed more and more like it never would. Tenrou was what tipped the scale: losing seven years of her life really made her think about what she wanted to do with the rest of it.

Did she want to stay with her "family"? Where she lied to everyone, including herself? Where the only way she was happy was soaked in alcohol?

No.

That was her true answer, the one that startled her awake at night and made her empty stomach ache for a drink.

So one night she packed an extra pair of clothes into a bag along with all of her money and her cards in a neat little stack. She didn't need anything else, because soon she would be a different person.

She would need to be a different person, because everyone in Fairy Tail would search for her endlessly, especially her new-found-father. She knew this with all of her heart, because she knew Fairy Tail better than herself. So Cana cast a simple spell she had taught herself, and instantly her olive, dark features became fair and bright. Her curves were switched for straight lines, still beautiful in their structure.

She smiled, and then laughed. Even they were different.

She would have to learn, though, to be careful, because her reflection gave away her true appearance. However, once she left Magnolia, no one would recognize her anyway, and she'd no longer have to keep this façade up.

It was well after midnight by the time she reached the outskirts of the city. She was smart to hide her identity, because even this late the city was quite awake. Cana was about to take her last step and be out of the city. Once she did this, it would truly be over: the place she had spent most of her eighteen years would be out of her life forever. Something stung inside Cana's heart.

A tear glided down her cheek, but disappeared into the wrinkles of her small smile. This was not sadness she was feeling: no, it was something she had forgotten the feeling of after drowning herself in booze everyday.

She felt alive, and hadn't even realized it was gone until now, when she finally got the feeling back.

Cana put a hand on her ribs, over the mark that branded her a liar. She whispered the words to herself:

"I, Canna Alberona, will never reveal sensitive information about Fairy Tail for as long as I live. I will never use former contacts met through being in the guild to my personal gain," she stopped here to take a deep breath. Despite being excited, Fairy Tail was all she had known for years, and leaving was hard, though she didn't want to admit it. She took another breath and continued, "Though our paths may have diverged, I will continue to live out my life with all my might, I will never consider my own life to be something insignificant, and I will never forget about my friends for as long as I live."

And with the last word, she removed her hand, and let it hang by her side. The mark was gone, along with the tears that had rained down her face as she spoke. She set shoulders, and straightened her posture.

Then, Cana Alberona walked out of Magnolia City, smiling as she went.