Fragile Crystal Life
Chapter 2: A New Friend

"You can't be serious? We've been flying for the past days, and this was the only walking break I could get," the Fexceed complained. "I'll carry you when you get tired. Activate: Wings of the Dragon's. We can't let him wait forever. Let's go," Sakura said before flying up into the sky with the Fexceed following.

Lucy sat there, staring blankly at the ceiling of the guild's rooftop. She gave a long sigh and turned her head back to watch the guild have a long drinking session with Cana who was laughing out loud, chugging down the alcohol down her throat without a whim. For some reason, she was lacking sleep, even though she slept very early. There was another reason too. Strangely, she wasn't able to express emotions much more than before - As if she had no emotions at all.

She turned back to look at her palms. Her palms were much stiffer than before. Her eyes stopped shining as bright as before. She had to force herself to smile at her friends who approached her. Using her magic was quite hard as well. Her magic was as if it was tree sap, hardening slowly.

"Lu-chan?" a voice questioned, making the blonde turn her head to see the blunette smiling at her sadly. "What's wrong Levy?" Lucy asked as she rested her chin on her palms, looking at the said girl with a questioning look. Levy looked at her in concern. "You look really tired. Would you need some caffeine to boost you up?" she asked, getting her hand ready to call out for Mirajane who was speaking to Gajeel in the distance.

Lucy forced herself to smile at her best friend before her smile faded away to leave it expressionless. "I'm tired, but I got plenty of sleep last night. I also don't know why it's so difficult to smile when I want to," Lucy replied as she gave out a tired sigh where as Levy looked at her in worry. "Same dream? I heard it from Mirajane and Lisanna. Are you sure that you're alright?" Levy questioned.

The blonde shook her head, "I'm sure about it..." Suddenly, Levy widened her eyes, watching the blonde become faintly transparent before returning back to normal. She shook it away until she turned her head, watching Team Natsu walk up to them with bright smiles. "Oh. Your team is coming. Hello you guys!" Levy waved, smiling at the team who smiled back to her. "Hey there Levy. Can we talk to Lucy privately?" Erza asked. Levy nodded, "I'll talk to you later Lu-chan. See you!" Levy then said, waving back to Lucy who did the same back. "See you," Lucy said with a faint smile.

Lucy turned to look at her team who were surrounding her. Suddenly, their faces went glum. "Lucy... Uhm.. Can we ask you a favour?" Gray asked as he scratched his head awkwardly, averting his eyes in shame. She looked at the raven and titlled her head in confusion. "What favour Gray?" Lucy questioned back, answer already telling them that she's interested in helping with their favour.

Natsu looked away, while Happy was sitting on his head with a sad face. "Well you see... The maximum amount of members in a team is five to seven people. We were wondering if we can have Juvia and Lisanna join our team," Natsu then stated. Lucy was still confused. "But isn't that alright? Then we would have seven people. We all fit," Lucy then replied where Erza shook her head. "Happy is included although he's an Exceed. Therefore, we have eight people. We haven't told them yet, but we would like you to switch places with them," she explained where Lucy suddenly got the question.

Her heart froze. It stopped beating for a few seconds before beating again. They heard Laxus give out a gruff, catching their attention. "You're replacing her?" Laxus said, suddenly joining in with their team conversation where Lucy began shivering in hidden sadness. Lucy forced a smile through her hardships of having difficulties in showing them. Before the team could reason back, Lucy forced herself to give out a giggle which made them all look at her. "It's fine... That'll mean that I'll be able to train and become stronger to catch up with you guys. So how long are they going to be in our team?" Lucy inquired.

Erza shook her head. "We don't know how long, but it may become semi permanent. It would be better since we always cause trouble for you, and you have a rent to pay as well. You said you wanted to train," she stated where Lucy forced herself not to cry. She then felt a sudden pulse of energy rush through her body. Her body began to react from the adrenaline.
Everyone all looked over to Lucy who was holding onto her throat, breathing hard where she began glowing yellow. Of course, Laxus was full alerted about a situation like this was happening, so instead of trying to ask; he backed away and walked up onto the second storey where Makarov looked down upon them.

