Orenda: (n.) a mystical force present in all people that empowers them to affect the world, or change their own fate or destiny.

Trouvaille: (n.) a valuable discovery, or a lucky find; something lovely discovered by chance

Chapter 1: Trouvaille

Lucy idled nervously in front of the gates of her new school: Fairy Tail Academy. She knew about… zero people at the school. Why? Because she recently moved into this town on a whim made by her lovely father, Jude. She didn't blame him; they did move around a lot due to his work, and he had promised her that this would be the last time (most likely anyway).

She had been in school for at least two weeks now, but she still didn't have any friends. It was hard as heck, since she was a tad bit shy. Everyone had already formed their circles, and she had no way of bumping herself into one without seeming desperate. Honestly, she'd rather be alone than try to pretend to fit in with a group she hated, so she decided to wait and see if someone would come talk to her. Everyone always grew hush when she walked past them, eyeing her wearily. She wasn't surprised though, probably because everyone from Fairy Tail Academy went to the same middle school, and the fact that this was her second year of high school didn't make it any easier.

She was oh so lucky that no one from her old school was here. Lucy shuddered at the idea of spending her days at high school lonely, what a debut.

Seriously.

Lucy forced herself to take a step inside the dreadful school, brushing off the loneliness that crept up her spine. She'd get used to it eventu-

"LUCY HEARTFILIA!" She jolted up in surprise and turned around warily to see her homeroom teacher, Miss Spetto, hot on her heal. "You have yet to turn in your club applications! Second years are required to join at least one." Miss Spetto shoved the application at Lucy in a hurry. "I need it as soon as possible; your deadline is by the end of school tomorrow!" Before Lucy could respond, Miss Spetto had already walked into the school.

A club? Like she could join one. She couldn't play volleyball or any sport really, so that was out of the question. The Writing Club was already full by the time she checked it out last week, sadly. It was her first choice, and she really didn't want to go into any other club. She felt comfortable at the Writing Club when she got there, surrounded by people just like her…

Lucy sighed in dismay. Sometimes, she wondered why she had such wonderful luck. Lucy continued to ponder as she made her way to homeroom. Maybe she could join the Archery Club? Or Astronomy? She did love stars, so that was another option. She wouldn't be surprised if they were full too though. The Astronomy, Archery, and the Writing Club were on the top ten most popular clubs, so they were probably full. Her eyes trailed down the list. It went from the densest to the least densest, and the second to last club was the infamous…

(Fairy Tail) Mage Exorcism ; Room E106

Lucy immediately darted away from the name. No way in heck was she going to join a paranormal club. That was just way too freaky for her to even fathom about. She decided on checking out the Astronomy Club, then the Archery club. She was pretty skilled in using a bow and arrow… maybe they'd make an exception for her if their club was full.

"HEY YOU! COME JOIN OUR CLUB!" Lucy jumped, twice this day, from the loud ruckus that snapped her out of her deep thought. She squealed, throwing her hands up in the air in defense as her club application paper fluttered behind her.

The boy grinned at her like a little child, waving the paper in front of her face until she took it from him. "See ya' later alligator!" He winked at her and ventured off to more people, quickly handing out papers as he shoved them into their hands.

"Pink hair…" She grumbled, blinking away the shock as she picked up her club application paper. "Wonder what he was talking about…" Lucy glanced down at the flyer she received. "Eek!" She dropped it as if it were on fire. It was the Mage Exorcism club, trying to recruit more people. She threw it in the recycling bin immediately. If that pink haired boy was going to be in there, she definitely didn't want to join; he seemed a bit intimidating. Besides, her father would never approve of the club if he ever found out she joined some creepy, paranormal club.

To her dismay, the Astronomy club was full, and she had no spectacular skills to wedge her way into it. Her last resort: Archery Club.

"It's futile- no one is going to join us, Natsu." Erza rolled her eyes at the pouting 3rd year.

"Then who's going to do the paper work for us when we're exhausted?! We're late by two weeks! The old man is gonna kill us in the next annual club meeting!" Natsu whined as he stuffed his face with slightly burnt meat.

