A week passed and all seemed well. No blood was shed, and no tears streaked down. But being confined with restrictions can only do so much with such finite sanity, and Erza thought that a change of pace would help.

An easy going mission that's both easy and challenging.

Erza searched through the available missions, and weighed down the pros and cons on what would or might transpire during the mission. Finally, she found a perfect mission. Find and capture the bandits that are ambushing the pathway within the emerald forest. Easy peasy no?

And Lucy was more than willing to do the mission. She wanted to get out of her place and go somewhere.

And of course, Natsu, Wendy, and Gray would join the mission. As they say, the more the merrier. Erza would feel more at ease to have more people on board, serving as backup just in case something happens.

Much preparation wasn't needed, as this is a simple catch and grab mission. So they all rode in a carrier to get to their destination faster, while Natsu whined on the floor. Erza sat at the front, driving the carriage, ensuring that the trip would be without trouble.

Some time later, Erza spoke up, "We're almost there, keep your guard up. These bandits are more likely to ambush us."

"Then shouldn't we get out of the carriage, so Natsu will be battle ready when they decide to ambush us?" Lucy asked, nudging the pink blob with her foot.

"That's a good point." Wendy commented

Gray only grunted.

Erza pulled the carriage to the side and everyone but Natsu pooled out of the carriage. Gray had to pull the boy out of the vehicle, "Useless flameass."

Natsu grumbled incoherently. "immhhaaakiillllllllllllllluuuuuuuu"

"Let's go, everyone." Wendy spoke up.

Natsu soon regained his composure and became all fired up, and ran off into the forest, dead set on finding the bandits.

"Gun damn it." Gray sighed. "Seriously?"

"We need to follow him." Erza frowned. She should've seen this coming. She was too focused on Lucy to think that Natsu would behave like an adult.

They all ran into the forest, following the obvious tracks left by the flame mage.

…

The outcome of the mission was the same as every other mission that Lucy had partaken in. However, they all had been separated because a certain pink haired mage and black haired mage didn't follow orders. And Erza had to run off after one of them, and Lucy after the other. Turns out that was a bad plan. A very bad plan.

Now Lucy was being chased by one of the bandits. She was already low on her magic reserves, so all she can do is run.

Passing through every tree and branches, she soon found herself at the cliff near the edge of the forest. "Shit."

"Hehe." The bandit grinned as she had the girl cornered.

Lucy turned toward the bandit, and tried to think of a clever way to beat this man. The man stepped forward, and on instinct, Lucy stepped back to keep the distance from the man. She immediately lost her balance and slipped, falling over the cliff.

The bandit frowned. "Clumsy blonde, eh? Nobody likes those." He shrugged and walked away, like nothing had happened.

At the bottom of the cliff, Lucy laid motionless on the ground. Her forehead had been split open, and her leg was bent unnaturally so. She laid there for about 30 minutes when another figure approached the unconcious girl.

Seeing the condition the girl was in, the man made a split decision to carry the girl back to his place. Once the blonde was comfortably situated on a bed, he tended to all visible wounds, and performed a magic spell for her to recover faster, then waited for Lucy to wake up.

While the man waited for the girl to recover, he could sense some sort of energy emitting from the young blonde. Curiously, she leaned closer to have a better sense of what he was sensing.

It was an energy of negativity and fear. He felt concerned for the girl. He stood up and walked to his table, and started preparing a concoction.

Few minutes later, Lucy finally stirred and opened her eyes. Her head was a mess, and throbbed painfully so. "Ugh." She grunted as she stood up.

"Don't move too much, darling. That was a nasty fall there." The man said as he focused on his concoction in front of him.

"Where am I? How long had I been out?" Lucy held her head as she sat at the edge of the table.

"You're at my place. I found you lying on the ground. And I say it's been an hour?"

"Hmm… well thanks?" Lucy winced as the pain stuck her painfully. She needed to lie down. She set her head back on the table, and the pain thankfully went away… temporarily.

"Have you been through some difficult times recently?" The man asked, the nature of the question coming out of nowhere seemed to shock the blonde.

"W-Why?..."

"I have the ability to sense other people's energy. A little too well to a point where it's so suffocating. So I moved to a desolate area where the population is almost void of people."

"And what does that have to do with me?"

"I'm sensing a negative energy filled with fear. I'm concerned and want to at least alleviate it."

Lucy drily chuckled. "What energy?"

"That's a topic for another day." The man said as he turned towards Lucy, his completed concoction now in his hands. "But I want to address the fears that you have."

"Fears?"

"Unfortunately, there's no easy way to get rid of your fears. So you'll need to do it the old fashioned way. Fight them head on."

"And why would I want to do that?"

"Because I can sense that it almost killed you several times. But something had always intervened."

Lucy subconsciously grabbed her wrist. "What made you think that?"

