As a child of high-class, she was not sent to an average public school. Those schools were considered vulgar and unrefined to her father. She had expected that she would be sent to a private school, where the tuition was high priced. However, her mother had taught her at home, which she had rally enjoyed. Her mother was the greatest teacher she could ask for.

When the beautiful blond haired woman had passed away, her daughter had expected that she would be sent to a boarding school. She expected her father would want to get rid of her, because he tried his best to stay away from her and locked himself in his office for hours on end.

No, she wasn't. A tutor was sent to her. The tutor was to teach everything from arithmomancy to English literature. The tutor her father – or, more likely, his assisstant – hired was a meek old lady called Ms Dowling. Her face resembled something like a lemon and she always looked bitter and dissatisfied. Although being shorter than her, she was most fierce-some and carried around a threatening cane.

One lucky week, Ms Dowling was absent from tutoring as having caught a dreadful fever. Sent in her place was Ms Andrew, the bubble teacher from the south. She had violent red hair and an enthusiastic personality. Her lessons were exhilarating and fun.

Her father had been enraged by Ms Andrew's teaching ideas and had fired her as soon as he had found out. Ms Dowling had been forced to come back, still recovering from her fever and had infected Lucy with her germs.

It seemed that she wasn't supposed to have fun, like she had had with Ms Andrew. Having fun lead to trouble.

IV - Weird & Wonderful

"The carnival closes in ten minutes. Please make your way to the exit or the tent to watch the circus show," a loud booming voice said as Natsu and Lucy hopped off the Ferris wheel.

"I guess you need to go now," Lucy mumbled to Natsu. "Otherwise you'll get in trouble with Master Makarov."

Natsu opened his mouth to speak but closed it when they heard someone shout Lucy's name.

"Lu-chan!" Lucy turned her head and made out the sight of Levy running up to her.

"Levy!" Lucy shouted back with joy. Her sadness had immediately evaporated.

She had met Levy an hour or so ago at the booth that Levy managed – it sold magic books and spell books. Lucy, being a massive bookworm like Levy, had squealed at the sight of all the books. She and Levy shared a common interest in books and clicked instantly – they'd spent so long discussing books that Natsu had had to drag Lucy away from the booth.

Levy finally bounded to a stop once she was close to them. Like all the girls Lucy had met at the carnival, Levy was beautiful. She was bubbly and bright like her sunshine yellow bandana that clashed with her wavy blue hair. "The show's starting soon!" she told the blond. "We should get to our seats."

"Wait, don't you perform?" Lucy asked.

"Nah, I've got a case of stage fright that's nearly as bad as Erza's," Levy said and then shivered.

"And trust me, Erza's stage fright is bad," Natsu added with a laugh. Suddenly, he tensed up and started looking around, paranoid. "She's not here, right?" he asked with panic.

Levi and Lucy laughed at Natsu's paranoia. "Good," he said once he realized Erza was nowhere to be found. "I guess I'll see you," Natsu said to her, giving her a big grin. His smile looked different, almost… fake. "Bye, Luigi!" he added before running away.

"My name's not-" Lucy started to shout in anger but stopped when she realized that it was no use. Natsu was too far away to hear her.

Levy laughed. "You're like a couple," she said which made Lucy shoot her a glare. "Jeez, you're scarier than Erza! C'mon, let's go!"

The blue-haired girl led Lucy to the huge red and white striped tent. "Wow, it sure is big," she awed as she looked up at the tent.

Levy laughed again as they both took their place in the queue lining up to go inside. "Hey, what about your booth?" Lucy asked Levy.

"Oh, Droy and Jet said that they'll pack up for me," Levy answered. "Aren't they great friends?"

Lucy was sure that Droy and Jet both did not want to be just Levy's friends but she didn't speak her opinion. She really liked Levy and was really upset knowing that they wouldn't see each other again. Almost as upset knowing that she wouldn't see Natsu again either. Almost.

