Magnolia's Number One Assassin

Natsu Dragneel stared at me with unblinking, emotional eyes.
He didn't move, as if his body was made out of the purest of stones.
If I didn't know any better, I would have said that he wasn't even breathing. Seconds?
Minutes?
Hours?
Ticked by without any one of us daring to speak. For if we spoke, the spell would be broken. However, Natsu looked as if he wanted the spell to break, because he sucked in a breath to speak. Before he could say anything, a voice rose up above the music. The frantic voice in the crowd shouted, "Fairy Tail! Fairy Tail is here!"
Chaos.
Screams completely drowned out the thumping music. People started to shove one another to escape. Some even got trampled by others. Everyone only had one destination. The door.

A man swept passed me, knocking his broad shoulder into mine painfully. I stumbled, only to get shoved out of the way. Over the sea of running people, I saw Natsu crouch down, and pick up Asuka. His eyes found mine and he extended his hand to me.
Beckoning.
Calling.
Waiting for me to take it.

I glanced at his hand, a soft look overtaking my eyes.
I smiled.
Then I ran.

His voice screaming my name echoed in my ears. Making me deaf to everything else. I kept running. I shoved and glided through the many people that were as desperate as I to escape.
I made it out the door just as Magic started to fly. I ducked to avoid a green slice of Magic from hitting me in the face. I ran down the alleyway and made a dead run toward my hide out. My legs ate up the distance from the club and I. Even now I could still hear the sounds of Magic and people screaming.

I pushed my legs to go faster. I would have to leave now. I would have to leave this town far behind me. I had to leave the kingdom of Fiore.
And never look back.

I had to run.

Pounding footsteps could be heard from behind me. My ears locked on them. They belonged to someone heavier and taller then me.
I cursed as I took a hard left, trying to shake them off, the footsteps only followed.
I hate when people follow me. Without looking back I knew who it was. Dammit. I was caught. My eyes darted to another darkened alleyway and I rushed toward it. I knew I couldn't hide from him anymore. He would follow me and he wouldn't give up until he had me.
That meant I had only one option.
Confront him and the past.
I made it and skidded to a halt in the middle of the place. There was a dead in in front of me. No escaping. No fleeing. No more running.

I closed my eyes and waited.

The footsteps stopped at the mouth of the alleyway. My muscles tensed. I was sure that my heart could be heard from miles away. I was waiting for-"Fey...?" My name echoed through my mind as well as through the isolated alleyway. "If that's you, then turn around." So desperate was his voice. I hated it. I took a breath, suppose I have to fix that. My hands fisted themselves into my shirt, yanking and pulling. Almost as if they wanted me to turn around already. That's what I did. Against my every will not to, I slowly turned around to face him. Because, even now, I could not say no to him.

"Natsu..." I breathed out. His name on my tongue felt so very nice. It was like a breath of the purest air. I had missed saying it. But, with saying it, it made the locked doors inside my mind to crack. I could see him take a deep breath, a sign that he was relieved.
Relieved that he can kill you.
Stop...stop it...Natsu wouldn't do that.
Oh, really? The voice laughed sickly.
You don't know him like you used too.
I hated to admit that I flinched back when he began walking toward me. Each step without purpose.
You scared? Then RUN!
But...I want to see him more. It has been so long.
So long for his anger to take over.
I looked away.
So what? My lips pulled back from my teeth in a snarl.
He has every right to hate-loath-me.
I battled with the voice until I we were both howling at each other with the force of our words.
You want to die?!
If it means that it will make what I have done any easier on both Natsu and my Guild!
My eyes narrowed, my teeth were clenched, my rage was reflecting itself in my glowing eyes, and my every tense muscle. The footsteps only came closer.
Then so be it.
YOU CANT KILL ME OFF SO EASILY LITTLE GIRL!
My ears nearly bled from the sheer volume of the voice's anger.
I WILL NEVER FADE!
Just watch, bastard.
!NEVER!

My breathing evened out as I focused fully on the man coming toward me.
Bright as sunlight.
Eyes as dark as midnight.
Warmer then the strongest of flames.
Powerful then the most strongest gems.
Purer then the purest of Magics.
And the sole purpose of my life.

