Hello! Who do you want Lucy to be paired with? There is a poll on my page. If you guys want me to add someone to the poll please say!

(Lucy's POV)

I sat at the bar thinking about everything. From this morning finding my fridge empty and half of my furniture burnt to the grand magic games. The grand magic games were a bit of a disaster in the end. I was upset that I lost, especially to Raven tail, how could I fall for such a trick. Everyone told me that there was no way I could have known but I was still upset about it. But more importantly I need permission from master to take some time off to go and train. I want to become stronger so that I can't lose to petty cheats ever again! I am determined to make myself stronger.

I saw master heading towards his office so I followed him and knocked on the door and entered.

"Ah hello Lucy what can I do for you today?" he asked me, looking at me from behind his stack of papers. I have never seen so many documents in my life! The pile is bigger than him!

"Master I would like to leave the guild so I can go train." I said with a determined look on my face. I want to be able to protect my nakama.

He looked quite shocked "Are you sure? You can always train here."

"Yes, I'm positive. I feel that I need to train on my own for a while. I'm sure I'll be fine. After all, I'm never alone; I always have my spirits with me." I stated confidently I felt a warm glow by my keys telling me that they were always there for me.

"Ok then. I can see that you've made up your mind and will stick to your decision no matter what people say" he told me with a bit of a sad face. I felt bad for making him sad.

"Don't be sad master, I will always come back. After all, this is my family and I will never leave my family behind or forget about them." I said whilst giving him a soft smile.

"Fine, but I would like you to report back every once in a while ok?" he told me. He was always looking out for our safety.

"Of course I will. I would hate it if I made you worry about me" I told him

"I understand, please be careful." He said

I waved and left the guild. I went to my apartment. I summoned Virgo to pack some of my stuff. Not all of it, just the essentials. I headed to the train station and bought a ticket for the Swallow woods. It was a good place to train and it was peaceful watching the swallows go about their everyday business. I sat in the train and waited. After a few minutes the train started. It was unusual having no one groaning and trying to escape the 'train of torture'. I hope he won't be angry at me for not taking him but this is something that I have to do on my own. I'll call him with a lacrima later.

~At the guild~

"Where's Luce?" Natsu asked no one in particular as soon as he realised that his friend was missing. He was upset because he wanted to go on a mission with her and now he couldn't. He was about to go to her house and visit her when someone answer him.

"She went to train" he heard Master say.

"She went without me?" Natsu asked sadly. He was shocked. She didn't even tell him!

"Natsu, you must respect her decision. I assure you that she's fine" Master told him sternly. Natsu was put out by this. Weren't Lucy and him friends? If she was here he would promise that he'd be more careful on missions. He wanted to know if he had offended her in any way.

"Okay" Natsu was sulking because Lucy left him behind. A chair hit him in the back of the head and he, of course, blamed Gray and then started a fight which the whole guild soon joined into.

~back to Lucy~

I woke up, I must've fallen asleep, and I heard the train say that we were at Swallow Woods. I got out of the train and stretched. I must've fallen asleep in a strange position because my back was killing me. I headed towards the forest and soon found a clearing near a river that was nice and clean. I called out Virgo.

"Punishment hime?" she requested, typical Virgo.

"No Virgo, can you set up a tent for me?" I asked her. She nodded, looking a little sad that she wasn't getting punished and got to work while I went to go get some water. When I came back Virgo was just finishing setting up the tent.

"Thank you Virgo." I said as she left. I summoned Aries, who apologised for who knows what, to make a spot for me to sleep. Once she was done I dismissed her and summoned Capricorn.

"Lucy-sama, what can I do for you?" he asked in his usual formal manner

"Please may you help me train?" I asked him. He gladly complied.

It was really tiring; by the end of the day I was dead tired. I washed off in the river and headed back to my camp. I ate some tinned food that I had packed. Once I was finished I meditated a little bit. And by then I was dead-beat.

I was lying down on the mattress that Aries had made me, it was really comfortable. I was thinking about the guild. It was my home and they accepted me. I knew Natsu would be sad that I didn't bring him along but I needed to do this on my own. I can't always rely on other people and if I increase my magical stamina then I could be more useful. How long should I train for? Maybe I should train for a couple of months? 3 months seems like a good starting point. Maybe every year I should take 3 months off to go and train. That seems like the best idea. It would definitely benefit me.

I decided that I should do that. It's for the best and would help me improve even though I would miss my guild mates terribly. I felt that it was still too early to go to bed so I decided that I would go outside and watch the stars. I loved watching the stars; it was something that I always did with my mother and brought back happy memories.

I was lying on the grass quite peacefully when I heard twigs breaking behind me as if someone was walking, if so they weren't very stealthy. The footsteps sounded like they were from a little animal instead on a human. I still stood ready for an attack because who knows what could happen.

What do you think?