"Is this what you were talking about? You said that this visitor was going to arrive yesterday – So where is she?" said Laxus over his grandfather who remained to look as stern as ever. "She may be coming soon… Just hopefully, around now. Currently, Lucy's crystallised self is reacting to the current situation. Let's just say… Explosive, yet highly doubtful Lucy is going to make her first appearance to the guild," Makarov responded in a worried voice.

Now everyone was looking at Lucy in confusion. Why was she glowing?

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"No one wants someone like me."

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"I'm just someone who they truly don't know."

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"I'm just a nobody."

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"No one likes the likes of me!"

She gave out a high-pitched wail where light swarmed around her where it then exploded everything. It even injured a few people who were slightly away from her. As the light faded, it revealed Lucy falling to the ground. As she fell, Natsu was reaching over to her where a flash of crimson hair beat him to it, catching the falling blonde in ease. They watched the unknown crimson-haired girl give out a relieved sigh. "That was my first time seeing this type of thing happen. I should research about it more," the crimson stated before a light-pink Exceed-looking cat walked over to her, "It seems like she had a nervous breakdown." The girl shrugged and moved Lucy over to her back, allowing herself to give the collapsed girl a piggyback. "Well then. Sorry about her sudden explosion, but please give her some space for now. Let's go Florai," the girl said before walking up stairs, flicking her hair behind.

The guild all watched in confusion, only a few senior members remember her, but couldn't pin out her name since she went on a long-term mission within the first day of her joining the guild. They then heard the bar seat spin, making them change their attention to Laxus who stood up with his hands in his pockets - How did he get back to his seat?. "None explain nor tell to the outside," he instructed before following the crimson behind who forced herself to smile at the male blonde. "Laxi-kun. There's no need into following me up to the infirmary," the crimson said, trying to sound as sweet as ever.

Laxus scoffed and continued on following, nodding his head to his grandfather who did the same in return. "Nice to see you back here in the guild, Sakura," Makarov said as he opened the infirmary door's to reveal little Wendy inside, trying to make her own medicine for future purposes. She turned around and was shocked to see Lucy in the carry of a stranger's. "Uhmm. Is Lucy-san alright? Do I need to heal her?" Wendy questioned as she fiddled along with the hem of her dress. The three shook their heads in silence. "I can heal her. Are you a cleric of the guild little one?" the crimson, or Sakura, asked as she placed Lucy down gently on the bed, trying not to wake her up from the sudden impact.

Wendy shook her head. "I'm a Dragon Slayer." Sakura turned around in worry, "Have you seen Grandeeney yet?" Wendy looked at Sakura in confusion; Just how in the world did she know Grandeeney's name. She shook her head in refusal. "Uhmm, If you-" Wendy froze once she saw Sakura beginning to heal the collapsed blonde with her magic. This feeling was… Her magic felt like Grandeeney's.

A tear streamed down from her eyes down to her cheeks, shocking the three who noticed her tears. "What is it my child?" Makarov asked in concern, before watching the Sky Maiden wipe away her tears. "Her magic… It has the same feeling as Grandeeney's. This magic is… It's like mine, but only stronger…" Wendy replied, walking over to Sakura where she placed her hand on the girl's shoulders, closing her eyes to experience the feelings of her magic flowing through her veins. She gasped and opened her eyes again. "There's more than one element…" Wendy then whispered.

Sakura chuckled and finished healing Lucy who began to sleep. "Can you please go down to the guild? I need to have a very important discussion with Master," Sakura asked kindly over to the small mage. Wendy hesitated at first but nodded, walking over to the door where she excused herself and left. Laxus gave out a gruff. "So, how is she?" Laxus asked.

The crimson faked herself to look shocked, "Wow! The big boy is now talking to me by choice and is worrying about someone?! I'm surprised," Sakura winked mockingly over to him before her face grew dark and concerned. "The research you assigned me to do six years ago… I finally gathered most of what I could find. Lucy, she's going to return back to her crystal self within two more months. I'm not too sure about the cure, of not letting her return to her real body is possible, but she'll need to do something to prevent that process from happening. I'm guessing that she, and the guild, will be in grave danger – But first, let me interview with the guild," Sakura mumbled before turning her head to see Florai climbing out from the bottom of the bed.