"How the hell do you eat that…" Gray muttered as he stuffed his own face with frozen yogurt.

"How do you eat that?" Natsu pointedly replied back in disgust at his frozen yogurt. Natsu hated frozen yogurt, or any cold sweets; it always gave him a brain freeze when he did eat one.

"Better than your burnt ass bread and meat!" Gray pointed at it with his spoon, smirking.

"Now, now. Let's not fight you guys…" Lisanna nervously put herself in between the two of them before they caused a noticeable destruction in the club room.

"You're lucky we're not out there flame brain, or I would've turned you into ice." Gray muttered sharply under his breath.

"I would've turned you into crisp before you did that, ice princess." Natsu retorted back meekly afterwards.

"Shut it will ya'?" Erza spat back, slamming the heel of her foot on the table. Natsu and Gray flinched back, sinking into their wooden seats. "Anyways…" Erza started as readjusted her yellow tie, "Makarov has informed us of a disturbing signal near Cherry Blossom Park. We are going to meet in the outskirts of it at the entrance at 6 P.M. I only need about two people to come with me, since we're just going to investigate it. Mirajane will set up the barricade as we do, so we don't have to worry about any passerby coming in on us."

Natsu immediately shot up his hand, a mere second before Gray did. "Fuck you man." Gray remarked bitterly, scowling at him in distaste.

Natsu cackled, an evil smirk smeared on his face as he did so. "Do not fret, Gray-sama. Juvia and Gray will go on a romantic hunt together next week!" Juvia promised, batting her eyelashes at him as he shuddered away from her.

"What if it attacks you?" Laxus questioned, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Then we'll just knock 'em out, what else can we do?" Natsu shrugged his shoulders. This was a regular thing for him to do. Makarov has promised to pay everyone in the club free tuition, which was a grand deal if he did say so himself. He also got a few bucks on the side job, which allowed him to buy as much food as he wants.

This time, if they did end up cleansing the place, then Makarov would probably pay them money. Natsu grinned at the thought of it, licking his lips in response to his day dreams.

"If only we could get a regular to join, then we'd be able to go cleanse a lot more places. They've been starting to show up recently around this area ever since the school year started again…" Levy murmured worriedly. An ominous feeling wrapped around her throat ever since summer vacation started. She constantly had to look behind her to see if anything was following her.

"Well since Natsu ran around the entire school shoving flyers down people's throats, there's bound to be a person to come join, wouldn't there be?" Gildarts, their teacher administrator, added in lightly with a chuckle.

"Salamander probably scared the whole student body by doing that though." Gajeel sneered, "Idiot."

Natsu shrugged again, not caring whether or not it worked. He was content with the way things, if he had to speak honestly. "If it gets super hard we can always drag someone in, and it hasn't gotten to that point yet so we should be fine."

"If we have to resort to that…" Erza shook her head at the thought of it. As much as she hated doing that, if things got to the lowest point, they'd have to do that. "Anyway, I'll end this discussion early. We'll need to prepare for the investigation." Everyone stood up as they gathered their backpacks and necessities. "And-" Erza glowered at them angrily through her dark eyes, "If any of you get a grade lower than a B in any of your classes on your progress report, be prepared for severe punishment."

Lucy munched happily on the melon bread; the blissful crunchiness was heaven on her tongue. She had actually gotten in the archery club! She actually didn't think that they'd let her in, since they were already tight packed. They had made her test her skills in front of the typical target; a circular red and white ringed board. She slowed her chewing and swallowed as she remembered the odd events that had happened.

Lucy was zoned in on the target as if it were the only object visible to her. Something threw her off her balance and almost made her miss the bull's eyes. It may have been from the cloud that briefly loomed under the sun, but she wasn't entirely sure. It was for a second when she saw it- a dark figure stood in front of her target with ruby red eyes, and it was smiling at her. Not only that, its teeth was sharp, like canine teeth. It disappeared though right before Lucy let go of the arrow in surprise and she had almost cost her position by almost dropping the bow itself!

