No good deed…

I was never going on a solo mission again, but let me explain. The whole travel to Edolas bit had taken more time in Earthland than it had in Edolas, which left poor little Lucy seriously strapped for cash as I had missed three weeks' worth of work. Everyone else had hangovers from the party last night though, and I really didn't want to take anyone away from Lisanna; the girl clearly had been through a rough patch and needed every friend she could get.

So I took a solo mission, everyone else was busy, so I just marked myself and the mission in the log book and left, I would be back before they were sober again anyway. It was supposed to be quick and easy, transporting a magical item through Red Forest, and I would be back home the next day. It was going so well too, the protection cross was safely delivered and the client had even offered to have me stay the night. It wasn't even a creepy offer because he was married with three kids, one a daughter about my age.

It was two hours till sunset though, and I really didn't want my guild mates knowing I was gone, (they had this thing where I'm not allowed to solo because we are a team or something) so camping it was. The kind man did give me a very nice gift, a basket of plenty that would feed the owner so long as she was in the forest. The basket was charmed for trips like this and apparently it was communal between the two towns to make trade easier. The red bean soup was amazing, but the lemon cake wasn't anything special. Still, definitely one of my favorite clients, I loved working for him.

When I started to make camp that night some very important facts presented themselves: Natsu was not there to make fire and the woods were dangerous. The monsters here were attracted to light magic and left dark magic users alone. Of course, there is no such thing as dark magic, just how you use it, if you have used magic to kill or harm unnecessarily, the monsters stay away from you. It was the perfect hideout for renegade wizards. This left two options, one was to try and navigate the forest at night calling out Loke or another spirit to keep me company, or use the tricks I learned on the run to get a shoddy night's rest.

Actually, I was so exhausted that, really, only the second option seemed smart. Forest solo camping tips from Lucy of Fairy Tail: climb a tree near a clearing and tie yourself inside a sleeping bag to one of the larger branches, nothing that high in a tree is a danger to your life and if you roll in the middle of the night, you are still safe because you are tied to the branch. I know, brilliant. Then stuff any extra clothes into the sleeping bag's case for a make-shift pillow. Finally, tie a string around your wrist and thread it through several of the surrounding branches, an added security measure if you are afraid of humans. It will tug you awake if someone got too close. I really should include these tips inside of my book.

Security set, I finally got to sleep, missing my usual companions, their noises of teasing and fighting extremely absent. Yep, no more solo missions for me.

And that was before the wanted wizards held a secret meeting below my carefully selected tree.

"So, did you take care of it?" a voice sounded through the night, waking me up, I was a naturally light sleeper.

"Yep, old fool thought he could bribe me, but every man worth his beer knows that only dead men tell no tales," someone else replied. There was a quick, harsh laugh and I felt my eyes grow as wide. That was killing, I just witnessed a killer admit he killed, holy black on a cat!

"He have anything good on him?" the first one asked.

"50,000 jewel and some gambling dice. Nothing important."

"Nice work Poison, Hastings has been a thorn in my side for far too long." I let out an involuntary gasp at that, Poison was the name of a wizard who had been on the run from the magic council for the past five years! One time he got close to the Heartphilia estate and Ms. Supetto made me stay locked in the attic for three days until they were sure he was gone.

I tried to cover up my mistake, but it was just my luck that there was no wind that night. The reaction to slap my hands over my mouth hadn't helped either, and now my security string worked against me by ruffling some nearby branches. Holding very still, I waited.

"Boo," he appeared in front of me and I let out a shriek. How short poison green hair and blindingly pale skin ever blended in with the shadows was beyond me, but it was enough to unbalance my perch and send a highly graceful shrieking girl swinging around the branch; I was only hanging on by the ropes and I had never felt more trapped. Fighting them off probably wouldn't work, so talking my way out of it would be my best bet. I was a skilled talker.

"Um, hello. I just woke up, what's going on?" Okay, mildly skilled talker, I swear I'm better when I am awake. Poison ripped me out of the sleeping bag and jumped with me to the ground, letting my rump thump painfully. I thought about giving them a lesson in manners, but aggravating them wasn't in my best interest; if they were anything like Phantom Gajeel then they would simply prove how unmannered they could be. I really didn't want to test them.

