A/N: I actually thought about doing a Mercedes x Demon Slayer fanfic since there are none of those yet. It's also my favorite MapleStory pairing. :3

Disclaimer: I do not own MapleStory or its characters.

Mercedes POV

Everyone says that all humans are unique in some way or another. There is no human that is exactly like another. Most would take the word "unique" as a compliment.

I understand that I am unique, too...but in a different sort of way. A better word to describe me would be "odd" or "abnormal". To human beings, I am "unusual", "bizarre".

I am Mercedes, Queen of the Elves, and I am perhaps the strangest being ever created.

These were the kinds of things I thought of as I walked through Ellinia, trying to ignore the gazes of the people around me. Ignore them, I thought. Ignore the men and women staring at your pointed ears. Every now and then I would briefly glance at a person and read their lips to see if they were talking about me. Sure enough, there was plenty of talk about the Elf Queen.

"Wow, look at her ears!"

"She's so...weird-looking."

"Hey, miss! Are you supposed to be an alien or something?"

Blushing slightly in embarrassment, I did my best to block out their comments and continued walking. I don't understand. I'm not any different than the rest of them. What right do they have to insult me? I'm not that different!

After leaving the town, I stopped and began to stare at the sky. Don't worry about what people think of you, Mercedes. The appearance of your ears is not important. Training is your top priority right now. It was true; training was my top priority. I had to get stronger; there was absolutely no way I could defeat the Black Mage with my low level of strength.

Ignoring the negative thoughts, I stopped staring at the sky and shot at a Slime. I was still amazed at how they had become so weak! After making sure that there were no more monsters in sight, I began walking towards Six Path Crossway. All right. Let's go to Edelstein.

I stepped out of the airship and began walking through Edelstein. The place where I wanted to train was nearby: Ore Trail. It was a perfect training spot for me.

Dual Bowguns: ready. Left foot in front. Completely healed: check. Right foot. Space for-

All of a sudden, I crashed into a person, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"I'm so sorry for running into you! Are you all right?" I gradually looked up at the person I had run into, hoping that I hadn't hurt them. My eyes widened slightly when I saw the person I had run into.

The person...maybe not a person, after all...was a man with long, bloodred hair, bloodred eyes, purple skin, and...purple wings?

I stood up, trying to remember exactly who this man was. "You're not-"

The familiar man stared at me for a few seconds, then quickly walked past me.

"That was rude of him. He didn't even acknowledge my apology!" I said to myself. Sighing, I left Edelstein and walked towards Ore Trail.

I shot at another Big Boulder Muncher with my Dual Bowguns. For today, I planned on defeating fifty of these monsters. Right now, I had only defeated ten. Ten down, I thought, forty more to go.

"Help me!"

My training interrupted, I turned my head towards the source of the cry. A boy, who looked like he wasn't strong enough to be here, was being attacked by one of the monsters.

I destroyed the monster in two hits. "Run!" I called to the boy. He ran away from the area.

Unfortunately, now that he was gone, every Big Boulder Muncher was now after me.

Demon Slayer POV

"Thirty Big Boulder Munchers..." I said to myself. "That's how many I need to defeat." I walked towards Ore Trail, my demon wings flapping behind me.

Suddenly, I heard screaming. There was a weak-looking boy running in my direction.

I glared at him. "What business do you have in a place like this?"

"Well, y-you see, I came here to t-t-train! The problem was, t-though, that I was being attacked by m-m-monsters! But this lady with pointy ears c-came and saved me!" he stammered. "So now, I'm running away from this deathtrap!"

Hm... I began walking towards Ore Trail, Scepter in hand.

I reached Ore Trail, prepared to start the quest I had been given. "I wonder what that boy was talking about..." I murmured. Right as I was about to being slaying Big Boulder Munchers, I heard more yelling and shouting. What is it this time? I began looking around for the source of the yelling, attacking monsters as I did so. After a minute or so, I saw a woman with long, blonde hair, light blue eyes, and...

...pointed ears.

My eyes widened; I knew exactly who this woman was.

It was none other than the Elf Queen Heroine, Mercedes.

Mercedes POV

The Big Boulder Munchers were marching towards me rapidly. No matter how much I shot Magic Arrows at them, they would not collapse. They just kept coming and coming until, eventually, I was completely surrounded with no way out.

Even worse, I was being attacked by the still-living monsters. It hurt; I could feel blood dripping from a horrible wound on my right side, and there was a small cut on my head. I grew weaker as the monsters hit me and cut me. There's...too many of them.

Still trying to stay alive, I saw that a blur was breaking through the crowd of monsters and rushing towards me.

All of a sudden, a monster lifted its hand over my head and prepared to hit me.

No... My eyes widened in horror as I prepared for impact.

...The monster didn't hit me; someone had destroyed it.

He turned to me for a second, narrowed his eyes at me, and then continued attacking.

In just a few minutes, all of the monsters had been slayed.

D-Did he just...protect me? I asked myself.

"Get up," he ordered.

"You have...no right to tell me what...to do," I mumbled, glaring at him. Considering the horrible state I was in right now, it probably wasn't very intimidating.

He returned my glare, his much more intimidating than mine probably was. "You want to live, don't you?" He helped me up off of the ground. "Walk."

"...I...I know...who you...are..." My consciousness was fading.

"Walk."

I attempted to do so. However, right as I was about to take my first step, everything went dark.

How did everyone like my rewrite? Don't forget to review, and stay tuned for Chapter 2!