Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.
Hey guys!
So, for those of you who don't know me yet, my official name is asian anonymous, but I'd prefer to be called Pyro. (It's short for pyromaniac. Long story short, it's my nickname and a long-stanging joke at my expense.)
So, quickly intro... This story is (probably) going to be pretty short; I'm thinking less than five chapters...?
Lucy was beyond tired. No, screw tired. She was absolutely exhausted. She had practically accomplished the impossible: creating a living dead person. (Hey, she did unintentionally what the Elrics never could... Sorry, too soon?)
She groaned, further burying herself in her duvet. Unfortunately for her, that didn't stop the noises inside her head from bouncing around her skull.
She waited a good half hour in the dark, motionless, waiting for sleep to finally come.
It never did.
And so, that was story of how Lucy Heartfillia ended up banging her head into the wall at one in morning.
Even that wasn't enough to drive the whispers from her mind.
This had been going on for a good week now. Lucy had been functioning on no more than three hours of sleep each night for seven whole days, and she'd somehow managed to fool the entire guild. They suspected absolutely nothing.
And that was due to the reappearance of none other than Lisanna Strauss.
Lucy had been apprehensive about her at first. Not about if she would be mean or anything like that; but if she would accept her as a new member of the family. Turns out, there was no need to worry. Lisanna was a nice girl. In fact, Lisanna had become one of Lucy's closest friends. They got along remarkably well, and they'd had more than enough time to get to know each other better. After Tenrou, and the Grand Magic Games, they'd formed a strong bond as friends, as family.
There was no doubt that the two were nakamas.
However, a seed of doubt had been planted in her mind, this time regarding someone other than the pale haired mage.
This time, she was nervous about everyone else.
After that fight, the one with Flare, and then the following one with Minerva, where she'd hoped to redeem herself; and had only ended up embarrassing her guild even more.
What did they think of her after that?
She was a disgrace, and she knew it.
She knew it, and it was slowly growing and evolving into deep, deep guilt. Guilt and sorrow.
More importantly, she was slowly being eaten away once in possession of this knowledge. She'd suspected it before; but once Lisanna had appeared... She'd been forced to acknowledge it. Lucy could no longer push the painful observation to the side.
Lisanna was everything Lucy was not.
Lisanna was pretty. Lisanna was loved. Lisanna was powerful, and even came from an overwhelmingly powerful family.
Lisanna was a solid part of the guid.
Lisanna was truly loved, and truly cherished.
Lucy... was not.
Sure, she was technically part of the guild. And yes, people accepted her as part of the huge, ever-growing family for the most part.
But it was more like tolerance, in her opinion. She was always complaining about money, or about food or clothes or god knows what else. She was always whining about her troubles. Which was probably the reason she was teased so often.
Now, Lucy Heartfillia wasn't stupid, not by any means. She knew that it was typical for the members of Fairy Tail to fight. And poke fun at each other.
So when Happy had started to make fun of her all the time, she had tried not to take it to heart.
But she also knew that the 'playful' teasing and banter always held bit of truth to it. For instance; yes, Gray was a bit of a stripper, or at least he had stripper tendencies. And yes, Natsu most definitely qualified as a pyromaniac (I'm smiling while I write this part and my friend thinks I'm nuts.)
So, how much of a whiny baby was Lucy actually?
How much did people resent her, and look down on her?
How much of a useless cheerleader did people see her as?
The first time Lucy had considered the possibility that people thought of her that way, she'd dropped a glass.
Then came the next stage.
During which she thought a lot about Lisanna.
She knew in her heart she'd been a replacement all along. She had known, and she hadn't really cared. All she had known was that now she had a family (more or less), and she loved each and every one of them with every fiber of her being.
Even when Lisanna had returned, Lucy couldn't bring herself to hate, or even resent the mind-blowingly kind take-over mage. This girl had just been retuned to her family after years apart; how could she possibly bring herself to have any ill-feelings for her?
It was only later that she realized what was coming next.
Now that the original was back, what happened to the replacement?
The replacement would be thrown away.
It was coming, and Lucy couldn't stop it. Now all she could hear was the whispered rejections in her mind. Every horrible word that could ever be said had been anticipated, and was keeping Lucy up at night.
