Lucy had barely been in Fairy Tail for a month, when they had enough of her. The blonde was having particular trouble hiding her true potential and prowess as she sat at the bar that day, mulling over her choices of missions in her head. She saw Team Natsu headed in her direction and a bright smile lit up her face.
"Hey guys! What's up? Do you want to go on a mission?" Her questions were met with silence. Lucy could tell something was off but didn't know what.
"Guys?"
SMACK!
Her head snapped to the side. The guild went silent. A sharp pain burned the sweet girl's cheek. She looked back in shock at Natsu, who's arm was just coming back to rest at his side after delivering the blow to her face.
"Lucy, you are a weak, worthless Mage and we're not going to be on a team with you any longer. You were just the person we tried to replace Lisanna with, but she's dead. You're not her and you never will be, nor can we stand having someone as stupid as you on the team when it should have been Lisanna from the beginning," Natsu said with a straight face. He gave his signature grin. She sent glances at Erza and Gray but saw no regret in their eyes. The blonde girl stared at her lap. The hurt she felt was greater by far than it had been in the last few places she had stayed. She felt she had a home in Fairy Tail but they were just like everyone else. Greedy, obsessed with power, and untrustworthy. Fairy Tail watched the encounter like starving hawks. A sigh wrenched itself from her lips.
"I thought you were different. I thought everything you said about family was real. I listened to all the terrible things in your lives and stayed there with you and I thought, when the time came, you would be there for me. Guess I've been naïve again, huh?" Lucy chuckled painfully. A harsh laugh burst from the blonde's mouth. She snapped her head up and stared at Team Natsu head on. Her eyes were filled with hurt and sorrow.
"Let me tell you something Natsu." Lucy rasped. "I know now that you couldn't handle me with all the baggage and history I carry. But thanks for taking me here. At least I can cross one more place off my list that might have accepted me." The young Heartfilia's heart broke and tears sprang to her eyes. She had been sure they were her friends.
"Just get out of here Lucy. Don't ever come back." Natsu seemed to flicker for a moment but the busty girl passed it off as a trick of the light. The fire dragon slayer gave a malicious grin as Gray grabbed her. He passed his hand over hers, burning her pink Fairy Tail mark off. It was excruciatingly painful and Lucy barely had the strength to run away once the ice mage let her go.
When the celestial mage was a sufficient distance from the guild hall, the Fairy Tail members disappeared like the illusions they were. A small girl in a flowy red, purple, and black dress stood where the fake Team Natsu was. Her platinum blonde hair fell in waves around her feet except for one small strand that stuck straight up. She held a black lacrima orb in her hands that glowed faintly. A large anti magic and sound cage hung behind her. It was filled to the brim with the real Fairy Tail members, shocked, crying, and angry.
One mage in particular was silently growling at the girl. His onyx eyes were filled with rage. The child smirked at the boy. She skipped over and smiled in his face. He lunged at her but the bars stood firm. Pink hair pushing up against his restraints, the dragon slayer snapped his sharp teeth at the stranger. After a minute passed, the young teen flicked her fingers at the cage and the floor of it collapsed, spilling the mages to the floor. The enraged pink haired dragonslayer was on her instantly, lifting the girl off the ground with one fist bunched in the front of her dress.
"Where is she? Who are you? What have you done to Lucy?!" Natsu snarled in her face but the child just smirked.
"Stupid dragon, I am Mavis Garnette, head enchantress of Edolas."