A/N: This was inspired completely by the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare (go read it!), so it'll contain some parts of the City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, etc. etc. Got the idea of Lucy being the way she is from WolfieANNE, with permission (thank her for the idea, and go read her stories! Especially 'Good Meets Bad'.). Anyway, I know you all hate me so much for doing nothing on FTLG for ages, and then suddenly popping up with a new story. Agh. I'm so sorry. I have no idea what's wrong with me either.

Also, this prologue has nothing (almost) to do with the summary, so don't be fooled!

I do not own Fairy Tail or the Mortal Instruments series, so please know that many of the things here are from the Mortal Instruments series too. This also includes something that's similar to the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan, but I'll point that out sooner or later.

Prologue

Beth Vanderwood knew that she shouldn't be out alone on the streets at one in the middle of the night.

But here she was right now, walking solo down the deserted path.

She stopped for a moment, and frowned lightly—although it was way past midnight, and most sane people would be all wrapped up snugly in their beds and blankets, this city was never exactly quiet.

Especially not this quiet.

She shrugged the feeling off a little hesitantly and continued, now at a moderate jog, down the street, shivering slightly as she pulled the two ends of her jacket together in a desperate attempt to stay warm in the cold.

Ugh. How she envied those who were still in bed.

Beth shivered once more, stopping in front of a secluded alley to quickly tug up the bouncing jacket zipper. As her hand left her neck area and quickly made its way back into her pocket, a low, guttural growling sounded from the alley opening to her left, causing her to halt mid-step.

Now what on Earth Land was that?

She stiffened visibly, and did the only option that was currently available to her. Whoever—or whatever—was most definitely going to do something along the lines of an attack. She just knew it.

She ran.

But before Beth could even get a step away, a large, heavily-built lump of who-knows-what leapt out of the shadows at a crazily inhuman pace, pouncing right at her and crashing into her with full force, knocking her down onto the ground easily, as if she was one of those fake plastic dominoes that the supermarkets sold. She let out a short, gasping cry as her back collided with the hard cement of the pavement, a sharp, rolling wave of pain sending tremors through her already numb nerves and knocking the wind right out of her. She held up her forearms to shield her face reflexively just as a pair of who-knows-how-sharp claws lashed out at her, leaving a squiggle of stinging pain—of course, she'd taken a couple of classes of self-defense when she was younger, so she obviously knew how to defend herself—as the creature gnashed its mouthful of sharp, serrated teeth at her, its hot, foul-smelling breath appearing in puffs around her face in the cold air, making her feel woozy. Beth flinched visibly, squeezing her eyes shut as it growled once more, opening its mouth wide in a slobbery, foul fashion, showing the rows of gnarled, wickedly sharp incisors—

Suddenly, out of nowhere, there came a loud whoosh, and the heavy thump of something coming into contact with the ground met her sensitive ears as Beth immediately felt the pressured weight being lifted off of her. Ever so slowly, she cracked an eye open, hesitantly lowering her arms and wincing as she shakily pushed herself up into a sitting position.

Just as she managed to get to her feet, however, a quick slash of a beautiful shade of glowing neon blue sailed right past her nose, startling her into falling back down onto the ground.

There, right in front of her, the flitting form of a person—a girl—seemed to materialize amongst the shadows right before her very eyes, her slim body dodging and jumping with the agility and speed of an African savanna predator; it almost seemed to Beth like the girl was dancing. In one hand, she held a trusty-looking ornate whip, which seemed to be made out of light itself, glowing that same neon blue, but with a river of pure golden sparkles dancing along the edges, just like stars. In her other hand, as Beth could barely make out due to the lack of light—there were a couple of street lights that were broken over here—the girl clutched a intricately-decorated dagger with a beautifully-carved out ivory handle.

The stranger jumped once more, bringing Beth out of her brief reverie, as the monster lurched forwards, its disgusting saliva spraying about in droplets onto the hard cement, leaving minuscule burn marks on the grey paving. Beth made a face—what kind of explanation would anyone give for this?—and continued watching in fascination as the girl swiftly swung her sizzling whip at the beast's midsection, extracting a whining, uncharacteristic—if something like that would have any character, that is—groan from it. Unfazed, though, it charged once more as she landed lightly on her two feet, bent into a half-kneel on one knee, and sprang up at it, this time swinging that deadly-looking dagger right at its neck.

