Lucy Heartfilia sighed as she sat on her designated stool in front of Fairy Tail's bar. It's not like she was complaining or anything; it would just be nice if Natsu actually invites her to tag along with him and Happy to their missions these past days.

But she had just sat there the whole day waiting for Natsu to ask her as usual, only to watch on as the dragon slayer and exceed kept going in and out of the guild. They had taken on a grand total of eleven, make that twelve, jobs so far.

She idly swung her feet back and forth as she gazed around the more than half empty guild, most of the Mages were out on last mission jobs in order to qualify to become an S-class Mage according to Loke who was going to partner up with Gray.

She wondered if maybe Erza had enough time on her hands for her, but she didn't want to bother the readhead.

"Lucy-chan? Natsu still hasn't asked you to go on a job yet?" Mirajane asked frowing in concern.

Lucy flashed Mirajane an assuring smile.

"He's busy trying to become an S-class Mage, I don't want to be a burden."

Mirajane was about to protest to Lucy's statement before shaking her head, "It's okay, I'll get those two to take you on a job at six, so go home and prepare, okay?"

Lucy sent Mirajane a thankful smile before grabbing her blue jacket and exiting the guild.

Loke had told her that the master was the one who decided who would be qualified to take the trials or not, but Lucy couldn't help but disagree at the method. She thought that there were more than a few Mages in the guild who were more than ready to become S-class, such as Levy and Cana. It was kind of unfair that only those who passed the trial can become S-class, it wasn't her place to judge the way Makarov chose to do things, but it would be nice to have the power to change the rules

And she admitted that it would also be nice if she could qualify to become an S-class Mage, but what was she thinking?

She was only in the guild for about six months and there were a lot of more promising Mages to choose from than her, but even so she couldn't help but think about it.

Her being S-class...

Lucy shook her head, what was she thinking? The tittle of S-class belonged to people like Erza, not plain old Lucy. Never plain old Lucy.

She let out a puff of her breath as she stepped onto the river's wall.

She knew that compared to people like Erza that she was a nobody, just a background supporting character in their stories. She'd watch on as one by one everyone of her friends become S-class Mages leaving her behind to watch their backs until they're too far from her reach.

They would all become somebody while she forever remains a nobody.

Stepping in a childish mockery of over exaggerated steps along the river's wall Lucy shook her head away from those stray negative thoughts that she'd sometimes have. She wished she had worked harder to become stronger, that she had been a better Mage. She didn't want to be her team's weak link anymore.

In fact in the beginning, before that mysterious Fairy Tail Mage had saved her life, she wanted to become someone great. A strong Mage like the dark wizard Zeref, only not evil at all.

She wanted to amount to someone more than who she was now.

But what could she do now? Last minute training won't help her with anything.

She sighed once more before summoning Plue to keep her company.

.o0o.o0o.

Lucy exited her bathroom while drying her hair with one of her many white towels, she couldn't help but shiver as a cold wind blew inside her place.

Wait, cold wind?

She furrowed her eyebrows as she stared at her open window, it couldn't have been Natsu seeing as her place was clean and peaceful, and she was sure she didn't open the window at all.

Cautiously she closed the window before inspecting her place, she quickly spotted an envelope on her desk.

She approached it, a sense of dread filling her as she saw the stamp.

She froze.

Because there lay the Oración Seis mark stamped innocently on the letter.

Lucy knew she should have ripped the envelope up in pieces and throw it in her fireplace, because nothing good could come out of Dark Mages. But she didn't, instead she grabbed the envelope and inspected it closer. This was the first time she had really paid attentin to the Oración Seis mark.

The Oración Seis' crest was formed by the characters "六マ", the Kanji for "six" and the katakana "Ma", which means "Demon".

'Six demons' Lucy summed up to herself, and she couldn't help but smile a bit at the cheesy villain name.

Call it her sense of humor as both a reader and a writer, but to her the name deserved a chuckle just for being so cheesy.

Above the crest stood "To : Lucy Heartfilia" in a beautiful handwriting.

She knew she didn't have a good enough excuse beyond being curious, but she opened the envelope to find a piece of folded paper.

Miss Lucy Heartfilia,

Isn't it interesting how you of all Mages received this letter?

Can you recognize the crest on the envelope? Please, take a guess- We don't think you'll be wrong

Our leader has perished, but that was the result of his own doings. But us? We're here to persuade you

Haven't you ever desired something you know you won't get as you are now?

We can help you...

Lucy re-read the cryptic letter over and over again before realizing that there wasn't any Spell placed on the letters.

'This has to be a trap...' Lucy thought to herself as she inspected inside the envelope.

She found a reservation to a restaurant not too far from her place, but far enough that she wouldn't be able to get help in time from her guild.

She gulped, 'I should give this to master...'