It was Elfman who was at the opening at the tent, acting as the bouncer. The customers were giving him jewels to enter and see the show. Lucy dug her hand into her skirt pocket to get out her jewels. She felt guilty that she hadn't had to use any of it because Natsu's friends had insisted that it was no trouble – well, apart from Laxus who hadn't let them play at his 'Static Electricity' booth until they had paid.

"You don't have to pay," Levy told her as they got to the front.

"But-"

"As a man, I agree," Elfman spoke in his deep voice. What does being a man have anything to do with this? Lucy wondered and then Levy forcefully pushed her into the tent.

Inside it was just as big as a theatre. The two girls made their way to some seats to give them a good view of the centre when the circus acts would perform. The smell of buttery popcorn was in the air and Lucy cursed herself for not remembering to buy any for the show. However, she was still joyful, the excitement eminent on her face. This is the first circus I've been to!

When all the seats were finally filled, the show began. The lights dimmed and Lucy and the rest of the audience (bar Levy) gasped when a spotlight fell on a huge dark monster. Fear rumbled in Lucy's stomach and she recoiled back, afraid the monster was going to catch her. But her eyes stayed glued on the figure, as were everyone else's, and they all watched as the monster figure shrunk smaller and smaller until it was just a small elderly, mustached man wearing a bright orange and blue hat.

"Welcome all, to the Circus of Fairy Tail," the man said. "I am Master Makarov, the owner of this circus," he took off his hat and bowed to the audience and then placed his cap back on. "This circus has been running for hundreds of years, although the lineup has changed many a time. It is said that the first owner of this circus, Mavis Vermilion, was an actual fairy. But do fairies really have tails? Do they even exist…? Like them, this circus is an eternal mystery… A never ending adventure!"

"First, I present to you, Pantherlily," Makarov ended his introduction with a bow. The spotlight on him disappeared and landed on the small black cat.

Some of the audience cooed at the appearance of Pantherlily, who looked more than adorable. The cat, whoever, looked miffed that people were taking him for granted. His eyes searched the crowd until they landed on the two girls. Lucy felt she was imagining things, or had Levy and Pantherlily smirk at one another?

He started running to them on his four paws and then pounced. Unexpectedly, he transformed in mid-air to a large panther humanoid. He dropped to his feet on the floor and growled at Levy, causing said girl to giggle. Obviously this transformation was not a new sight for her.

Lucy couldn't get over it. Pantherlily turned… can Happy and Charle do that too? She wondered as the lights brightened and a creature appeared on stage. It resembled something like a tiger, with paws and claws and even black stripes and ever tiger ears, but the rest of its body looked human. The tiger/human hybrid had familiar short white hair and blue eyes which made Lucy realize that the tiger was, in fact, Lisanna.

The two fierce creatures circled one another as predatory animals would. Lucy was scared that they would attack one another and fight: hello, anyone ever heard of animal cruelty? Just as she feared, the animals pounced…

Then, just as before, Pantherlily transformed back into his original form: a cute little cat. He started to fall to the floor, only to be caught by Lisanna who was also once again in her normal form of a teenage girl.

"Behold, Ladies and gentlemen," said Makarov, although he was nowhere to be seen, "Lisanna, the amazing transformer and Pantherlily!" Lisanna and Pantherlily disappeared from view too. "Our next act is none other than Lisanna's sister, Mirajane!"

A brightly colored blue and yellow tropical bird flew into view, swooping around the tent. It landed on someone's outstretched hand and transformed into an exotic blue and pink butterfly. Someone gasped. The butterfly fly away and flitted past until it reached Lucy. It landed on her lap and she was beyond shocked when she remembered that this little butterfly was actually the beautiful Mira. Again, it transformed into a cute and fluffy white cat. Lucy laughed and tickled Cat-Mira behind her ears.

The cat leapt off until it was back in the centre of the tent. With a twirl, Mira was in the cat's spot, looking as attractive as ever.

