Chapter 2: Story of my life

Oh, ephemeral soul that conceals herself in the depths of deception…

Why do you continue to wait in the deserted forest?

"Humans confront Death as a tragedy, but to me it seems that it's more of a comedy! Did the wheel of the world repeat? Being awoken from my deep slumber… how mischievous the gods can be! Will that be the proof that I lived I wonder!?" A high pitched voice laughed, seeing a tombstone on the top of the place of the beginnings. Flowers rested there, covering the name of Lucy with their white petals. A hand came out from the grey cloak covering the silhouette of a woman. Trapped in her fingers, a red spider lily was found, that was released with the sudden breeze. Falling into the rift, it was carried and swallowed by the dense mist, trapped in the claws of death.

"Riposa in pace" (rest in peace) Turning around, the ghost of the past left, being no longer trapped into the illusion that kept her all this time. In the newly silence, a crumble appeared on the tombstone.

Almost two years passed. The merciless time went further, forgetting a dear nakama of theirs. Slowly, they got over that shock. But even now… they can remember… the pain of losing Lucy Heartfilia… Even so, the most difficult was for Natsu. They all seemed to know of the two's sparks, but just the two of them didn't realize. However, once he lost her, he came into being. He didn't stop calling her name… repeating it more and more, crying at his powerless being.

"Hello Gray. What can I give you?" Mira asked, seeing Gray sit down at the bar.

"A glass of water will do. Summer is coming…" he sighed, feeling the hotness of the air.

"Gray, clothes." Lisanna said, without looking at him as she entered the kitchen with a few plates.

"Crap! When did that happen!?" he exclaimed, just now noticing.

"Then water it is." Mira giggled, going to bring the glass.

"Gray, wanna go on a mission with me?" Erza asked, coming from behind.

"Ah, Erza. When did you return?" he asked, remembering that she was on a mission.

"I returned last night. I just found a good one at the board. So? Will you come?" she asked again. He seemed to think.

"I don't know… I wanted to take a break for a while… Why don't you take Natsu instead?" Grey asked and Erza remained surprised.

"I thought he was on a mission already. Shouldn't he have come by now at the guild if he was in town?" she asked and Mira came with the water.

"This week it seems that he discovered a pleasure in sleeping in." she said, giggling.

"Oh, I see. Maybe I should go and wake him up then. FIRMLY." She said, a smirk on her face.

"Oi, oi, Erza-chan! Last time you went to wake up somebody you had to pay for a whole building!" Macao laughed in the back, hearing her declaration.

"Heh! It wasn't so bad." She said, pleased. Then the doors opened, revealing a pinkette, together with his flying blue cat.

"Charla~" Happy chanted, heading for where his favorite girl was, taking the tea with Wendy.

"Yo!" Natsu shouted, entering the guild. "Oh, Erza, you're back. I thought you will make it longer thought. Anyway, wanna go on a mission with me? I'm in a need of money, you see?" he laughed, rubbing his head.

"Mou, Natsu, you're careless as always." Lisanna giggled, coming out of the kitchen.

"In fact, that's what I was talking about with Grey. Then, how about going together? I just found a nice one at the board." The red headed said and they laughed.

"My, my!" an unfamiliar voice echoed. "The old Team goes for a mission together and doesn't invite me! Now I feel neglected…" that feminine voice said, sighing as everybody turned their attention to the front of the doors, where their eyes widened in shock as they dropped their glasses and forks.

"Hime, should we go on one ourselves then? We can always find something worthy to do." The familiar pink haired maid said, blinking from her eyes in the left of a hooded person.

"Maa, Lucy. You're kind of mean right now, you know? They're all about to have an heart attack at the moment because of you." The familiar cool playboy, always dressed in suit said chuckling, seeing the shocked expression of everybody. He was standing in the right of that person. The hooded figure raised her head, revealing chocolate big eyes as she placed a hand, her right hand on her cheek, titling her head.