"Uhmm. What are you doing Florai?" Sakura asked. "I want to surprise everyone that you're a Dragon Slayer," Florai stated bluntly, making the three sweat-drop at her words. "But they all saw you." "They didn't notice that I was your partner did I?" Florai then replied. Sakura sighed and looked back to Lucy with concern written all over. "I'm willing to look after her. Although she may be older than me by a year, I know a lot about her, and know the difficulties of not having a family for a long time," Sakura said before kissing Lucy's forehead and then standing up, her kimono sleeves fluttering as she stood. Florai jumped onto Sakura's shoulder and tilted her head with her demonic tail flicking side to side.

"So are you not going to reintroduce us to your guild of yours Master?"

Makarov sighed and looked at Laxus who was awkwardly scratching his head. "Do you still bear our insignia?" Makarov questioned, over to the girl who was fixing her uneven leggings. She looked up and smiled, holding up her right hand with her sleeve slipping down to reveal her crimson guild mark on the back of her hand. "I do cherish this guild, so obviously, yes," Sakura answered before slicking her long crimson hair back. The two nodded before leading her out of the infirmary, remembering to gently close the door without a sound to prevent themselves from startling the blonde while she rested.

As they silently walked to the staircase, they then stopped with Laxus leaning on top of the railings of the second floor, and the other two standing on the stairs where they slowly caught the attention of the guild. "Alright brats! Listen up! We have a returning guild member who may as well be considered as a new one since many of you still don't or remember her!" Master Makarov yelled out, now with everyone looking and paying attention to them. Sakura took a step down and smiled at her new nakama members. "Nice to see a few faces from when I was still an undercover member of the guild – To everyone who I still have to meet here; My name is Sakura Miyasaki! This is my partner, Florai, a Fexceed – A new breed, well, a different breed to the common Exceeds!" Sakura introduced before a fireball came flying to her.

She flicked it away in ease before continuing her little introduction. "I'm a partly overall mage, but my main magic is Water Dragon Slaying, and Galaxy Card Summoning magic. I hope we can all be friends. Oh! Can I ask you a question?" Sakura then asked. The guild looked at her for a moment before someone screamed out "what?" in reply. The crimson smiled, "So, what do you think of Lucy?" Everyone looked at her in shock.

"She's a wonderful Stellar mage!"

"She's Lucky Lucy!"

"I think she's amazing!"

"Lu-chan is my best friend!"

Sakura continued on smiling before a certain pink-haired wizard dashed up to stand on the bottom of the staircase and gave the girl a challenging look. "I'm Natsu Dragneel! Salamander of Fairy Tail! I challenge you to a fight!" he announced with Gray standing beside him with a smirk. "I kind of agree with flame brain for once. Count me in for this fight. My name is Gray Fullbuster," Gray then stated where Erza stood behind them with a calm look. "To set the challenge. I'll also be your opponent. Nice to meet you Sakura. My name is Erza Titania Scarlet."

The crimson smirked and looked up to Makarov, silently asking if she was allowed to accept their challenge with shimmering, begging eyes. Makarov gave out a sigh and quietly nodded where the girl cheered and jumped for joy. Regaining her calm and composed attitude, thanks to her partner on her shoulder, she innocently smiled before looking down on them with a smirk. "I haven't been in a friendly guild challenge before, so I'll happily accept your challenge, Team Natsu."

So how do you think of this chapter? Updated this chapter as early as I can to let you all read it quicker than how I update my stories now. It's great to see you guys support me by reviewing. To everyone who made a guess, thank you all in participating. If you said that it was Lucy, that was correct, though Mavis is somewhere in that room hidden. Opps. I just gave out a small hint. Oh well.

Is there anything that you would like to see happen in this fanfic? Feel free to type it down in the reviews so I can get to you.
Please review, follow or favourite if you haven't after reading this chapter. Your support helps me to continue updating quicker like how I used to. (I used to update every second day with over 2000 words).

- CelestialSakuraa