It wasn't far from the city, actually.

An old industrial factory that was long abandoned for more than fifty years, built from bricks in the middle of a boring, shriveling field, it gave itself a space that appeared to be stuck in time from the always-changing city. You had a wonderful view of the skyscrapers, lights of advertisement and people still awake to play around from the opened doors that would have once let trucks, tractors and crowd of men through to work. However, despite it's older and more mature outside, the inside was pristine and shiny with metal and neon lights once you peeked through the garage doors.

White floors and light up walls that promoted the sun in the night, Fairy Tail's garage was more of a heaven within it's doors and the people and cars that lived within. The large space served as a garage and social spot for its members, included with a stretch of a table in the corner that had drinks and menu signs against the wall, and a bridge stood to seal off from the shop itself. Three car beds were on the other side of the wall from the bar, and the mechanics had their tables and tool chests at hand and a red, plastic curtain to shield off the welding sparks that would harm one's eyesight.

A rumbling noise caught the attention of the occupants currently inside the garage, some heads turned to see approaching lights of a familiar car coming their way at high speed. Others ignored the noise and continued on with welding with masks on or under the hood of a car on their backs. The screeching of brakes hitting close to home, the Mitsubishi Lancer with flames came to a rough stop and slowly let itself inside the garage into a parking spot.

The driver door swung open, and a pink haired man leapt out, dropping his glasses back into his seat. With the energy of a hyperactive brat on a sugar high, Natsu scrambled through the slippery floor and crashed himself to the bar, hitting his gut from the impact.

"Mira! Miraaa!" he called out as loud as he could, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify the volume. "Mira, I need two burgers and fries pronto! And don't be too shy on your secret sauce, either!"

From the bar's curtain that separated the kitchen from view, a woman with white hair cascading down her back peeked out from inside. Blinking, blue eyes found Natsu jumping onto a stool with a giddy smile on his face. Stepping out, the woman was dressed in a pink corset top and black jeans, her feet decorated in simple sandals as she went closer to the driver.

"Natsu, what have I said about eating so much at this time?" Mirajane chided softly, putting her hands on her hips. "Especially if you're going to bed soon."

"But it's a celebration, Mira!" Natsu shouted out, throwing his hands in the air. "I won my first race, and I recruited someone!" Spinning around in the stool, Natsu faced back to his car, where the driver's door was still opened. "Luce, come on out! Mira's gonna make that burger I was talkin' about!"

People paid more attention when the passenger door slowly popped open, and Lucy slipped out with her backpack in hand. Trying to play it cool, she closed the door and refused to meet anyone's eye as she scurried pretty quickly to the bar and joined Natsu's side.

"S-stop shouting, please," Lucy hissed under her breath, her cheeks bright red in embarrassment. Hearing footsteps coming up, her nerves prickled as she let Natsu pick her up and set her on the seat next to him, his muscular arm wrapping around her and patting her shivering shoulder. "Are you always this loud..?"

Mirajane blinked before smiling sweetly to the nervous woman. Her head tilting, she placed her hands on the bar table and leaned to speak softly to Lucy. "Hello there, sweetheart," she said with a polite smile. "My name is Mirajane. It's nice to meet you."

Lucy flushed even deeper as she met the other woman's pretty face, biting her lip as she refused to speak. This caused Mirajane to giggle at the sight. "No need to be shy, sweetheart. No one is going to hurt you," she explained as she stood back up. "So, what place did you make? Where's your car?"

"No, no, Miraaa!" Natsu waved his hands to the white-haired lady. "Luce placed first with me! She was my passenger, you see, and she helped me win the race - I beat Erza and Gajeel, thanks to her!"

"Shush, Natsu!" Lucy elbowed him in the ribs, making him wince and rub the spot. Pulling her hood over her blonde hair, Lucy tried to shrink herself as much as possible and focused on the pattern on the wooden table. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Natsu won?" another voice erupted behind her. It was a man, she could tell, and probably really, really tall and dangerous. This was a gang, for Christ's sake!

"Wow, you did? Congrats, Natsu!" a cheery, feminine voice came up, making Lucy freeze. "That's wonderful, Natsu! What place did you make?"

Jutting up his pointer finger high in the air, Natsu spun himself around in his seat a few times with a stupid grin on his face. "I got first place, man! I beat Erza and that jackass Gray! Even Gajeel, man you shoulda been there, guys!"

"I'll go make you a small burger," Mirajane said with a sweet smile. "For the both of you, but no fries tonight. You can have them after you've slept and drank lots of water." Lucy watched the beautiful woman walk away and back through the curtain.

Lucy let out a yelp when Natsu purposefully spun her chair and made her face the people behind her. A tiny crowd surrounded the two, lots of men and women of size and shapes looked at her with interest, making her shake hard; Natsu wrapped his arm around her again in a friendly hug, using his free hand to gesture to the crowd.