The show flew by, getting more and more interesting by the minute. Elfman, Mira's and Lisanna' only brother, appeared with a monster arm that was extremely strong. Juvia almost drenched the whole audience and Gray showed his wonderful ice-sculpting skills. He uses ice? And Natsu uses fire… no wonder they don't get along! Lucy thought and clapped as Gray and Juvia left the stage. Hey, why is Gray still shirtless…?

Bixlow made his 'babies' fly around the tent but Bisca and Alzack shot them back down with their perfect aim. Lucy was aware that Bisca liked Alzack. From the longing look Alzack gave the cowgirl, Lucy assumed that he liked her in return, but neither was courageous enough to admit it.

Gajeel was back again, and eating metal like there was no tomorrow. Lucy considered that there was more to Gajeel's talent than just eating metal because he had been chewing some earlier that day like it was nothing. This was probably just something minor for him, a buffet where he got paid for eating.

A gasp spread through the crowed. The audience was cringing because he had swallowed down a sharp knife. Levy watched, fascinated.

Lucy gasped. Not at Gajeel's possibility to swallow something that sharp, but out realization. "You like him!" she whispered to Levy, who jumped.

"N- No I don't!" she whispered back in insistence.

"You do!"

"I don't!"

Someone behind them shushed them.

The last person to show was Natsu. He was the perfect final act, wowing everyone by breathing out fire, juggling fireballs and turning his whole arms into fire. Lucy watched in amazement – he never failed to impress her. He took an arrogant little bow at the end and spotted Lucy in the audience and grinned widely at her. She clapped louder.

The audience began to file out of the tent. Lucy and Levy walk to the exit but the latter got pulled away by Jet and Droy. "See you tomorrow, Lu-chan!" Levy shouted, waving as Jet and Droy took her away, both boys energetically talking at the same time to win Levy's attention.

Lucy waved back and turned to leave the tent. Outside the sky was dark, few stars to be seen in the sky. But there was a crescent-shaped moon in the sky that gave out slight. People were walking past her, rushing to leave and go home, and she followed the sea of people.

She wanted to stop, turn around, and go back to see Natsu and praise him for his act but decided against it. They were all probably celebrating another successful show and she would be intruding. But still, her feet nearly swiveled around and it took all her might to keep moving forward.

Once outside the gates, the locals all separated to return to their respective homes. Lucy found herself to be walking back to the Inn alone. No one was in front or behind her, yet she had the suspicious feeling that someone was watching her. She shook the demented feeling away and focused on the scarce stars in the sky.

Lucy had always been interested in constellations and astronomy. So had her mother, which was why Lucy loved it so much. It reminded her of the nights her mother had showed her all the different constellations htrough the expensive telescopes, how they had watched the eclipse together. Lucy smiled at the memories, looking up at the twinkling stars.

She paused for a second. Were those footsteps? She wondered. She could have sworn she'd just heard the shuffling of feet. She glanced back and her eyes widened.

"It's you!" she shouted in anger. It was the guy from earlier – the thief. "Don't even think about stealing from me again!" she glowered at him. Unlike last time, she was now aware he was there and wouldn't be surprised if he tried to attack her. Her hand went to the Keys, ready if he were to try and attack.

The thief didn't look at all fazed by her tough demeanor. He started to approach her without hesitation. Lucy didn't waver, but wondered if he had a death wish. "Your little friend hurt me," he said to Lucy with a glare. "And I didn't even get any money out of it! But it looks like your friend is now nowhere to be seen…"

She heard someone chuckle behind her and she turned around so fast she nearly got whiplash. Uh oh, she thought. Uh-oh was an understatement. There were two – two – burly men behind her wearing a sleazy smirk on their faces. She turned back to the thief and there was another man behind him, cracking his fists. It seemed just like an action-packed horror movie, and she was the one about to be crushed to a pulb and set off a whole chain of events.

Her grips tightened over the spine of the Gold Key and she gulped in fear.

