Chapter 1 Renewed past
Ever since the Grand Magic games, everything has been going perfectly for Lucy and her friends. Well, almost. After the games, Lucy has been constantly going on missions involving dark magic or dark guilds. Her friends usually go with her, but even they have started to consider it as an obsession. If there is any lead to Zeref, Lucy will be determined to follow it to the end. At the moment, Lucy, Juvia, and Ryu are just coming back from another dark guild job.
"Dammit. It was another false lead." Lucy grunted as they walked to Saber Tooth.
"Come on Lucy. At least the pay was good." Juvia said.
"And it gave us a good work out." Ryu added.
"Yeah, I guess." Lucy murmured.
"Lucy, I promise. We'll help you find him no matter what anyone says." Juvia said while placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Me too! Along with everyone else in Saber Tooth." Ryu said excitedly.
Lucy couldn't help but smile at her friends. Through it all, she knew they were right. She knew she could count on everyone in Saber Tooth. It wasn't too long after that that the three of them soon reached their guild. They all swung the doors wide open.
"We're back!" Lucy shouted like she now usually does. Everyone in guild gave her and the others a loud welcome.
"Lucy! You're back!" Sting exclaimed, quickly rushing to her. The two quickly embraced each other with wide smiles on their faces. Rogue and Juvia soon hugged as well.
"Welcome back. Took you long enough to come back." Lector said.
"Frosch missed Lucy and Juvia too." Frosch said. Lucy and Juvia smiled at Frosch's innocence and Lector's cockiness.
"So? How was the job?" Sting asked. Lucy's smile disappeared after that.
"Another false lead. This is happening too often." answered Lucy. Sting saw that he accidentally saddened her and tried to fix it.
"Hey, don't worry. I'm sure a real lead will come up soon." said Sting nervously. Lucy looked up at him and smiled at his desperate attempts to cheer her up. She pulled him in closed and quickly pecked his cheek.
"Thanks Sting." said Lucy. Sting had a slight blush, but gave her his usual toothy grin. Lucy smiled back at him.
"There seem to be more of the jobs about that you're specifically after popping up lately." said Rogue.
"Hey, that's pretty good to me. Well, I'm gonna go home and take a short nap. Juvia, you and Ryu can stay here. Later!" Lucy said as she walked out. They all waved at her as she left.
"Lucy seems really happy now." Ryu said.
"Yeah. Now that she knows she's not alone anymore and that she has people she can trust, it seems like nothing can really bring her down." Juvia said.
Shortly after Lucy got back to Juvia's and her apartment, she soon fell asleep like she said she would. But ever since the games, occasionally, whenever she falls asleep, she often has the same reoccurring dream. Now is one of those times.
She was running. Running towards and from nothing. All around her, complete darkness and emptiness. Nothing within sight except one figure in the distance. Lucy kept running forward to that figure, but could never reach it. The closer she got, the further it seemed.
Lucy soon woke up. She sat up in her bed and touched her forehead, realizing she was sweating in her sleep. She also seemed to be out of breath. Always after having that dream, she was all sweaty and breathing heavily, almost like she was actually running.
"Crap. That dream again. Why? And, who's that figure supposed to be? Zeref?" Lucy asked herself.
She looked out the window and saw that the sky had become overcast while she was asleep. She let the thought of the dream slip her mind and decided to head back to the guild. But, just as she was about to leave her room, something on her desk that wasn't originally there caught her attention. It appeared to be a small lacrima with a piece of paper under it.
"What the? When did Juvia or I get this?" Lucy said as she went to pick it up.
By just barely touching it, it glowed brightly and showed an image of the back of a man with black hair wearing a purple robe with a white sash being surrounded by what looked like black mist while appearing to be holding his head in pain. She didn't know how she knew this now, but she somehow knew that that had to Zeref. She tore her hand away from the small lacrima and it then just vanished. Words appeared on the paper after that and it looked like a location. Lucy didn't know what was going on, but she could tell enough. This was the lead she was always looking for. She grabbed the paper and raised back to the guild.
"Guys!" Lucy shouted as she barged into the guild.
"Lucy? What's up?" asked Juvia.
"A lead! I found something that'll lead me to Zeref!"exclaimed Lucy.
"A lead? What kind?" asked Rogue. Lucy handed him the note that she found.
"I don't know where it came from or how I can tell, but a lacrima and this note just appeared and I can just tell it has something to do with Zeref." explained Lucy.
Her face was different than how it usually was when she gets a lead. Now, it's bright with hope and excitement. She now feels like she finally has a chance of finding her real family.