"Guys, this is my new partner, Lucy Heartfilia!" he announced with a proud voice, his cheek pressing against her boiling one. "Whoa, Luce. You okay? You feel like ya got a fever!"

"Lemme go!" Lucy whine as she pushed his face away, even though he kept his arm around her. "I didn't agree to anything, you idiot!"

"Luce, this is our head mechanic, Levy McGarden. She's probably the smartest mechanic I've ever met," Natsu pointed to one of the girls, who was somewhat small in height and had choppy blue hair pulled back in a yellow ribbon. She wore a mechanic suit, yet had the sleeves wrapped around her waist, leaving her in a orange crop-top. There was tiny smudges of dirt and oil on her skin, but she was obviously a ball of sunshine.

Levy waved with her free hand, since the other was holding two wrenches. "Hey there," she said with a friendly smile. "Nice to see Natsu bringing a girl home and not someone's dog this time."

"Oi, oi! Don't tell her that!" Natsu whined before pointing behind her, where two taller men that were equally, if not more dirty than the short woman stood dutifully behind her. "Those guys are Jet and Droy, Levy's assistants; they're brothers, I think. I never really bothered to remember..."

Before the two could correct Natsu, he moved on to the next. "That there is Elfman and Lisanna," he pointed to a very buff man and tiny woman, who both had white hair. "They're Mira's younger siblings. Lisanna helps out with Mirajane sometimes, and Elfman is a mechanic, too."

Moving to a clutter of guys and a girl, Natsu pointed each one out carefully. "The dude with the fancy coat is Freed Justine. He used to be a gambler and scammed a shitload of casinos back in the day," he snickered when Freed narrowed his eyes at him. "That's Gildart there," he went on to a burly man with slicked back hair, then to a curvy, tanned woman with her brown hair tangled in a messy bun. "And, that's his daughter, Cana. They both race together, kinda like what you and I did, and Cana is around our age but drinks a lot!"

"Watch it, lizard boy," Cana warned with a raise brow, yet not too threatening when she crossed her arms. It was like she had nothing to defend on with his statement.

"Those two are Macaro and Wakaba," Natsu went on down the line, stopping at a man who had a toothpick in his mouth and another with an unlit cigar. "Macaro has a little kid name Romeo, but I bet he's asleep right now, so I'll introduce him to you later. There is Azlack and Bisca Connell. They're both pretty neat people, but they always take too long with jobs Makarov gives them."

The couple shrugged, as if it wasn't a big of a deal, and Natsu blinked. "Speaking of the old man, where is Gramps?" he asked, head whipping left and right.

"In his office with Jellal," Levy explained. "They were waiting for Erza's call when the race was over. Why are you back so early anyway, Natsu?"

The pink-haired man grinned and pointed to Lucy, who flushed and glared at him. "I already got someone I wanted to recruit. This is Lucy Heartfilia, guys!"

"Heartfilia?" Cana blinked, looking to Lucy with a raised brow. "Why does that... Oh!" she snapped her fingers and grinned to the blonde woman, who frowned in response. "You're Jude Heartfilia's kid, aren't you? Yeah, you look like your mom! I was a hugefan of your mom's clothing line, and your dad is pretty famous, too!"

"Hah?" Natsu blinked and looked to Lucy with absolute confusion. "Ya mean the guy who owns the trading company, and is basically the richest man alive?"

"Fourth richest," Cana corrected, pointing to Lucy with a gleam in her violet eyes. "No doubt about it. She looks exactly like Layla; I've collected magazines and clippings of her work and photos of her. Natsu, you picked yourself a princess! Where'd you find her?"

"By the bus stop, on my way to the race," he answered, still looking at Lucy. Her bangs covered her eyes as she wrapped her arms around herself, not speaking a word. "Luce, is it true? What happened?"

Lucy only turned her seat around and faced the bar, where Mirajane was holding plastic baskets with their burgers in them. Mira met Lucy's eyes and saw how stiff and upset she looked, and offered a tiny smile before looking up to the crowd with a tilt of her head.

"Why don't you guys give Lucy space, hm? I bet she's hungry from the race," she said in a sweet tone, but everyone knew better at Mirajane's voice that they better listen. Everyone dispersed and left the bar quietly, allowing Natsu to watch before turning back and had his meal placed infront of them.

"It's nice and hot," Mirajane said sweetly after releasing the baskets. "I'll go get you two some cold water. Natsu, don't try to shove the whole thing in again while I'm gone," she instructed before going back and leaving the two alone at the bar.

Natsu glanced to Lucy, who didn't touch her food and he followed her. Swallowing a little, Natsu tried to meet her eyes and was met with her wrapping her sweatshirt tighter around herself. "Hey, Luce...I'm sorry if I did something wrong. I didn't know you were related to Jude Heartfilia."