It was happening already.
Team Natsu... her closest friends in the entire world, had left on a job.
Without her.
More specifically, with Lisanna. Of course, they hadn't done it on purpose, to be hostile or nasty (Lucy highly believed that they were incapable of being mean to anyone who wasn't a dark mage or a bad guy), it had just slipped their minds. They hadn't had a chance to even catch their breath after Lisanna's return to go hang out.
She understood that they wanted to spend some time getting to know Lisanna again. But what probably hurt the most was; they hadn't even told her.
Lisanna had offered. In fact, Lisanna had begged for Lucy to come with them. She was too observant of her own good, and Lucy suspected that Lisanna knew what was going on inside her head. Not to mention her heart.
And of course I'm back to Natsu. Lucy thought with a sigh. She ran a hand through her disheveled hair, blinking tears out of her pretty brown eyes. She just wanted so badly to sleep. Just to be lost to the darkness for a few hours, and drift in a thoughtless slumber. Last week, when Natsu had still wanted to seek refuge in her bed in the morning, Lucy had refused, fearing she'd have another... episode.
The memories of her last nightmare came back like a slap in the face.
"I can't believe Master even let you join; I mean, what a deadweight!" Those were the unrealistic comments that came first, that still hurt nonetheless. Whether they were realistic or not, they'd sent Lucy's heart into full-on panic mode.
"I think that it would be best if we took a break for a while," he said quietly, almost ashamed. "It's just- Lisanna's back, and the original Team wants some time to get together and hang out again-"
"No!" Lucy burst, slamming her hand down on the tabletop. She squeezed her eyes shut, forcing the tears to roll down her cheeks. She grimaced, biting down hard enough on her lip to draw blood.
"Not again." Her voice was a hoarse whisper. "No, please not again," she pleaded to some unknown force.
She couldn't deal with the disappointment. The memories of what might come, of what would inevitably knew that it wasn't real. When they rejected her- and they would, she just knew it- they would at least have the courtesy to do it properly.
But every single time she closed her eyes, she could see the apologetic faces on the inside of her eyelids, and hear their unrealistically harsh words. Some nights they took pity on her and were somewhat kinds about their request for her to leave.
Other nights... not so much.
Lucy had been training in her apartment, she would admit to that. She summoned her Spirits in cycles, stretching her limits.
But it still wasn't enough.
Lucy wasn't weak. Not by any means. (In comparison to other mediocre mages anyway).
But she wasn't strong enough.
Not by Fairy Tail standards.
It was then that she heard the telltale dinging sound that came whenever one of her spirits materialized. She jolted, not recalling summoning her spirits. (She could wish for them to come, and sensing their master's desire, they could use their own power to open the gate. Only the one in possession of their key could do this of course.)
She quickly brushed the tears away, letting her bangs momentarily cover her eyes as her spirit approached her.
"Lucy? Are you alright?"
Ah. It's Loke.
Lucy straightened, looking to meet his eyes through his blue-tinted glasses. She smiled (rather unconvincingly I might add) at hime, hoping he wouldn't see through the thin facade. Sh gave an internal sigh of relief when he appeared to have bought it.
"Oh, hey Loke! What are you doing here? I didn't summon you."
"I came here on my own power."
Shit. I forgot all about that.
"Is there something wrong? We were all receiving strong distress signals from you. Are you alright? I thought you'd been robbed or something. Virgo would've come, but I told her I could handle it myself if that was the case."
Lucy shook her head, joyously laughing that her spirits cared about her that much. She smiled fondly at her friend.
Lucy managed to catch him by surprise with a hug. Loke blinked, then looked down at her.
"What this for?" He asked, the smile in his face evident.
"Thank you for caring."
Soon you might be the one of the only ones left who does.
If the hoarse, weak sound of her voice didn't clue them in, her stumbling around like a corpse was sure to do her in soon enough. She'd thrown on a skirt and a top without caring what she looked like, and yanked a brush through her golden locks a few times for good measure. She did have an image to maintain, after all.
The image of not being horribly depressed.
Makeup was carefully applied each morning, just enough to conceal the pale cheeks and sunken eyes. The dark circles were expertly brushed over, leaving no trace of them ever having existed when she was finished.