Lucy rubbed her arms as she tried to wipe away the unpleasant memory. It was probably her imagination anyway. She hadn't seen something so creepy in… well, years ago. It had stopped throughout her middle school years, but she saw them constantly in elementary. She was pretty sure it was just her mind playing tricks on her, but if it was happening now-

"Just forget it." Lucy murmured to herself as she unlocked the door to her room. Each student had their own room in the dormitories, so that was convenient. She lived in the Eclipse Dormitory, and right beside it was the Algeria Dormitory, which was a part of the boy's dormitory. There were two for each gender, so it wouldn't be so packed. Across from the Eclipse was the Lotus Dormitory, and across from Algeria was the Slayer Dormitory. Lucy sighed as she plopped herself on top of her fluffy mattress and goose-feathered blanket. She sunk in nicely; she would've fallen asleep if it weren't for the racket from the Algeria Dormitory.

She peeked towards the window, glancing at it glumly. She didn't know who was across from her from the window, because the curtain never opened. If it ever did, she was definitely going to give the guy a piece of her mind about being considerate of other people. He wasn't the only one in the dang area.

"Alright alright!" She heard him shout angrily, and she flinched. How could someone literally be so loud?! "I JUST CAN'T FIND THE STUPID THING THAT MIRA GAVE ME!" He continued to shout, and with very word a nerve in Lucy popped. How could she do homework, or sleep, in this racket?! She angrily stood up, grabbing her back pack and her bow and arrow with her, just in case. She didn't want to get kidnapped, though she knew that was unlikely.

She left the screaming boy to himself as she trudged down the stairs, flashing a few smiles and 'hello's' on her way out of the building. Despite living here for two weeks, she got lost easily in the vast town. Usually she would go to the canal to do her homework when she got out early, but it was probably too dark to go there now. It would be too weird for her to go into a café or restaurant without buying anything… and she was pretty short on money, so that was definitely a no go. Lucy perked up as she saw a park into view; it had bright lamp lights and benches, also, it was pretty, which was a plus to the place. Lucy stopped before entering the park, glancing at the sign when she did.

Cherry Blossom Park

Created by Mavis Vermillion

What an odd name, but it was pretty in its own wa- "Oof!" Lucy fell onto her butt harshly as she dropped her backpack. "What the?!" Lucy looked up; there was nothing but air in front of her.

Odd.

Lucy huffed nervously as she stood up, grabbing her backpack in the process. "Should probably look at where I'm going…" She murmured to herself, attempting to walk into the park again.

But again, she ended up falling on her butt.

"What the heck!" She retorted angrily, there was nothing! Why the hell did she keep on falling?! She huffed out angrily this time. Whipping out her phone she checked the time.

5:56 P.M.

The idiotic boy was probably still screaming his heart out; he was always loud in his room around this time anyway. "I swear… this day can't get any worse." She murmured as she got back up. She backed up this time, rolling up the sleeves of her white button up shirt as she did. She readied herself into a running stance as she charged into the park. For a second or two, she thought she was trying to walk in water as she crossed the boundary to the park. She couldn't breathe; her movements were slow and weak if she attempted to move forward.

She fell onto her knees, bringing her hand to her throat. What was that?! Lucy shivered and glanced back at the entrance. It looked as normal as any park entrance could be, but a sudden chill fell over her when she entered. Like she could work in this atmosphere now!

"Just my imagination… tripped over the crack on the sidewalk." She told herself reassuringly, pulling herself up as she brushed off her dark blue skirt for the third time in the last ten minutes. "Just gotta finish homework then I can go home." She smiled to herself in an attempt to lighten herself up. The lights were lit up dimly, emitting an orange glow. A low breeze swam through the air, carefully running through her hair as she walked to the bench that looked the comfiest. She stretched, cracking her knuckles as she got to work.

Lucy yawned as she put down her pen, checking the time on her phone.

6:30 P.M.

She finished quicker than usual- maybe it was because of the creepy feeling she had the whole time? But she always felt like that when she was alone, so it probably wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Still, she hated the feeling even if she was familiar with it.

