I think it goes without saying but I'll say it anyway, I don't own Fairy Tail or its characters, only Hiro Mashima does.
Lucy stood at the threshold of her house; slack jawed at the two people before her. She knew something had been wrong with her boyfriend for a while now but she couldn't place it. She thought maybe he was having some emotional trouble regarding Igneel; at least, that's what Happy had told her he had said. She tried her hardest to confront and comfort, but he always pushed her away and brushed it off like nothing was wrong and then he'd disappear for a few hours.
Never could she have thought though, that loyal to a fault, carefree, happy, and loving Natsu, was actually a dirty, no good, cheating bastard. Yet here he was, standing with Lisanna Strauss at her doorway telling her it was over. She was heartbroken, nothing could have prepared her for this, and yet it all made sense.
Lucy had been dating him for eight months, she was absolutely ecstatic when he had confessed to her and nearly tackled him to the ground in her joyous state. Everything was fine till about a month ago when Lucy started noticing him acting a little strange, no else besides Happy and her had noticed it, but here was her explanation. For the past month he had been sneaking around behind her back with the youngest Strauss sibling, they had even had sex (something Lucy hadn't been ready for yet).
She could feel tears pricking at her eyes, begging to be released as the two spoke of how much they truly loved one another (a discussion she had also had with the pink haired dragon slayer), but she refused them such relief. She blinked back the pain she felt as she watched the two interact. Their fingers intertwining as they held each other close, she could practically see the feelings they held for one another.
She was so lost in her thoughts she failed to notice they had addressed her since the initial question of "Luce, can we talk to you?"
"Well Luce?" she snapped out of her thoughts to see them looking at her with hope filled eyes.
"Huh?" she tried reeling in her emotions to listen to them further "I'm just torturing myself staying here" she thought to herself.
"We asked if you and Natsu could go back to just being friends," it was Lisanna who spoke "we know you're probably hurting right now but he still cares for you, can't you see how much we love each other?"
Her eyes widened at the proposition and it was silent for a moment before she finally managed to close her mouth after partially recovering from the shock of the information she just received. She swallowed hard thinking of everything that had just happened and gave a shaky but heavy sigh. Lisanna was right; she could easily see the care, love and adoration that they felt for each other just from one look. Natsu had never looked at her like that before, not even when he confessed, from this look alone she could tell they were meant for each other.
"Yes," they looked shocked but also happy at the same time "to answer your question, yes I can see how much you love each other, and I won't get in the way of that" they seemed relieved and reached out to hug her. Before they could however, a hand stopped them and they looked up to see a stern but sad faced Lucy looking at them with disappointed eyes "But as for your first question, no, we cannot go back to the way we were when we were best friends."
"But why?" Natsu cried, "You said you could see it, why can't we go back?"
"Because Natsu, you didn't just break up with me, had you done that and I saw how you two felt we might have been able to, but you didn't."
"But that's exactly what happened" Lisanna looked horrified at the thought of she or Natsu losing Lucy as a friend.
"No you didn't, you betrayed me by sneaking behind my back and cheating on me. Not only that but it lasted for an entire month before you said anything, you've both lost my trust and my respect and I don't know if you'll ever get it back" she took a deep breath to steady her heart as it raced erratically.
"Please! I'm sorry, we're sorry, please, please, please forgive us?" they begged her desperately trying to convince the poor blonde.
"Maybe in time I'll forgive what you've done, but not now, not yet. It'll take some time for me to sort out how I feel about all of this but until then…" her sentence trialed off as she shook her head as if she was trying to shake away the negative thoughts in her head.
The couple hung their heads in shame and defeat and Natsu asked "Do you think you'll ever really be able to forgive us?" he looked up with tears streaming down his face "you're not the one that should be crying Natsu, that's my job" she thought.
"Despite all of this, I think if you can prove that you're worthy of my trust, my respect, and my forgiveness, I will, but until then I'm going to be taking some time away from the two of you because as of right now you aren't even worthy of my tears" her voice cracked at the end of her speech.
The two before her sobbed harder realizing how true her words were and she continued speaking "So until that day comes I won't be going on missions with Team Natsu, nor will I have you two in my home or hanging on me. I need this time to evaluate where I want to go with our friendships. We might talk in the guild every now and then but that's it."