This time, however, the beast had already learnt its lesson. It twisted to the side, only receiving a nick near its left ear, and swiveled its head, the protruding, razor-like incisors lashing out and catching its opponent on the thigh. The air around them seemed to whistle as Beth sharply inhaled, the suspense pressing down on her, hard. As the whip swirled around the girl's body, dimly illuminating the shadows for a minute, Beth could just barely make out the golden blonde hue of the teen's hair, which whipped around her face carelessly as she hissed in slight surprise and jumped backwards, skidding a little on the ground before coming to a complete stop. The creature let forth a vicious snarl that gave a show of every single one of its deformed teeth, and pounced at her another time. Beth's eyes widened, her hands immediately pulling her forward into a crawl so she was on both her hands and knees, ignoring the jarring pain that was sent through her spine as soon as she moved.

She has to move, or she'll get hurt!

Just as it neared her, however, the monster's attack was blocked off as another mysterious person's form also materialized out of the shadows—Beth wondered why she didn't notice this other person before—and zipped right in front of the blonde, subsequently taking the perfect opportunity to deliver a powerful punch right in its hairy muzzle.

As the creature landed with a heavy thud after bouncing a couple of feet away, dazed and only semi-conscious, the blonde straightened once more, having already caught her breath. Beth, who was still on her hands and knees, exhaled a breath she didn't even know she had been holding, and sat down tiredly once more, feeling numb and tingly sore all over. She looked up once more, however, as a shadow passed over her, only to find the blonde crouching beside her.

"Are you alright?"

The blonde's voice, dull and yet pleasantly melodic, seemed to ring in Beth's ears as she blinked at her blankly, taking a second to process what she had just asked her—she really didn't take to surprises well. She stared up at the older teen, before averting her gaze suddenly—she'd suddenly felt rather self-conscious under the other's gaze.

Her voice came out slightly cracked and croaky. "Y-Yeah... Th-Thank you." She cleared her throat.

"It's no problem." The blonde then turned her head around. "Natsu, Aruzakku."

Beth squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, the color of the phosphenes brighter and bolder than usual. Summer? Alzack? Who were they?

Immediately, a flurry of footsteps sounded, coming nearer and nearer, before stopping right where the blonde was. Beth opened her eyes once more to see three people by her side now—since when were there three people? Weren't there just two?

The one who had arrived in the last part of the fight also crouched down casually next to the blonde and swung an arm carelessly around her shoulders. "Hey. This is her, Luce?" he asked.

"Mhm," the blonde replied. "Hey," she directed her attention towards Beth once again. "You're hurt. Sorry we didn't come in time."

"It's okay, th-thank you..." Beth shivered. In the attack, the beast had ripped a large part of her jacket, leaving her feeling exposed to the cold, biting air.

"Lucy," the other man, a handsome brunet with spiked up hair, started, "I'm going in for the kill." He drew out a long, slim dagger, the blade gleaming in the dark menacingly.

The blonde—who, apparently, Beth deduced, was the Lucy—nodded, unsmiling, and stood up quickly. She held out her long, slim hand, which Beth took gratefully. She placed her palms calmly on each side of the ginger-haired girl's head and gently, but firmly, turned her away. "Don't look."

Beth shook slightly as she heard the piercing shriek of the animal as it breathed its last breath, inhaling sharply as the sound of the knife sliding out of the body met her ears with a revolting kind of squelch. She averted her gaze to stare at the ground, as if it were the most interesting thing there was, and suddenly felt Lucy's hands on her shoulders.

"Alzack, are you done?" she asked. There came the ringing sound of a gunshot, followed by another loud thump, and there came the sound of something being dragged across the concrete.

"Yeah, basically, but there's still some, uh, blood."

"Just pack it up, it'll dry up and evaporate soon enough." Lucy shrugged it off as if this was something that happened often, and turned back around. Beth wondered if it was. "We're leaving."

Beth stood there awkwardly. "Uh..."