Lucy knew the disguise was crumbling. Master seemed suspicious of her recent behavior already. Now that the exhaustion was beginning catch up with her, the few people who still kept up with her were noticing.
It didn't help matters once she stumbled through the guild hall doors and onto a stool. Limp limbs and slow, movements had Mira worried the second she laid eyes on her.
"Lucy? You seem kinda out of it today. Is something wrong?" Mira asked, concern creeping into her tone.
Lucy waved her off.
"I'm fine Mira. Promise, I'm just a bit tired. I'm just so used to Natsu..." Lucy trailed off, and Mira wisely decided to not tease her about Natsu being a typical resident in her bed. Instead, she thought back to Natsu's departure just over two weeks ago.
"Yo Mira! We're goin' on the request to protect this construction site for like a month!" He quickly shoved a paper flyer in her face, and she simply smiled sweetly at him.
"Sure thing Natsu! But are you sure you can handle this on your own? It's kind of a big job." Mira asked, seeing only him and Happy. He shook his head.
"It's not just the five of us! It's me, Happy, Gray, Erza and L-"
"NATSU!" Gray yelled from across the room. "C'mon, Flame Brain, or we'll be late!"
"EXCUSE ME WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME?!"
"YOU HEARD ME, YA DAMN PYRO!"
"SAYS THE FREAK WITH A STALKER!"
"WHAT THE HELL DOES SHE HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS? LEAVE JUVIA OUTTA THIS!"
As they had left, Mira had smiled, not noticing the blonde in the corner staring wishfully at their retreating figures.
If only she had.
It was only the next morning when Lucy showed up at the bar, trying to to look as hurt as she felt did Mira realize what Natsu had meant to say.
When she noticed her little sister's absence, she was sure.
They'd left Lucy behind.
Mira was most definitely going to slaughter that idiot when he returned. She was gonna got full out Sitri Demon Soul on his sorry ass and kick him all the way back to next year.
And then, she was going to hand him over to Lucy, who might muster enough fury to give him a solid Lucy-Kick to the crotch if she got over how miserable she felt.
But despite all of this, Mira was proud of her baby sister. Lisanna had taken Lucy aside and spoken with her before Natsu had come in with the request. Mira could only assume that the conversation was regarding the mission at first; but Lucy spilled (not the bad dreams and the anticipated push off the team, but everything else).
Lisanna had returned from Edolas still harboring faint feelings for Natsu. But it had taken less than three days to realize how Lucy felt, and she had respectfully backed off.
While Mira wasn't exactly sure about Bickslow yet, he did have a hidden soft spot for her sister.
Which was good enough in her book.
Lucy's body slowly tilted to one side, eyelids drooping, as she almost fell. Catching herself at last minute, she earned herself strange looks from several people. She slumped over, and pushed herself up from the bar abruptly, nearly knocking a tipsy Cana off the bar.
"I have to go."
Lucy dragged her feet all the way home. Never in her entire life had the walk to Strawberry Street felt so long. The flight of stairs to even reach her front door was a pain in the ass.
But the thing she loathed the most when she opened her front door was the emptiness. The undisturbed possessions that would have been scattered and mostly in pieces any other time.
Because usually, Natsu was here. Natsu was warm, and loud and funny, and he brought life to her otherwise dull home. She'd never admit it to Mira unless she was under gunpoint (or whatever the magical equivalent of that was), but she didn't exactly... mind when Natsu used to crawl into bed with her.
Now she kinda wished hadn't made a habit of kicking him out.
I guess I took him for granted, huh? Lucy smiled sadly at her empty bed.
Lucy woke up on her kitchen floor at midnight.
Her head was pounding, an overwhelming migraine making her skull ache.
Her back and her neck ached, and she felt stiff and disgusting.
Rumpled hair and day-old clothes make her quite an unhappy camper, and quite a sight to behold at 2 o'clock in the afternoon.
Grumbling, she uprighted herself, frustration at having carelessly drifting off only worsening her mood. Though, she was grateful for finally having a dreamless slumber.
But now, what she really wanted to do was shower.
Lucy, with eyes barely cracked open enough to see, stumbled into her bathroom, haphazardly stripping as she turned on the water.
