Author's Note: Hey, everybody! I KNOW I said that Chapter One would be up on WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8TH, 2016 but...I can't contain my excitement anymore! I really want to get this out to you early-just this once. ;)

Disclaimer: FAIRY TAIL, all characters, likenesses and related indicia are owned by Hiro Mashima, Del Ray Manga, Kodansha, Weekly Shonen Magazine, Madman Entertainment, TV Tokyo and Funimation. Enjoy this FICTIONAL, FAN-WRITTEN story, but please also go support the official release. :)

*FEARI*

"Way to go, Lucy! That's how you show 'em!"

The beautiful, buxom young lady with blonde hair tied up into a half side ponytail turned around at the sound of her name and beamed brightly. Her copper-colored eyes danced with excitement and determination.

Lucy Heartfilia was a Celestial Wizard, an especially rare type of wizard who could create bonds called contracts with Celestial Spirits from another world. Once Lucy entered a contract with a Celestial Spirit, that Spirit was to become her servant and protector, coming to her side whenever she needed them to. However, Lucy never viewed her Spirits as servants, but actually as some of her closest friends.

Right now she stood before one of said Spirits in a private far-off field surrounded only by a ring of trees, breathing heavily but still feeling quite able. Lucy felt extremely proud of herself lately; she was outside undergoing intense training with Taurus the Golden Bull, one of the rare Celestial Spirits of the Zodiac.

"Yoooooooouuuu've got some great moooooooooooves!" Taurus bellowed joyously as he leapt into the air, landed heavily on his hooves in front of Lucy and flexed his bulging biceps in an attempt to impress her. "Now how about a smoooooooooch?" he added, puckering his lips.

"NO WAY, YOU PERVERT!" Lucy yelled, skipping two feet backwards as she scrambled desperately out of Taurus's reach. "I'm ready to take a quick breather anyway."

She wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand and walked over to the small blue cat who sat under one of the trees in the fresh green grass and cheered her on from the shade. He gave a mischievous smile.

"You were great, Lucy!" the cat exclaimed as she plopped down next to him. "And I never thought I'd actually compliment you about anything, ever!"

Lucy glared down at the cat, "Yeah, and I never thought you'd have enough sense to do so either."

The cat, whose name was Happy, had already turned his attention back to the succulent fish he cradled in his hands and he completely disregarded Lucy.

She scoffed, rolled her eyes and leaned back against the tree trunk. Then she felt something nudge her in her other side, making her look down at the source. A small white dog with the face of a snowman trembled and squealed as he waved excitedly up at her. His name was Plue and he was also one of Lucy's beloved Celestial Spirits. She gave Plue a warm smile, "Thanks, Plue. I appreciate your encouragement too."

As she caught her breath, Lucy's silent gaze drifted up towards the sunny, clear blue sky. Within the endless vast of space above her, she retreated inside her thoughts.

Lucy was a member of one of the most powerful wizard guilds in all of Fiore: FAIRY TAIL. She had been a member for quite some time now, but in the years that she'd been there, Lucy constantly faced one problem: she was not as strong as her comrades. In fact, Lucy was often seen as the "weakest link," and that actually scared her more than the monsters and rivals that she ever faced in the past.

Today officially made it two weeks since she began her secret training sessions with her Celestial Spirits-and boy, was it hard! From scrambling around trying to keep anyone else in the guild from finding out all the way down to the trainings themselves, Lucy wasn't sure which was actually the hardest.

She also wasn't exactly sure why everyone else's opinion mattered to her so much, but she knew one thing for sure-she would train and train hard until she was sure that her strength was on far more even ground with that of her fellow guild members, especially the wizards she was on a team with.

Lucy heaved a heavy sigh as each of her team members' faces flashed through her mind: the austere glare of the flaming redhead, Erza Scarlet; the cool, calm, collected smirk of the raven-haired Gray Fullbuster; and finally...the wild, wide-eyed, sharp-toothed grin of the pink-haired (A/N: Okay, okay...I'm SOOO trollin' right now, lol. I mean to say...*ahem, ahem*-SALMON-haired) Natsu Dragneel. They were all so powerful in their own unique ways, and then there was Lucy...a mere keeper of keys.