"You're quitting the team?!" they screamed at the same time
"For a while yes, I'll be taking solo missions or partnering with other people"
Neither the take-over mage nor the dragon slayer liked this idea but it couldn't be helped, they saw the iron resolve she held in her eyes and begrudgingly accepted her terms. "What about Happy?"
"Hmmm?"
The take-over mage continued her boyfriend's thoughts "Is he still allowed to be over, he loves you like his new mom you know, as much as I'd like it to be me he thought of that way it's not. Is he still allowed to randomly pop up and talk to you whenever?"
"Did he know?" Lucy asked with a knot in her stomach from the unease today had brought her
They both shook their heads and Natsu answered "No, no one else knew, when he asked why I had been acting so strange I said it was something regarding Igneel, which wasn't a complete lie but maybe when we show you that you can trust us again I'll tell both of you about it"
Lisanna looked at him curiously but didn't voice her question because she knew in time she'd know the answer, but for now they had to fix their bonds with Lucy. Determination burned through their veins, they didn't want to lose her, so they'd do just about anything to win her back.
"Then yes. My relationship with Happy isn't the one at stake here anyways" they nodded solemnly in agreement "anyways, you two should probably go to the guild and explain all of this, and don't lie, you can even tell them about our conversation and how I felt, but you have to tell them everything. I think you know how much hiding things can hurt you and others"
They nodded sniffling "Of course, but what are you gonna do if you aren't going to the guild?"
She heaved a sigh "I'll do what my mom told me to do when I go through a hard break up, cry for fifteen minutes, eat some cookie dough, watch a sappy romance movie that will probably make me cry more, get a makeover, and move on". Lisanna looked at her in awe at the celestial mage's ability to pick herself up out of a situation that would've caused most others to bathe in depression.
"How are you so strong?" she asked quietly
To this Lucy smiled for the first time since they had spoken, and even laughed a little "Because I'm a Fairy Tail mage, we're all strong, and because I'm a Heartfillia, our hearts are large and care runs deep, but a true Heartfillia won't let anything truly get them down" she stood tall with a proud smile on her face as she spoke of her two families.
"Now it's time you got going isn't it?" they looked at each other with sad smiles and agreed, "Goodbye Lucy, don't worry, we'll fix this, we promise" they said as they turned to leave.
She simply went inside, slide down her door, and whispered, "I hope you do", before bursting into a mess of tears.
Natsu and Lisanna arrived at the guild soon after talking to Lucy. During the walk the discussed ways to convince her to forgive them and promised not to stop their plans until she did, and even then, they might continue them so she continues to believe they were worth it in the end.
With shaky hands, they steeled themselves to tell everyone about their relationship. They knew everyone would be mad, especially when they said they had been together while Natsu and Lucy were still an item, but they promised to tell them the truth and they would.
They slowly pushed open the door and were greeted by happy hellos and even a few shocked peoples asking why Natsu didn't kick the doors open. They made their way to Master Makarov quickly, wanting to be over with this more and more.
"Hello children? Do you need something?" he asked concerned about how nervous his usually well-collected and happy children were.
"Um, yes" Lisanna spoke timidly "w-we wanted to m-make an announcement to th-the g-guild" she stuttered as her nerves worsened.
His concern worsened but nodded nonetheless, he brought them to the second floor and they stood near him as he stood on the railing. "LISTEN UP BRATS LISANNA AND NATSU SAY THEY WANT TO TELL US ALL SOMETHING, SO SHUT UP SO WE CAN LISTEN" the whole guild stopped what they were doing to listen to the two speak. "Go ahead you two" he said as he hopped to the bar below to listen as well.
They took a deep breath and looked over the crowd of people they call family and began their painful speech. They told them everything, from how it had first happened, to how they continued it, all the way through their conversation with Lucy.
They watched as the faces of the mages below them morphed into anger, sadness, disappointment, and disgust at their actions. All was silent after they finished until a severely pissed Gray, who thought of Lucy as a little sister surprised the story telling duo by shouting "Ice-Make Lance!" not expecting the attack they both got hit full on. "You don't deserve Lucy's forgiveness you bastards!"
He was about to attack again when a rage filled Erza stopped him, "What do you think you're doing Gray?" he flinched at her glare but refused to back down "I'm gonna kick their asses what do you think I'm doing!?" she shook her head vigorously. "Not before me you don't, Re-equip: Heavenly Wheel Armor!"