Stepping into the shower, Lucy kept her face down, letting water blast against the back of her head.
Natsu... she let her mind wander, though she knew it would have consequences soon enough. But she'd already wasted a whole day sleeping; letting her mind go to forbidden places wouldn't screw her evening up that much more, right?
I miss you, Lucy thought regretfully.
...I'm going to miss the guild.
It was officially; Lucy had royally screwed up her entire sleep schedule.
At this point, it was now 2 am and Lucy was fighting the urge to go take a run or something.
She was full of energy, and she was itching to just be productive and do something.
She paced the length of her room, then switched to jumping from one foot to another.
Dammit I have to do something, Lucy thought, desperately trying to keep herself awake.
The second her head hit the pillow, she was bound to be attacked by nightmares, and she was not looking forward to it.
A mission! That's it! I'll just go on a mission! Lucy visibly brightened at this new idea. Yeah! That'll take my mind off of Na-
Lucy's enthusiastic smile faltered, as she thought of the pink-haired dragons layer she was trying to forget.
That didn't stop her, though, from bounding out of her building and rushing to the guild hall.
Luckily for her, Master Makarov was just locking up when the doors came into view.
"Master!" she cried, stopping. proudly, she stood, triumphant that she wasn't out of breath after all her running.
Guess I really have gotten a little stro-
Lucy darkened.
Not strong enough, apparently.
She bit her tongue.
"Master," she began. "I want to go on a mission."
He stared at her, bewildered at the sigh of the Celestial mage's sudden appearance.
"Lucy," he began, still staring at her strangely. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. And I know it's late and all, and I'm so sorry. but this will be good for me," she earnestly replied. Makarov seemed to have a debate with himself for a moment, before sighing and gesturing for her to follow him inside.
"Come on," he said as she trailed behind him to the request board. He suddenly froze in his tracks, and spun to look at her suspiciously.
"Didn't Natsu just come and take request off the board a while ago?" Makarov asked, a strange feeling settling in the pit of his stomach. Lucy tensed for a moment, then apologetically shook her head.
"No," Lucy answered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. The sense of dread was swallowing her, as she spoke again. "No, uh, that was for the rest of the team and Lisanna," she said softly.
Master, raised an eyebrow, not sure if she was being completely honest or not.
"Well, why didn't you just tag along with them?" Makarov asked, not judgmentally, just curiously. Lucy's shoulders scrunched together, making her feel and look smaller. Like she was trying to disappear.
"Actually... I wasn't invited to go on the mission with them," Lucy confessed. This time his eyebrows went all the way up his forehead, his mouth making a small 'o' shape.
He wisely didn't push it, though he himself was overcome with disappointment at the young mage.
He ripped off one of the flyers from the board, after inspecting them thoroughly. He handed her the request. Lucy, after reading it over, was overcome with embarrassment as she handed it back to him. He stared at the piece of paper, confused.
"Is something wrong?"
"it's just- uh, this is a two person job," Lucy explained.
Makarov nodded, slowly. "Yes, I know. That's why I chose it. So, who are you going on a mission with?"
"Just me."
Makarov went silent.
"...I'm sorry Lucy, but the only request we have in now are S class quests. And you're not officially an S class mage, seeing what happened after Tenrou..."
Lucy froze.
"Oh, Uh, well then. Never mind." She quickly began to flee, before the water works really started up. Makarov caught her wrist, gently yanking her back.
"Wait," he commanded. "Just a minute."
"No," Lucy said with watery eyes. "Master, it's okay. I just- I know I'm not strong enough for that. You know what," she began with a new determination. "I'm going to train. Yeah, I'm going to get stronger."
Master observed her with a new respect. He smiled.
"Alright then. Go for as long as you need. Just remember us back here."
"I will," she called back, already making plans, her mind running through a thousand different plans.
Sprinting off into the dark, Master watched one of his adopted children run away.
God bless your soul, Lucy of Fairy Tail. I hope that idiot realizes what he has in time.
Lucy's half-baked, idiotic improvement plan was spotty at best.
Seeing as she refused to call out her spirits.
Not a single one of them.
