A/N:Yay no more writers block...well, for now at least.

Arrival

Roderick Trent awoke slowly, the cool afternoon breeze ruffling his unkempt blonde hair much like the leaves he could see above him, silhouetted against the blue sky. With a groan, he rolled onto his side and cast a glance around for his backpack. Seeing it a dozen meters away against a tree trunk, he had to curse the need for such a thing, it was seriously hard to fight when you had to worry about your worldly possessions.

Slowly, Roderick rolled onto his chest and got his hands under him, pushing himself back onto his knees. Clambering to his feet, he arched his back, releasing a series of sickening and highly satisfying cracks. He was a bit taller than average, and paired with relatively broad shoulders that a steel blue jacket clung to, he could be quite imposing if he wanted. He cast his golden eyed gaze around. Only then did he truly appreciate the level of destruction the fight with Blue Pegasus had on the surrounding forestry.

The road was heavily pitted, clods of earth was scattered everywhere and most of the trees within a twenty meter radius had large chunks - if not the entire upper half of the tree - missing. With a wistful sigh at the destruction, Roderick carefully made his way over to his backpack, still slightly unsteady from the coma. Settling down beside it, he checked that the contents were undamaged.

Roderick didn't own many belongings, due in great part to his nomadic status, and also the fact that he didn't really like to have many useless things. What his meager backpack contained was little more than several rolls of bandages, a couple of spare t-shirts, a spare pair of boxers, a map - that he rarely used, adventure was easier to find without it - a bag of dried meat, his journal and a letter.

A very important letter.

After checking that none of his things were missing, he took the letter in his hands and just held it for a moment. It was starting to brown slightly with age, and the top left corner was permanently dog eared, no matter how heavy a rock he placed on it as he slept. Roderick couldn't help but chuckle at the sorry state of the piece of paper that governed one of two possible futures for him.

Suddenly pain lanced through him, originating from the small of his back, causing him to wince heavily. Roderick noticed that he could feel his undershirt against his skin, and with a resigned sigh, removed his jacket and t-shirt. He sat for a moment, letting cool air wash over his partially exposed chest and back. The only part that remained protected from the air was his upper chest, which was bound in bandages. Reaching a hand up and over his shoulder, he began to tentatively feel around his enough, a large hole had been burnt through the bandages in the space between his shoulder blades. Quickly unwinding the bandages, Roderick strained his neck trying to see what he knew had caused the pain. He had never been able to see the entire thing without a mirror, but he could just about see half of the large four-point star shaped scar that nestled itself between his shoulder blades.

It usually got like this after a fight, and he had no idea why that was, but that was one of two reasons he was headed to Magnolia; In the hopes that someone there would know what the hell caused it. Well, Roderick already knew what had caused the actual scar, it was more that he wanted to know why it always got so damn hot after he had used magic in excess. Scratching the smaller scar on his chest that mirrored the one his back, he removed a fresh roll of bandages from his backpack and began binding his chest once more.

With his chest bound in fresh bandages and a clean t-shirt on, Roderick tied his jacket around his waist a slung his backpack over one shoulder before squinting up at the sky. The sun was about three quarters of the way across the sky at this point he guessed. That left him three or four hours until sundown, he would need to move fast. With a smirk at his misfortune, Roderick turned, and began to walk.

It was with a grim chuckle that Lucy Heartfilia realised she really was no longer "Lucky" Lucy.

She had been wandering her way back from a bar she frequented with Cana. Cana had hooked - what she called - a catch and disappeared off with some young guy a while earlier, leaving the still inebriated Lucy to wander around the city as she sobered up. Now, whilst Magnolia was a city famed for it's guild of incredibly strong and loyal mages, there were still a few people dumb enough to break the law. Lucy, who was significantly less drunk at this point but whose reactions and mental speed were still impeded, found herself in the company of four big burly guys, who seemed eager to have their way with the tipsy girl.

Usually just the sight of the emblem was enough to send a group of hardened criminals packing, however, these young gentlemen were slightly harder to shake off for some reason. No matter how many times she told them to buzz off or showed them the guild mark, they just would not leave her alone. Eventually she had just resorted to running from the pack, who chased at a leisurely jog, as if they were sure that they would get her in the end. And in the end, it happened exactly like that.

Lucy had found herself at the end of an alleyway that backed onto the canal, the four men blocking her only avenue of escape.

"C'mon little fairy, we only wanna play." The apparent leader - an ape-like man with very little hair - slurred, making Lucy realise that they were all too drunk to realise just who they were fighting. Smirking, Lucy instinctively reached for the whip that - usually - hung from her waist.

Usually.

But, dressed in her black miniskirt and tank top, she had neglected to bring it with her. Remembering this, her other hand went to the key holder on her hip, then froze. Lucy glanced nervously at the advancing quartet before looking around hurriedly for some indication of the time.

"U-uh...if you don't mind me asking" She said sweetly, halting the advancing men. "You wouldn't happen to know the time?"

The men were dumbfounded. Here they were, in front of a cute girl that they were premeditatedly going to sexually assault - regardless of her affiliation - and she was asking for the time. They looked at one another, entirely unsure what to do.

"Urm...twenty past twelve I...think?" The smallest of the four answered hesitantly, looking to his friends for confirmation, who just shot him confused glances.

"Oh...right...thanks..." Lucy said, hopelessness livid in her voice. If it was past twelve midnight, she couldn't - as per her contracts - call on one of her celestial spirits for another five hours at least.

Shaking himself from his confusion, the leader walked forward until Lucys vision was completely occupied by the mans great barrel chest.

"Now..." He began, placing a hand on her shoulder, the perverse atmosphere returning to the group.

All of a sudden, Lucy heard something.

FFFFfwwwwwaaaaAaAagh...

Lucy then had the very strong urge to look behind her.

AAAAaaaaaaaaaghHEYLADYDUCK!

Lucy crumpled to the floor and moments later, with a woosh of air, a pair of booted feet slammed into the chest of the leader. He dropped like a dead weight and whoever had just slammed into him tucked and rolled coming up a few meters in front of the once more dumbfounded group.

The alleyway was silent. The leader was out cold. Lucy was pretty much sitting down, and they all just stared lamely at the man who was dusting himself down. Straightening his jacket, Roderick Trent looked around and noted the man who was now lying unconscious, then how the three men that stood before him suddenly had a murderous look in there eyes.

"Uuuuh..." He said, a nervous grin on his face. "...now in my defence, that was an accident-"

"Who the hell are you?!" One of them yelled, finally shaking the shock.

"No one in particular." Roderick answered carefully - he had learned the hard way that people like them knowing your name was generally a bad thing - before turning back to address the confused Lucy Heartfilia. "Hey."

Lucy snapped out of her daze. "Y-yes?"

"Are these guys tryna...y'know...?" He didn't really want to say it aloud.

Lucy nodded.

"Right-" He said as he turned back to the three men, just in time to duck a punch aimed for his face. Rodericks hands closed around the forearm of the man who had made a swipe at him, his shoulder shunted upward into the mans arm pit, rewarding Roderick with a quiet slurping pop. The man stumbled backward with a howl of pain, clutching at his arm that hung limply at his side.

The other two men wasted no time in making a lunge for him, but Roderick was quick. He dashed backward and dragged lucy up with him. Slinging her onto his back, Lucy swore he was going to run them both straight into the canal, but then there was a bang. Not a terribly loud one, but a bang nonetheless, and they were soaring upward.