He can.
Shut your mouth, little girl!
Hate me.
Stop!
Kill me.
I said to STOP!
But always know...
SHUT UP!
That I love you.
NOOOOOO!

Just like that, the voice, and all the shadows that it had brought with it, vanished. Hehehe, love, bitch.

"Freya?" My battle, invisible to everyone, had only gone on for a short period of time. Like they always did in the real word. But, in my reality, they lasted for an eternity. With my mind no longer shattered, I reopened my eyes, and focused on the reality in which my body was in.
I averted my eyes, unable to look him in the eye, or to look at him at all.

My mouth was dry. If words came from me, then they would only turn into dust, and fly away. But, I tried anyway. I would always try with him.
"I-I know what you're going to say." I rasped out, my nails digging into the palm of my hands. "Why are you here?' 'How are you alive?'
'Why are you alive?'"
That's going to be the hardest to answer.

I let out a humorless chuckle as he came closer to me. "I'm sorry...but I had to stay away from you...and the Guild. I-I couldn't bear to put you in danger anymore." I have already caused enough pain to stain my soul.

Natsu didn't say a word as he came closer and closer to me. I took a step away from him but he just kept coming. A passive look had completely overtaken his usually open face. I wasn't sure what was worse, his emotionless mask, or his silence. I wanted him to say something. I would take anything. Words that could burn like the hottest of embers. Words that could destroy. Anything, as long as it got rid of this defeaning silence.

Then, I just exploded. "It was all my fault!" My voice was so hoarse that it hurt my own ears. But I couldn't stop. The words kept pouring out of me, and I was powerless to stop them. "They-you-were hurt because of me!" I yelled, clutching at the front of my shirt, where my heart was trying to make a hasty retreat. To my mortification, I felt the coldness of tears fall from my eyes and down my cheeks. I couldn't help it. I kept seeing his scar flash through my minds eye over. And. Over. Again. And I couldn't stop the echoing words coming from my saddened soul.
You could have prevented it all.
They were all so true.
Then, a new voice invaded my mind. This voice softer and kinder, and holding so much more wisdom then it should. Mavis' voice.

"Freya, the people that took you...the people that killed you...they came back for revenge against Fairy Tail. They started a war against our Guild. Oh, Freya, we lost so many of our family."

They were gone because of me.
Never forgive myself.

Natsu stopped inches away from me.
He would never forgive me.

I refrained from running. Every cell in my body was ready to run. To escape.
Like the coward I was.
And always would be.
"Dammit, Natsu, say something! Scream at me. Tell me how much you hate me!" I said as I choked on my tears.
It will be easier that way.
Easier to never look back.
Easier to never again turn to the stars as guide.
Easier to forget.

Natsu reached up, palm open, and reaching for me. I forced my eyes to remain open. It was a war on its own to lock my muscles in place to stop my shivering from showing.
He's going to burn me into piles of smoking embers.
And I'd let him.
He cupped my cheeks with his warm hands. His grip was so featherlight that it wasn't even there.
No fire.
No burning.
Just light.
With his scarred thumbs he wiped my glistening tears away.
My breathing had stopped along with my heart. Or so I thought. Until he laid his forehead against mine.
Then I knew what it truly felt like to have your breath stolen.
My soul had left my body along with my mind. I was now watching this all happen in a numb sort of state. I was a viewer watching my own life pass me by.
Then, Natsu Dragneel, parted his lips, and breathed out only three words that set fire to my heart.

"You're still glowing."
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I told him everything. From beginning to end. When I say 'Beginning' I meant the very beginning.
I told him my whole life story.

How my parents had abandoned me as a child. Leaving me, a small, six year old girl, to fend for herself.
I had grown up into a monster. Always hungry, always afraid, always alone. I had stolen and I had killed. All this, just to keep my already weakened heart beating. I had done it with no remorse.
I had done it to survive.

When I had been about ten a man had found me and had taken me in. He had been an Assassin. An amazingly, feared one. Over the years he had taught me everything he knew. He said that he saw something in me. Something that sparked his interest.
"A fire, a fire that will never die." He had told me.
"Keep that fire. Keep it close. For it may burn if you lose control."