She quickly packed her things, ready to bolt out of the park as soon as she could. She wavered as she stood near the entrance; she really didn't want to fall on her butt again… it actually really hurt.

"You know, you can't really get out right now."

Lucy jumped, minimizing her scream by covering her mouth with both of her hands. She whipped her head around, her heart pounding against her chest. It was a young girl, maybe around the age 13 or 14. She wore a long, plain white dress. Her raven black hair was adorned in white flowers which held her braid in place, and she was sitting on a tree branch.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle ya'." She waved, jumping down from the tree and landing gracefully on two feet. She grinned, Lucy cringed as she waited to see sharp, pointy teeth, but to her relief they were as normal as a human could be. "Surprised you can see me though, honestly. I've been calling out to people and they just see right through me! Usually I get noticed right away…" The girl sniffled, rubbing her eyes as they threatened for the tears to fall.

"U-Um… are you okay? Do you need me to walk you home?" Lucy asked cautiously, taking a step forward to the girl. She hadn't sensed her presence at all. Was she watching her the whole time?

She frowned, but shook her head no. "I just need some company. Some bad people were chasing me, but if I'm with someone else I'm pretty sure they won't be able to find me." Lucy frowned now, was someone trying to kidnap this poor girl? Maybe she could scare them off with her bow and arrow…

"Ah, you don't need to take it out. As long as I'm with someone they'll never get close to me, or hurt me." The little girl reassured Lucy, gesturing her to put the bow away.

"Then why not leave the park? If we leave they won't be able to track you." Lucy offered; she really wanted to get out now…

The little girl shook her head no, frowning now. "I told you we can't go! We're stuck here!" The little girl was growing impatient; her voice had a certain edge that made Lucy feel uneasy. The little girl sighed, giving Lucy a smile. "They're coming into the park now, so we should probably go in further to hide." She grabbed Lucy's hand; it was deathly cold.

"God, you're freezing!" Lucy muttered with a frown. If the girl continued to walk like this she'd freeze to death…

Lucy took her jacket out of her backpack, draping it over the girl's shoulders. "Thank you!" She piped up with a warm smile, leading Lucy deeper into the park. Now she felt like the child; the little girl was practically telling her what she should and shouldn't do.

Wait, wasn't this a little suspicious? Lucy knew what was ordinary, and what was totally abnormal. This was definitely on the borderline of her comfort zone. The little girl's touch was prickly, like stubbed thorns that had been freshly trimmed.

Lucy halted, pulling her hand away from the little girl's fingers. They had ventured deeper into the park now, and the cherry blossom trees had closed around her like a cave. The lamps were dimmer than before, making Lucy shiver. "We should leave. They're probably gone by now." Lucy insisted, biting her lip. The girl had walked a few steps ahead of Lucy after she jerked her hand back, and she didn't turn around. Her white dress fluttered in the wind, and one by one, the flowers in her hair wrinkled, turning brown and falling out of her hair. Her long braid was undone with each flower dropping, until it flowed down her head like a waterfall. Her pale, small fingers trembled as the last one fell to the ground.

"You should've just listened to me, stupid girl." The little girl's voice tremored quietly, her head lowered, tucking down into her chest as she did.

Lucy took a step back gingerly, clutching the straps of her backpack. Something was definitely off now.

"If only you followed me like the others, this would've ended so nicely." The little girl laughed lightly; airy and raspy like the wind around her. "But of course this is a special occasion for you."

"What…?" Lucy took another step back, but ran into something. Lucy turned around immediately; a cherry blossom tree was right behind her. Was it always there? What the heck was this girl spouting out of her mouth?!

Lucy glanced up at the trees around flowers on it didn't seem at all that pink and luscious; more like the flowers that drowned from the little girl's hair.

"You're a threat, Lucy; a hindrance." Lucy craned her head back slowly to the little girl, her heart pounding against her chest again, more abruptly this time.

Ruby red eyes and sharp canine teeth.

