Natsu raced through the trees as he searched for what made that noise. As the braches grazed his face he could have sworn he could hear snickering. He saw a small clearing and stopped to take in his surroundings. "Come out!" He roared into the air, "Are you one the bandits stealing the lacrima?" His question was only answered with more laughter.

Natsu gritted his teeth in frustration as flames enveloped his right hand. "You're starting to piss me off."

"Aww, is the little Salamander going to throw a temper tantrum?" A raspy voice called from the trees, "Don't be so bitter little dragon. The game is just beginning."

Game? Natsu thought as he continued to look for the voice's source. "What are you talking about?!" he yelled once again.

Suddenly he heard movement from the trees.

SLASH!

"Agh!" Natsu yelled as he barely moved out of the path of the attack, although his vest had been slightly cut into. What was that? He looked around but saw nothing.

"You're better than I thought. I'm surprised you dodged that one." The voice once again called from the trees.

"Come out and fight me like a man!" Natsu yelled as he frantically tried to anticipate the next attack. Once again he saw movement from the trees, but this time he was able to see his opponent coming towards him. He looked to see a lanky man with a mask on lunging towards him, the mask had a very eerie smile from ear to ear with sharp teeth. Natsu moved to punch his opponent but he shifted positions in midair throwing the Dragon Slayer off balance as he slashed at his chest.

SLASH!

This time the attack hit its mark as he leaped back into the trees. "Damn!" Natsu grimaced as he grabbed his chest. The blood dripping onto the grass. This guy's pretty fast and those claws are nothing to take lightly. He briefly looked up at the sky, I hope Knightwalker is ok.

…

Knightwalker quickly threw the falling mass off of her and stood poised for battle, Not realizing that the spot she had been standing in had now become a crater she walked back topside to see what exactly fell on her. What she saw when she reached the top astounded her.

It was a black ball, or at least she thought it was until it began to move. Knightwalker stood her eyes fixed on the curious sphere as it rolled around in a circle. What IS this thing? Is it another one of Earthland's creatures? She almost moved to touch it until she saw two stubby legs poke out from the side. She moved back and gripped her spear as she prepared to attack.

Two stubby arms poked out from opposite sides of the sphere as it stood up on its legs. Last a head popped out from the top tilted to the left. Upon the head was a mask with a face that looked as it if were puckering up for a kiss. The sphere, now standing upright cranked its neck upright and stared at Knightwalker who was still poised to strike.

"You're Erza Scarlet?" A husky voice came from the large man as he placed one hand under his chin and the other behind his back, "You look nothing like you're picture. Isn't your hair supposed to be longer? "

Even though being called Scarlet once again irritated her to no end, Knightwalker swallowed her pride and went along with the man's remarks. "I decided it was time for a change." She said as she looked down at the ground, however when she looked up again the man was gone without a trace. Where did he go? Knightwalker's eyes widened when she heard a voice directly behind her.

"No armor either."

On instinct Knightwalker turned around and jumped back to create distance between her and the man. She gripped her spear tight as she stared a hole into him. He's fast for someone his size, and I couldn't sense his presence at all. I have to be careful with this one. She regained her composure and spoke, "I take it you're one of the bandits stealing this town's lacrima?"

"Bandit is such a harsh word. We prefer the term lovable rogues."

"However you "prefer" it, a thief is a thief. I'm guessing you didn't come alone."

"As indicated you are a sharp one Titania. My compatriot and I came together to take the Lacrima to our boss."

Compatriot? Knightwalker thought as she scanned the area to look for anymore "surprises". No one else is here, that sound in the bushes that we heard must have been a distraction to separate us. She placed her hand on her head in frustration, and that idiot Dragneel fell for it.

Tch. Knightwalker sucked her teeth in annoyance as she turned her attention back to her rather large adversary. She tightened her grip on her spear and stood ready to engage him. "So are you just going to stand there, or are you going to face me?"

"Aren't you an eager one Titania." The thief commented, once again causing Knightwalker to wince. "I would prefer not to add any unnecessary complications to the mission, but you seem like on who won't move without a nudge." Suddenly the man was back into his ball form with a speed that once again caught Knightwalker off guard. The ball started to roll, readying for an attack.