NO, I am not going there, Lucy told herself firmly. No negative thoughts! I'm doing so well so far! I can't wait until I show everybody back at Fairy Tail the new and improved powerhouse on the block!

Lucy smiled lightly and with that, she slowly closed her eyes.

"Aww, don't tell me you're all worn out already, Lucy. I didn't even get to be the cause!"

Lucy's eyes snapped back open to find a stunningly handsome, bespectacled young man with spiky deep orange hair standing over her, smiling slyly.

"Loke! What the hell are you doing here?!" Lucy demanded as she bolted upright from her comfortable position in the shade.

"Well, I was just wondering why you decided to train without inviting me," Loke replied with a feigned pout. He pompously adjusted his red suit tie and continued, "It's the latest word back in the Celestial World. You know I could help train you up real good. I've got the best workout regimen that includes you, me, and a horizontal pos-"

"SHUT IT!" Lucy screeched, cutting the Celestial Lion off. "This is exactly why I didn't call you! Dealing with one perv is more than enough!" She flung her open arms out and gestured at the center of the field towards Taurus, who gasped dramatically at the offense.

"Now, why would yooooou ever call me a perv? I simply admire your beauuuuuuuty!" He said with his tongue dangling lustfully from his mouth.

"Ugh, whatever," Lucy muttered as she stood back up. "Let's just keep going now!"

"But I thought you were taking a break?" Happy said, finally turning his attention back to everyone else now that his delicious fish was all gone.

"Yeah, well I've decided to cut my break short." Lucy walked back towards Taurus.

"Of course you did," said Loke. "You just can't stand to pass up the chance to let me help train that body of yours-"

"I said SHUT IT!"

So Lucy, Taurus and Loke resumed their training while Plue watched in wobbling excitement and Happy watched on through lazy, heavy-lidded eyes; eating that fish made him drowsy, but he still didn't want to miss out on any of the action.

Wow! If only Natsu were here to see this! The cat thought to himself.

...

"Ahhh...relief," Lucy sighed as she sank into a hot, steaming bubble bath later that night. "That training was so intense! I can't wait to get in bed and go to sleep!"

She spent a few minutes rubbing her arms down with water as she quietly reflected on her training.

"Hey, don't you think you should call it a day now? We've been going at it for hours," Loke asked, his body still glowing with hot golden light.

"No!" Lucy exclaimed as she gripped her whip handle in defiance. " I want to keep going! I have to keep going!"

At that point, Lucy stood on wobbling legs and she was covered with dirt and sweat. She felt beyond exhausted, but she refused to let up now. The training was going so well! She insisted that they didn't take it easy on her. She even learned a few new maneuvers based on one of Loke's attacks!

"Leo has a point, yooooou know," Taurus said. He jabbed the blade of his giant ax into the ground and leaned against the handle. "Yooooou look like you're about to fall over!"

Lucy shook her head furiously. "No! I want to keep going!"

Loke took a careful step towards her. "Why do you want to train so badly? Where did this even come from?"

Lucy finally snapped. "Where did this come from, Loke? You wanna know where did this come from? It comes from the fact that I am sick and tired of always being the weakest one in the guild!"

Loke, Taurus, Happy and Plue all froze where they were as Lucy looked wildly around at all of them with a borderline manic glint in her eye. "You think I don't realize what everyone thinks of me-what they all say about me? I've read the articles in Sorcerer Magazine! I've heard the gossip on the streets! I've even heard the jokes and remarks back at Fairy Tail! And that's what hurts the most!" Lucy's voice suddenly caught in her throat as tears began to sting her eyes.

"I've been sheltered all my life! Just a regular pampered little princess! I never learned how to fight because my parents never thought I needed to learn, so naturally I didn't think so either..." She trailed off and lowered her gaze to the ground, unable to maintain eye contact with the four before her anymore.

