The next morning Erza quickly prepared for her mission. She dressed in peasant clothes so no one would recognize her as a lady in-waiting, packed a satchel with food, the potion, and the map, and for extra measure she brought along a bow and arrows. One of the things she enjoyed doing for fun was archery. She had a gifted aim and was very agile. There were very few times that she missed her target. Through most of her life she had seen it as a hobby instead of a form of defense but that changed today. If this guy really was deranged then she needed to be ready if he suddenly decided to attack her.

With all her things packed she went outside to the front of the castle where there stood the horse Lucy had given her. She mounted the horse and got on to it's back then she took a look at the map and willed her horse to go into the right direction. She went over a few hills, passed plenty of farmland, and went down a few roads. A simple journey at first but things got a little difficult when she reached the forest. It had become dark by then and she was having a hard time reading the map. She hoped that she wouldn't become lost again or worse eaten by wolves.

"Need some light?"

She almost fell off her horse when she heard his voice. She was so certain that she was alone out here that hearing another's voice startled her. She got down from her horse and look ahead to see a light in the distance. It was coming from a lantern that was being held up by someone.

"Oh yes thank you." Erza said with relief. "It's so dark out here and I can't read my map. Would you mind coming a little closer with that?"

"No problem."

Even though it surprised her at first she was glad to find that she wasn't alone in this forest. Especially at night time. However her relief turned to fear when the man with lantern came closer and she could see his unsettling appearance better. He was young but his skin was so rough and had streaks of black scars, his fingernails were as black as his marks and could easily be mistaken for claws, his teeth were as sharp and pointy as knives, and his eyes, his eyes were his most terrifying feature. It was like they held some sort of deep rooted madness in them.

"Something the matter?" He asked with a grin that made her shudder.

"No...No." She said trying not to let his appearance get to her.

"Then why are you staring at me like that?"

"Was I staring? Oh I'm sorry. I didn't mean to I just...I...Uh...I...I uh...I...I-"

"Yes I know, I'm hideous. But I've learned to live with it so your look of appalled horror does not phase me."

"Well I wouldn't say that you're-"

"Please do not humor me with lies of pity. I'd rather have a cruel truth than a kind lie." He said. "But look at me, getting personal with a woman without even introducing myself first. Where are my manners? I am Gray."

"Gray?"

"That's my name of course you're probably more familiar with my other analysis. The Shadow Beast."

Erza briefly felt her breath stop and her blood run cold when she heard that. The shadow beast was an entity who seemingly manifested out of no where years ago. According to what she heard from many villages he had killed 12 trained soldiers with just a wave of his hand when he first arrived. He was said to have the strongest dark magic in all the world, posses an incredible amount of intellect, hid himself in the shadows, had a seemingly indestructible body, was a notorious deal maker, and above all that he was a beast who had no love in his heart.

"You're him?" She said stepping away.

"I am indeed and this forest that you're passing through happens to be apart of my domain." He could already see the fear in her eyes. "Now, now there is no need to be frightened."

"There isn't?" She said desperately trying to reach her bow and arrows.

"Yes and for the record those would do you no good. I can't be harmed by a common arrow so why don't you do yourself a favor and remove any thought of doing anything that would provoke me from your head?"

"Look I didn't know that I was trespassing on your property and I don't intend on staying here. Actually I'm going to leave this place right now so please don't hurt me."

"Oh no I'm not going to hurt you. In fact I've been looking forward to meeting you Erza."

"You know me?"

"In a matter of speaking. We've never properly met before this evening but I've watched you plenty of times."

"Have you been spying on me?"

"I wouldn't call it spying, I'd call it observing without your permission."

"That's creepy and wrong. Why are you spying on me?"

"I guess you could say your mother gave me the idea. A charming woman but a little on the insane side, then again who am I to judge on that subject?" He moved closer to her and began to examine her facial features and physical body appearance. He didn't touch her. He just looked at her up and down while circling around her.

"What are you doing? Why are you circling me? What are you, a vulture?"

"I just seeing what you look like up close." He said. "Wow...Those fairies really knew what they were doing when they gave you the gift of beauty."

"How did you know-"

"I researched you."

"Researched me?"

"You know I asked around about you, read certain records involving you, had a few chats with the fairies. Irritating creatures by the way. I'd swat em like flies if they didn't have magic."

"Why?"

"Because I don't like fairies."

"No why have you been researching me?"

"Oh well that's because you amuse me."

"I beg your pardon?"