"Seems like just a traveler. What do you want to do boss?" the other man leaned down close to me and once again I couldn't control my reflexes. The guy had snake slits for a nose! It was a perfectly acceptable practice to throw my arms up in defense when he started to sniff my hair. Only Natsu was allowed to sniff me, and even then, any comments had better be on the good side.

"Oh, lookie here, we have an official wizard here with us. Looks like we caught a fairy."

"I think you're right Rabbit," Poison started running his hand down my hair and across my shoulders and back, I didn't even try repressing the disgusted shudder, "but I think we should check if she has wings and a tail just to make sure." Suddenly my jacket was ripped off and the last chance to talk my way out sank in the mud with it. Another survival tip: keep weapon on you while sleeping. My keys were still at my belt and it took mere seconds to summon Taurus as a distraction. Now I was scared and running at the first opening I saw. My feet were probably bloody and I felt it when my trusty golden bull fade back to the celestial spirit world. The Fleur Etoiles was back with my suitcase and things looked bad. Did I mention the whole never solo again thing? Because it was going down in history that Lucy Heartphilia would never solo again. I was surprisingly okay with that, but escape was my goal right now, and I couldn't let anything distract me.

A teenage girl, at least this teenage girl, couldn't outrun two full grown men indefinitely, so that left hiding and fighting. Hiding with Virgo it was, I didn't even know what sort of magic the other man (Rabbit?) used.

"Open, Gate of the Maiden, Virgo!"

"Why are we running Princess? Is it punishment time? You seem to have left your personal effects so I took the liberty of carrying them for you," my blessed pink maid appeared holding my suitcase. I love my spirits, truly, cracked nutcases and all

"I'll stop running the moment you dig me a good hiding hole and cover it back up without killing me." Virgo nodded, but before she could accomplish my request, a stream of poison shot through her body and I felt her return to the spirit world. Poison was behind me and Rabbit appeared in front, forcing me to come to a stop. The trees were too dense and there was nowhere to run.

"I got this one Poison, guilds are alerted when one bearing their mark dies; we don't have the resources to tangle with Fairy Tail right now."

"Fine, should I contact Lucian to start the rumors?" The next thing I knew was darkness and the sensation of falling. A scream was ripped from my throat and it echoed through what I assume to be a cavern. Eventually I hit solid ground, a nice painful bruise to add to my bleeding feet. I sighed and waited for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, but nothing seemed to happen. After sitting for what felt like an hour I decided the darkness must be magical and went for one of my most reliable sources of light.

"Open, Gate of the Lion! Leo!" the glowing circle announcing my magic gave off enough light to be able to tell there was absolutely nothing there. Disappointing.

"Um, Princess? Am I supposed to be seeing something? I'm more of a "lights on" kind of guy." Ugh, never, soloing, again.

"Stop being a pervert and light this place up Loke. I got hit with some spell and have no idea where we are." Loke complied and confirmed my earlier suspicion, Loke and I were the only things in this sea of black.

"You really got yourself into a mess this time Lucy, where are Natsu and Happy?" Loke asked good-naturedly.

"Umm, I may have made a mistake when I took that mission by myself…" There was silence as I refused to look Loke in the face.

"Okay, why don't you start from the beginning?" he asked evenly. I laughed nervously, but agreed.

"So we got back from Edolas right? Turns out Lisanna Strauss hadn't died, but was transported there! You remember Lisanna?" Loke nodded and smiled.

"She was quite the beauty, all dignity and cheer if I remember correctly. Glad she's not dead, Mira will be so happy. Continue."

"Well, yeah. I still needed money for my rent, which was overdue because time flows differently in Edolas, but I didn't want to take anyone away from being with Lisanna, so I took a solo mission by myself. Completed it too, but on the way back I camped in the Red Forest."

"Really Lucy?"

"Yeah, yeah, I've already admitted that this was all one bad idea, let me finish. Completed the job, got paid, set up camp in the forest by trying myself into a tree, and fell asleep. Then I overhear a conversation about one guy killing a guy named Hastings for another guy. Discovered their names were Poison and Rabbit, Poison is the only one I recognized. I lead them through the forest on a merry chase until Rabbit sent me to this black hole. Now you can reprimand me." I squeezed my eyes shut and braced myself, seriously, my spirits asked for two things, never drop their keys and call them out before I die. When there was no yelling I opened one eye to see if Loke was frozen because of my stupidity or something. It could happen! You should see all the times words failed me after one of Natsu's stunts.