"Oh, dear. Is that so? I must excuse myself then." She smiled, revealing the most familiar thing, beside the blonde bangs on her forehead, the chocolate eyes or the Fairy Tail emblem on her hand, that flawless smile that made the storms turn into sunny days. Just then did the tears begin to fell and shouts with her name echoed into the whole guild. But the most sudden thing was that she suddenly found herself tied. No… that wasn't right… she was being embraced… tightly… As she titled her head a little, she could see the familiar pink hair buried into her shoulder. She couldn't help but smile and close her eyes, returning the embrace.

"I'm back…" she whispered into his ear, earning herself a more tightly bound.

"Oi, Natsu! Get off!" Loke shouted, getting jealous.

"Lucy!" Erza screamed, together with many of the guild that came around her, making her feel as if she was some zoo attraction. She couldn't help but giggled nervously as they all cried and hugged her, making sure she was there, in reality, not a fleeing dream. Even Loke and Virgo understood this and let it pass, returning to their own world.

"I'm back…" she repeated, feeling loved.

"Child, you must explain to us as well. We all thought you were dead until today…" the Master said, recovering from his own crying. Lucy couldn't help but smile, feeling the whole guild's eyes on her, as she stood down, face to face to the Master. She nodded her head.

"I will explain. But there are some things that don't have their time to be told at this moment. They will come in time. First, I'd need a map so everybody will be able to understand. Levy?" she asked sweetly, looking up at the trembling bluenette that hurried and came back with a map of the world.

"Here, Lu-tan…" she said, glad and smiling.

"Thank you." Lucy said and put it on the table. She then pointed with one finger a place near the coast, where she supposedly has died two years ago. "Here, this is the place where two years ago, I fell from the cliff. It was a fall of 830 meters as I've recently found, and I fell directly into the water. At that time, I was exhausted, since I used two of my spirits against the monster that from which I suspect you already heard of." She said, looking to Natsu and the others, who stood closest to her, maybe in fear that she will disappear.

"That I know. No matter how much we searched, all that we found was your hair ribbon. That was also the reason we… build a tombstone there…" Makarov said, saddened, but Lucy laughed.

"Now, now, don't go around killing people. Maa, but I guess you had no choice since I wasn't showing up." She giggled and her eyes turned back to the map. "My luck was that the rift wasn't too far from the ocean. I don't know much details, since I was unconscious at the time, but it seems that the water carried me all the way to a few km in the sea. I woke up three days later, riding a boat to Midi. It seems that a group of merchants found me floating at the surface of the water, and when they've seen I wasn't dead, they took me in without thinking again. Very nice people." She said, smiling. "But what I should add was that when I woke up…" she hesitated, but took out her hood, revealing short hair, to her shoulders and a pair of wolf ears, with blonde fur, flinching. "I had this." She stated, and the whole guild remained stunned once again.

"Lucy… these are…" Makarov mumbled, staring at them.

"There's also a tail." She said. "And fangs, and claws… My body changed in order to survive. It may be a form of magic as well." She said, giggling as she looked shy to the table, feeling Natsu's fingers poking her ears curious and suspicious. Then she jumped up, yelping as she touched her butt.

"Aye! She's right, there is a tail!" Happy declared, flying up, before being taken in custody by a growling blonde.

"What are you doing, idiotic cat!? Pulling other people's tail as if it were a toy!?" she screamed, pulling his own tail as he apologized over and over again, crying. The guild couldn't help and laughed, seeing the familiar scene.

After she made her number, Lucy smirked victoriously and sat down once more.

"When you'll wish." Makarov said, mentioning the map. "You said the boat was going to Midi, were you not?"

"Yes" she nodded, a smile appearing on her face. "The ship headed straight for Midi, going through the continental Great River, because of the pirates. There were a few stops on the coast of Minstrel, but each of them were of a few days at most. The ship was going on that route to escape the danger of pirates, which we know haunt the seas outside the continent. However, we did encounter them just before reaching Midi, near this small island." She said, obtaining a few gasps.

"You met pirates, Lucy!?" Wendy asked shocked. She heard about them rumors, but never seen. However, there was nothing good relating the rumors she heard. Lucy nodded, watching her in the eyes.