"When I encountered your mother I was left feeling greatly...What's the word? Disturbed? And when I heard that a woman like that had a child I couldn't resist finding out what her offspring was like and I must say you weren't at all what I was expecting and that really amused me."

"I don't understand. How did I amuse you?"

"Let's just say it was the fact that aside from your looks you have nothing in common with your mother and I found that to be very entertaining."

"How do you know my mother anyway?"

"That's a story for another day right now I'm here to help you."

"You want to help me?"

"Yes."

"You help people?"

"Of course. I do it all the time."

"But you do it for a price right?"

"Smart girl. But you'll be happy to know that in this case I'm feeling very charitable so there's no price for this."

"Are you going to try to help me find my way to my destination?"

"Not exactly. I'm here to tell you something very important and you better listen to what I have to say because I'm only going to say it once."

"What is it?"

"You're about to murder an innocent person."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I'm talking about this mission that Princess Lucy has sent you on. It's not at all what you think it is."

"How did you know about this?"

"Why do you think they call me the shadow beast? I can hear and see things from the shadows so I know all about your little friendship with Lucy and how she set you up?"

"Set me up?"

"Oh yes. Hate to tell you this dearie but you've been tricked and lied to. That potion you're carrying in your bag? That's poison. And the deranged man you're supposed to give it to? He's actually a benevolent knight who performs good deeds and helps people. He hasn't been killing anyone in her kingdom. He wouldn't dare set foot in there. Not when she wants him dead."

"Wait what? What are you saying?"

"Let me spell it out for you. Natsu is a sickeningly heroic knight who Lucy wants dead. But due to particular circumstances she can't harm him directly and he knows pretty much everyone who works in that castle so she decided to find some peasant he wouldn't recognize, befriend him or her, gain their loyalty, and then trick them into doing her dirty work."

"Hold on you're saying that the only reason she helped me and became my friend was so that she could use me?"

"Bingo."

"But that's... That's not true. It can't be true."

"I'm afraid it is."

"You're lying."

"I don't lie. I do a lot of deplorable things but lying is not one of them."

"That doesn't convince me to believe you."

"Think of it like this, what reason would I have to lie about this?"

"Maybe you want this Natsu person to keep killing people. Maybe he somehow provides a service for you. Maybe he's your friend."

"Friend?" Gray burst into a fit of laughter that made Erza feel a little uncomfortable. "Oh that's a good one. Thank you for that, I needed a good laugh. No he's not my friend. In fact I hate him and he hates me. We're bitter rivals."

"If that's true then why stop me from killing him? That is if you believe that's what's happening."

"Why does anyone do anything? Sheer absolute boredom. I hate the man but clashing with him keeps me entertained and you wouldn't think it but I actually live a very boring life. I'm desperate for anything to keep me occupied or entertained, if he were to die I would have nothing to amuse me. Sure I plan to kill him myself someday but that'll come when I can find something or someone more interesting to mess with. Also I enjoy ticking off Lucy."

"But this doesn't make sense. If this Natsu isn't evil and is actually a good person why would Lucy want him dead?"

"Duh. She hates him."

"But why? Nothing you've said to me makes any sense. The Lucy I know I wouldn't do this. She's kind and caring and wants to protect her people."

"Yes, yes, yes she is a very talented actress. She's even managed to pull the wool over my eyes a few times. But to tell you the truth the Lucy you know doesn't exist. It's all a facade."

"No! No! I can't believe it! I won't believe it!"

"Fine believe what you want, I can't control what you put your faith in even if it is a lie but here's some advice. Before you give Natsu his drink why don't you observe him for awhile. Make sure that he's exactly what Lucy said he was."

"I will but in the end I won't need to because I know that Lucy wouldn't lie to me. She wouldn't do something so horrible."

"Wanna make a deal on that?"

"No thanks. I've heard about how your deals work."

"I guess you've heard from the references I've made over the years."

"I have so I'm not interested."

"Can't blame a guy for trying right? Oh well. I've done my good deed for the year so I'll just be on my way. You can keep the lantern, I have no use for it where I'm going."

"Wait I still don't-"

But he was gone in an instant. It was like he had never actually been here to begin with.

Erza picked up the lantern he had left behind and used it to read the map. After that she got back on her horse and went to a less dangerous part of the forest where she stopped to rest however sleep did not come easy that night. She couldn't help but wonder about what Gray had told her. Surely it couldn't have been true. Lucy couldn't have been lying to her all this time. She wouldn't trick her into doing something so awful. Their friendship couldn't have been all fake.