Lucy shrieked, cowering. She buried her head into her knees as the image burned into her mind. Lucy squeezed her eyes shut- maybe she was dreaming, probably. She had to be. Definitely…

"Lu-cy." The little girl giggled, her light footsteps coming closer and closer, with each sharp inhale Lucy took. How the heck did she even know her name?! Lucy couldn't recall ever telling her it.

Heck, it was a ghost, so the normality didn't apply to this situation at all.

"Lu-cy… open your e-eyes!" Lucy shuddered, tears pricking her eyes. She was petrified- how could she move when some monster was sauntering towards her?! Lucy imagined her sharp teeth sinking into her skin, the agonizing pain-

Like hell was she going to let that happen. She had a dang high school to live; she was going to marry a rich guy and buy a mansion and buy all the clothes she wanted to have that her father would never let her wear!

A sudden wave of energy made her bolt up from her fetal position; the girl was right in front of her, grinning down at her. Lucy sprinted to the nearest trail she could find. "Hehe, let's play hide and seek!" The girl giggled, tickling Lucy's ear as if she was running right beside her.

"Someone's already in here…" Mira stated, hovering her hand over the entrance of the park. It felt sticky, honey-like as she tried to squeeze her hand through the opening.

"Eh? Who else would go in here at 6? People are usually cooped up in their rooms doing homework by now." Natsu remarked, raising an eyebrow.

"This isn't made by any Mage either-" Mira's voice caught in her throat as she drew her hand back. "-a disturbed spirit."

"Which means someone is in there, human probably." Erza concluded bitterly, crossing her arms across her chest. "When did they enter?"

"About four minutes before we came." Mirajane stated, "I don't know how long it'll be until I break it open, an hour? 30 minutes? It's hard to say." Mirajane whispered in a hushed voice. "If I transform-"

"No. That will require too much of your energy and we cannot afford that." Erza immediately discarded her idea. Mirajane pursed her lips but agreed. She knew it was a bit of a risk to propose that. "We'll try to scout the area as much as we can and find any weak spots in it while you work on that. Good luck." Erza nodded towards Natsu, who looked back knowingly before darting off into the opposite direction of Erza.

His scarf billowed behind him as he jumped, grabbing onto a tree branch as he swung himself over swiftly. He'd have a better view of the park this way. It was much vaster than he had imagined which was definitely abnormal. He could see the odd purple haze, almost invisible, hovering over the park. Natsu grit his teeth; it was definitely a disturbed spirit. Natsu jumped from the tree, diving straight into the park. He landed roughly on the purple haze, just above the park itself. His feet sunk into it briefly, but immediately stopped. He dug his hand into the haze, but it wouldn't budge farther than half way in.

"Damn," Natsu grit his teeth, running across the dome shaped haze to another section that was much fainter than other parts of the purple haze. "Why the hell is it so hard to break through?" It was usually too easy for Natsu to break through their barriers, but why was this so hard? This spirit must've been revengeful beyond a normal wandering spirit.

Thirty minutes must've passed before he found a faint spot in the dome. Before, he had tried to crack it by punching it repeatedly, but to his confusion he didn't even leave a dent. It was hard to see through the purple haze, so he had no idea what was going on in there. Natsu stuck his face as close as he could to it, peering with one eye as he did so. He could make out the shapes of the trees, benches, the lamps. He saw the dim light they emitted, and the sway of the flowers.

He could also see a shadow of a busty teen and a young girl walking deeper into the park. Natsu gulped nervously, why the hell was she following the obviously sketchy little girl?!

Natsu averted his gaze up, trying to find another faint spot in the dome. By the time he did, ten minutes passed. Natsu whipped out his phone- it was 6:40 P.M.

He peered into it again and saw the busty teen running. Well finally! 'Bout time she realized something was off. Natsu groaned internally, his eyes followed her until she disappeared into the trees. Natsu angrily shoved his fist into the dome, impatient. Surprisingly he felt the cold whiff of air from the park slam against his fist and he shuddered.

Definitely broke through it. Right on cue, the whole dome dimmed even further, and he was already falling from the sky. He grinned, Mirajane must've weakened it.

