Here's chapter two! :)

Zoe yawned and covered her mouth with her hand. She sauntered through the streets of Magnolia, heading towards the guild. It was pretty early, so she didn't suspect many people to be there just yet, which was what she wanted, so she could take a job and finish it as soon as possible.

Of course, she was nervous, as it would be her first time and had decided to go alone. Either way, she didn't really believe anyone would want her. While it was true that all of them were kind towards her, mostly Lucy, Erza, Wendy, Gray, and Natsu, she still believed that they wouldn't want to go on a mission with her from the very first day, as they would surely be suspicious and wouldn't trust her.

When it came to her powers, she didn't think of herself being weak, but also wasn't as arrogant to think that she was extremely powerful. She was decent, could hold her own whenever the situation called for it.

"Hey, Zoe-san, wait up!" a female voice called out to her and paused in her steps, turning around.

"Good morning, Wendy, Carla," she greeted them as she waved.

"Good morning, Zoe, how are you feeling today?" Carla asked, floating next to her.

"Well rested, I'm actually ready to take my first job. Although, I'll have to take something easy, as I will be going alone." She responded and nodded to herself.

"But you are going to come with us today on a job and also, you are going the wrong way, we need to gather at the train station," Wendy stated and titled her head.

Zoe snapped her head to the side, eyes widened, "What? No one told me anything about it…and either way, I think it would be for the best that I don't join you."

"Why not? We all want you to come with us, especially on your first job, Zoe-san!" Wendy objected, hands curling into fists.

She rubbed the back of her neck and averted her eyes, "I just don't want to get in your way, is all…" she mumbled.

Something light hit her head and lifted her eyes to look up at the exceed, whose expression was scrunched up, "Seriously, I don't want to hear something like this coming from you or anyone ever again— Wendy used to be like that too, saying that she would only be a hindrance, but look where she is now," Carla scolded her, and crossed her small paws over her chest, "If you say that again I'm going to tell Erza."

She cocked her head, "And that is bad, how exactly?"

"Wanna test it and find out?"

She shivered and shook her head, "Uh, now that I think about it, maybe not…?"

"Good, now let's go, the others must be waiting for us." Carla turned around and started floating ahead of them, towards the train station.

Zoe sighed and fell into step with Wendy, following Carla. "I guess I don't have any other choice."

"It will be fun, I promise!" Wendy smiled, intertwining her hands behind her back.

"Guess so."

A comfortable silence followed between them, both girls enjoying the serenity of the morning time.

"Have I told you how cute that tiny ponytail of yours is?" Wendy suddenly said, catching her off guard.

"W-What? Um, no, I don't think you have," she felt heat rising up in her cheeks and tried to force it down.

"Well, it is."

"Thank you, Wendy."

After a few more minutes of walking, they finally could see the train station. They passed through the gates and could see in the distance the other mages already gathered up, waiting for them.

"I see you are finally here— good job in bringing her here, Wendy," Erza said with a small smile, arms crossed over her chest.

"It's really nothing."

"Um, excuse me, Erza-san," Zoe started, yet paused as Erza held up a hand in front of her.

"Please, there is no need to address me like that, just Erza is fine," Erza advised, "I'm sorry, what were you going to say?"

"It's just that nobody told me about this and I didn't come prepared, I don't even know what this job is about and how long we are going to be away."

Erza's eyes widened, "Wait, nobody informed you about it? I had told Lucy to inform you."

"Well, she might have forgotten about it or something…" Zoe mumbled, shrugging her shoulders.

"Lucy!" Erza yelled, making all the others flinch.

"Wait, no, Erza, it's fine, you don't have to yell at her for it." She defended, grabbing gently her wrist.

Erza looked down at her hand and then lifted her head, staring at her. Zoe gave her a small, unsure smile and before she knew it, her cheeks were being pinched.

"Mira was right, you are too cute."

"Uh, thanks…?"

"Hey, look, it's Zoe!"

She glanced over Erza's shoulder and saw Natsu running up at her, a wide grin on his face, with Happy floating next to him.

"Are you ready to go on your first job?"

"Aye!"

"Ready as I'll ever be," she confessed as her cheeks were finally released.