Lucy turned around, an eyebrow raised. "Oh, right," she started, turning to the redhead. "Hey."

"M-Me?"

"Yeah. You'll have to come with us."

"B-But I don't even know you," Beth stuttered awkwardly, flushing. As Lucy raised another eyebrow, she added quickly, "S-Sorry."

"It's fine," the brunet—probably the 'Alzack' guy Lucy had mentioned—shrugged, coming over with the large, hideous carcass draped over his shoulder, its fur matted with dried blood. "I know we're strangers and all, but this is really important. We need to get you to the guild, quickly."

"Yeah!" the first guy—whose hair, Beth had just noticed due to the lighting, was a shocking shade of pink—grinned. She felt more at ease as she saw the smile; he just seemed to radiate this kind of childish, playful aura. "Plus, we just saved your butt from a monstrosity."

"Natsu," Lucy sighed, rolling her eyes lightly and sighing in exasperation, "Lay it off."

At first, the word 'guild' didn't really seem like something big to Beth.

Honestly, she'd thought that it'd be an average-sized, normal brick building, at most.

She was stunned, to say the least, when they had, after walking silently for who knows how long, stopped in front of the gates of one of the largest buildings she had ever seen before.

But before she even had time to just stand and admire the skilled masonry of this building, Beth was pulled out of her reverie once more as Lucy pushed open the gate and breezed by silently, pacing towards the doors of the building briskly. Alzack made his way over and placed his hand on the ginger's shoulder, startling her briefly. She glanced up at him questioningly, mentally asking if she should follow, and he smiled back down at her in a friendly manner.

"We should go."

"Luce! Wait for me!" Natsu yelled, barreling straight into Alzack, and both collapsed to the ground in a heap. Beth's hands immediately went over her mouth.

"Uh... Are you two... okay?" she asked hesitantly.

Alzack groaned, and sat up, taking the time to unceremoniously dump Natsu off of himself and onto the ground beside them. "God, Natsu," he groaned, getting up and forcefully tugging the deformed body out from underneath the pink-haired lad, "why do you have to be so freaking heavy?"

Natsu made an openly offended face, and yelled out in a mockingly accusing tone as he jumped up and dashed off once more, "Luuuucy! Alzack's being rude, punish him!"

Beth turned to Alzack, who was now dusting himself down, looking rather miffed. He hauled the prized carcass over his shoulder once more as if it were a sack of potatoes, and sniffed, "C'mon."

She obediently complied, trailing after the brunet—she had decided that maybe these people weren't crazy kidnappers or anything—until they reached the closed doors of the structure, where Lucy was patiently waiting for them, arms crossed. As they came to a stop, she exasperatedly blew her bangs out of her eyes.

"Why so slow, Alzack?" She raised an eyebrow, walking over to the two.

"I thought you saw what just happened. Natsu crashed right into me," Alzack muttered, averting his gaze. "Sorry."

"Hn," Lucy snorted derisively, "I saw. Natsu already went inside, so let's go."

The blonde reached over and shoved the door open, and the bright, blinding yellow glow of the lights flooded onto them. Beth recoiled, flinching, and quickly lifted a hand to shield her eyes from the glare. As she gradually got used to the light, she let her hand flop back down to her side uselessly, and, through a somewhat uneasy squint, managed to make out the sight of a whole hall of people, all silent and frozen in place, staring right back at them.

Time seemed to suddenly stop as the roaring din gradually fell to a hushed stop. Beth could only blink blankly as Lucy finally, after what seemed like an eternity, stepped forward and gently grasped her wrist, only to promptly recoil and withdraw her hand as an unfamiliar stinging sensation shot through the redhead's previously numb forearm like an arrow, causing her to immediately keel over involuntarily, gasping at the sudden pain.

Suddenly, everything seemed to spin, and time seemed to continue playing whatever it had laid out ahead. A large number of people instantly shot up out of their seats, many crying out in surprise and shock. Lucy rapidly made her way over to Beth's side, kneeling down in front of her.

"Beth? Beth! Someone," the blonde turned, yelling at the others in the hall, "she's hurt. Get her to the infirmary, now! Now!"