Unless it was necessary, she was going to make sure that all of their gates remained closed. How could she ever get stronger if she was always relying on others to save her.
Master had arranged for her things to be moved into storage in the basement of the guild, so now Lucy didn't need to even worry about making rent. All of her jewels were packed with her, as was her notebook, her keys (of course), and her whip. She carried a few changes of clothes, and a toothbrush.
Now, all there was left to do was leave.
Lucy had her small suitcase in tow, and a few photographs tucked into her diary.
Staring back at Magnolia town, Lucy boarded the train.
"Goodbye," she uttered, looking back at the home of her extended family. The big mark proudly declared the guild that resided inside the building, and for once, Lucy actually missed the crazy yelling and fighting that went on inside.
And in that moment, Lucy had never been more proud to be a member of Fairy Tail.
For the next five days, it was training with Capricorn.
Running, to hand combat, and reflex improvements. Lucy had been less responsive the first time; resulting in bruises and aches all over. But the next day, she'd improved significantly. Her blocks were firmer, and employed fast enough to shield her vital organ from the blows.
Then later, it was summoning.
Lucy summoned her spirits in shifts, seeing how many gates she could maintain before giving out. Capricorn had insensitively stated that her whip attacks were uncoordinated and less effective when used improperly.
Lucy had even discovered that if she was only summoning Spirits for practice, Aquarius didn't mind as much if she was summoned alongside Scorpio.
She refrained from using Loke, though, seeing as he was still suspicious of her recent behavior, and was resting up in the Spirit World.
Confident that she'd gotten better by a decent amount, Lucy was ready to move to the next town.
And continue her training.
The man in the seat behind her was really ticking her off.
The woman sitting beside him, who she really, very clearly wanted to not be sitting next to, was uncomfortably scooching away from him. He only moved closer, and Lucy could her her breathing quicken.
"Please leave me alone," she timidly requested. The man only snaked an arm around her waist. the conductor patrolling the aisle reprimanded him sharply.
"Excuse me, sir! Please release the young lady! Can't you see that she is clearly very upset?"
"Who tha hell are you to be telling me what to do?" He cockily was it. Lucy stood, towering over him. He seemed unfazed.
That is, until she flashed the pink mark on her hand in his face.
Very quickly, almost imperceptible to the human eye, he dropped his arm.
"You! I saw you in the Magic Games!" He spun, looking for the infamous destructive Salamander, who practically all of Fiore knew was her loyal teammate. Lucy sighed.
"He's not here," Lucy snapped. The creep visibly relaxed.
"Well then I've got nothing to worry about!" He cracked his neck. "No use stressing over a weakling like you. I saw you on the big screen. You got annihilated by those two beauties." Lucy growled; he was obviously referring to her failure to the guild against Flare and Minerva.
"You're that model, aren't ya? I knew I'd seen you somewhere! Now, if only you could fight good, then you'd be the complete package. With a figure like that, Im 'sure you'd be good lay-"
Lucy slammed her fist into his face, and instinctually brought her knee up like she'd seen the fighter int he guild hall do on almost a daily basis.
"Without Salamander here, I can still kick yoru sorry ass into the ground," she snarled, yanking him by the hair so they were eye to eye. "Got it?"
He nodded frantically, wanting to escape her grasp. that, and ease the
"If I ever catch you treating a woman like that again, I swear, you'll get more than a broken nose next time," Lucy threatened. Releasing him, he scurried away like a rat. How fitting.
As the young woman thanked her repeatedly for her help, and the conductor gave an approving smile, Lucy felt her mood brighten almost instantaneously.
Maybe Lucy wasn't so useless after all.
Mira was immediately suspicious when Lucy didn't appear at all in the guild hall the next day. She asked Levy, who immediately snapped out of her state of mind officially dubbed as her 'reading mode' (by Gajeel, of course) to shake her head. (She then proceeded to swat away Jet and Droy's hands, much to the satisfaction of the Iron Dragon Slayer across the room.)
She asked around the hall, even Romeo and Wendy, who had just returned from a mission together the day before, and the two attentive young mages had no idea where she'd slipped off to.
Then she'd asked Master Makarov.
Judging by the way his eyes softened, and he took on a rather sad expression, he knew something.