He died when I had been at the age of fourteen. So, I had ended up back on the streets. For the my old Master never did have a real home. He and I had traveled all over. My dull eyes had seen so much, and yet so little. It hadn't bothered me though, going back to living in the slums. I was not afraid. Now, I was smarter, faster, and stronger than I had been.

Nobody would dare mess with a trained killer.

I was not proud to admit that I had begun to kill to steal once again. But, I had not allowed myself to kill nice or innocent people.
They did not derisive it.
The bad ones did though. The ones who hurt others. Even killed others. They could disappear.
Sometimes, I had even broke into their houses to steal. I had received a scar across my chest when I hadn't escaped fast enough out the window of one house. I remembered that night well. I thought I would be dead by morning from the wound that had boiled and festered at my skin.

I had survived.
To kill and steal once again.

When I had been about fifteen these men had come for me in the dead of night. Snatched me up right off the streets like shadows. None of my screams brought any help. They brought me to this mansion. The bricks that the mansion was made of glowed and glistened like gold itself. The silent men brought me to their boss and dumped me in front of her.

It had been a young woman, about the age of twenty-five. Who, till this day, I still don't know her true name.
She never gave it.
And I never asked.

Turns out she had been a very powerful Dark Wizard who paid other people to kill for her.
Didn't want her manicured nails to get dirty, I supposed. She had heard from people around the streets that a little girl had been killing and was pretty good at it. It had brought her attention to that unlucky girl.

Me.

The woman had hired me for a little kill. Nothing that I couldn't handle. Now, that I look back on that day.
I realize now that she had been testing me. Seeing what my skill level was.
I had succeeded with my task with ease. I wish I had failed.
In the end she started to hire me full time. As long as I did what she told me to do, I would get paid, and I would have a roof over my head.
What more could a miserable girl like me hope for?
The woman, or the Samrãjñī, had given me my twin daggers for my sixteenth birthday. Much to my immaculate delight.
Those Twin Daggers made up who I was. I loved them.

One day in that mansion, a boy had shown up. A boy with ink black hair and cold, troubled eyes. He reminded me of myself. That was where I had met him. Raiden. He had been about my age, about a year or two older then me. We almost immediately became friends. We fought, trained, and killed together. When we were together, we were unstoppable. He was my best friend and I was his.
He was my other half.
Together we made a whole.
When I had first come to the mansion, I did not have a name, well a name that hurt whenever someone spoke it. Raiden...he was the one who gave me my true name.
He was the one that gave me a new beginning by renaming me.
Freya.
Even after all these years, after all the pain, after all the suffering that he had caused me, that I caused him, I had still kept the name that he had given me. For it was who I am and always will be.

It was one of my best memories that I had of him.

I had worked for the woman for a good two and a half years before I started to develop a code for myself.

The code had started one night ago, during one of 'missions' for her.

That night she called me into her office and ordered me to assassinate this older man. So frail that I thought if I breathed in his direction, his bones would turn into dust. She gave me the information and I left. I snuck into the elder's house via window. I had entered the bedroom, sticking close to the shadows as not to be seen. I remember all to vividly how I had stood over his sleeping form with my daggers posed to strike.
When I had heard a soft noise that made me freeze, my daggers still hovering over his wrinkled throat.

I had slithered back into the shadows. I had watched silently as a little girl, no more then five, came into the room on her tip toes. She went over to her grandfather and had climbed up onto the bed. She had then wrapped her small arms around him and had fallen asleep moments later. But, something had struck me as odd about the little girl. Her skin had been so grey looking, she looked so sickly.

I left the house without harming anyone. How could I? That little girl had everything that I had never even got to touch. Who was I to take it all away?
I snuck into the Samrãjñī's office that night. With a swift searching, I had found the file that had all the information about the old man. As I had scanned the document with quick eyes. I had found out that the elder man who's wife had died a few years ago. The little girls parents had died a very log time ago. Leaving the withered man with a dying granddaughter. The little girl had had a type of illness that could only be treated with major surgery...that major surgery had costed so much Jewels. Jewels, that the grandfather could never hope to afford.

My Samrãjñī had wanted me to kill the tired man because he had asked her for money. Money, to save his only living family. His granddaughter. I was horrified, more then, I was disgusted.