"It's just what the energy is telling me."

Lucy frowned and hated how the man was right. She looked down at the concoction the man was holding. "What will that do?"

"This?" The man held the concoction up, "This will allow you to confront your fears amongst your cherished memories."

"Huh?"

"Every fear comes in different forms. And every person has different fears that come in the same forms. You need to know how to confront that fear."

"..."

The man set the concoction on the table next to the girl. "It is your choice. Confront your fears now and save yourself and your friends, or let it destroy you."

Lucy stared at the concoction and turned back at the man questioningly and with concern. How can she trust this man? Will it even work?

Lucy turned back to the concoction again, and grabbed it. It was warm to the touch and smelled like vanilla.

She blamed the bump on her head when she decided to drink the mysterious liquid.

…

Within the deep depth of her sanity, Lucy finds herself in the mirage of old memories. A timeline of all that passed, and the soft echo of the sounds that made a difference.

Then, she found herself in front of her old mansion, the mansion that she came to love and hate. However, the major difference between reality and this scene is that everything was blurry. No amount of details could be seen, no matter how hard you stare at it. But Lucy could tell that it was her old home.

In the blink of an eye, she suddenly found herself in front of a familiar statue. A statue that was the start of everything. Lucy tried to picture the fragile details of the statue, but it was too blurry to really study every inch of the statue.

Then a shadowy figure arose from behind the statue and hovered closer to the blonde. The way the figure stood was enough to make Lucy cautious and afraid, making her quiver as she stepped backwards. And the ominous pressure from the figure didn't make it easier to bear.

The shadowy figure took note of the blonde's action and made a gruntle noise before morphing into a person.

"No…" Lucy took another step backwards as the figure completed its transformation

The figure morphed into a man that was the source of her nightmare. The man revealed itself to be Lucy's father.

This is it, Lucy thought as she stared at her father, who only looked at her with cold dead eyes. He remained mute and still as he stared at the girl. This was a lot harder than she realized as she faced the object of her fears.

What was she supposed to do? Lucy was unsure, as she didn't receive instructions on how to conquer her fears.

The more she stared at her father, the more fearful she became, as she didn't know what to do. Should she run? Fight?

The ominous feeling from the figure in front of her became harder to handle, and she took a step back to relieve herself of the pressure.

The moment she took a step back, her surroundings changed. She was no longer outside of her old home. She was in a different place. She was inside a familiar room. She found herself in Erza's apartment. Everything seemed to be the same, except for the blurry lines of details.

Her father was still positioned in front of her, his expression remained the same. However, his ominous pressure felt much more intense than before, almost similar to killing intent.

Lucy took a chance and looked around, to see why she was in Erza's place. Same as her old home, everything was blurred. Can't see a single good detail on anything. Then her eyes laid upon two figures near the bed.

Sense of familiarity washed over the blonde, as she realized who was at the bed. It was the memory of Erza comforting the blonde. Although the two figures were blurred as well, Lucy could vividly remember the moment.

And for some reason, she didn't want to lose this memory, or let anything else ruin this memory.

Then, the killing intent from the figure grew, and Lucy turned to the fatherly figure, and noted that the man was not staring at her anymore, but was looking at her blurred memory.

Cold dead eyes locked on the memories that Lucy cherished, and she realized he was about to do.

The man quickly morphed back into its shadowy self and immediately launched itself towards the blurred memory.

"No!" Lucy yelled as she tried to stop the shadow.

But the shadow disappeared. And she was no longer in Erza's place. She was now in the guild, surrounded by blurry guild members doing as they usually do.

A blurred Lucy was surrounded by her blurred teammates, typical for a post-mission party. Sense of warmth crowded the blonde again as she stared at this memory.

Another memory that she didn't want to let go.

Then the killing intent appeared out of nowhere, and Lucy turned towards the guild entrance and spotted the shadowy figure. Its eyes glowed bright red now as it looked enraged.

"Choose." The figure muttered as it stared at the blonde.

Cold shivers went down Lucy's spine as she tried to think what the figure was talking about. Choose? What did she have to choose? She thought she just needed to conquer him.

The blonde blinked, and then the scenery changed again. She was on the battlefield. It was the memory when Phantom came to kidnap her. Why did she want to keep this memory? She hated this memory.

Lucy was in the middle of a big crowd, behind the remains of what used to be their guild. Blurred figures were scattered, but what caught her eyes was a certain blonde surrounded by her teammates.

She remembered now. This was the first step towards freedom from her father. Or so she thought.

"Choose." The shadowy figure from behind yelled louder, as if it was becoming impatient.

"Choose what?!" Lucy turned to the figure. "What do you want from me!?"

The figure responded with silence, and raised its hand towards the blonde for a moment, then pointed at the group of celebrating friends.