"Let's go, then and we'll fill you in whilst on the way!" Natsu wrapped his arm over her shoulders and guided her towards the train, cackling.

Yeah, I could get used to this…

"So, the job is to find out what has happened to this village and why it has been abandoned?" Zoe asked as she sat crossed legged, staring into the fire in front of her.

"More or less, yeah," Gray replied.

It had been a few hours since they had arrived at the location, and had taken two hours for them to reach the village. When they did reach it, the sun had already set, so they had decided to put up a camp and start from tomorrow.

Now, Zoe sat between Gray and Natsu, with Erza, Lucy and Wendy across from them on the other side of the fire. Nobody had wanted to sleep close to these two because they snored loudly, so she had offered to sleep close to them. All the others had fallen asleep and only she and Gray lay awake, not feeling overly sleepy quite yet. Either way, she didn't really think she would get any sleep tonight as she was completely enamored by the burning flames in front of her.

Sizzling, suffocating smoke surrounded her. Someone was screaming, she didn't know who, but it was loud and ear-piercing. Someone was sobbing, bawling their eyes out, yet she didn't know who it was. All she knew was that she stood there, two familiar bodies at her feet, staring up at her through the flames with those lifeless eyes, void, empty, judging her.

It was her, the one to blame for everything that happened, the one who was screaming and wailing, the one she feared. She was her demons and they were hers.

"-oe? Zoe, are you alright?"

She snapped back to the present as she a cold hand land on her shoulder.

"Your hand is cold," She responded and the arm withdrew immediately.

"Sorry, you were just spacing off and for a moment there." Gray apologized and she grabbed his hand again, holding onto it, onto the cold, onto the safeness.

Anything else except that suffocating warmth.

"I didn't say it bothered me…could I, um, could I hold your hand for a little bit longer? The cold, it's…" she struggled to explain, not wanting to give any more information away than necessary.

"You feel uncomfortable around the flames?" Gray asked, staring at the flames too, not taking his hand away.

She smiled sadly, "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

Gray remained silent, eyes fixated on the fire. She was thankful that he hadn't withdrawn his hand just yet, feeling the cold grounded her against the present.

"You should probably go to sleep now, I have taken the first watch either way." He commented, squeezing her hand and then withdrew it.

"To be honest, I don't think I'm going to be able to get any sleep tonight— I don't even know if I want to," she confessed and leaned back on her sleeping bag, laying down, gazing up at the starless sky.

"And why's that?" Gray asked in a hushed tone. If it wasn't so eerily quiet, she might have not heard him.

"Because we all have our demons, literal and metaphorical," she replied and glanced up at him, "right?"

She felt quite cold and turned her head towards the fire, eyes slightly widening as she saw the previous burning flames wrapped in ice.

"Won't the others get cold?" she whispered, eyes turning to Gray.

"They can deal with a little cold, and either way, it's not very smart to leave the fire burning in the night. You never know who might be out there."

She tucked her hands under her chin, a small smile formed on her lips.

"Good night, Gray."

"Night."

"We should split into teams of two, so we could search faster," Erza announced, hands placed on her hips, "Gray, Natsu and Happy, you three go east, and me, Lucy, Wendy, Zoe, and Carla will go west."

"No! I wanna come with you and be with Carla!" Happy cried out and buried himself on Lucy's chest.

"Hey, Happy, come back here! Don't you dare leave me alone with this ice-freak!" Natsu shouted, walking towards the exceed.

"What did you say, flame-brain?"

"Guys, stop fighting, I will join you two if Happy wants to go with the girls," Zoe spoke up.

"Are you sure about this, Zoe?" Erza asked her, who in return nodded.

"Okay then, it's settled, we'll meet back in the camp after two hours. Let's head out!"

And with that, the two teams parted ways, jogging towards the opposite direction. The three of them walked through the empty streets of the village, looking right and left for anything unusual.

She sighed, as she strolled a few steps behind the two boys that were ahead of her, fighting with each other again.

"Seriously guys, from the way you are acting, you are way worse than an old married couple." She commented and smirked as she saw Gray going rigid.

"S-Shut up…" Gray grumbled, covering his mouth with his hand.

