"NATSUUUUUUU!" the blonde screamed out, but the only response she had gotten were a few scared birds. She sighed, and turned around, her long blonde hair whipping around with her.
It had been two years. Two years since everything was over, and it had been peaceful. No more attacks, no more threats, and luckily for Lucy, no kidnappings. It was calm. Fairy Tail had been suspicious at first, doubting everything, but as time had gone on, their fears had subsided. They had grown stronger, and definitely closer than they already were. But, Fairy Tail would always be Fairy Tail, and that's what had landed Lucy in this unfortunate position. Team Natsu had gone on an S-class mission, which consisted of taking down a rouge guild. But the guild was situated deep in the woods, and the rogue guild was clearly good at guerrilla tactics, and had promptly split up, which in turn, led to the team splitting up. Lucy had decided to take on a bunch of around 40-50 rather weak mages, instead of a few strong ones, which she was almost sure that Erza had wanted.
Lucy's battle had gone relatively easy; Taurus, Virgo and Loke had come out, and either knocked out or tied up the mages with the help of Lucy's whip. Then, she had sent them to the spirit world for keeping, where she was sure they wouldn't be able to escape from.
Done with her battle, she was waiting and/or looking for her team in vain. So, she had decided to sit down for a while, as her team found her, or she got a signal- which in most cases, would be something going 'boom'. As Lucy sat down, she smiled, thinking about the past two years, and all that had happened.
After everything, Lucy had become stronger. She had the same amount of golden keys with a few additions to her silver section, but all in all, her key collection hadn't grown. Her magical capability, was something else altogether though. Lucy could now hold all her golden gates open for one hour, two if really necessary. Lucy now rarely found herself in situations that required that much magic, but it reassured her to know that it could happen if need be. Lucy had also grown physically. Her curvaceous body was the same, but she was taller and more toned, giving her a sleek and sophisticated look. Her blonde hair was longer now, down to her lower back and was curling at the ends. As Lucy had grown, she also decided to change her look. No more childish pigtails for her. Her standard look now was stronger, and reminded her of warrior.
Short army shorts hung on her waist, accompanied by her belt, key ring and whip. A black tank top hugged her body, exposing just enough cleavage, but no stomach. On cold days, she paired it with a black leather jacket. Lucy was wearing mid-calf black combat boots, paired with a some lack, thigh high stockings. Her hair was pulled into a high ponytail, her bangs framing her face.
Even with all the look changes, some of her characteristics had never faded. Her loving, brown eyes were still shining bright and happy, and her smile still brought light to the guild. Her shy nature had yet to fade, but her sex appeal uses were starting to work. Suddenly, Lucy was brought out of her musings by a small beeping noise from her pocket. Standing up, she pulled out a small communication lacrima, and answered.
"Lucy, are you all right?!"
"Yes Erza, I'm fine. What about you, where are you?"
"…If I said in a forest surrounded by trees, would you know where I am?" Lucy chuckled at the hopelessness in her friends voice. She was completely aware that trying to find each other would be a nightmare, and with Natsu's inability to sit still would make it ten times harder.
"Good point. How was your fight though? I know you got some of the upper level ones, are you hurt?! Do you need me to find you?!" Lucy said, growing increasingly panicked.
"No, Lucy, I'm fine, don't worry. Just stay still, I'll stay where I am too, and keep trying to contact the others. Don't move okay?" Ezra said sternly.
"Roger that boss." The lacrimal beeped off, and Lucy put it back in her pocket. Sighing she started walking around, aimlessly kicking stuff around. Soon, her mind drifted back to the time of the Oración Seis. She remembered Midnight, and how scary he had seemed. Sure he had seemed scary to everyone, but he had really scared Lucy. The daytime was Lucy's time. People said that Lucy constantly reminded them of the day, of the sun. When she was small, she was scared of the dark, and she was almost always certain that something dangerous, scary or both was hiding out there somewhere. When Lucy got older, the only time she was ever allowed out was in the daytime, and she grew to love it even more, since that was the only time she got to breathe fresh air. People constantly commented on her "golden hair, the same shade as the sun," and her brown eyes, people said, brought light to them. She was the sunshine, and he was the darkness. She didn't admit it, but Lucy had been genuinely scared that he would be
the one to make her light go out. Midnight was everything Lucy wasn't.
Then her mind drifted to Cobra. Erik, his name was. Lucy blushed, as she caught herself thinking of the poison dragon slayer. He had been on her mind for a long time, haunting her dreams or nightmares, she couldn't tell the difference. Cobra had seemed so sad. Sure, he acted like a pompous ass most of the time, but so did Laxus. And God knows Laxus had issues. Lucy considered herself wise enough to know by now that people don't just turn out that way. Something happens, something triggers people to turn out like that. In Laxus it was his mother's loss and then his psychotic father. Lucy wondered if Erik was like that, something so terrible. At least Laxus had someone to guide him, Erik probably didn't. Lucy blushed again, as she caught herself using his real name, and wondered what had piqued her sudden interest in him.
Lucy decided it was his face. Lucy still remembered seeing his face for the first time, he numerous scars on his tan face, and the large, more prominent scar that had sealed his one eye shut. His sole ruby eye gleamed at them with such hate and distaste, so much pain that Lucy was struck. She couldn't even imagine how she would have felt if both would have been staring at her.
Suddenly, there was a small rustle of a few bushes of to the side, and Lucy instantly leapt to her feet, her hand on her whip. There had been no news from Gray, Wendy or Natsu, and if these were one of their mages, they could be in trouble. Suddenly the rustle moved, this time behind her, and then stopped. After a few tense minutes, Lucy decided that the ground was no longer safe. Spotting a sturdy looking tree, she flung her whip up, and latched it onto one of the upper branches, and yanked herself up.
Situating herself atop of the tree, she once again tried to spot her friends, looking around for a small dash of blue, pink, scarlet or cat. Giving up once again, she sat down, her back resting against the tree trunk. Another few peaceful minutes passed before the rustling started up again, this time at the same elevation as her. Leaping to her feet once again, she grabbed the tree trunk for support. The rustling seized, and everything was peaceful. Lucy took one step to the left, and the tree began to fall. Slowly at first, almost unnoticeable. But then, it tilted more, and Lucy didn't have time to tree went down with an almighty crash, and as it fell, Lucy was sure her friends had seen that, and were heading toward her. Sitting up, she groaned in pain and rubbed her head to numb the headache she was sure was going to arise. She stood up and looked around to see what had caused such a sturdy tree to fall, and find a very hairy answer.
It was a forest vulcan, that laid knocked out under the large trunk of the tree. It had probably smelt Lucy and had come for her. To not risk falling off the tree, it had apparently decided to bring it down, knocking himself out in the process. Sweat dropping at the irony, she pulled her lacrima out of her pocket, and proceeded to try calling Erza to inform her that the crash was her, and that she was still ok. To her surprise though, she was met with the sole ruby red eye, of the poison dragon slayer.