There was a loud kerplunk, and Alzack came into view, hastily wiping his hands down on his pants. "What the hell?"

Beth's head felt hazily woozy as her face broke into a grin, colors exploding in her vision, and black spots dotted her vision, before both her arms and legs gave way, and she fell to the floor. The clamor in the guild hall subsequently grew louder once again, the deafening noise turning into a constant buzzing in her ears. She smiled again, her head lolling forwards as she was scooped up into someone's arms. The shouts soon all blurred together, molding to become a large bundle of intelligible sounds, and she blacked out.

Wait, how did they know my name?

When the little ginger had finally come to, she could faintly register the buzz of voices hovering about her. Not bothering to open her eyes, she lay there, motionless, as her senses cleared up. She almost jumped as there came a ringing clang from beside her.

"Boys," she heard the confident hissing whisper of an unknown female, "keep it down, would you? She's still asleep, if you dimwits can't tell."

The response was a series of muffled shuffling noises as someone rushed to gather whatever had fallen onto the floor beside Beth just a moment ago.

"Mira, how's Beth?" another new voice added in, but this one lacked the self-possessed tone the previous had held. "Wait, are you guys sure it's really her?"

"Yeah, Lisanna," yet another person intoned—these two sounded surprisingly similar, sighing. "It has to be."

Footsteps neared. "How is she?" a finally familiar voice spoke up, causing Beth to relax slightly at the sound.

At least she knew Lucy.

Beth chose that moment to hesitantly crack open her eyes, her vision slightly blurry. As her view cleared, her eyes slowly adjusting to the bright lighting in the room, six figures appeared before her. One, a tall lady with beautiful scarlet red hair, who was standing with her arms crossed beside the bed, blinked in surprise before regaining her posture, and inquired, "Oh, you're awake. Are you alright?"

"I," Beth started, her voice cracking, and cleared her throat, disgusted at the way her voice came out all gravelly and sandpaper-like, "I... Yeah." She seemed at loss for words.

Lucy, who was sitting down in a chair at the end of the bed, raised an eyebrow, before remarking, "Mkay. Good. Mira, do you have the right stuff?"

A lady with long, snowy white hair, whose back had previously been turned towards them, pivoted around accordingly, a large red bowl in one hand and a pair of long, chopstick-like utensils in the other. She smiled sweetly, her lovely blue eyes dancing merrily. "Yep, I'm done," she proclaimed cheerily, and proceeded to make her way to the bedside. The scarlet-haired beauty stepped aside as she bent over, lightly setting the bowl down on the blank white mattress. "Hey there," she smiled once more at Beth, who gazed back at her curiously.

She was so pretty!

She reached out a slim hand, but the little ginger's arm pulled back almost reflexively, and she flushed a deep red in shame and embarrassment. The white-haired teen blinked in confusion, and withdrew her hand. "What's the matter?"

Beth frowned, making a sad face. "I-I'm sorry, I just... don't... I don't know any of you!" she blurted out doubtfully, turning away at the last word, trying to avoid everyone's piercing gazes.

To her surprise, the blue-eyed girl broke into a bright smile before bursting into a series of giggles. "Aw, you're so cute! Anyway, I know you don't know us, but this," she started, gesturing vaguely to the bowl that sat beside her, "actually really helps with whatever you got on your arm."

Beth could only nod dumbly. "O-Oh."

"Anyways, please hold out your arm. It'll sting a little, by the way," she said. "Oh, and, I'm Mirajane, but just call me Mira."

"Ah- okay." Reluctantly, Beth stretched out her hand, ignoring the jarring pain that was sent up her already burning arm. She scooted over closer, and Mira gently pushed the wrist to lie on its side, revealing a large, blackening scar that ran down along the underside of her forearm, tinged with a toxic-looking violet that seemed to spread through her veins, making the small branches at the side visible through her skin.

"Oh, there it is," Mira exclaimed breathily, her eyes wide. She took a larger-than-life cotton swab, which was the size of one of those giant lollipops that are as big as microphones, and dipped it into the bowl. As she brought it back out of the substance, Beth visibly flinched as she saw that the head was covered in a gooey green paste. She squeezed her eyes shut once again as Mira tenderly wiped it onto her gash, before blinking in both disbelief and horrific amazement as she watched the blackness seem to seep right out of her, and her skin closed up within moments. As each passing second came, the green substance grew darker and darker in tone until it was the color of the bottom of a dark, murky river.

