Hi everyone! This story is the result of a particularly malicious plot bunny. I'm kind of unsure about the idea. It seems a little too AU, and the concept is overdone, but I gave it a swing anyway. Jude is a completely different character in this story, but he won't be mentioned too much throughout. And I'm going to try by best to keep the other characters true to their respective personalities. So, tell me what you think.

:)

Lucy hated having to talk to her father. Every conversation was one-sided and he never wanted to hear about the things that mattered in Lucy's life. She merely nodded when he started rambling about his work, but he hardly seemed to notice her lack of attention anyway. It wasn't like he was actually speaking to her. She knew that. Rather, anything that came out of Jude's mouth was the result of him broadcasting his thoughts. If it wasn't that, he was lecturing her, subconsciously letting her know that she wasn't good enough to match up to his impossible expectations.

On rare occasions however. Lucy's father would come home from work with an interesting story or two and she liked listening to those. Such stories were getting scarce though. She remembered a time when she was just a little girl and how she thought the absolute world of him. How could she not? Especially when all her classmates would envy her for having a police chief as a dad, and she loved being able to boast about her dad's latest cases. Now, all he did was file paperwork and crack mundane cases. And the jealousy in her peer's eyes had gradually turned into something like resentment as the years went by. She was the chief's daughter. Wealthy, sheltered and terribly lonely because of how reluctant people were to get to know her.

Now, she stood at the gates of her school. Students passed her on their way home, but she didn't bother waving goodbye to any of them. She mostly kept to herself. She'd been waiting there for about five minutes just watching a pair of pigeons squabble over a piece of bread until a car turned the corner and pulled to a stop in front of her. Silently, she thanked her lucky stars that he'd decided against driving his work car today in favour of the black Mercedes which she promptly climbed into. The car took off as she placed her bag on the floor, and she was then greeted by her father.

"How was school, Lucy?" he asked, though is uninterested tone indicated that he didn't actually care about how her day was.

"Good," she replied. It wasn't a lie. It wasn't fantastic, though. Just good.

"Get that assignment in?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think you'll pass?"

The sudden rush of questions came as a surprise to her. "I think so. I mean, I studied pretty hard, just like you told me to. My math teacher said it was an improvement too. She told me tha-"

Jude cut her off instantly. "I'm going to have to drop you at the library. I'm working on a new case and I think today could be the day I make a breakthrough."

"Oh…" Lucy slumped back against the car seat, slightly disheartened at the fact her hopes of him listening to her had been so high just a second ago only to be shot back down. But really, what did she expect? Serves her right for thinking anything had changed. Even for a second.

A thought suddenly struck her then. "But wait, I've been studying all week. It's Friday, dad. Can't I just go home instead?"

He shook his head. "Out of the question. You should use all the free time you possibly can in order to better your studies."

"I can study at home, though. There's the interne-"

"There's too many distractions at home."

"But dad!"

"Don't even try, Lucy. I'm not getting into this with you again. You'll go to the library and do as I say. That's final."

"But why? You never let me have a life. It's so not fair!" She folded her arms across her chest and stared out the window at the passing scenery of industrial-like buildings.

Noticing his daughter's silence, Jude sighed. "I just want you to stay being a good kid, Luce. Not like these kids I'm racking my brain over trying to catch at the moment." The mention of his work caused Lucy to inwardly roll her eyes. "What I'm dealing with is a troublesome gang that's been causing problems throughout the town. There's quite a few of them, but three individuals have caught the attention of myself and my team on repeated events."

Now, Lucy was intrigued. "Who are they?" she asked, and she didn't quite realize that she had let her excitement become obvious in her widened eyes.

Jude gave her a disapproving side glance but continued on anyhow. ""A particularly violent female, a male exhibitionist and a short-tempered and incredibly destructive pyromaniac."

Lucy fell mute as she imagined this threesome her father had described in her head. Of course, they seemed dangerous. But she never relied on her father's word too much anyway. After all, he'd never quite described her accurately to anyone else. She couldn't help but feel a swell of interest in her stomach as she wondered what it would be like to run with a group of people like that. She was totally against hurting anyone, yes, but the freedom and fun that those people must have in their lives was something so different to her own.