He slammed onto the cold pavement loudly, the leaves and flowers whipping away from him from the impact of his landing. The interior was different from what it looked like outside, probably an illusion created by the spirit. Natsu quietly ventured around, hiding behind the trees when he heard a slight rustle.

"Lu-cy. I see you." He heard an eerie voice call out. He immediately hid behind the tree trunk, quieting his breathing as he did. Peering out, he saw the small girl, her eyes ruby red with a terrible grin on her face.

Well no wonder why the teen was running for her fucking life, he probably would knock the shit out of her first and then panic afterwards though.

Natsu slammed his fist together and felt the surge of warmth course through his body, the burning fire made him grin with confidence. "Haven't had to deal with a strong one in a while!"

Dear lord what did I do to earn this?! Lucy chanted in her head. Her blood pounded in her ears as she tried to stay as quiet as she could. It was the… thing from the Archery Club! It was actually real?! Maybe she was dreaming?! Lucy didn't know what to believe anymore. Lucy heard a loud thud in the distance, causing the area to shake briefly. Lucy jumped up in surprise, was it the creepy spirit ghost thing?! Lucy crouched down in her spot, inhaling deep breaths of air as she did.

Lucy closed her eyes for a brief second, immediately regretting it. Did she dare open her eyes? Why did she close them in the first place?! Lucy cursed herself silently; of course she would close her dang eyes in the middle of running away from some psychotic girl. Lucy peeked through her fingers, the blood draining from her face.

"Found you!" The little girl remarked, her eyes disappearing into her wide, disturbing grin.

Lucy didn't have time to react, her eyes widening as the little girl lunged towards her; her mouth wide open, her sharp nails clawing towards her.

Warmth enveloped her, softening her cringing features. Lucy's shoulders relaxed and she let out a silent breath. Maybe she had woken up; she was probably in her bed, in a deep sleep. Lucy opened her eyes this time, slowly, waiting for the sunlight to shine down on her and to start a brand new day full of sunshine and happy faces.

Bright ass pink hair was the first thing that stood out to her.

Lucy gaped, her mouth open.

"Well get up, don't just sit there!" he shouted at her. The spirit was the wall between her and the boy. Lucy shook her head no, terrified of the screaming little girl in front of her. She was on fire. Burning, shrieking and howling for someone to help her. Lucy had the weird urge to douse her with water, to help her. "Don't you dare fall into her stupid trap! Have you not remembered what she just did to you?!" Natsu shouted over her screams, jolting Lucy back into reality.

Lucy nodded, unable to find her voice. Natsu ushered her to come towards him, his eyes desperate and… comforting to her actually. She rushed to him, almost tripping as she did. He caught her before she could fall, pushing her behind him. The little girl's screams slowly turned to giggles, then full on laughing. Her head craned towards them, fully turning around inhumanly.

"Geh…" Natsu shuddered back a little. This was one creepy ass girl. "This is why I try not to associate myself with girls…" He muttered under his breath. Lucy was shaking from the neck down, clutching his scarf as if it depended on her life. "Oi I can't move if you hold onto it like that!"

"S-Sorry…" Lucy murmured, reluctantly releasing it.

"Don't worry, you'll be safe." He reassured her with a cheeky smile. She was still a bit skeptical, but relief set to the pit of her stomach, just for now.

"Ohhh Mages! How fun!" The girl giggled, "Annoying twats don't know when to stop." Her voice dripped with venom as she glowered at them, her face expressionless. "I'll devour every drop of your life."

Natsu cackled in response, surprising Lucy by his reaction. "Can't wait to see you try, little girl." Natsu glowered back. Lucy let out a sound that was much like a whimper- a burst of flames bloomed on both of his fist to her surprise, burying her deeper into confusion.

"What the hell!" Lucy exclaimed, taking a step back from the pink haired boy.

Just what the hell was going on? She was pretty sure she said that phrase at least twenty times today. Natsu shouted, lunging towards the little girl. She stood her ground, glaring up at him. She dodged his punch narrowly, but he was able to hit her shoulder. She gasped- small droplets of light fluttered into the sky, disappearing. She growled and lunged at him, baring her teeth.