As soon as the remains of the cut was healed, leaving no evidence of the previous wound except for the tiniest light pink mark, Mira hurriedly reached over and wiped the rest of the goo, which had now turned black and shriveled like a piece of already-chewed gum, off Beth's arm, and dumped it back into the bowl. She grinned. "How're you feeling?"

Consciously, Beth clenched and unclenched her fist, feeling nothing but energized, only to have her face break into an automatic grin. "I-It feels great! Thank you so much!" she cried, and threw her arms around an unsuspecting Mirajane, who quickly smiled back and returned the embrace in a friendly manner.

Then, she stopped, slightly red, "Oh, um, by the way…"

Two males, one of which was the pink-haired Natsu guy Beth had met earlier, looked at each other, before the other, a handsome brunet, spoke up. "Hey, Lucy."

Lucy spun her head around sharply. "Yeah, Gray?"

"I think," he looked directly at Beth with an unidentifiable expression in his eyes, "that Beth really needs an explanation."

Beth stumbled downstairs as Lucy and the others followed at her heel, the aloof blonde ushering her down the wooden steps at a lightning quick pace. The others, hearing their clanking footsteps, turned to gaze in their direction.

A tiny old man—so tiny that he only reached up to Beth's lower thigh, and she herself was already short—with a snowy white mustache, a long wooden staff, and a two-eared striped hat leapt from the bar counter made his way to the front of the rest of the crowd. He coughed.

"Lucy!" he called out cheerily, "glad to have you back, child." He turned to Beth, regarding her with a curious expression on his wise, wrinkled face. "So, who's this?"

"It's her."

"Who her?"

"Master," Lucy emphasized the word meaningfully, "it's her."

"Ohh," he nodded enthusiastically, seeming to finally get the hint. "... Who?"

Lucy seemed miffed as she shook her head. "Master. She's the person you told us to find. Or, rather, one of the people."

"Ooh!" the tiny man's face lit up. "I see. Bess, is it?" he asked her.

Lucy made her way down the last three steps and walked towards him steadily but slowly, facepalming, "No, Master. It's Beth. Beth Vanderwood."

"Oh jeez, keep your shirt on," the 'Master' muttered, albeit in a non-serious manner. He trotted off back towards the counter, Lucy and the rest following after him, when a middle-aged man with a large, puffy brown pompadour and a smoke pipe remarked teasingly, "Please don't."

The others collapsed, hooting with laughter, while a violet-haired man next to him grinned and nudged him, before the two smashed their beers together in a hearty 'cheers'. Lucy sighed, making sure to glare at him as she weaved between and among the tables. Beth doggedly followed.

The old grandpa seated himself down on the counter, snatching up a beer mug. "Lucy," he started. The blonde in front of him, her arms crossed, sat herself down at the nearest table. "Yeah?"

He opened his mouth to say something, only to close it, shake his head, and wave his hand vaguely at her. "Do what you always do," he prompted, and chose this moment to focus on his beer as he downed another foamy mouthful. Lucy sighed.

"Okay, Beth," she started lazily, standing up, catching Beth's attention once more, "let's get this straight. Are you Beth Vanderwood? Aged almost thirteen, height approximately four foot nine, rusty ginger hair, grey-blue eyes?"

"Y-Yes."

"Good," Lucy remarked, "First of all, tell us about your past."

Beth found it impossible to avoid answering anything personal like this under the blonde's piercing gaze. "Uh, well... um. I don't know anything, but I was born an orphan. I don't know who my parents are, and I have no relatives at all, really." She stopped for a second to take a breath, finding it easier to speak in front of everybody after a while, before continuing, "I was raised in the orphanage. At least that's what they told me." She twiddled her thumbs, confessing truthfully, "I've... never had anyone come to see me or adopt me. The visitors who come on Sunday are all so fancy, and they don't even notice me because I'm too quiet and shy to do anything but stand aside, so nobody's ever given me a second glance, and if people come to see us, they're always relatives who can't provide a proper home for another child." The auburn-haired tween stared at her outstretched legs, before her eyes suddenly widened. "Oh no! The orphanage!" she cried out loud, momentarily startling a contemplating Lucy and attracting the attention of a couple of others who weren't involved. Master Makarov opened one eye.