Jude wasn't moved by her silence. He appeared to be too wrapped up in his own thoughts as he glared ahead of the steering wheel with his knuckles wrapped so tightly around the wheel that his knuckles began to turn white. A few minutes and zero conversation later he pulled onto the side of the road and stopped. Lucy got out of the car without so much as a back glance. She didn't say goodbye and neither did he.

He sped away, back to work as he had said, and Lucy was left to stand and watch as the car disappeared. Then she turned to look at the library and allowed a long, drawn out sigh escape her lips. She was in for yet again, another boring study session. Another evening wasted.

A few incredibly long hours later, she found herself sitting on the steps of the library that was now closed. Her surroundings were dark, and the weather was overcast so there wasn't anything in the way of moonlight. She could hardly see two feet in front of her, except for the spot-lit areas on the pavement where street lights cast an orangy glow. She was alone, a little chilly and pissed. Pissed because her father was late yet again.

'I'll give him 5 more minutes and if he's not here, then screwit I'm walking home,' she thought while she brought her knees up to her chest. She placed her bag on the step by her side.

Those 5 minutes passed and Lucy had to eat her own words despite the slightly disabling paranoia that crept up on her shoulder.

To be honest, she had trouble believing her father would be so careless as to leave her alone in the middle of the night when he knew the library's closing hours. She was a little afraid, but she tried to tell herself the opposite. The night seemed to transform the town she had grown up in into the setting of a horror movie and her over-active imagination led her to believe an axe murder was about to jump up behind her. Images of her face in tomorrow's newspaper with the headline 'Highschool Girl Murdered' flashed through her head as she attempted to convince herself that she was being dramatic, which she most definitely was.

What occured next was very sudden. She hardly even saw it happen. If she had blunk, she probably would have missed the masked figure run towards her and snatch her bag.

Lucy jumped to her feet. "Hey!" she called. "T-that's my bag! Stop!"

It came as no surprise when the robber ignored her and pelted down the street so fast, he almost looked as if he were flying. Lucy gave chase. They came to the main shopping strip which wasn't deserted like the area surrounding the library. A few people were scattered on the street, and each of them stopped to stare. A woman screamed as the robber and Lucy dodged past her.

As they ran, they passed another person who's appearance caught Lucy's eye even in a time like this, when she should have been too distracted to notice anything but her robber. He was simply walking on the sidewalk of the street with his hands in his pockets and his head down. His hair was a rosy hue of pink and it stuck out in all directions. Around his neck, he wore a white, patterned scarf.

His hair wasn't the only thing different about him. No, he showed just how much of an individual he was when instead of simply standing by and watching like everyone else, the young man overtook Lucy as he bolted after the robber too.

She tried to ignore her racing heartbeat as she chased the two through the streets. But she wasn't fast enough to keep up with them, and she soon lost sight of that pink hair. She kept running anyway.

'That guy with the scarf doesn't stand a chance against him,' she thought as she recalled the size of her masked robber.'I've got to help him.'

Lucy had come to a dead end street and finally stopped to catch her breath. Almost wheezing, she bent over and lent with her hands on her knees, trying to work out where they could have possibly gone. She then laid eyes on an alleyway to her right, but she couldn't see any farther than the entrance as the depth of the alley was cloaked in shadow. She stood there for a while and contemplated if she was game enough to continue her search. She wanted to give up and go home. The smart thing to do would be to inform her father, but her concern over the pink-head's safety held her back.

Suddenly, "OOF! Get off me, man! Ah!"

Lucy's survival instincts kicked in and her body surged with even more adrenaline. She could hear the sound of someone being beat up down the alleyway. She didn't hesitate to run towards it.

What she saw when she got there and her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, made her throw her hands up over her mouth in shock.

If you're getting a bit of the dejavu vibes, you'd be right to do so. I've posted this chapter before under a different account, and I decided to post it using my main account because, well, because I can.