I am back with a chapter.

I am horrible, yes.

please enjoy it I worked very hard

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For the duration of her first year of training, Lucy had come to recognise new things about herself and her body. for starters, her muscles had grown accustomed to the daily training regimen Mard had put in place, and her attacks were quite powerful as well. Mard, in particular, had focussed much of her training on attacking with her legs. With enough time, practice, and aim – which they discovered very quickly was a weak point – Lucy was able to send the dummy flying off its place on the roof.

Mard never let her forget, however, that she favoured her right leg, neglecting to protect her left side. The stone-faced grump was very serious when reprimanding Lucy about this – although he didn't say it much lately; mostly because Lucy had mastered the art of ignoring him.

Something she was very proud of.

Mard had also begun teaching Lucy how to use different forms of weapons. Her shooting was atrocious, which they discovered quickly when Lucy missed the target sheet completely. While Mira tried to stay optimistic about Lucy's incredibly lacking skill, Mard knew that it was a lost hope from the start.

Surprisingly though, Lucy had taken a liking to a whip. Her tutor was impressed by this, and Mira had blushed and laughed, staring at Jellal in pity. Lucy wasn't sure what those reactions meant. Regardless, she was adequate with a whip and was certainly much better Mard, whom she learnt was not nearly as adequate.

Lucy also enjoyed one other activity Mard subjected her too. He had started by giving her random objects and telling her to fight with them. For instance, he once gave her a chair; then another day a lamp; then anothera door – which was difficult to haul around, she admitted to herself.

On this set day, Mard had thrown a curtain rod at her.

She had surprisingly caught it, and promptly snapped it in half over her knee, and ignored the pain that suggested the wall would have been a better source of destruction. On a whim, Mard told her to attack him instead of the mannequin.

Lucy had frowned apprehensively, and slowly turned to Mard, gripping the two rods in both hands. Mard stood calmly, and Lucy pounced.

She first sent the rod into his left side, which he quickly stepped away for, and with a slight delay, she swung the other rod in the direction of his head, which he narrowly missed when sweeping under it.

It was clear to Lucy immediately that she was not going to win in a fight against him maybe even ever. He was unbelievably fast, and his movements were precise and powerful; instinctive but still rational. He was a Master at deceiving her; using all of his arsenal to his advantage.

It was fast pace, and Mard wouldn't hurt her intentionally, that much she knew. But it did not mean he would hold back.

The fight was over a mere thirty seconds later when Mard made a long swoop with his right hand, drawing her attention to it – a mistake she realised instantaneously – and used his left hand to brake the rod in her right hand.

Lucy did not falter, and instead began attacking with her weaker, shakier left hand. She twisted her body back, keeping her right side shielded. She was attacking as much as she could, although her attention had shifted to defence. Her hand faltered and Mard seized the opportunity. He slid his hand through the opening she had left, pushing roughly on her chest, sending her straight to the ground.

"Your left hand is weak and needs more training. Stop favouring your right hand and begin focusing on your other hand or you will get hurt."

She laid, panting, staring up at him incredulously. Not even a tad out of breath?

But Lucy's mind focused on the words he had spoken. It was set of statements that had made Lucy do something that was later regarded by Mard as 'one of the most stupid and completely ludicrous things' he had ever seen.

Lucy had never even thought that he knew the word stupid. Much less that he would say it.

The idea had been sparked right away, and as the inner workings of Lucy's brain told her that she definitely would not be able to do it herself, she went to the only other person she could persuade.

Jellal's training had finished earlier on that particular day, and the blue haired boy was found sitting in his room studying poisons. Lucy opened the door slowly and cleared her throat. When Jellal looked up, it was only after he had finished a sentence. His eyes bored into hers, in the way that made Erza furious.

"What?"

She sighed through her mouth; his attitude was successful in ticking her off. "As much as I'd like to say I don't, I need your help."

"And what do I get out of it."

God she wanted to shove her foot in his mouth.

"Trust me, you'll enjoy it."

After Lucy explained exactly what she needed, he looked at her with bemusement. "You want me to–"

"Yes I want you to–"

"Are you sure?"