She tried to convince herself that Gray was lying. That Lucy really was her friend and was a kind woman who wanted to stop an evil man from killing her people but the thing was that beast seemed completely sincere in his words to her while Lucy's now that she thought about it seemed a little put upon. When she finally did fall asleep she was feeling very unsure.

...

When Lusha had seen Nasha today and learned that both she and that other child Elkis had taken in was not from Edolas she was left feeling very worried. Worried and somewhat threatened. No child should have been placed in Elkis's care. Lusha had personally seen to that so why was it that the red head was now taking care of two children? Wanting answers she went to the one person she knew could provide them.

Knock-knock!

"Come in." Gren said when he heard the knock coming from his office door. At once Lusha let herself in. "Mayor Heartfilia what a surprise, how may I help you?"

"I need to discuss something with you." She said.

"What would that be? Someone steal your car keys again? They're probably in your sock drawer like last time."

"It's about Elkis."

"What about her?"

"She has two children in her care."

"I know. I saw the little tikes today. Cute aren't they?"

"Why does she have them?"

"Well considering that she's a foster mother I think it would be natural that a child be placed in her care eventually."

"That wasn't supposed to happen. Did you forget what you were supposed to do the last time I hired you?"

"You're going to have to be more specific because you typically call on me to do a lot of jobs for you."

"I hired you to make sure that no child would be placed in her care."

"No you didn't."

"Yes I did!"

"No you didn't. We agreed that I would make sure that no child within Edolas would be placed in her care now correct me if I'm wrong but these two kids weren't within Edolas when it was decided that Elkis would take care of them."

"You little sneak! You know very well what I was referring to when I made that arrangement."

"True but technically I did my job. Not my fault that you used a poor choice of words."

"Well thanks to your technicality there two strangers in my town."

"So?"

"So I don't like strangers. Strangers lead to trouble."

"That's your fault."

"My fault? How is it my fault?"

"When you hired me for that job I warned you that it might backfire on you. I told you that Elkis wasn't one who gave up easily and that if you denied her one way at getting something she wanted then she would just find another way to get it and she did. You made it so that she couldn't find a child in Edolas to take care of so she decided to try to find a child outside of Edolas to take care of and she not only found one but two. Resourceful isn't she?"

"You had something to do with this."

"All did was not interfere when she applied to care for foster children that were from outside of Edolas. Nothing more nothing less."

"Fine! Whatever! But I need to hire you again."

"Ugh.." He rolled his eyes. "What do you want now?"

"I want you to find someway for Elkis to lose custody of those children. So they'll be taken from Edolas."

"That's not going to be easy."

"Why not? Just plant false information about her like last time."

"It was different last time. The agencies here are afraid of you and me so they wouldn't do background checks to see if the information was false or not but other agencies from other places who don't know who the hell we are, will do serious background checks to see if said information is valid and that madame mayor will only bring in more strangers. Now is that what you want?"

She gnashed her teeth together in irritation. She hated it when he had a point.

"No I don't want more strangers here but I want those two gone."

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news...Actually no I don't but it looks like the kids are here to stay. So you better get used to them."

"So there's nothing you can do about this?"

"What's the big deal? It's not like they're two men with a prison record. They're just children." He said. "How could two innocent, harmless, insignificant, little children from outside of Edolas possibly pose any threat to you?"

He smirked on that last part and it caused a swarm of fury to appear in her brown eyes. A kind of fury that only he could get arise out of her and something about the way he worded that last phrase made her very suspicious.

"So you have nothing to do with Elkis getting those kids?"

"None what so ever and I'm not in the habit of lying."

"You may not lie but you do leave out certain aspects of the truth don't you?" She asked. "These weren't just two random kids she picked up were they?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Do you know something?"

"I have no idea what you're implying."

"I think you do. Where did these kids come from? When were they born? Who were their birth parents?"

"Sorry but I don't know the answers to any those questions. You'll have to talk to Miss Scarlet on that subject. Now if you'll excuse me I think my shift just ended."

He headed for the door but she stopped him.

"You know something. Tell me what you know."

"With all due respect I think that's my line. After all I am the detective here."

"I'm not playing with you Gren. You know a lot more about this then you're letting on and you're going to tell me."

"Am I? Because right now I don't feel like dealing with you so I suggest you let me leave and we save this for another time." She opened her mouth to protest but immediately became silent when he uttered the word. "Please."

His smirk grew when she stepped aside to allow him to leave but she was far from being undaunted and he knew that which was why he was always one step ahead of her.