DASH

"Ah!" Knightwalker narrowly managed to dodge as the ball zoomed past her with incredible speed. Knightwalker landed some distance away as she watched the ball roll on. "Fool, how can he hit me if he can't-What?!" Knightwalker's eyes widened as she saw the ball change direction and come back even faster than before.

Damn, too fast for me to dodge I have slow down his speed. Thinking quickly Knightwalker's spear began to glow and change forms, "Vacuum Spear, Mel Force!" she yelled as her normal looking spear transformed into one of its forms, Mel Force. She pointed the now wide spearhead, the edges on the side curving inwards close to where the spearhead was mounted, and a silver colored glowing orb connecting to the shaft, enveloped by twelve poise diamonds around it. At the center of the spear was an orb as blue as the ocean engraved to the head. She pointed at the ground a few inches in front of her.

Having little time to react she shot a vacuum wave at the ground creating a hole that would hopefully slow down the barreling mass. There, that should…no! Knightwalker watched in pure shock and horror as the boulder of a man avoided the hole with great ease, strafing to the left before rushing forward once more.

No more time. He's moving too fast so I can't switch to Silfarion to dodge. Realizing the gravity of the situation, she held her spear long ways in front of her and braced for impact, I have to block it.

CRASH!

"Nnngh." Knightwalker winced as she flew into a nearby tree, her body colliding with the firm wood. Gasp! It knocked the wind out of her as fell to the ground on her stomach. Barely able to stand she used her spear to prop up her body as she wiped the blood coming from her mouth. Her vision blurry from the attack she focused long enough to see that ball had stopped its rotation.

"Is that all you have Titania?" The ball mocked Knightwalker, "I imagined the Queen of the Fairies would have more fight in her than this."

Knightwalker spit out her blood and gripped her spear once more as the tip changed. "Double Dragon Spear, Blue Crimson." Suddenly her spear had split in half as she held one in each hand. Her opponent once again began his rotation as he raced towards Knightwalker, no words were exchanged; but a sadistic smirk slowly began to appear on the Fairy Hunters face.

…

Natsu rubbed his sore shoulder as he stared at his fallen opponent. His mask was broken near his mouth as he laid on the ground with his mouth wide open and face swollen from a punch to the face. "Man that took forever." Natsu complained as he stretched his arms over his head.

"Guy was moving so fast that I could barely move. Standing in one spot so long was getting boring." He looked at his tattered clothes and grimaced and their unsightly state. "Now my clothes are all messed up, he didn't have to shred them all up. I really liked this shirt too." He said forgetting that he had at least 20 more just like it back in Magnolia. He bent down and picked up his felled opponent by the waist as he walked back through the trees.

"Hope Knightwalker's ok, this guy said he had a friend. I probably should have asked where his group's hideout was before I knocked him out though."

Natsu continued to walk through the forest until he could see the light of the storehouse. There it is FINALLY! He thought relieved as he emerged from the bushes. "Hey Knightwalker I-"Natsu stopped his sentence short as his face became overtaken by fear and shock. Unable to control himself, he immediately dropped his passenger onto the ground and at the horrifying scene before him.

There in the dim light of the storehouse, stood Erza Knightwalker covered in blood, her spear dripping of the red liquid as if it had been dipped in it. In her other hand was man, a rather large one at that, who had obviously been welcomed by death's embrace. A hole in his chest a large as Natsu's head as his neck was gripped tightly by Knightwalker as she held him above the ground.

She dropped him as his body fell limp to the ground like a ragdoll. Natsu slowly inched closer as he saw the look in Knightwalker's eyes as she looked at her kill. No pain, no sadness, no anger, no happiness, only…apathy. She had just robbed a man of the gift of life, and she didn't care. Natsu had never been more afraid in his life, he knew before that this was not his Erza but the look in Knightwalker's eyes now solidified that fact.

Her eyes were cold as she continued to look at her fresh kill. Natsu opened his mouth to speak but Knightwalker, unaware of his presence spoke first uttering one simple, but at the same time terrifying word.

"Weakling."

...

Sorry this one took so long, was trying to get things right while also working on my other stories. I tried to give a glimpse of Knightwalker's darker side at the end of this one, which will be expanded on in the next chapter which will begin to frame her future relationship with Natsu. So until then as always let me know your guys thoughts on the story's direction and thanks for reading. :)