And Mira, being Mira and all that, was never one to be left out on anything.
He simply replied saying that Lucy would be away for a while and some sort of job, and that her things were currently being sorted in the basement.
Mira simply nodded, as he stared off in thought.
Lucy... where are you?
The train car was rocking.
Just four hours ago, she'd broken some creep's nose and had him escorted to another part of the train. (Far, far away from the grateful young lady he'd set his eyes on.)
And now, the whole effing compartment was shaking like an earthquake was ripping through the ground beneath the tracks.
Which, upon further inspection (and by that I mean Lucy peered out the window and saw a normal cat calmly pawing at a rock nurd in the ground), was obviously not the case. So what was it?
Lucy stood, motioning for the ticket collector to come closer. He obliged, his brows creased with worry. Other passengers around her were beginning to worry, and one of the babies in the back had been shaken out of i's nap. On top of the occasional wail of the infant, Lucy could hear passengers were starting to panic.
"Excuse me, but is there something wrong with the train?" Lucy asked, casting worried glance at the back of the compartment, where the shaking was clearly coming from. The worker, with wide eyes, responded.
"A group of men are causing trouble in the back," the young man helplessly answered. "I tried to stop them, but they've just locked the doors. Something about trying to draw some Lizard back there or something," the man said with a shrug.
Lucy's eyes narrowed.
"Salamander. Did they say Salamander?" Lucy hissed.
The man though for a moment.
"Yeah, actually now that you mention it. They were going on about payback being a bitch, or something like that. I didn't catch much of the conversation before I was shoved out the door though."
Lucy groaned, tipping her head back to glare at the ceiling, as if it was the one at fault here.
I am so sick of this shit.
She reluctantly set down her journal, which had been her focus just a moment ago, and headed for the back of the train.
"Where are you going?" He called after her; showing her clearly hadn't been present at her little 'display' earlier in the trip.
She waved her hand without concern, flashing what amounted to a badge pretty much stating I'm-qualified-to-handle-this-just-let-me-through' at the stunned male.
Her feet padded quietly, as the practically the entire train stopped to watch the savior deal with trouble yet again. (Which was odd, seeing as members of Fairy Tail had a certain reputation for destroying everything they touched, aside from beating the living daylights out of bad guys.)
It was a pleasant change.
She was practically strolling to the doors waiting at the end of the compartment, trying to think of a plan for dealing with that many opponents.
But as an overwhelming tremor rocked the train enough for Lucy's stomach to lurch forward, she decided enough was enough.
Screw the plan, I'll try taking a page out of Natsu's book.
I'm gonna go with my instincts this time.
She sprinted for the steel doors, all while drawing out one of her shining gold keys.
An obnoxious laugh echoed from behind the closed doors.
She slammed into the structure with her shoulder.
No use.
Using a solid, trademark Lucy-Kick, she brought the doors down. As they crashed, she drew the key down, and the familiar chime brought a satisfied smirk to her lips.
"Open! Gate of the Lion!"
And in a golden flash, there stood her beloved Lion, and close friend, Loke. He smiled, pushing up his tinted glassed with his finger.
"You called?" He asked, surveying the area, and the rather pathetic group of men using magic to shake the train. In the front seats were terrified citizens, one of them being little girl.
Crap.
Lucy's eyes dated from side to side, debating whether or not it was safe to jump into action.
There were five men, clearly amateurs, and very much beneath her level. Lucy rolled her eyes at the thought of stooping to this level. Observing them, taking in their body types, and approximate strengths, Lucy was more than confident that she could take them down.
In any other situation.
"Hey you!" How'd you get in here?" One of them demanded.
"I kicked down the door," Lucy stated plainly. "Obviously." Next to her, Loke snickered at the bored tone she'd taken on.
"Where's the Salamander? He's the one I have a bone to pick with," one of them eagerly stated, pathetically cracking his knuckles as an imitation of Natsu. The other one joined in.
"Aside from him, Fairy Tail's like, the weakest guild out there!"
They must not have seen Mira, or Laxus or Erza during the Games.
"Yeah! We want the powerhouse of Fairy Tail!" Lucy stifled a laugh.
I bet they don't even know who Gildarts is.