"With your bad decision making and rotten luck, I am surprised you are still alive." He said at last, sighing. "No one knows what kind of magic the wizard Black Rabbit uses, mostly because anyone who could have told ended up dead. We seem to be in a pocket dimension, nothing so full-fledged as Edolas, but certainly no longer Earthland. We might be stuck here a while."

"Uggh, great. My team is so going to kill me!"

"Yeah, if you don't die of starvation and dehydration first. We don't know the properties of this prison, it might just be a slower untraceable death! And none of us can visit Earthland while you are trapped in here! Get your priorities straight!" Loke was glaring at me and I shrugged sheepishly.

"You know that when I don't show up tomorrow my team will be after this guy like a cat on catnip. There is no way Erza, Natsu, Happy, or Gray wouldn't come searching for me. It might take them a little longer because they want to make sure Lisanna is settled, but there is no way I'll be in here for more than a week."

"Dehydration kills in a week," Loke pointed out. He had visibly relaxed though when he realized the truth of my words. Fairy Tail didn't let any of their family just disappear, and it had saved lives before, including his. He would keep me alive until then.

"Virgo had a nasty poison splatter, Taurus probably did too, are they okay?" I asked. Normally they were sent back before something as damaging as straight poison got to them, and I just wanted to make sure.

"Yeah, yeah, give them another hour and they will be good as new. Time works differently between the worlds and we heal almost instantaneously when sent back. Focus on the problem at hand Lucy. Turn away and I'm going to light up this cave as much as I can, tell me if you see anything useful." I obeyed and felt the light grow brighter behind me. The light stopped on the floor but in every other direction all there was was more darkness.

"Nothing here, not even a real wall." The radiance dimmed to human levels and I let out a tired groan.

"Hey, look, I can't focus on the problem right now. I am functioning on less than four hours of sleep. Go back to the celestial world for a bit and ask the others for ideas, Lyra is surprisingly smart. I'll take a nap and call you when I wake up. That okay?" my lion looked like he wanted to argue, but couldn't find a better plan at the moment. Good kitty.

"Fine, but call Aries to make you some bedding. I'm going to need you in top form if we are going to get you out of here." I nodded and gave him a smile that turned into a yawn before closing his gate. Too late to back out now, I was just going to have to toughen up and find a way to be okay sleeping alone in the pitch black. I called Aries, and the poor lamb was even more scared of the dark than I was, which gave me courage in a strange way.

As a bonus, Aries refused to leave me alone until I fell asleep, which I only weakly protested. It was unnerving sleeping without the stars, and both of us knew it.

The next morning I called Loke out and was greeted with the pleasant sight of my suitcase.

"Sleep well Princess? Looks like Virgo was sent back so quickly your bag ended up in the celestial world for a little while." I couldn't help it, I squealed and dove for my bag greedily, quickly pulling out a new outfit and motioning for the spirit to turn around. One cheesy perverted line later, I was getting dressed and reveling in the feeling of clean clothes.

"You didn't have to slap so hard," Loke complained, "and I sure hope you came up with a brilliant idea in your sleep because the best we got was Lyra's suggestion of you summoning Aquarius with your spit and her drowning you in water."

"Actually, if you look in my suitcase there should be a wicker basket that can solve all of our problems. It's enchanted to provide food for travelers across the forest. I was supposed to give it back to Morning Town before I left for Magnolia, but that obviously isn't going to happen anytime soon." Loke found the basket and gave it to me after I finished changing.

Indeed, when I said the quick spell food and water appeared. Loke let out a huge sigh of relief. He was determined that I was going to be the first celestial wizard in a hundred years to die of old age, and me not starving in some shadow prison was a step closer to that goal.

"Don't just stand there, eat with me. I feel like a pig eating by myself." He laughed and joined in.

"So, what do you want to do now?" Loke asked, now all I had to do was fight off boredom until someone from the outside came to the rescue. I suppose it was a little like a fairy tale, but like hell was I that princess.

"I don't know. I brought my novel, so I could work on that, but I feel like moving. If you don't have anything better to do, can you show me some hand-to-hand combat moves?"

A/N: So I promised you guys a fifth story before I started college, but I didn't get it up in time. So instead of the one shot, I am going to post my single completed chapter story. Expect one chapter every two days or so, you know, once I have internet. I am actually really proud of this one.