"I actually prefered it if you didn't," she whispered, picking at the plastic with her pinky finger. "Remember when you guessed that I ran away? My life...was just controlled by my dad. I wanted to go to college and live my life, but he sheltered me and treated me more like an employee than his own daughter."

Natsu kept silent, but he pressed a warm hand on her back, his thumb rubbing gently as if to try and relax her. "Everything has to do with my dad, even my ownname is associated with him and I hated it," she exhaled shakingly, putting her elbows on the table and rubbing her face. "He sent word back home, since he's overseas on a business trip, about how he met his partner's family and thought it would be in my best interest to arrange a marriage. Basically, I packed my backpack with whatever I could fit," she squeezed her backpack, keeping her shakes down. "I left a note for the housekeepers to give him when he came back, and left. I have no fucking idea what I'm going to do, but anything would be better than living another second in that cage..."

"Luce, I didn't mean to bring you here," Natsu said calmly, his hand sliding up to hold her shoulder. He could tell she was holding back tears, so he gently used his other hand to grab a napkin Mirajane put with their meal and dap her cheeks to catch them when she blinked. "Incase you haven't noticed, I'm the kind that acts without thinking, but I definitely didn't want to leave you on that bus stop."

She sniffed and shakingly reached for her burger. Inspecting it for a good moment, Lucy swallowed a hiccup and took a large bite of the food. He grinned, pleased to see her eating. "But, if you don't mind me saying, I think it was a great thing to have found you," he said. "Maybe it was destiny, or something. Maybe it was meant to happen for me to pick you up and bring you to the race with me; Hell, you even helped me win my first race, and I've been racing since I was younger and never placed before until I met you!"

Lucy gulped down her bite and took the napkin on her basket to wipe her nose, and Natsu still dried her tears for her like a parent to a child. "But you don't need to worry about a thing right now, okay? Luce is makin' choices for Lucy now, not her dad."

Mirajane came back with two tall glasses of water and ice. Settling them down, the woman knelt to their level and rest her cheek on her palm. "I suppose Natsu tried to tell you about Fairy Tail?"

Lucy shrugged, not very comfortable about speaking as she is right now. Natsu waved his hand in a 'sort of' motion to Mirajane, who giggled at the answer. "Well, you may have originally thought we were a gang," she started, "which, we are in some way. But, we're actually not like those gangs who rob and steal and murder..."

"Y-you're not?" Lucy gurgled before taking another bite of her burger and sniffed. Mirajane smiled bigger and shook her head.

"The real story is that we work for the big guys," Mirajane sang out. "The police department, FBI, CIA - you name it, we are racers who work underground to track down the bad guys and take them down. For Fairy Tail, we recruit unprivileged individuals and try to turn their life around by taking them in to the department, or work with us to pay off your past mistakes. Like me, for example, and my siblings.

"Our parents were great to us. Very loving and always supported us, but they had big troubles financially and made some very bad choices," she went on, not minding Lucy's reaction with a full mouth. "They robbed people and small companies, even stealing identities and even used our names to get money in fake ones, and it caused me and my baby brother and sister to grow a record since we were born. They were caught and arrested when I was sixteen, but we were also in trouble with the law, even though we didn't do anything.

"They gave me and my siblings a choice to either go to juvenile confinement, which would have separated us for a long time - or join Fairy Tail and be raised by Master Makarov to slowly erase our records." Mirajane pointed out to Natsu to start eating, which he obeyed automatically. "I learned how to race, while my brother learned mechanics and we both raced as S-Class and took jobs of catching bad guys. I don't race anymore, but I dedicate my life here to rebuild a new one for myself and my siblings, since we can never be with our parents ever again."

"Oh...I..." Lucy mumbled softly, unsure of what to say.

"Fairy Tail is a second chance in life, to put it simply," Mirajane as she gently pat Lucy's hooded head. "It's like you can start a new identity here, and everyone here is willing to accept you with open arms as long as you try your best. That's all we can ever ask of you."

"Very good, Mira. Although, it does not surprise me at how well you explain," a voice startled Lucy and she spun her head and saw a short, elderly man stand with his arms behind him. White hair and a mustache, the old man hobbled up to the bar and climbed up to the table, sitting down next to Natsu and crossing his legs. Following him was a tall, much younger man with blue hair and a maroon tattoo over his face stood and nodded in greeting to Natsu and Mirajane.

"Hey, Gramps," Natsu smiled brightly to the old man. "Did ya hear? I won the race!"

"Yes, Erza had a lot to say 'bout that," Makarov nodded. "Which reminds me, she's not too happy about you taking off right after..."

"Sorry," Natsu brushed off. "I had to get Luce here a taste of Mira's grilling. Ya know you haven't been to the city unless you had a bite of Mirajane's cooking!"

"You give me too much credit..." Mirajane rolled her eyes, an amused smile on her face.