Natsu was strong. She'd give him that.
But they were stronger.
He had a strong spirit, and lots of potential.
Potential, mind you.
But he had a long way to got before he'd be able to take on Erza or Mira or god forbid Gildarts. (That was when all of Fiore would have to prepare for the apocalypse. Because even without that ridiculously stupid amount of power, Natsu still could fuck serious shit up even now.)
And now, Lucy was going to catch up to him.
Which, was almost as unrealistic as it was stupid, but that wouldn't stop her from trying.
"Where's the Salamander? We heard he's on this train!"
Okay Lucy, what would Erza do?
Lucy evened out her breathing, before springing into action.
"Loke! get them all out of here!" Lucy commanded, leaping over rows of people.
"But Lucy-"
"I've got this," she vowed with a sunny smile. "Promise."
Trusting his mater, Loke turned back to using his magic to shield the evacuating people.
One guy, using magic similar to Bisca's and Alzack's (so, magic guns) was shooting bullets that Loke could've easily sidestepped if there weren't people to worry about.
Now, he simply shot out little bursts of energy to counter the magic bullets his gun was putting out. This was effective enough, though tedious and rather boring. Pity.
This guy was a) a poor shot (rather, an embarrassment to anyone wielding a gun everywhere) and b) and the weakest person Loke had fought in a very long time.
The old man who was the last to rush out had safely left, Loke could really start cracking down on them.
One Regulus Impacts sent him crashing into an empty seat and rendered him unconscious.
The four guys left for Lucy to deal with, not so much. One was an elemental mage, and shaking the earth underneath the train tracks seemed to be and easy task for him. Lucy drew her whip, and wrapping it around his ankle, puled back and yanked. Hard.
He went flying, and Lucy flung him back and forth with a yank. Leaving decent-sixed dent in the wall, Lucy knew he'd been dealt with for the moment.
Now, the two men charging Loke suddenly cried out, alerting the hooded man who'd Lucy been charing into.
"Lion Brilliance!" Loke roared, a blinding golden light filling the space.
Lucy, pretty much immune to this due to the amount of times she'd employed this during battles, didn't even flinch. Seeing the opportunity, Lucy brought her fist upwards, nailing him square in the jaw. The hooded man stumbled, his hood falling backwards.
"OW!"
Lucy paused.
"I know you," she said, cocking her head to the side.
"Bora," she said suddenly, recognizing that little tattoo in the corner of his face, despite his obviously aged appearance.
"Do I know you?' he asked. Lucy scowled.
"Yeah. Remember me? We met a long time ago? I'm a celestial mage?" Lucy asked, offend that he didn't even that the decency to remember the girl who'd witnessed him getting his ass kicked.
"Nope, doesn't ring any bells."
"I summoned a mermaid who used a rage-induced tsunami to crash your ship before the real Salamander beat the crap outta you," Lucy added helpfully.
"Ah."
She waited a moment for him to appropriately react.
One.
Two.
Three.
Fou-
"YOU'RE THAT PSYCHO CHICK WITH THE HOMICIDAL SPIRIT!" He accused her, scurrying back several feet in hopes of escaping her wrath. Lucy sighed.
Man, is it too much to ask for just a normal day for once?
Loke sent her a strange look, raising an eyebrow as her punched one of the idiots who'd just recovered from the blinding light.
Ugh. My head is starting to hurt.
He'd only caught the 'homicidal spirit' bit, she assumed.
"He's referring to Aquarius," Lucy supplied in a weary voice.
"Ohh..."
Lucy didn't break eye contact with Bora, hoping her level glare would give him the motivation to back off. He was no Salamander, but he could cause some serious damage if he got the urge. However, he seemed to grab ahold of his nerves and reel them after a moment. His back suddenly went ramrod straight.
"There's no water here, little girl. How the hell are you gonna stop me this time?" He sneered, creeping closer to Lucy with each syllable. She growled at him in response, smiling at his naiveness.
"Clearly, someone didn't watch the Magic Games," Lucy said in turn. Confidently, she held up the hand bearing the guild mark, two keys poking out between her fingers. She grew a line in the air, slashing downwards. "Open! Gate of the Bull! Gate of the Ram!"
