***I do not own Fairy Tail, nor its characters or its storyline***

I am standing in HIS bathroom, by the door, staring at the bathtub, filled to the brim with blood, a figure standing in it, her hair long and covering her breasts and reaching all the way into the red liquid. Black and slick with more blood. Her eyes are blue, staring widely at me, her mouth opening slowly.

"There is no such thing as freedom." she says in her childish voice, and with that she takes the first step out of the bathtub, blood spilling out on the floor. Then her mouth widens, and she lets out an agonising shriek as her body catches fire.


I heard screaming. It was so far away, but the voice was familiar. My voice. How strange. Then, as my sleep-huddled mind caught up with my body, I found myself in the forest, my breath coming in sobs, even though I wasn't crying. My fists were bloodied, the surrounding area burned to a crisp in almost a perfect circle. Finally. It was gone.

"I need to visit the graveyard again..." I muttered, and slowly got up from my position standing on my knees. *Just kill me*. *There is no such thing as freedom*. Once more I drove my fist into the ground.

"FUCK!" and again. Again. Again.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK." I swore for each time I hit home, ignoring the searing pain slowly moving up my arm as the strain was making itself known. I am FREE from her. I gave her a FUCKING GRAVE! *There is no such thing as freedom*. My fist stopped centimetres from the ground.

"I know..." I finally whispered. Without another word I got up, started walking in the direction I came from. How I knew what that direction was? Searing footsteps had left their traces, guiding me back.


A while after I encountered Natsu, walking towards me with question marks emanating from his being. I sent him a look to show I knew he was there and continued on my way without a word.


What was I doing here? I had no idea, to be honest. Should've caught on when Natsu mentioned today being a big day. Then, as I entered the guild, I all but got attacked by Mira, dragged off into some closet and told to accompany Gray, Happy, Erza and Natsu on this quest.

Why? No idea. Erza had most certainly not invited me, so why was I still sitting on this bench in front of the train-station, staring at Gray and Natsu as they butted heads and threw insults at each other. It wouldn't be long before Erza arrived, and then they would all of a sudden act like best friends.

"What are you doing here, Lucy?" Happy asked where he sat next to me, echoing my very thoughts.

"Mira asked me to come along," or more like threatened, though no threats actually passed her lips. My instinct just told me I should do as she said.

"Why, we don't need you," he commented, and I nodded thoughtfully while toying with the bandages I had wrapper around my hands. The wounds would heal quickly enough, but I was still sore.

"I know." I answered. Just then Erza arrived, on time, dragging along enough luggage to fill a small house.

"You ready?" she said in a voice that suggested no objections. Together we entered the train, me earning just a slight curious glance from the armoured woman before we all were on our way. This mission might turn out being an interesting one.


"You sure you're okay?" Gray asked me, sent a look towards my bandaged hands.

"Already told you, I used to dig holes for my graves through rock all the time. This time it was a tad deeper than normal, sure, but essentially this is nothing new. My fingers will be fine, eventually." I replied simply. Gray was still eyeing me suspiciously while we walked towards what was hopefully our guild. My sense of direction was limited at best, the others... well, we would survive, but getting back to Magnolia would be.. interesting.

As to my currently somewhat molested hands, we had encountered an issue at a train station a day or two back. A wind user had made something of a cocoon of razor sharp air in order to trap me, Gray, Natsu and Erza there while he went to some guild-meet too pretty much exterminate the guild masters present in Clover Town. While my services had turned out to be rather useless, I did have a certain affinity to digging holes. Making countless graves had given me the skill, and this time around it was much needed.

Of course, digging through concrete was a rather bothersome task, and I scraped my hands pretty badly. Mauled might be a better word than scraped. I'd experienced worse, to be honest, and didn't really get the big deal. It would heal in no time, especially after I fixed some of my disjointed limbs. Jeez. Big deal. Weird southerners.

Digging graves in solid mountain had never been a piece of cake either, but it had to be done as my graveyard expanded. Tundra was pretty bad too. I had a shovel to help me at the last spurt, but the blisters had been pretty hardcore even back then. Then came the engravings on the gravestones... I really did need to visit a graveyard soon.

"I'm HUNGRY!" Natsu on his side complained loudly.

"You will bear with it until we get BACK!" Erza countered, and we all wisely ignored her rumbling stomach as we kept walking in the middle of nowhere. This felt strangely like my last mission, wandering about merely hoping for something, anything, to pop up at some point that may give me an inkling as to where the hell I was. If this WAS indeed the same, then.. this would take time.


Home sweet home. Well, Magnolia in any case. What had I learned of my fellow guild mates so far? They need to feed, a lot, and often. That would suffice for Gray, Erza, Master (that had accompanied us after the others broke a town in the process of saving everyone from this strange.. thing), Natsu and Happy.