"What's the matter, child?" he asked.

Beth leapt up frantically, shaking her head. "Oh no, Miss Virgo's going to kill me!" she yelped. "My curfew's supposed to be eight 'o' clock, but it's—" she paused, swiveling around to find a clock, but found none. "—I-I don't know! It must be three in the morning or something! She's literally going to kill me!"

"Calm down, Beth," Lucy murmured, her head resting atop her hand. "It's already sorted out."

Beth stopped. "It is?"

"Yeah," the blonde remarked bluntly. "The giant gorilla woman sure needed a lot of Memory Blocking. Ugh." She glanced down casually at her nails. "Now I owe Rufus one."

"Rufus is in your favor though, isn't he?" remarked the fiery redhead that Beth had seen in the infirmary earlier. She brushed a stray strand of scarlet hair out of her face as she seated herself beside Lucy.

"Right," the latter mused, drawling slightly. "A lotta people owe me. Anyway," she turned back on track, "you might be confused about all the stuff that happened this evening, and we all know that you're tired and want to go straight to bed." It seemed like she'd repeated this upcoming speech several times before as she leaned back against the table. "But you needa know this."

"Let's start from the beginning. You were attacked by something when you were walking home, correct?" Beth nodded, and Lucy continued, standing up. "That was a demon. Am I spewing out crap? Heck, yeah. This stuff is too good to be true. You're probably thinking that I'm delusional. What, maybe I am, and I don't care. But listen to this, Beth, and listen closely: the fairy tales you heard? Most of them are real. The monsters under your bed? They exist. Angels? Demons? Fairies? Hell, they aren't just myths like your phony mundane adults tell you; they're all real. The ordinary can't see them. What, they can't even see us, especially not with that flimsy thing they call eyesight. But no. We exist too. We aren't illusions. We're real too—realer than real—but we're a part of the world that simpletons like humans can't even imagine; we're at a point that none of them will ever be able to reach. It's like getting information—the more trustworthy you are, the more you're just better than the other guys, and then the more needed material you'll get. It's the same concept, but more. So much more that no one will get it."

Beth blinked, taking in all the information, nodding dumbly. "Um, so, I'm not supposed to see you? Then why can I see you? Are you guys ghosts or something?" she questioned confusedly.

Lucy leaned forward, but not before sharing an unidentifiable, knowing look with Mira and the redhead, who were both standing side by side nearby, and replied with a sigh, "Alright, here's the thing. We aren't ghosts. Do we look like them? Nah. We are what we look like. Human. Correction: part human." Beth opened her mouth to speak, but was silenced with a look from the blonde. "Don't interrupt. Do you know the reason why you're here? No, and you shouldn't. But you're here for a reason. We aren't pervs. We aren't stalkers—at least, things like these happen for a reason. Here's the thing: why would that thing attack you? Why you? Clearly, you wouldn't be the first choice. But now? You are.

"You're special, Beth. Why do you think you can see us when humans aren't supposed to? Use your brain. You're different from the rest. Obviously, you're one of us. People can't see demons, remember, but we kill demons. And there're guys out there who're trying to kill us too, bad guys. You aren't an exception. You're one of us. There, the cat's outta the bag. Didja get the hint?" Lucy finished blandly, leaning back and crossing her arms in waiting.

"So... what are you?" Beth couldn't prevent herself. "N-Not to be rude though," she added quickly as Lucy raised an eyebrow.

"Shadowhunters."

"Shadow... hunters?"

"Shadowhunters are manly!" a giant of a man with naturally spiky white hair, tanned skin, and a stitched up scar by his eye declared loudly and passionately. A wavy-haired brunette clad in a tight green dress with glasses smacked her fluffy magenta fan over his head, annoyed, and barked, "Oh be quiet, you clumsy oaf!"