"What?" Lucy frowned, and before she could ask anything else, the shadow figure launched itself towards the group. "No!" Lucy was too slow to stop the figure. Before any damage could be done, the scene changed once again, and she was back in the guild.

Her…. or her friends…Lucy concluded as she turned to find the shadowy figure staring at her with killing intent.

Lucy turned back to her memory, and recalled the atmosphere that she had come to enjoy. How could she have forgotten it?

The shadow figure lurched forward, and Lucy was quicker this time. Her quick reflex allowed her to grab the nearest mug and throw it at the figure. The figure dissolved as the mug passed through the shadow.

The only noise that she could hear was the clatter of the mug against the floor. Couple seconds later, one of the figures started moving, and walked towards the guild doors.

As blurred as it was, Lucy knew that it was Natsu. And Natsu was headed somewhere.

Seeing that the scene wasn't changing anytime soon, she decided to follow Natsu. It was as if time fast forward to the moment when Natsu stood in front of a traveling blonde in the middle of the street.

Lucy immediately recognized this memory. It was the moment where the path started. The memory where she tried to move on.

"Choose!"

Lucy turned to see the shadowy figure launching itself toward the blurred memory, and all she could think of was to stop the figure. She didn't have anything to throw at the figure, so she did the next best thing. She threw herself in front of the figure to stop it.

The figure dispersed the moment it made contact with Lucy.

"Well then…." Would that be considered conquering her fears? She surely hoped that it did.

Lucy put down her shivering arms and turned to look at her memory fondly, only to see that the memory's no longer there. Instead, it was a memory that she was not familiar with.

It was obvious that it was both Erza and herself. Only difference is that they were facing each other, holding each other's hands.

The feeling returned again, and Lucy turned her head to see her father, staring at her disapprovingly. The killing intent was gone at least.

She stared at her father, trying to find what he wanted. The man then turned towards the girls, looking disgusted and disappointed.

The girl turned toward the unfamiliar memory, and found that the details were evident around the hands. Interlocking fingers could vividly be seen.

Lucy turned back to her father, seeing that he moved closer to the blonde, cold eyes staring at her in deep disappointment. She took a step back in shock and took note how the authoritative stance that the man was in. He's trying to intimidate her.

Lucy glanced back at the memory, and saw that more details could be seen. She definitely didn't realize just how close the two girls were to each other. Almost like...oh.

Her father was now above her, looking down on her. Cold dead eyes with empty emotions staring at her. He was disappointed. He didn't approve of this, and certainly doesn't appreciate this.

Lucy started to shake as she turned back to the memory, and stared at the position both figures were in. Both her and Erza were happy, as if nothing were going to get in their way. But this never happened…

She found herself staring at Erza's content face just before she would kiss her blonde self. She really is beautiful.

Of course… This isn't a memory. This is a wish.

...Since when?

Lucy turned back to her father for any sign of hints, or answers. When she turned her head, she was greeted with not the face of her father, but the shadowy face of her father. Which is a lot scarier than the other shadowy figure.

Lucy jumped back in fear from the sudden appearance of the scary face and fell backwards on her butt.

At that moment, the scene changed once again.

She found herself in a room where it was divided in half by prison bars. Lucy was on one side, with a table and a key. On the other side, was her father, sitting on a chair.

She knew that this never happened, so… what's the hell happening? But on the bright side, the man is behind bars, so he really can't hurt her at the moment.

"Hello Lucy."

The girl got back on her feet and stood rigidly as she stared at the man known as her father. She was unsure of what is about to happen.

"I know that I've said what I already needed to say back then, but I need to tell you something else."

"What else is there to say?" Lucy really didn't want to hear anything else from this man.

"Before your mother passed away, we had plans that we hoped to achieve together."

"Why does that concern me?" Lucy muttered, looking around the room, wanting to leave. But there was no door to be seen. Damn it.

"I want to fix things between us."

Enraged, Lucy turned to her father. "Fix things between us? We are way past that. There is nothing to fix. You lost your chance"

"Even though I'll leave my life in your hands?" Jude gestured to the keys on the table.

Lucy grabbed the keys and examined it before throwing it across the room, away from where Jude was. "You can rot in there for all I care."

Jude's eyes momentarily changed emotions as he stood up. He walked towards the bar and grasped it. "I'm giving you one last chance."

"Chance? You never gave me a chance, not once. So why should I give you one?" Lucy clenched her fists to control her anger and her fear.

Jude was still for a moment before he stepped away from the bar. "Is that the attitude you'll give me?"

"What? Is it gratitude you want?"

Jude brought his clenched hands in front of him, then unclenched it, revealing a set of keys.

Lucy gasped as she turned to see where she had thrown the keys, but it disappeared. She turned back to see the door wide open, and her father was now in front of her.

"I gave you a chance."