"What was that, Gray? I didn't quite catch it— do you mean that what I say is incorrect?" Her smirk widened as Gray turned around and glared at her.

"Zoe, you—"

"I can smell someone else," Natsu stated, voice grave.

"Where? Is he close?" Gray responded, immediately refocusing, taking a battle stance.

Natsu clicked his tongue and lowered his posture too, ready to pounce, "I can't exactly pinpoint it, it's vague, but be on your guards," he glanced at her and beckoned her closer, "Zoe, come over here, it's dangerous to be—"

She felt a presence coming up behind her too late and before anyone could react, there was a hand wrapped around her throat, grip tightening, making it extremely hard to breathe.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so fast on making decisions right there, buddy," the man behind her chuckled as Natsu gnashed his teeth, halting from advancing forward.

"Let her go, you bastard!" Natsu screamed, fists engulfed in flames.

The man behind her tightened his grip, cackling, "Or else what?"

A crystal fog covered Gray as he glared at the attacker, "We'll beat you to a pulp."

"Oh, I'll crush her throat before any of you manage to even take a step forward, so, I believe that you need to rethink your choices here," he grabbed her forearm with his other hand and dug his nails into her guild mark, "so, what's it gonna be?"

Zoe placed her own hand over the one that was wrapped around her throat and squeezed it in a death grip. She chuckled, which came out in a cough fit more than a laugh.

"Is there something funny, you little bitch?" Her attacker growled into her ear.

"Y-Yeah…you," she said and lifted her shaky hand, stretching it forward.

The man snorted, "Nothing you do is gonna work on me, little one, I doubt you have enough magic power to even scratch me. You'll only succeed in embarrassing yourself in front of your friends."

She smirked and jerked her arm backward. There was a pond nearby and the water flew towards their direction, turning into ice before it hit her attacker straight in the chest, sending him flying. She collapsed on her knees, coughing. Then, she stood up, wobbly on her feet and whirled around, raising both arms up. She snapped her arms together and more water shot forward from the pond, molding into icy pillars which fell all around the man, trapping him inside.

She lowered her arms and panted, "What did you say about me not having enough magic to even scratch you?" she teased, a cocky smirk on her face.

"Way to go, Zoe."

A hand landed on her shoulder and glanced up, Gray looking at her with a proud smirk on his face.

"Thanks," she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and glanced at their attacker again, who was now being harassed by a certain pink-haired mage.

"Yeah, that's what you get for underestimating a Fairy Tail guild member, you asshole! And considering what you were about to do, she went easy on you," Natsu grinned widely, canines showing as he raised his flaming fist, "Maybe I should teach you a lesson?"

"Natsu, stop it, we need him alive in order to interrogate him," Gray stated and Natsu clicked his tongue, as he started backing away.

Gray turned towards her again, "Can you walk on your own or do you need help?"

She waved her hand dismissively, "I'm fine, this is nothing."

"You are one tough cookie, aren't you?"

Heat crept up her face and she swatted him, "Don't call me that!"

He laughed, "Well, that was impressive, I didn't know that you were an element mage."

"Yeah, well, there are a lot of things that you don't know about me…" she mumbled and averted her eyes, "anyway, let's get on with his."

She walked towards their attacker and knelt down in front of him. "So, who are you and what business do you have here?"

"And why should I tell you anything, girl?"

"Because if you don't—" she clenched her fist and the pillars of ice tightened around his body, making him grunt in pain, "I will crush you."

"Gray, am I legally old enough to adopt a child?"

"Oh my god, shut up, Natsu."

Zoe snorted as she heard them, but remained focus on the matter at hand.

"So? What are you gonna do?" she addressed the man in front of her.

After a beat of silence, he lowered his head and spoke up, "Have you wondered what happened to his village?"

"Why it's abandoned and there is no sign of life? Yeah, that's like, the whole point of our job." She inhaled sharply as the man lifted his head and glared at her with a manic grin on his face.

"I'm the one who turned this village into a grave— you wanna know why? Because I was so bored and felt like having some fun! I sucked dry of all of their life force and magic," he licked his lips, "I have to say, they were very delicious."