"Hey!" Lucy squealed out in a panic, pointing towards the girl. Natsu kicked her in the face before she could touch him, pushing her back at least twenty yards. More droplets of light floated into the air. Lucy gazed up at them with wide eyes, mesmerized. They were as bright as stars, fluttering away like faeries.

"Shit!"

Lucy darted her eyes towards the pink haired boy in alarm, seeing the girl sink her teeth into his shoulder. He fell with a painful thud, clutching his shoulder agonizingly. Lucy gasped, unsure of what to do- what could she do? For heaven's sake he was some pyromaniac, and she didn't want to get in 50 feet near the girl! Natsu grit his teeth, throwing a flaming punch at the girl's face as she slammed against a tree trunk.

Lucy bit her nails as she tried to think. She could just run away now and leave the boy to her demise- after he had helped her? She would never be able to live with herself. There was another option of averting the little girl's attention to her while she ran, maybe saving the boy's life, but she wasn't that kind; she wanted to live too!

Lucy clutched her backpack, conflicted on what to do. Her eyes lit up as she swung her bag over her shoulder, zipping it open quickly as she grabbed the bow, gripping it with her life. Sure, it may have no effect on some spirit, but what did she have to lose?

Lucy grabbed an arrow out of her quiver, shaking as she adjusted it into her bow. "Well, well, a weapon?" The little girl giggled, looking at Lucy with interest. "What an odd girl you are. She is not a Mage, is she?" her attention turned towards Natsu briefly.

"Shut up you annoying brat." Natsu growled, standing up as he cracked his wounded shoulder. He cringed at it, but nonetheless got back up quicker than she would've thought. "No point in knowing if you're just gonna die!" He kicked again, sending an explosion of flames towards her way. Lucy took in a sharp breath, closing her eyes as she calmed her pounding heart. If she was going to try she needed to make sure she was as calm, as possible as she could be in this situation anyways.

She started to break down again as she saw that the little girl had blocked Natsu's weird flame burst, lunging towards him with full speed again. Natsu dodged her a millisecond faster, jumping out of the way.

The little girl's claws had latched itself onto his arm though. Natsu hissed, punching the girl with his free hand, but she just wouldn't budge, even if she was slowly disappearing with every flame he threw at her. "Persistent as hell aren't you?" Natsu hissed, successfully twisting the spirit's wrist and yanking her off of his arm.

Natsu's eyes darted over to the blonde girl, the fear in her eyes wavered for a bit but regained composure. She stood straight, her arms outstretched, her eyes never leaving the spirit's figure. It was interesting to watch, how in zone she was. It was as if everything around her was merely the background to her.

He wasn't entirely sure if her arrow would even work. It might just go right through her since it wasn't specially designed to hunt spirits.

Natsu's eyes widened as he noticed he spent too much time observing her, almost forgetting his opponent. He jumped out of the way right before she slammed her claws against the pavement, causing it to crack upon impact. He heard the sudden whiff of wind speeding towards him, and whipped around to see the blonde girl release her arrow, her fingers lingering in the air as her distant eyes followed the arrow's trail. Natsu averted his gaze to the little girl who sneered at Lucy, fully aware that it wouldn't work.

Her ruby red eyes grew wide and she glanced down at her fingers, seeing them disappear into tiny, bright droplets. A blood curdling scream erupted from her clogged throat. She crumpled into a heap on the ground, clawing at her pierced neck. She raised her hands to her face as she watched it flutter away right in front of her.

Natsu blinked.

Her arrow actually… hit the spirit?!

Natsu immediately flitted his eyes over to the blonde girl with interest and curiosity. "How did you do-" Natsu held back his tongue as he found herself also in a heap on the ground, unconscious. "Seriously…" Natsu exasperated with a tired sigh, but grinned to himself.

He had found himself a new recruit.

(A/N) Hehe thank you for reading this! I've always wanted to write a story similar to this. As the story progresses, everything will make much more sense haha. I will organize when I will post 4KoM and this story; hopefully I'll be able to post a chapter weekly for each story!

Don't forget to review!