"That's right. The crew I was now part of had good fighters, but none of them knew any magic. They were just merchants after all. However, the pirates didn't seem to rely on magic too much either. But the numbers were against us anyway. I had no choice but to fight them myself, which turned to be a success." She said, making a victory sign.

"That's the way of a man!" Elfman shouted and the guild laughed once more.

"After that, making the pirates turn a little better I would say…" she giggled. "We finally reached Midi. That was two months later from the moment they took me in. At that point, I had the choice of coming back to Fiore through Minstrel, but as you know, the country wasn't very stable at that moment. And there was also something I had to confirm in Enca, so I went further with the crew, Sin being the last stop of the crew there for more of an year. Once I reached Sin, I bit farewell to the friends I made and crossed the country, making use of the ports to avoid the detour to Pergrande. At this point, I found myself in Bellum, near the border of Desierto." She explained, pointing every location with her finger.

"That's quite a long way…" Mira mused, a bit worried.

"Yes, but it was worth. There are a lot of things to see outside our country… Such wonderful things and people to meet…" she smiled, remembering that person from Enca… "From Bellum, I entered Desierto. It's hard to cross, and by the time I reached the royal city, 6 months already passed. There, I've spend quite a time at the royal court, together with Her Highness Ma Madesenen and His Highness Ka Aziza. They've been nice enough to prepare for me to leave to Minstrel by a caravan." She said, moving to the border of Minstrel.

"Why didn't you go through Joya?" Makarov asked, thinking.

"The border of Desierto and Joya has a lot of high mountains, that are also dangerous. The best routes from there on were either going back through Bellum and then to Iceberg or risk with Minstrel and head for Stella on the valleys of Joya after that. The preparations for war that Minstrel were hiding were just exposed to the public then, and the whole country was too chaotic. There, coming from Stella as an emissary, I found the one who turned to be my next companion for another three months. Calming the government of Minstrel a little, together with the Rebel Army, we headed together to Stella as fast as we could. We just got word of the assassination of the crown prince that was supposed to take place in the following days and the revolt taking place, stirred by spies from Minstrel. After half of month spend there, almost all forms of revolt were destroyed and I left further, travelling to Bosco. From there one, time was all that mattered. And finally… I am back here, to Fairy Tail, after almost 2 years…" she said, happy to be back.

"That's quite an adventure…" Grey was the first to say, sitting down, unable to believe.

"Why didn't you send word here Lucy? We would've come to get you at any time!" Erza exclaimed, having an inner conflict.

"It was hard and much time would require to do so. And not even my spirits would've been able to come all the way here." The blonde wolf she explained.

"It all sounds like a made up story to me…" Gajeel yawned.

"Gajeel!" Levy exclaimed.

"Lucy…" Makarov murmured, watching her with an intense stare as he had his legs crossed. "Four months ago, the word of Stella's crown prince's assassination attempt got here too. Four weeks later, everybody in that country and the masters of the guilds here knew about two women that led the rebel army and stopped the revolution of the country. These two women are said to have also involved Desierto's royal influence and got Enca merchants to stop their work through Minstrel, the source of the problems. Other great influences of the world were ready to jump in at just one call, even the Kingdom of Pergrande and the church of Seven… Could it be… by any chance… that it was you one of these two?" he asked, seriousness full in his voice. Everybody sweated, what the Master was saying of was indeed incredible. But Lucy just titled her head and smiled innocently.

"You do anything for friends, isn't it, Master?" she calmly said, relaxing the whole atmosphere. With that answer, nobody can get her guilty of anything. And that was the best possible outcome.

"Hahaha! I'm so glad that you're back, child!" he burst into crying again. "Tonight we're partying! Everything's free, brats!" he shouted, and cheers were heard in the whole guild. Truly… that was where she loved to be, more than the royal palaces of the world or travelling… she felt good in Fairy Tail…

That's it, kids! Second chapter! Tell me what you think of it, ok?