Lucy hesitated, "Yes."

He stood up, sighing, "Any requests?"

"Something to bite down on."

He nodded, moving to the wardrobe and taking out the jacket Mira had given him for his birthday. He tossed it at her, "There,"

"Alright." She opened the door, almost throwing it at him as he caught the side of it, still glaring at her.

To say a rivalry had grown was an understatement.

She put her hand in the juncture, holding it still. She nodded at Jellal.

"Five, four, three–" he slammed the door, pushing his body into it and hearing a god-awful crunch.

Lucy bit down hard on the jacket, forcing herself not to scream. Pain rippled up the length of her arm and Jellal opened the door, causing her to bite down even harder on the jacket, hearing her teeth squeak against the fabric. She looked down at her hand, staring at the blood that showed where the door had cut into her hand.

"Oh my–" she took a deep breath, humming rapidly as she forced a smile on her face, "thanks," she whimpered at Jellal, who nodded dumbly, looking at the blonde like she really had lost her mind. There was purple bruising and swelling already prominent. She turned to Jellal, "I think I need to go see Mard."

"Do you want me to come?"

Lucy shook her head frantically, "He will not let you walk away alive."

When Lucy finally did go and see Mard, she saw him finally explode. He was not pleased, to say the least, and did not view the injury with any humour. He had yelled at her, something about being a 'stupid child' with 'no knowledge of the seriousness of this', as well as talking to Jellal – the specifics of which Lucy still didn't know, and wasn't sure she wanted to know.

It must have been intense, she figured, because Jellal still flinched almost a year later.

She had had an X-Ray, which had shown that three of the five bones in her palm were shattered, as well as her thumb. Although she did have a nice scar across the top of her palm from where the door decided to make a lovely incision. Mard was not impressed by the scar nearly as much as Lucy was, and seemed to regard the tissue with long lasting contempt.

It was during one of their visits to Ms. Greene, Lucy with her cast on her hand, and Jellal with his pristine jacket, that Lucy became angry.

It wasn't the normal anger that seemed to stem from her as soon as Jellal opened his mouth, but the kind that made her quiet.

Erza and Simon had told her that they were going to school on a previous weekend, and Lucy wasn't lying when she said she was excited for them. It was good, she figured, Erza was a smart girl who had hidden strength, and Simon would hopefully break out of his shell. It seemed like it would be good for them.

When they had arrived, they had both gushed about Lucy's injured hand, inquiring as to how she got it, and Lucy had to come up with a quick lie. She had told them promptly that she had fallen down the stairs – had this actually happened, considering the only stairs in the institute were the ones leading down into it, she would have broken her face. Not that Simon and Erza knew that of course.

They had all gone up to their rooms, and Lucy was surprised to see another girl sitting on the floor. Erza introduced her as Millianna, and said that she was a friend from school. Lucy had smiled politely, as her mother had taught her, and introduced herself to the skittish girl.

She was pleasant with her – spoke kindly – but when she kept stealing Erza's attention, for the sole purpose of not letting Lucy speak to the redhead, the rage slowly bubbling rose to its peak. She did not snap, or yell or hit the girl, but she did vividly imagine her fist crushing the two front teeth she seemed to have only just grown. Even if it did shatter more of her hand. So, like any well-mannered, innocent girl with no anger issues at all, she excused herself. She got halfway down the hallway when someone called out to her.

"Who are you?" he asked. His eyes and hair were both a dark blue. He looked to be around her age. Probably another insufferable school student.

She narrowed her eyes. "Who are you?"

"I'm Gray."

"…Lucy."

"Where are you going?"

She shrugged, "To kick something."

He was silent. "Can I come?"

She shrugged again and kept walking.

She learnt fast that Gray followed her, and after a short chat, she found she quite enjoyed his company. He was a brooder, but nowhere near as intolerable as Jellal. They got on well; they both apparently like kicking things; both also didn't exactly fancy Millianna – Gray because he liked Erza and Lucy because Erza was her best friend. Both felt deprived of her attention.

