Chapter 2

Lucy quickly came out of her apartment, dressed in a black cardigan over a bright purple v-neck tank-top, along with a blue pleated skirt with her usual brown boots. Over her shoulder was the bag she packed just last night, which included the job request.

"Hey guys, sorry for the wait." Lucy greeted.

"What took ya so long? You never sleep in." Natsu asked nonchalantly.

"Sorry, I just had a nightmare and-" As Lucy explained, she suddenly gripped her head while hunching over for several seconds. As she was recalling her nightmare, it was as if something was ripping the memory from inside her head.

"Lucy!?" Happy panicked, hovering near her. Remaining silent for a moment, Lucy's eyes unknowingly shifted to a deep red color, just for an instant. She quickly regained her composure, even though her face was unable to be seen by her two partners.

"Huh? O-oh, sorry guys, I guess my head just hurt a bit." Lucy replied while rubbing her head.

"Jeez, I was worried for a second." Natsu said with a sigh.

"We should've remembered Lucy is pretty weird." Happy said with snicker. The moment he said that, Lucy's eyes flashed red again, followed by her arm shooting out and grabbing Happy by his neck. The small exceed quickly began to squirm and gasp for air.

"Lucy, what the hell!? Let go of him!" Natsu exclaimed, rushing over to help his exceed partner.

But, to Natsu's surprise, Lucy's grip was unmoving. The only response eventually given to her Dragon-Slayer was by Lucy tilting her up as if she was a ragdoll, looking at them with a ghoulishly wide grin and her eyes glowing from the crimson red now inside them.

"Watch what you say to me little runt, unless you want to be cut down to an even smaller runt." Lucy uttered, even including a demented chuckle, causing her two friends to actually sweat in fear. Natsu was even made to step away from Lucy. Happy had tears begin to stream from his eyes.

"I'm...I'm sorry..." Happy whimpered.

Without batting an eye, Lucy thrust Happy back into Natsu's arms before walking right past her friends, her head unsettlingly bobbing back and forth as she continued her small amounts of deranged laughing. The two of them hesitated as they turned around to watch their friend as she was leaving.

"N-Natsu, what's wrong with Lucy?" Happy questioned, trembling in Natsu's hold.

It took Natsu several moments before he could answer. The feeling he had when Lucy looked him in the eye, it was the same one that he felt once before...against Gildarts. However, this time, it wasn't simply sheer power, it was Lucy's entire aura; even her smell changed.

"I...don't know. But, maybe she'll be better soon." Natsu replied, not even sure of that answer himself.

Not far around the corner, Lucy hid herself in an alleyway, where she fell to her knees, with her gasping for air. Her eyes and personality were back to normal, but Lucy now seemed like she'd seen something that resembled her worst nightmare.

"What was...who did..." Lucy muttered, her whole body trembling.

Back with Natsu and Happy, Lucy was just barely able to pay attention to exactly what happened, even if it was just a few moments ago. It was almost like someone, or something, took over her body. However, instead of taking over, it was more like Lucy herself let that change happen.

"That feeling, it was..just like my dream..."Lucy said under her breath, holding her head in shock.

Finally, looking up from the ground, Lucy was once again stricken by shock and horror. Now standing above her was a woman, wearing a simple one-piece of clothing that has pants legs, a hood, and that was sleeveless. Lucy recognized the woman immediately, even if she didn't see her face any time before. It was the one chanting in her dream.

"Well, well, I see you've had a good experience with your new side." the woman said. Lucy scrambled away and shot up onto her feet.

"You...Wh-who are you? What do you want from me?" Lucy asked, slowly backing up.

With a snicker, the woman swiftly pulled her hood back, finally letting Lucy see her face. The woman had blonde hair in a braid on her chest while the rest stopped at the base of her neck. Her eyes, they resembled those of snakes.

"My name is a Medusa, I'm a witch, but also a scientist. And as of why I'm here, I just happen to be in need of a new assistant and test subject." the woman introduced.

Even as Medusa spoke, Lucy's whole body was trembling. Her mind was screaming at her to run, but Lucy got the feeling that if she did, this woman would kill her in an instant. Even knowing this, Lucy finally forced herself to turn and try to run. But as she did, Lucy was once again stopped by a boy standing behind her at the ally's entrance. He was skinny and looks frail, but what forced Lucy to stop was what was 'attached' to the boy. It was creature with pitch black skin and a built body, its eyes even replaced with 'X' marks. To make things worse, the boy held a black broadsword.

"Oh, this is bad. We're supposed to make this girl stay put, but she's already tried to run. I don't know how to handle this." the boy muttered. The creature then actually started yanking on the boy's face.

"Just stop your complaining and attack her already! She's just a simple human with a small soul, not even good food!" the monster exclaimed, punching the boy on the head before practically melting into the boy's body.

As the boy effortlessly lifted his sword up, Lucy quickly began to react by reaching for her Celestial Spirit Keys. To her shock, Lucy's keys were gone. Looking behind her, Medusa had used a strange snake-like arrow to silently take Lucy's keys.

In the end, the moment Lucy was cornered in that alley, her fate was sealed.

"Scream-Gamma!"