"Pun?"

Lucy jumped in surprise having forgotten that her Spirit was still there.

"You scared me Plue!"

"Pun, pun."

Lucy sighed at her Spirit, "You can go back now Plue."

.o0o.o0o.

Natsu crossed his arms "Where is she?" he wondered as he leaned against the bar right next to Lucy's stool.

"It's been half an hour" Happy muttered worriedly.

"She's fine, probably still deciding what to wear" Natsu assured with a light joke.

Happy nodded, "Aye, that sounds like Lucy."

"Isn't it obvious that Bunny girl ditched you two losers?" Gajeel asked raising an eyebrow at the two.

Natsu sent the iron dragon slayer a glare. "Huh? Luce wouldn't do that."

Gajeel smirked while chewing on a piece of metal, "Ask the shrimp."

Natsu's expectant gaze landed on Levy who fidgeted nervously "Well, you two have been taking on a lot of jobs without her..."

"Oh, Lucy-chan wouldn't ditch Natsu and Happy even if she was mad, so something must have came up" Mirajane said assuring their worries.

.o0o.o0o.

Lucy would never admit to having dressed up nicely to meet her enemies, no way did she spend hours picking out the perfect elegant red dress that slit at her hips nor the perfect black three inch high heels.

And she totally didn't call Cancer to style her hair into an updo.

Okay, maybe she did do those things...

But the moment she stepped into the restaurant she was glad she did, the place did seem rather formal after all.

Immediately a waiter had approached her and took her reservation before ushering her to her table which was in the far back away from prying eyes or eavesdroppers.

'There's no turning back now Lucy..' she thought to herself as she approached the table.

The fact that there were only two there didn't make her relax at all as she sat down across from the two instantly recognizing them.

Midnight and Cobra.

The former was obviously sleeping while the latter regarded her with disinterest.

'This is awkward, what should I say?' Lucy wondered.

"Well, usually greetings are the best way to start" Cobra stated.

Lucy jumped slightly before remembering that Cobra could in fact hear other people's thought.

But the blond couldn't help but sweat drop slightly at what the dragon slayer had said, "No, I don't really think saying hello to someone who once tried to kill your comrade is a way to start..." she quietly said.

"Is that so? Isn't that a thing of the past?" Cobra lightly asked.

Lucy couldn't help but give the Mage a blank look "It happened this year."

"Come on, cut us some slack will you? It wasn't anything personal really, we were just following orders."

'How can he be so easy-going?' Lucy wondered.

"How can I not? Like I said, it was nothing personal" Cobra repeated.

"You almost killed Natsu, and he almost killed Erza!" Lucy hissed at him pointing at him and then his sleeping comrade

"Let's not forget that we weren't the only ones who harmed the other's comrade, hm? Does the name Angel ring any bells?" Cobra smirked.

Lucy's eyes widened "I didn't try to kill her!" she protested looking as if she had been burned by the accusation.

Cobra stared at her intensely for a moment before nodding "I can hear it, you aren't lying" oddly enough he sounded pleased.

But the blond was sure she was imagining it, from what she had seen from her many encounters with Dark Mages they didn't care about their comrades and were rarely loyal.

The blond never noticed her company frowning at her thoughts.

"Are you three ready to order?"

Lucy glanced at the waiter who stood patiently next to her, she had forgotten that she was even in a restaurant at the moment.

"I'll have the premium steak, he'll have the crab sandwhich and the lady will have the special tomato soup" Cobra easily said.

The waiter jotted their orders down before walking away.

"So did you decide whether or not you'll hear me out before you do anything drastic like calling the council or something?" Cobra patiently asked.

Lucy stared at him for a moment before opening her mouth to ask "Are you asking me?"

Cobra blinked at her, "What?" he asked.

Lucy realized that she hadn't really thought about her question, it just kind of escaped her mouth.

"I mean are you the one speaking to me or is it your leader? Were you ordered to speak to me?" Lucy explained.

Cobra glanced at Midnight who was still 'sleeping', "No, we don't take orders from him anymore."

'Huh? Something must have happened...'

"Something which is none of your business Heartfilia."

Lucy frowned at the sudden rudeness "Then care to tell me why you're here?"

"All in due time, first I'll be starting out with some background check."

Lucy didn't say anything deciding to hear him out, so far the two haven't shown any hostile reactions after all.l

"Oración Seis is was a Dark Guild comprised of six incredibly powerful Mages. We formed a third of the Balam Alliance" Cobra drawled out boredly "Do you remember what the goal was?"

Lucy nodded, "Your goal were to retrieve the Dark Magic Nirvana which was capable of turning light into dark."

"But have you ever wondered how our guild came to be?" Cobra asked.

"No, not really" Lucy admitted.

