Hello. I know I have tons of stories already, but I really wanted to post this one because I thought it was just brilliant! I put up a poll on my profile on whether I should post this story or not, so I decided I'd give you a little bit of a glimpse of What I plan to be posting. This is just the prologue, but I think it's really good for being so short. Anyways, read it and tell me what I should do. Don't forget to vote on the poll, too. Oh, and this is kind of AU, but not too much. So here you have it, the prologue of Not What It Seems. Enjoy!

"Life isn't always fair, and things aren't always what they seem," my mother once told me. She'd drilled those words into my head, even made me repeat the sentence daily. They became something of a prayer almost. To my family, especially my mother, they were words to live by.

I was young. I couldn't even remember what day it was when I'd gotten the devastating news. One moment I was happy and carefree, the next minute I was sitting quietly next to my mother's bed. I was too young to understand at first, but the cold reality of death cares little of ages and such. That night, my mother died. For some odd reason the words she spoke, the last words that left her mouth before she left our world forever, left behind a chilling and eerie mystery.

"Life isn't always fair, and things aren't always what they seem," she'd said with the last of the breath she had. Since that night, I could never look at those words the same way.

XXxxXXxxXX

Lucy Heartfilia is the name my parents gave me. I was a student at a "prestige" school in Fiore, studying writing and literature. The Fairy Tail Professions Academy was a bit strange, but it did live up to its reputation as one of the top pre-college institutions in Fiore. I wanted to be an author; in fact, I was working on my very own novel. But, I still had a ways to go before it was finished and edited to perfection. I decided to become a teacher as back-up, in case I couldn't make it as an author. That's why I was enrolled in FTPA, to study further in literature before I went off to try for a Master's in teaching and literature.

Enrolling in the academy wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I'd run away from home in order to go to that school and having a family with a reputation like mine would get me sent home just by the mention of my last name. You see, my family, well, at least my dad, owned the most financially successful tycoon of industries in the country. The name Heartfilia was associated with money, and a lot of it. The discovery of my identity would surly result in trouble; dangerous or not, the outcome wouldn't be good in my opinion.

Ever since my mother passed away, my father dove into his work. He spared little time for me and any loving emotion he once showed me turned ice cold. I was a pawn to him, never allowed to leave the estate unless it was an essential, business related trip. I couldn't make my own decisions, even my own future was written out before me. Everything was planned out, every piece set in place. It was all like a big game and moving the first piece set the game in motion. One thing that I realized all too clearly was that the event that set my father's game in motion… was my mother's death.

END NOTE: I wrote this the first day of school in study hall. What do you think? Do you think it'll be worth the extra headache and stress to continue with the story and all that? Now, please realize that this is just the prologue. (I've never actually written a prologue before, but I hope I did a good job on this one) The actual story will have longer chapters (if you guys think I should post the actual story). I promise. So, let me know what you thought. I really like this, but do you?

~Alice-chan