"Actually," Lucy amended, "Nephilim. Don't tell me you haven't heard of that before either."

"No," said Beth.

"Such an education these youngsters get nowadays," the pretty redhead remarked sarcastically, shaking her head solemnly. Mira giggled.

"I agree, Erza," she remarked. "I can't believe they've never heard of us before." She pouted. "And to think that I was sure that we ere at least featured in one of those fairy tales or two. After all, we are Fairy Tail."

"Beth." Lucy seated herself down on top of the table and crossed her legs. "You really don't know what Nephilim are?"

"N-No..."

"Alright. To put it short? Nephilim are the half-angel race. We are the kind that are the children of a human and an angel. Here, in Fiore, we're all Shadowhunters. We hunt these Demons, because we have to. We're in a never-ending race against the Dark Side and Time, and we'll have to see who wins. It's a competition to see which side will succumb, and which will emerge from the shadows," she clarified. After a moment of silence, she brought up, "Your mother and father..."

Beth perked up. "Mother and father?"

"That's right. They were Shadowhunters. They were one of us. Your mother was very kind to us," Lucy described nonchalantly, her eyes harboring a sort of mysterious thoughtfulness, "and she was a lot like you. Your father went on a lot of missions, though. I barely saw him."

"Um," Beth started uncertainly, her voice shaky and an octave higher than usual due to the sheer amount of mixed emotions flooding into her. Lucy knew her parents! She actually knew what they were like! "What happened to them?"

Master Makarov chose that moment to intervene. "Your mother," he said, "looked a lot like you, Bessie."

"Master," Lucy shook her head, "Beth. Beth. Not Bessie."

"Oh," he chuckled, "that's right. Anyway..." He turned serious. "She and your father were both caught up in an incident with a dark guild. I think it was Naked Mummy or Death's Head Caucus, from what I recall. They were both very decent mages, but, sadly, it didn't work out for them. I'm very sorry, Bess- Beth."

The said person looked away sadly, but said nothing. The rest of the guild was quiet as she looked up, a weak smile spreading onto her face. "Th-" she said, her voice breaking. She cleared her throat and swallowed down the thick lump in her throat, her grin spreading even more. "Thank you for telling me."

Everybody else muttered their apologies and condolences as Beth bowed, each reminiscing their previous years. Master Makarov proceeded cautiously, "Your mother, she... gave you away after you were born. She fell ill, and it was the only choice she had. She didn't want you to spend your first years without motherly guidance, and wanted you to live a normal life like all other little boys and girls.

"Anyway, that's all," the diminutive headmaster concluded, bouncing off his comfortable spot on the counter and hopping up the stairs. "I'll be upstairs. Juvia, why don't you show Beth up to one of the spare rooms on the second floor?"

Everyone turned back and resumed their side conversations and brawls as a pretty bluenette clad in a black pea coat and matching felt hat stood up and offered the newcomer a friendly, welcoming smile. "Welcome to the guild, Beth," she greeted. Beth noticed the French-like accent in her voice. "Juvia will show you upstairs. Please, follow Juvia."

Beth beamed and complied, and was about to make her way back up the wooden steps, when there came a loud clattering from behind them. Everybody felt silent, all turning to see a grim-faced, expressionless Lucy, who had noisily gotten up and was now abruptly storming up the staircase within seconds. And all stared incredulously as the busty blonde tore straight into the Master's office and slammed the door shut behind her with a resounding bang.

That was when Beth realized that the blonde hadn't smiled, not even once.

Please note that this is an explanation chapter to help clear some things up, but I hope you thought this wasn't that bad. Please R&R to tell me what you think!

P.S. This chapter WILL be relevant. Just you wait. Even though the actual story doesn't have much to do with this.

Copyright stuff: if you've heard anything in here that was repeated in a book before, like what someone says, please tell me. I honestly didn't read any books or watch anything to get this; it's completely made up by me, except for the 'monsters under your bed' phrase and the word 'mundane', both from Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series. But if you've heard any of this somewhere, word for word, please tell me.

Notice: 'Fairy Tail's Little Game' will be on a hiatus for a while (okay, a LONG while), but if you like this story, I'll put up a new chapter for it later on.