"Oración Seis was created by a man who called himself Brain. He took five children, former slaves from the Tower of Heaven who possessed the highest Magical potential there, and raised them to be members of the guild."

Lucy's eyes widened in surprise, memories of the events that happened because of Jellal rushing in her head.

"It seems I don't have to explain what the Tower of Heaven i.s" Cobra noted.

"Why are you telling me all of this?"

Cobra wasn't surprised to hear through Lucy's thoughts that the blonde thinks that they're trying to trick her.

"We were defeated by an alliance formed between various guilds, but you already know that much."

Lucy held back a sarcastic reply, not that it mattered seeing as Cobra could hear her thoughts.

"Taken to prison by the Rune Knights, it wasn't long before we broke out."

"You broke out?!" Lucy whispered yelled finally realizing that yes, the two wouldn't be here if they hadn't broken out.

"Rather slow aren't we?" Cobra smirked.

Lucy blushed out of embarrassment before realizing something.

"Wait, if a Dark Guild as powerful as Oración Seis broke out of jail, it should be all over the place, right?"

Cobra sighed, "Use that pretty little head of yours."

Lucy frowned at the Dark Mage, he was quite rude in her opinion. And the other one lacked table manners to a huge fault.

But how could they break out of jail without there being an uproar about it? Wait.. uproar...break out...

"It would cause an uproar if people found out you broke out of jail, and the Magic Council would lose face."

"So you do have a brain in that pretty little head of yours."

Lucy knew the two in front of her were dangerous, but she couldn't help but glare at the man.

"So what does all this have to do with me?" Lucy bluntly asked.

"We're getting there, patience blondie. After breaking out of jail we took out our former leader for personal reasons. But we're planning on realizing his ambition."

"His ambition?"

"Yes. You see, he sought to create an actual guild. The strongest guild capable of destroying every other guild. Although his ambition was a bit half-ass he did manage to acquire a base of operations and buy a fairly big property around it."

Lucy couldn't say she wasn't surprised to hear this information, it made sense in her mind. Making good Mages turn evil and recruit them. She shivered at the thought of someone like Erza or Natsu joining a Dark Guild.

"But there's a problem, you see, we don't really think that we could just waltz into the Magic Council and ask to become an official guild, so this is where you come in."

"Eh?"

Cobra smirked at the confused look Lucy had "Become Brain's successor."

"What?!" Lucy yelled in surprise earning a few glances.

She ducked her head down in embarrassment as the other clients turned back to what they were doing.

"What makes you think I'd betray my guild and join up with you guys?" Lucy boldly asked.

"Don't you get tired of not gaining any recognition? Tired of being overshadowed by your teammates? Of always being in the background?"

"You...you-"

"Heard your true feelings."

Angry tears welled up in Lucy's eyes, it was a total invasion of privacy for him to just hear what she felt deep inside.

"I don't think you're weak."

Lucy's eyes snapped up to Cobra who had a serious look to him.

"You did manage to beat Angel after all. Fairy Tail just tend to baby you too much and underestimate you. They don't see your potential, they don't acknowledge your skills."

Lucy stayed quiet, because as much as she wanted to deny it she knew that deep down she did feel like they were babying her and not giving her enough credit.

'I can't betray Natsu...'

"You're going to hold yourself back for your one-sided puppy love towards Natsu?" Cobra questioned mockingly.

She should have said no, it would have been so easy. Say no and run away. Forget ever even talking to these Dark Mages.

"Give me some time to think." she should have just said no, there was nothing to think about.

"You lack resolve."

Cobra and Lucy turned to look at a now awake Midnight who was staring at Lucy through half lidded eyes.

"You want to get stronger and gain some recognition, yet you refuse to let go of Fairy Tail. You want to gain both without any price oblivious to reality, that is what makes you annoying."

Lucy was so surprised that she couldn't speak, even Cobra was surprised that Midnight had spoken so much.

"In reality everything has an asking price. In order for you to gain something, you must sacrifice something else. You're so weak-willed that you lack the resolve to sacrifice something."

Lucy clenched her fists, "Please give me some time to think."

"We'll come to your place tomorrow, same time."

Mutely nodding Lucy made her way out of the restaurant, Midnight's words still playing in her head.

"You lack resolve"

'Do you think I lack resolve mama?' Lucy wondered looking up at the sky.


Chapter End.


A/N : As most people know, I'm a huge Lucy fan, and I totally shouldn't be writing anymore stories...oh well, I'll just have to wing it? Oh, and before I forget the basic idea for this story was inspired by writer168's Naruto fanficion Otokage. Of course aside from the concept, everything else is original on my part considering I'm working with a different fandom.

Anyways, how did you like the first chapter?

I'd appreciate some constructive critism and ideas for future chapters,

Have a nice day!