The pair on the second floor paled considerably "Dance my blades!" having had some time to react the two jumped out of the way of most of the attack, both getting cuts from blades they missed. Master was furious that his children could act such a way, but seeing the murderous aura waft off the redhead he decided she was definitely not the person who should punish them, violence wasn't going to help this situation at all, if anything it would make it worse. So, before she could attack them again, now in her purgatory armor, he used his magic to subdue her under his giant hand.
"ENOUGH!"
"But master!" the whole guild began shouting protests
"I SAID ENOUGH! WHAT THEY DID IS INEXSCUABLE AND WILL NOT GO WITHOUT PUNISHMENT, BUT HURTING YOUR NAKAMA ISN'T GOING TO HELP A SITUATION BASED SOLEY OFF OF HURTING ANOTHER, THEREFORE, I WILL DECIDE THEIR PUNISHMENT, NO ARGUMENTS."
The guild fell silent at his words, the truth ringing through each word, and although they still wanted to beat the pair for hurting their favorite celestial mage, they didn't attack them again. At least, not physically, that day the entire guild berated them verbally. The two eldest Strauss siblings having the scariest and most upsetting talk, as not only did they have to berate them for what they did but also got the privilege of scaring the hell out of Natsu. They took turns threatening to make his life a living hell only demons and beasts could survive in did he ever chose to pull something like this of their sister. He was also subsequently beaten by the two for deflowering their younger sister and sent to the infirmary where Lisanna waited with him.
Now Lucy did just as she said she would, she didn't expect to seeing as he was her first love so she didn't know if what her mom said would work but sure enough it did. Just fifteen minutes after she began to cry, she stopped. She then picked herself up and marched into her kitchen, her mother had always told her as a child, that you should always have a batch of cookie dough on hand, because when times get bad it helps to remember there are still sweet things in this world. She dug out the cookie dough she had hidden in her fridge, took a spoon from the drawer and went into the living room.
She set her things on the table and put on The Notebook, the sappiest and saddest romance film she could find. This film making her realize, that if a movie could make her sadder than she was a moment ago after going through the hardships of a broken love, then things weren't as bad as they seemed. She grabbed the box of tissues she left near her lacrima television and sat through the film weeping her eyes out at the sad or completely heartfelt scenes while she devoured her sweet treat.
After it was over, she cried more over the ending, but when she finally stopped, she got up and went to the bathroom. She looked in the mirror and noticed how messy looked, her eyes were puffy and red from her tears, her nose made her look like Rudolph from all the tissues she used, and her lips were swollen from biting them so often.
She began running a bath and poured in some vanilla-honey and peach body wash. As the water ran, she stripped down and thought about her makeover. This was supposed to symbolize her new beginning. A fresh start as a blank slate with no past transgressions hanging on her skin was what she needed, and what she would get. She thought of how great her life could be after this and how it was only the beginning for her, there were plenty of other men out there and she had plenty of time to find the right one. She smiled as she thought about this and her mood began to lift higher and higher.
She got in and relaxed into the hot water that seemed to sooth her muscles just right, after a while she she finished washing herself and got out. After wrapping a towel around herself, she walked into her room and sat at her vanity for a moment before calling out Cancer.
All her spirits had felt their master's emotions spiraling and became more and more worried as time went on, none of them came out though because right when they were becoming desperate her emotions began to lift. The crab spirit was about to ask her what was wrong when she asked for a makeover.
He looked around, took note of the movie replaying itself on her television, the tissues in the wastebasket near her couch and the small remains of a bowl of cookie dough, and immediately knew what happened. He had done this several times for Layla before she found Jude and it seemed he'd get to continue the break up tradition with her daughter. He didn't know when Layla had taken the time to tell her daughter about the break-up ritual or if she had imply had the same idea as her mom, but either way it brought a sad smile to his face as he agreed.
After explaining to him all that happened and Lucy making him promise not to go to the guild and cut the two mages to shreds, they began the makeover. He took a moment to look her over and ask her questions about her new look, afterword, he took his time deciding on a look. With a happy smile, he thought of Layla's first makeover and decided to be inspired by it.