The old man leaned back and took a look at Lucy, who wiped ketchup off the corner of her lips and cleared her throat. With the sleeve of her hoodie, she tried to catch anything she or Natsu had missed with the napkins. "Hmm, you must be the one Erza was yammering 'bout. Something about a girl's voice bossing Natsu around on the radio," he grinned at Lucy's reddening cheeks.

"I-I...I didn't mean to sound bossy," she stammered, putting the little chunk left of her burger back on her basket. "I was... Uhm, I'm sorry. My name is -!"

"Lucy Heartfilia, yes," Makarov smiled politely and held out a small hand for her to shake. Lucy had to reach over Natsu chowing down to lightly greet in return. "Cana was talking to Levy about you, and I overheard. Cana is a fan of your mother's fashion line, and she is right when to say that you look a lot like her."

Lucy blushed and couldn't meet his eyes. "U-uhm..."

"But," the old man pressed with a single nod, "Cana also understands that you're uncomfortable as of right now, and she respects that. Believe me, she's not the type to be a fangirl when she sees someone remotely related to a celebrity she likes."

"I-it's not that, uhm," Lucy twiddled with her thumbs shyly. "It's just...a lot to take in for me."

"It has been a rather long night, no?" Makarov nodded in agreement, looking at Natsu who finished his burger and all his water quickly. Squinting, the old man shook his head at the younger one's manners. "Especially when driving in the same car as this kid here," he jerked a thumb at Natsu, who blinked and hummed questionably with his mouth filled. "You must be tired, Miss Lucy. You should rest up and we will take you to a hotel in the city in the morning, if that will make you feel better."

"Huh?" Lucy's head shot up.

Makarov shrugged his shoulders, but his smile never faltered. "We're not gonna force a young woman such as yourself to stay here against your will. That sounds rather harsh, if you ask me," he chuckled and stroked his mustache. "From what I heard, Natsu here picked you up from the bus stop and offered you a place to stay for the night. I knew I taught him something well."

"Oi, Gramps! You didn't teach me that!" Natsu shouted after swallowing all the contents down. "Erza had to pound it into me!"

However, Makarov ignored him completely. "Besides, we give recruiters a choice once coming here," he said pointedly. "If you have a criminal record of some sort, you can either join us or be taken to jail to serve your time. You haven't got a record, do you?"

"No," Lucy said honestly. 'Haven't really been out to even cause a record, let alone a ticket...'

"Then you really have no business to be in Fairy Tail," Makarov concluded, standing up to the seat and hopping down without any help. "You rest for the night, and we will drop you off wherever you want in the morning."

"W-wait..." Lucy whispered at the sight of Makarov leaving. When he didn't respond, Lucy jumped off of her seat, hands clenched and standing tall. "Hey, wait!"

The blue haired man blinked at her and then glanced down to the old man who stopped walking away. Lucy could feel Natsu's eyes wide and staring at her in surprise, and maybe everyone else who heard her yell angrily was watching too, but she couldn't care right now.

"Mirajane said that Fairy Tail gives second chances, right?" Lucy spoke in a strong voice, yet it felt dry from her previous tears and silent sobs. "Start a new identity - that's what she said. So, is it true?"

Makarov looked over his shoulder with an unreadable expression. Natsu gulped and turned around in his seat towards Lucy. "Uhm, Luce..."

"I left the place I was born into and practically trapped in for twenty years," Lucy announced, a stomp of her foot on the shiny floor. "I left that place because I hated the identity I was raised with under my father's control. It wasn't my life, and it was something I knew I couldn't live with for the rest of it, so I left with whatever I could fit in my backpack and refuse to look back!"

Turning halfway, Makarov raised a busy brow at her. "What is it you're trying to say to me, Miss Lucy?"

"I'm telling you that I want a second chance in life,"Lucy said strongly, no falter or hesitation. "I want to erase what the old Lucy Heartfilia was and make her into someone else. That was Lucy Heartfilia, the daughter of the Heartfilia Company and she doesn't exist anymore to me. I want to be Lucy Heartfilia, justLucy! I don't know why, but...Fairy Tail can make me just Lucy. I want to join Fairy Tail!"

Makarov and Lucy held their gazes for a long moment, silence taking over the whole garage. No sound of tools, voices or music could be heard in the eerie stretch of waiting for something to happen. Lucy's body didn't fall, nor did the determined sparkle in her brown eyes dimmed when she held her ground to the short, old man...

Slowly, Makarov's mustache curled with his smile growing underneath. Closing his eyes, he turned around and resumed his walking, having the blue haired man follow silently.

Blinking, Lucy became confused. "Wait...what -?"

"You are already a member of Fairy Tail, Lucy,"Makarov interrupted her before she could take a step to stop him. "Welcome to the family. Your work starts when you and Natsu wake up!"