"Why you bastard…" Natsu growled, taking a step forward, but Gray placed his arm over his chest, stopping him.

"Gray, let me go—"

"Be quiet, flame-brain." He ordered, voice low.

Zoe closed her eyes and let out a shaky breath. She lifted her hand and slammed it onto the ground, hearing the satisfying crunch.

"Don't worry, I didn't kill him, he's just unconscious." She confessed and stood up, walking away from him. "You should head back to the camp now and take him with you, so we can all decide what to do with him."

"Where are you going?" Natsu called out.

"Don't worry, I'll come back in a few." She said without looking behind her and stopping.

"But it's still dangerous to—"

"Leave her alone, Natsu, she'll come back when she's ready," Gray advised, holding him back.

Zoe smiled, grateful that Gray understood.

She kept walking aimlessly and at some point reached a lake. Gazing at the crystal clear water was making her calm and relaxed. She glanced at the rock that emerged from inside the lake and jumped towards it, managing to land on it, as it wasn't too far away. She sat down crossed legged and took in a deep breath, letting it out.

To think that there were people out there that actually enjoyed killing and found amusement in it really disgusted her. She couldn't even begin to understand how such a monstrous action brought joy to these certain people, the thought alone made her stomach flip.

Her hands were covered in blood, dripping down onto the ground. She glanced at the bodies in front of her, blood smeared everywhere. She let out an ear-piercing scream and fell to her knees, covering her face with her hands. She choked on a sob and felt a coppery taste in her mouth. She gasped and withdrew her hands, glancing up.

There she was, covered in blood, a wide grin splitting her face in two.

Zoe backed away, eyes widening in terror, "W-Who are you?"

"I am you, and you are me."

She shook her head violently, "I would never do this! There's no way that I would kill my own—"

The girl in front of her started chuckling lowly and soon it turned into loud laughter. "Oh, oh, but you did, you poor thing. You ripped their life out of them and burned them to crisps."

"N-No…I—"

The girl cackled, "You still refuse to believe it? Man, you are so pathetic, to think that someone like you has this much power," the girl raised her arms wide open, "look around you, look at the flames that are burning your home into ashes, this is all your doing, your flames, your cursed power. Your flames cause nothing but destruction."

"Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, "you're lying, I'm…"

"You're a monster, a demon, cursed to exist upon this world only to cause destruction to everyone around you."

Her whole body shook violently, heaving as tears rolled down her cheeks like an unstoppable stream.

"This power of yours will only bring harm to all those you love, because you are nothing but a monster, a demon."

She shut her eyes and screamed at the top of her lungs, feeling the flames intensifying, wrapping around her, trapping her inside her own mind.

She had done this, she was the one at fault.

She was a monster.

She whipped her hand out and commanded the surrounding water to spring forward, freezing it into sharp ice as it flew towards the person that dared come close to her, ready to eliminate the threat.

She panted as she saw the spikes of ice being broken, dispatched into a steam of sparkling smoke.

Her eyes widened in horror as she snapped her head up and stared at Gray, who was looking back at her, expression closed up, unreadable.

"I-I…I don't…no," she grasped her head and closed her eyes.

She could have killed him.

"I'm s-sorry…I'm so sorry, sorry, please, stop it, I'm sorry, I swear I will learn to control them, please—" she repeated over and over again, like a broken mantra.

She slowly lowered her hands and stared at the blood that had marked them, dripping down into the water, tainting it.

"Monster…a monster, please help me—" she snapped her head up and looked at Gray, eyes filled with tears, pleading, "Please, you have to kill it, you have to…please, kill the demon…"

"Shit, Zoe, calm down, you're safe, there's no monster or demon here, just me and you," Gray said calmly, raising both hands in front of him, "just calm down, breathe in and it's going to be—"

"You don't get it! I'm the one to blame, I did this— I killed them! I'm the monster, so, please, you have to kill me now while you still have the chance!" She threw up her hands, causing a tide of water to snap towards Gray who dodged it.

"Please, I don't want to hurt you too…" she whispered and gritted her teeth.

Then, pain exploded in the back of her head and her vision blurred, head spinning.

Did it work? Is this…it?

She closed her eyes and welcomed the darkness with a warm smile.