Sure, I liked eating every so often myself, but there was such a thing as time and place. In the middle of a canyon with not even a plant in sight.. that did not fit the bill. About me, well... Let's just say that I get grumpy after some time without food. After a while I also tend to get violent. Thankfully we found our way back to the city before I was overcome with the urge to knock out a very annoying Dragon Slayer bearing a name I at the moment couldn't be bothered mentioning.

"I'm going to the graveyard. See you guys later," I announced and went ahead through some side street.

"That's not the right way though," Erza protested, but I held up a hand without turning around.

"I don't care, I'll find it eventually." I said, kept on walking. Sense of direction or not, I still needed some much needed silence after almost a week surrounded by people, nonstop.


When the sun set I found myself squatting in front of a grave in the graveyard, covering my face with my hands. I heard steps, and knew the person before he spoke up.

"I thought you said crying was a waste of time," the priest commented, and I had to smile before I took my hands away. My eyes remained dry as I looked up on him.

"Indeed. Tears cannot bring what is lost back to you, no matter how desperate they might be. Besides..." I looked back at the grave. A child was buried here. Five years of age.

"I think I lost my tears. It would seem I am unable to recall how to cry," I replied. I saw the grave, and I could picture a child of that age, yet... I felt no urge to let water flow through my eyes. I felt no soreness in my throat.

The person named on the grave in front of me was dead. End of story. I had never met him. Never would. The woman had been crying in front of this very grave the other day. A waste... if her child saw her, he would be disheartened. I got up and stretched my stiff legs, yawned slightly. Slowly I turned to face the priest. He had a calm face, but also slightly curious.

"What kind of life did you have before you arrived here?" the priest asked me.

"I lived in a village up north, out of Fiore. I might go back there when Mama comes back from hunting, probably won't be long..." I replied. The time when Mama would return was nearing. I might miss the people in Fairy Tail, but.. all things end eventually. My time here would too.

"Until then, though, I do believe I have some work to do here. I might not be done today, but I will at least do something for the people that was." I continued, stretched my body and then went on to the side of the graveyard with the older graves. Not all of them remained attended to these days, so they needed a good makeover. Besides, I needed something to calm my nerves, and this was a good way to do just that.

"It is a strange hobby you have, attending graves belonging to people you never met," the priest was following me, probably to tell me to leave in not too long. Slowly bedtime was nearing, nearing for the both of us.

"Many things are strange, old man. Dying is one of the few things that aren't." I countered.

"I guess that is one way to look at it. I do wish to get home soon though, so..." he said back. And there it was, the request for me to leave.

"I will leave, of course. I do remember the fact that southerners close their graveyards during the night. I merely needed to see this place." I said, stood up from the grave I had been weeding. I could continue in the morrow perhaps. Or mayhap after my hands had returned somewhat back to normalcy. It stung using them.

"What have you done to your hands, girl?" the man asked as we walked side by side towards the gate.

"I attempted to dig in concrete. Not the best idea, but it worked out in the end. Perhaps will be come upon each other in the morrow!" I said simply, smiled and waved before setting off running. Food, exercise, sleep. Those were the things I would like to do today. Perhaps some bandages first? Then I would need to visit the guild, or Natsus home. The guild it was then.


The stars are pretty things. I always liked the stars, liked gazing at them whenever the clouds receded from the night sky. During the winters of the North most of the day also held stars. My steps moved slowly as I with my finger drew the different zodiacs present there. I knew most of them, had always had a thing for the art hidden up there. Leo, Pisces, then Orion. No Zodiac that one, but still...

"Farther, farther, up and down, chase the nasty monster down. Monsters murder, monsters lie, therefore monsters need to die." I stopped dead when I heard the chant performed with a childish melody in contrast to the male voice singing it.

"Up the Mountain Road it lives, on the forest floor it sleeps. If you come upon it once, all your treasure then it keeps," it went on, on to the next verse. Then the next.

"Get your pitchforks, get your guns, get your fire, make it run. Farther farther, all around, hunt the nasty Monster down. Monsters murder, monsters lie, therefore monsters need to die..." the male voice stopped singing at the end, merely spoke the words from the song. I stared at the group in front of me, a good ten guys with wicked grins, carrying with them what seemed to be sledgehammers.

"I got it right, didn't I, that song? You've heard it before, no? Lucy's song? Your song. I have greetings from someone you might know, and he has a message I have been asked to give to you directly..." he said, the singer. His grin widened.

"It has more verses," I commented instead while clenching my fists. I knew what would come now. They laughed, the guys, over my needless piece of information. Then they charged. Here we go again. This was going to hurt lie a bitch.. for all of us.

***AND.. We're DONE.. with another chapter. Not the story. Nope. Sorry to disappoint you. Giving this one out two hours earlier than my usual one, this because I fear I'll be dead (figuratively speaking, I won't be dead, just sleeping, and hopefully soundly) by my usual release time. Don't know whether or not I will be, but better safe than sorry***