The three burly men ran at her.

It's hard for her to remember what happened next because she was too busy kicking and struggling to get away. She tried to scream too but one of the guys had their hand pressed on her mouth.

Luckily, she was able to aim a kick in someone's faces (too bad she hadn't worn her heels because then it would've hurt so much more) and break free from their grasp. As he clutched his face in pain, Lucy was able to unhook her keys.

She didn't think, just automatically lifted up the key with the sign of Cancer. "Open the Gate of the Crab! Cancer!" she shouted.

All of a sudden the Crab/Human hybrid appeared. He would have looked like a normal human if it weren't for the orange skin tone and the crab arms he had, along with normal arms. "Lucy," he said, turning to her, "What kind of hairstyle would you like -ebi?"

Lucy resisted the urge to facepalm herself. She only summoned Cancer the Crab for haircuts because that was his specialty. However, if he wished to, he could make anyone fall unconscious by just cutting their hair. He would hurt them at all – although Lucy was somewhat upset that they didn't get their just deserts.

"What the hell?" one of the guys said, looking at the Celestial Spirit in confusion.

"Finish them off!" Lucy told him.

"Okay -ebi," he calmly replied, readying the scissors in his hands. He moved in a flash, cutting and snipping their hair off.

With all three guys unconscious, Lucy felt she could finally relax. Safe at last. She brought the Cancer key up to let him go back to the 'Stellar Spirit World' when a hand grabbed her hair and pulled her aside.

"Let go!" she screamed. How could she have forgotten about that thief? Cancer readied his scissors again to attack.

"Stop, you weirdo, or else blondie gets it," the thief said, pulling Lucy's hair to prove he wasn't bluffing. She screamed in pain.

No one moved. The tension was palpable and Lucy hoped that someone would come rushing out from one of the houses to attack the thief from behind. No such luck. What the hell, does this town have a curfew or something? She thought, her head turning to look at the houses on the left which had all the lights switched off.

Wrong move. He pulled her hair again and she yelped. "Shut up!" he hissed, nearly tearing out her golden locks. This time, Lucy didn't scream. She bit her lip so hard she could taste blood. "You're a circus freak too, huh?" he said to Lucy. He snatched the Key from her hand, examining it. "You got that thing here by using a key?" he asked in bewilderment. "I wonder how much it's worth."

Lucy gasped. No, he can't sell it! It was given to her from her mother and Lucy had been given specific instructions to not give her keys to anyone unless the Celestial Spirits wanted to break their contracts with her.

Or if she died. She hoped that that wouldn't be the case either.

"Hey!" Lucy almost started crying with relief – it was Natsu. Natsu, who had helped her twice today – and now for the third time. He was approaching them, eyes burning with hate, sharp teeth bared and clenching his fiery fists. "If you hurt my friend, I'll burn you to a crisp," he threatened. He looked more fearsome than all of the men who had attacked her put together.

The thief released her and Lucy heard his rapid footsteps as he ran away. Natsu looked like he was about to follow the thief – where there would no doubt be bloodshed – but then he met her eyes.

Lucy forced the tears of pain back. If she showed her pain, Natsu would no doubt follow through with his threat. She straightened up and noticed that Natsu seemed to be staring at her, so her hand darted to her head. I hope I don't have a bald patch now! There was no hair out of place. "What?" she asked him.

"Didn't you promise not to get into anymore trouble today?" Natsu said in annoyance, the bloodthirsty look in his eyes long gone.

"It's after midnight, so technically it doesn't count," Lucy protested. This guy sure is bipolar! One minute he's angry and then-

She snapped out of her thoughts when she saw Natsu's eyes jumping from her to Cancer the Crab.

I guess I have some explaining to do…

This chapter felt... argh. Awkward. What do you think? In other news, I changed the summary. Is it better? Worse? You didn't even notice? - I don't blame you for that.

Now this is out of the way, I can focus on my Maths test which is... tomorrow. XP Wish me luck