So, I began digging in every file that held the information of the people that I had assassinated. It nearly broke me down when I had learned that so many people were innocents. That those people that I had...they hadn't done anything wrong!

I had been so enraged that I had snuck into my Samrãjñī's bedroom and had ended her existence in this world that she had bloodied.
She had no idea what had happened to her. I was quick and clean.
Mercy that she didn't deserve.
Then, as I watched, her body had begun to glow an off white color. With a pulse of bright, white light, souls from the people she had ordered her assassins to kill, had escaped from her body, and into the still night sky.

Unbeknownst to me, my Samràjñī, had been a preyer of souls.

I snuck out of that house of horror with only the dark memories left.
I hadn't looked back. I caught a train and had headed straight for an isolated town. However, I had forgotten all about Raiden, and how I had left him alone, to find his Samràjñī's dead body.
If only I had known...
Raiden was the Samrãjñī's younger brother. If only I had known that sooner...
After only a few weeks hiding in that isolated town, trained assassins had come to kill me. Word had traveled fast that I had kill their Samràjñī.
They were not pleased.
I had taken them out without much trouble. That same day, I packed up, and I had left.
On to the next town to hide.

I had been on the run for about a year when I had heard about this Guild called Fairy Tail that resided in Magnolia. It was said that this Guild was the strongest Guild in all of Fiore. I had thought that I would be safe there.

At least until I had earned enough money to change my identity and get the hell out of Fiore. That plan had started to fall apart when I had actually gotten to Fairy Tail and I had begun to meet and care for everyone there.

Fairy Tail quickly became my home...and I couldn't leave my new home. It had never been part of the plan. I paid the price for it. I would never forgive myself for making the decision to stay. It had been selfish of me and it had nearly gotten all of my friends killed...for that I was sorry.

So very sorry.

I told Natsu the rest of what happened to me. I explained to him that this small girl named, Mavis, had come to me in my time of dying. She had told me that she could save me. Bring me back. When I said the girls name, Natsu's dark eyes had grown wide, but he hadn't said anything. He hadn't wanted to interrupt me, I supposed. So I had continued with the broken story of a scared, monstrous girl.

I explained to The Fire Mage that in order for Mavis to save me she had to put me in this sort of 'sleeping' state. The girl with the old eyes hadn't I known how long I would be like that. However, four years had gone past for my broken body to heal itself.
Mavis had known when I had awoken.
She had been there to greet me.

I...I told Natsu that I had come home when I had woken up. I jumped when Natsu's eyes exploded with fiery anger and a low snarl came from him.

"What?! Why did you leave again? Without even telling me?!" Natsu growled out angrily, disbelief coloring his tone.

I smiled sadly, my eyes took on a far away look as I replied that Mavis had told me about what had happened to the Guild...How Dark Wizards had come seeking revenge and leaving behind devastation.
All because of me.
I closed my eyes tightly, "Natsu, I'm so sorry... More sorry then you can possible ever know." I whispered between my trembling lips. "I caused you and the Guild so much pain." I reopened my eyes, "I-I was the one who practically attacked the Guild and gave you that scar!"
Such a painful reminder of a past that I had brought to you.
I cried out the words.
Natsu just blinked his onyx eyes at me. I saw no green in them.
His mask was still in place, making it impossible for me to read anything that he may be thinking.

I pushed on with my explanation. I needed to explain. I needed to.
"I couldn't go back to the Guild...not when there were still Dark Wizards out there that could come back and hurt you...if I came back..." I couldn't even think about the possibility.
It hurt to much.

I told, Natsu if they came after me then they would have come after Natsu and the Guild...again. I couldn't allow that. Never again. I suppose somewhere along the way, I had created a name for myself. People started to call me,
'Magnolia's Number One Assassin.'

I shook my head, "I suppose that's a fitting name..."

Natsu just tilted his head down and closed his eyes when I had finished my story. I stayed silent. I would wait and be patient for whatever judgement he would give me.
We were still in the alleyway where I had run off into. Nobody had bothered us while I had been telling my story.
I wonder where the others are?
I thought quietly to myself as the man opposite me thought about something else entirely. Natsu was leaning up against the wall in front of me. His arms were crossed over his chest, his eyes had taken a far away look, as he pondered my words.
We were both silent for a while until I couldn't take it anymore.
I was never one for quite.