When they went back the next week, Lucy was displeased to find Millianna still there, and was surprised to see Gray drag her off to go kick stuff. Their friendship was one she valued.

Back at the institute, Mard had come to the conclusion that if he kept teaching Lucy new things, then the chances were she'd be good at least something. His ideology was that Lucy was mostly terrible at everything an assassin should be good at.

He and Mira had decided to teach their disciples the wonders of poison. It had sounded safe in theory, and all was going according to plan until their test came up. It was a little exam that allowed Mira and Mard to see what their students had progressed with and what they needed to be taught.

They had set out six poisons, and were to put them in order of lethality, starting with the weakest. Then, once they had been set out, they were to drink whichever they had placed as safe.

Both students were familiar with the poisons, and had the knowledge necessary to identify them, so it really should have been successful.

But when Lucy sniffed at a glass of apple juice and put it as most toxic, Mard had to supress a groan, because, by Zeref's orders, they were not allowed to interfere. Then he had watched her sniff bleach, seemingly unfazed and put in the safe spot.

At this point, Mira was staring open mouthed at Lucy, and Mard had to put his head down in shame.

By the time both students had finished, Mira watched in satisfaction as Jellal drank the apple juice, only to have lead drop in her stomach as Lucy gulped down the bleach.

The blonde made a face, her mouth contorting into a grimace. Mard closed his eyes, breathed deeply and walked out of the room. The medics, who were positioned on site in case something like this happened, even seemed too dumbfounded by Lucy's stupidity to do anything. It wasn't until she voiced her dislike for the flavour that they rushed into action.

Lucy sighed, flopping on her bed, exhausted by the year she had had. They had gotten back from her birthday dinner; Ms. Greene, Simon, Erza, and Gray were all there as well, under the impression that Mard and Mira were her and Jellal's adopted parents.

Lucy smirked at that – because Mira took it to the extremes and Mard couldn't do anything about it.

The dinner was yummy, the atmosphere was light-hearted, except for the glare that Jellal wore whenever Gray spoke or entered the room or even breathed for that matter, but it was a nice evening.

They had returned not five minutes earlier and Lucy felt drained. Her hand had healed, leaving only the scar, and her left arm was stronger than ever. She wanted to sleep but despite everything that had happened in the past year, the nightmares of her mother did not stop plaguing her.

Sleeping just wasn't enjoyable anymore.

Her eyes shut, and Lucy felt the dread building, but a knock on her door snapped her out of it.

The knob turned and opened, and Mard presented himself, holding a meticulously wrapped present. He handed it to her, stepping back. "Happy birthday, Miss. Heartfilia,"

She eyed it cautiously, looking up at Mard with suspicion. "What's this?"

"I believe they call it a gift." She hadn't ever heard so much sarcasm drip from his voice.

She copied his tone. "Really?" she shook her head in bewilderment. "That's amazing."

They glared at each other.

Lucy ripped open the paper, enjoying the wince Mard let out. She pulled up a black suit, staring at it.

"What's this?" she asked for the second time.

"You know what it is, Miss. Heartfilia."

She turned to her wardrobe. "I already have one."

He looked hesitant for a moment. "Well, you see, we estimated the size you would be when we had that outfit made, and you are below average in height, Miss. Heartfilia."

She felt her eye twitch.

"This wouldn't be a surprise to you, since you have worn the outfit in the wardrobe more than once."

She blushed, only Jellal knew about her late night fashion shows.

"Anyway," Mard bought the attention back to himself, his seriousness amplifying. "A client has given Zeref a job." She mirrored his stony expression. "A wealthy man, forty-six years old; he owns a construction business for the up-scale. He is hosting a ball next week." They held eye contact. "It is your job to assassinate him."

DUN DUN DUNNNNN

Yes finally, I'm sorry it has taken so long. But the next chapter will have an attempted murder.

Let me know what you think, what you want to happen etc. I really enjoy hearing from you all.

Hope you enjoyed :)

Leave a review, they keep the fingies typing

~MyFictionalFantasy