WARNING: THIS STORY IS KIND OF OOC (on purpose)! IF YOU WANT TO READ A FUN AND BRIGHT STORY, I SUGGEST YOU SKIP THIS ONE! The main plot is ten years after the deaths of Natsu, Gray, Erza and Gajeel in Lucy's POV. The second chapter will be even darker.

"I see you're back from your mission. How did it go?" The master said in a low voice once noticing me enter his office.

"Not bad. Although it took me a longer time than expected."

"You are never satisfied, are you?" He looked at me with a scolding face "Will you stop criticizing yourself and finally realize your quality?"

"The quality I don't have?" I rolled my eyes and slammed my palms on his desk.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." He shook his head in disagreement "Nothing is good enough for you, is it, Lucy Heartfilia?"

"I'm weak and you know it." I looked at him with a small trace of impatience "The job was far easier and should have been completed in a lot shorter time than it took me." I spoke out the facts and he disagreed with me one more time.

"You do realize that you finished a job that was supposed to take three years in eight months right?" He stood up and the quick motion pushed the chair back, which almost fell over and made a piercing sound while sliding on the floor.

I just glared at him and squinted my eyes, but the result I got from doing so was totally opposite of what I expected. He simply smirked and sat on the chair satisfied. The nerve of that guy…

"So you admit your self-accusing is wrong?"

"I don't admit anything. Your dense brain is what makes you precept things as you wish and not as they are." I didn't look at him anymore since I was opening the door to the office and getting out, but I could feel him staring at my back while I leave. The feeling was really uncomfortable, but it wasn't my place to tell him not to do so. Shrugging off the random thought, I closed the door and heard him sigh once I got further away.

"Hey, Lucy!" Levy came up to me with her usual smile. "How was the job?"

"Why is everyone asking me the same question…?" I sighed, but seeing how Levy felt uncomfortable, I quickly changed the answer "It wasn't bad, but it took me long enough."

"Oh, please. You always give yourself criticism. Cheer up a little!" she tapped my shoulder and sat next to me on a bar stool.

"How can I, Levy?" thoughts of what happened started flowing through my head. The wish. It's what changed everything. If it wasn't for my lust for power, none of this would have happened. "After all this suffering… I brought the guild so much pain."

"It wasn't your fault." She said repeatedly hitting on the island with her fingernail.

"Oh really?! Then why is this guild so empty? Where are our nakama? Where are Natsu, Gray, Erza, Wendy, Gajeel?! Where are they?! And the master… why is Laxus the master of Fairy Tail?! Why isn't anything like it used to be?! I ruined everything!" I was nervous. Frustrated to the level that I didn't notice I was crying. Until a tear fell on my right hand, all I felt was my sight going blurry. And guilt weighing on my chest.

"You can't change destiny, Lucy! You can't force happiness!" Levy's voice cracked and she cried with me. There was no one to see us cry, though, because the others were on jobs and Laxus was in the office. I can't call him master. He's not the master that we all loved. Even if he's doing a fantastic job, the word 'master' won't come to mention when I refer to him.

"Hurting your friends because of a sudden wish to be strong is not destiny!"

"You didn't hurt our friends, Lucy!" She tried to reason, but she failed since she herself wasn't really sure who was at fault in the situation, destiny or me "And it wasn't up to you to decide if they will protect you or not! You have to live on, for their sake!"

"If I didn't express the wish, they would still be here…"

"Who says they're not here?"

"Can you hear them? Feel them? Talk to them?!"

"I might not be able to do all of those things, but I can feel the bond of friendship we shared."

"Sorry to break it to you, but 'feeling a bond' isn't the same as 'feeling a presence'."

"Lucy!" She got mad, and for a reason, if I may add. Maybe I was being too harsh? "It's not your fault, and it never will be!"

"It is! It all happened because I wasn't careful enough!"

"They were the ones that chose to come after you!"

"Because they were good friends, unlike me…"

"You are a good friend, Lucy."

"A good friend that lets her loved ones die?!" I slammed my fists on the surface, startling Levy a bit.

"Lucy…" Levy couldn't say I was wrong, because I wasn't. Seeing she wouldn't reply anymore, I stood up and left the bar. I took an SS class poster and walked outside with the suitcases I just brought in.

"She left again?" I could hear Laxus' voice while I was still in the boarder of the guild.

"She won't accept that it wasn't her fault. I'm starting to worry…" they continued the talk but I was too busy to listen to it all. I took my last look at the guild for the next few months and my last step that led me outside of the gate.

It is my fault. No matter how hard Laxus and Levy try to convince me, it's still my fault. If it wasn't for that power lust, all of my comrades would be alive by now. Sure, it's been ten years, but I can't stop hearing their voices in my head saying 'How could you?!'.

I boarded the train that was supposed to take me to the endangered town. It was in a snowy region, which meant I had a lot of time to travel, and with that a lot of time to think.

I miss them.