He put her hair in two messy pigtails near the top of her head so there was about six inches of space between the two. Her hair flared out giving a punk feel to it and he readjusted her bangs to mostly cover the right side of her face as they hung diagonally from the far left of her face to the right. The small section that still hung on the left side was curled slightly at the end and tucked behind her ear. The right side was also curled at the end and could easily be tucked behind her ear if it started to bother her.
While doing this, Cancer told her stories about her mother's break-ups and the makeovers that came with them. He especially stressed her first one, and how he was doing something similar to that for her. At some stories she laughed at her mom's silliness, and at others she cried slightly at the pain her mom must have felt, but all in all she was happy and felt lighter than usual.
He then asked her to call out Virgo and she did as she was told, curious as to why he needed her. Once she appeared, she opened her mouth to ask what had happened but was cut off by Cancer pulling her to the side and whispering something into her ear. When the pink haired maiden asked why, he simply shook his head. Despite her curiosity, the spirit quickly set off to fulfil her task.
While she was gone, Cancer began applying make-up, saying how whenever her mother went through a transformation the only thing that didn't totally change was her personality. From clothes to make-up, everything changed with her, even if it was just a slight difference like using a different shade of eye shadow.
He gave her smokey eyes with a silver finish to make her eyes pop just right, and painted her nails with a sparkly silver that the light bounced off just right. Her lips, she did with a maraschino cherry red that seemed to make her smile brighter than before. Just as Cancer finished, Virgo came back with what can only be described as an entire closets worth of clothes.
"Like I said, everything but your personality changes. That's how I did it for your mom and that's how I'll do it for you- ebi" she smiled to him and then laughed crushing Virgo in a hug, thanking her for all the hard work she put into her gorgeous clothes.
"Of course Hime, anything for you." Lucy beamed at the spirit and simply laughed when she asked her ever-popular "Punishment Hime?"
Cancer, cutting through the laugh fest, said it was about time Lucy got dressed and handed her an outfit before pushing her into the bathroom. Her new outfit consisted of a pair of black capris (Cancer said she'd have to dress a bit more modestly now that she wasn't always with someone to scare the creeps away), a sleeveless, white, heart neckline top with constellations decorating the entire thing in a slightly off white color. She wore a pair of pearl white, three-inch pumps, and a dark pink hoody with lighter pink fur for a pop of color. She kept it open to show of her top and walked out of the bathroom.
Outside her bathroom, a surprisingly clean bedroom and only one spirit greeted her. Cancer smiled at her and gave her a warm hug, she was the spitting image of her mother, right down to the way she cares about others, and he couldn't be prouder.
"Virgo and I took the liberty of putting all your new clothes away and putting the old ones in the spirit world for storage-ebi"
"Is that really okay though? I've never heard of spirits doing that before"
"It's fine-ebi" he smiled before continuing "and that's because we usually don't want to, but for you we would-ebi."
"Thank you all so much for everything you've done for me" her voice was breathy as she hugged him tighter. When they released their hold, they smiled and laughed until Cancer suddenly became serious. "You know I'm going to have to tell the others right-ebi?" she sighed and nodded "Yeah I do, but could you please tell them all at once, and make them promise not to do anything before you tell them?" she looked at him with hopeful eyes and a nervous smile.
Now it was his turn to sigh "I can try, but I cant promise anything-ebi. Whether they agree to your terms or not I'm telling them, and I'm only asking them to agree once, understand-ebi?" she smiles a little wider "Yeah, thank you again, Cancer. I'm lucky to have you, all of you, please tell Virgo I said thank you again"
"Of course-ebi. And please remember, you aren't the only lucky one in our relationship with you, we're lucky to have someone as caring as you hold our keys. Thank you for always treating us with respect and care". With that said, he returned to the spirit world and left a happy celestial mage behind, "No matter what happens", she thought, "I'll always have them by my side".
She decided to head out to the guild to see how everyone was doing; she hadn't seen anyone other than Natsu and Lisanna today and felt like spreading her happy mood a bit. She strapped a new belt on, this one black with white stars decorating the sides and attached her keys and whip. She put some money in her pocket and set out after locking up her home.
The walk to the guild was leisurely, she walked along the edge of the river and waved off the yells of "Be careful Miss Lucy!" with a smile, and thanked them when they complemented her new look. She felt good, she felt amazing actually, she was ready to start over and have fun on a new adventure life would bring her.