"Natsu...I never meant to hurt you." My voice cracked halfway through and I hugged myself. My only comfort.
"It was never my intention. I-I just wanted to keep you safe..." Tears formed in my eyes.
What a wonderful job I did, I thought bitterly.
I looked away from him and croaked out, "I know you're going to hate me now." My voice became even smaller. "And that's okay. It's better for you to hate me." I would prefer that.

Natsu was so silent that for one horrifying moment I thought he had walked away from me. Just as I was about to look to see if I had been correct, my buzzing ears picked up the sound of him taking in a deep breath. He was about to speak.
He was about to say the words that I knew would be filled with hated words dripping with acid.

Here we go, Freya. He's going to call you a monster. He's going to give you that look full of fear and hate. Like so many people have done before.
But, that's okay. I don't care.
Natsu has every right to.

I closed my eyes and braced myself for the worst that I knew was about to be the death of me.
"I could never hate you."
I could never hate you.
I could never hate you.

He...he what?
I let out a shocked breath and jerked my head up to set my startled gaze on him. The Fairy Tail Mage was looking at me with fire dancing in his eyes. "You didn't know any better, you were just trying to survive." Natsu murmured, there was no coldness in his voice. Just a deep sense of sadness.
Sadness...that can't possibly be for me...?
"That bitch tricked you and if you hadn't killed her, than I certainly would have." Now anger was evident in his voice. Not directed at me.

The Dragon Slayer kicked off the wall with the heel of his foot and came toward me. "Every Wizard in Fairy Tail bears scars, Fey. Whether it be a viable sort of pain or a concealed sort of suffering. Some have it worse than others. All have different means in treating them." He was in front of me now. I had no idea how he had gotten so close. I had been grasping onto every word he had uttered that my sense of observation had been corrupted.

Natsu smiled down at me with the force of a small sun. Then he took me completely by surprise when he hugged me to him. "But, all that pain can go away, with the help of family." His arms were inescapable, and so safe, I never wanted to leave. More tears gathered in my aching eyes. I brought my shaking arms up, and hesitated. I hadn't been this close to him in so long. I wanted nothing more to wrap my arms around him.

I refrained myself from doing so.

I felt that if I touched him, held him, then he would crumble from all the darkness and death that surrounded me. So, here I was. His arms around me, my own begging to go around him, but to afraid to do what I yearned to do. I clenched my teeth together so tightly I thought they would shatter.
Screw. It.
I threw my arms around him and held on tightly. Natsu was all around me.
From the feel of his skin to the his unique scent of a campfire and the smell of the woods bathed in the warmth of a summer's day.
It was intoxicatingly perfect.

His strong arms that caged me to him only tightened around me. Seemed like we both had the same worry.
That we would both slip out of each other's grips, and fade away.
Yay, not gonna happen.

"And, Fey, don't ya dare blame yourself for what happened." The Dragon Slayer's breath fanned along my ear as he spoke. "Don't go blaming yourself when ya didn't do anything wrong. Don't blame yourself for something that nobody, especially you, could have stopped or controlled." Natsu let out a breath that tickled my ear. "You could never hurt the Guild or your friends on purpose. I don't blame you or hate you, Fey."
Then he muttered so very quietly these next words that they were almost lost to the wind,
"I never could."

My heart started to ache in my chest and the tears that I had been holding back, finally made their descent down my cold cheeks. Natsu chuckled lightly as he hugged me to him. "And this scar?" I could just picture the smug smirk on his face as he said, proudly. "I think it makes me look a hundred more times badass." I choked out a laugh and hugged him tighter to me. Just, please, don't slip from my fingers like smoke.

I would do anything.

"Fey?"

Anything.

"Hmm?"

Just to...

"Let's go home, okay?"

Make you stay in my arms...

"...okay."

Forevermore, Natsu...

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I dedicate this chapter to, CarryOn221
Thank you all for reading this chapter! Was this one a tear jerker? Cause *sniffles*
I thought so
Scuse me as I go cry...

!See you all next time!

By the way, GaLe is going to be the next One-Shot in my new book :)