Right before his very eyes, Bora watched as giant axe-wielding creature resembling a cow, and a goat humanoid-thing sporting a pair of shades who towered over him materialize out of thin air.
His jaw went slack.
As did Loke's.
"Lucy! You'll drain yourself at this rate!" He protested. Distracted, the recently recovered mage took the opportunity to slam his palm into the small of Loke's back. A minuscule static shock coursed through his nervous system, making him stumble.
It didn't knock him off his feet. But it did make the oversized, over powered kitty very, very irritated. But first, Lucy.
"Lucy! you can't maintain three gates at once! Close one of them," he cried, a hint of desperation creeping into his voice. She winked at him, as Taurus charged at Bora.
"Oh, I can do way more than that, I promise," he stuttered, slack jawed. She put a finger to her lips, conveying she was telling him a 'secret.'
"I've been practicing."
"Capricorn! Help Loke!" She commanded, noticing that the other mage's buddy was back on his feet. "Me and Taurus will take this idiot over here."
Bora snickered.
"So, you have gotten stronger. Impressive, I will admit," he spread his hands, shrugging. "But I've had years to improve. And, if I remember correctly, you were sucked under the ocean for seven years."
"My turn to show off," he declared.
Rings of purple, foul smelling flames exploded around him, and suddenly lashed out. Lucy winced, feeling her skin reacting to the extreme heat.
They coiled around her arm, burning her flesh.
Crying out, Lucy's concentration was broken.
And her Spirits were angered.
The mage Capricorn was in combat with was some weak variation of a water mage. Loke scoffed, watching the pathetic 'wave' attack.
Ha. More like splashing a puddle, Loke thought, deflecting a static shock sent in the general direction of his head on instinct.
Capricorn didn't even bother dodging with little spray of water.
Instead, he rushed forward, driving his fist upwards, forcing air out of his lungs.
Loke smirked, almost dancing around his opponent.
Lucy, you showoff. You totally could've handled this with just one of us.
However, the next events would make him take that back.
Lucy's smoking arm had been released, and was turning a concerning color around the burns.
Lucy grit her teeth, reaching for her whip with her good hand.
Dammit, that bastard. Lucky shot.
Taurus, enraged, nearly beheaded the guy with a swing of his weapon. Thankfully, he kept the boob comments to himself during this battle. (Lucy didn't know how far her patience could stretch at this point.)
The mage sending static signals flying through the air did a rather sad impersonation of Laxus' magic. Loke, with one Regulus fist to the shoulder, sent him flying.
Capricorn exerted the energy used to carry a small child to finish off the 'water mage.'
But Bora was proving to be a challenge.
The injures he'd inflicted on their master had distracted the Spirits momentarily.
What made him pause was the faint whimpering coming from the other side of the car.
His flames working as hands, the slim flames, lifted up a small girl.
"Oooh, how interesting," he mused. Lucy cried out.
"Don't touch her!" She shrieked, tackling him, not caring if she suffered any more burns. He went down, his flames disappearing. The little girl, who had been suspended in mid air, was caught by Capricorn. He gently set her down, pushing her in the direction of the door.
"Run!" Lucy yelled, feeling the wound on her forearm sapping her energy.
Taurus vanished, as she closed his gate to save energy. Capricorn, acting quickly, lurched forward, only to disappear as well.
"Miss Lucy!"
But this time, Lucy wasn't trying to prove how strong she was by taking him on by herself. She had hit her head in the floor. Hard.
Loke was the only one remaining, and he was more than capable of dealing with this enemy.
But before her could even react, Bora pushed them back, sending them through the back wall, leaving a gaping hole. He clawed at the floor, somehow managing to find an invisible hold.
Lucy, however, kept going forwards due to her inertia.
And the moment Loke managed to kick a hole in the wall just large enough for him to slip through, time slowed for a millisecond, as Lucy plummeted down to the ground, about to collide with the tracks.
Loke saw it all, through wide eyes and blue tinted glasses.
Her head hid the tracks and-
Blood.
Lots.
And Lots.
Of blood.
Hey guys! So... Whaddya think so far?
If you have any criticism, reviews, or suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them!
Thanks!
-Pyro