When she got to the guild doors, she was feeling so great she thought she'd kick the doors open for once. And she did. The doors slammed open before her and she walked in with a warm smile "I'm back!" everyone looked at her shocked. Then she was suddenly tackled to the ground by most of the guild members asking her if she was okay and telling her how mad they were when Natsu and Lisanna told them what happened.
She laughed lovingly at their concern "I'm okay you guys calm down, and let g-go…c-can't… breath…" they quickly jumped off the girl and she greedily gasped for air. They helped her stand and she thanked them with a smile.
It was then that everyone seemed to really notice her. Before, they had simply noticed it was her and jumped, but now that they had been assured she was fine (though some had their doubts) they were able to really get a look at her. She looked like a Lucy they had never seen before, she seemed completely different from before and yet nothing really changed. She was still the bubbly blonde celestial mage they knew and loved and they were glad.
They had feared that even though Natsu said she was okay that she wouldn't be able to handle losing someone so special to her. They were glad they were wrong though, because happy Lucy's great, angry Lucy's interesting, drunk Lucy's hilarious, and pouty Lucy's just adorable, but a sad Lucy isn't okay. Many emotions fit the girl, but sad isn't one of them, it makes your heartbreak to see her cry and none of them wanted her to have to go through some sort of maniac depression.
She sat at the bar and didn't have to wait long for Mirajane to run over to her "Hi Lucy, how are you?" she asked gently wearing a concerned and motherly smile. Makarov had walk along the bar to sit near as well "Yes my child how are you?"
She smiled warmly, "I'm great, how are you two?" they seemed shocked for a moment and seem to search her face for any signs of deception but found none. "We're okay…" Master began "but we were really worried about you after those two idiots told us what happened" he said with an angry frown.
"Well don't, I'm fine really, but I could use a strawberry milkshake" she said with a hopeful smile to Mirajane.
"Of course Lucy" she said as she started to make it, but how are you so fine?" Mirajane asked
"I followed some advice my mom gave me when I was younger and I couldn't help but feel absolutely amazing afterword."
At this point Erza and Gray approached their friend slowly, but seeing the smiles on hers, Master's, and Mira's faces, they sped up, eager to see her so happy. They muttered apologies for not knowing and not being able to destroy the two of them, they did however tell her about their attacks, to which she laughed whole-heartedly as she paid for the drink Mira had given her.
"You guys didn't have to do that really" she smiled
They smirked in response "You really think we'd let someone get away with hurting our little sister? Gray might have been the only one to land a hit, but for the sake of their lives that might be a good thing" Erza laughed and ordered herself her usual strawberry cake.
For the rest of the day Lucy was asked about by her Nakama and complemented on her new look, even more reclusive members spoke to her like Gajeel, Laxus, and the Raijinshou, she was told Happy had stormed off after being told about Natsu's actions and lies. Levy came over and talked to her and the other girls that crowded the blonde and told her that her ability to rise up and be strong despite how much she hurt inspired her and said she finally decided to confess to Jet after all this time.
The girls squealed loudly, they were glad that more and more good was coming out of such a bad situation. Even Mira apologized to Lucy, for while she was disappointed and angry, she was still happy that her sister had found someone to love. Lucy simply brushed off her apology saying she was happy for them too; it's her trust that's gone.
After a while, she decided to get up and look for a solo mission to do, nothing too hard of course, but something that would test her skills a bit. She scanned the request board and eventually found the perfect thing. It was for the capture of five non-mage bandits who were terrorizing the young women of a small town for 50,000 jewels.
She took the request to Mira and she accepted it quickly seeing as how she'd be able to handle it no worries, "Good luck Lucy, when are you gonna leave?"
"I was thinking I'd head home now and go out in the morning"
"Sounds good, I'll alert the client" she sent a warm smile her way which Lucy replied to with a smile of her own "Thanks Mira, see ya!" the white haired woman waved her off as she served the others at the bar.
"Night everyone!" she yelled as she left, a sea of goodbyes flooded her ears, she thought back through the day and noted how none of her spirits showed up meaning Cancer must not have told them yet. She was sure to get an earful tomorrow but as she opened her door, she couldn't find it within her to care. She packed a bag for her trip which she was sure wouldn't be longer than a day but its best to be prepared, changed into her pajamas after letting her hair down and washing the make-up off her face, and laid down. She drifted to sleep thinking of all the wonderful things to come for her life.