"But I got tired of that life, as you already know...and that's when I ventured out on my own to find this guild. I was so excited when I first joined. Everyone was-and still is-like family but...it didn't take long for me to realize that I couldn't possibly keep up with everyone and their natural abilities."

"Lucy..." Loke began gently.

Lucy abruptly looked back up at Taurus, Loke, Happy and Plue. "No, Loke! There's nothing you can tell me to convince me of anything else! I've always been the weakest one here!" she yelled, cutting across him. "That's not to say I have no strengths at all, but for some reason it just never seems to be enough. This is why I have to get stronger!"

Lucy flung her arms into the air, suddenly beside herself with rage. "It's been the same old shit for years! I've already been kidnapped on more than one occasion, always forced into the role of some damsel-in-distress! Matter of fact, that's how me and Natsu first met! He intervened on some perv who was pretending to be HIM!"

"Wow, I didn't know that," said Taurus, shuffling his hooves uncomfortably.

"Yeah!" Lucy ranted on. "And it definitely doesn't help that I'm young, beautiful and blonde-I'm a walkin' freakin' cliche!"

Happy sniggered into his paw at that notion and earned another death stare from Lucy.

"The point is," she pressed on as she limped a few steps to stare off into the distance, "This isn't some silly old fairy tale...this is FAIRY TAIL, the strongest, fiercest, most tight-knit guild in all of Fiore! I can't keep waiting on Natsu or anyone else to rescue me! What if one day no one is around to save me when I need it the most?!"

Energy spent and unable to support her own weight any longer, Lucy's legs finally gave out on her and the world became a tilting blur as she collapsed onto the ground.

"LUCY!" Everyone immediately rushed to her side. Loke dropped to his knees and lifted Lucy's upper body towards himself, cradling her to his chest. She managed to open her eyes and look weakly up at the Spirit the held onto her for dear life.

"I...I didn't know you felt that way, " said Loke. "You're not weak, Lucy. You're actually the most powerful Master who ever possessed my key! And no..." he added when Lucy opened her mouth in protest. "I'm not just saying this because I'm absolutely infatuated with you. I really mean it."

Lucy managed a small smile at Loke's attempt to lighten the mood. "T...Thanks, Loke. That really means a lot to me."

"Now come on," Loke went on as he lifted her from the ground into his arms and held her bridal style. "Let's get you home. If almost passing out isn't a good enough sign to let you know that you've had enough training for the day, then I don't know what is."

*FEARI*

Author's Note: Well, we finally made it, you guys! The end of Chapter One! So what do you think? SURELY you didn't expect me to just jump right into the dark and juicy stuff, did you? :) I've read too many stories that does exactly that. (Not even the manga or anime jumped head-first into darkness)! Where's the fun in that? ;P I love the signature feel of Fairy Tail that we all know and love. Besides...I want you to BEG for this lemonade! *Drip, drip, drop* (in my Juvia voice) Mwah, ha, haaaaaaaaa! :D (Oops...sorry...some of my kink is showing...)

Anyway, I'm sure you already noticed this, but let me officially add one more thing to the list of things that you WON'T find in this story:

* AN OVERLY-WEAK ASS LUCY. I mean, YEAH she can be weak at times (I STILL need this chick to learn how to fight in real life)...but in some fics I've read...it's gotten beyond ridiculous.

Well, no worries here. I believe in realistic, believable character development! Writing this story helps me to practice in doing just that, among working other writing muscles!

I'm just happy that you're all along for the ride with me! Thanks to everyone who commented, favorited and/or followed me and the story! I appreciate you all! You know what this feels like to me? When I started getting email notifications of people adding me to their Fav Authors, Fav Stories, Story Alert, etc...I IMMEDIATELY visualized a movie theater where everyone files in and settles down into their seats. Everyone is sitting and waiting for the movie to start, hoping that they're about to get their money's worth. YES. That's EXACTLY what I saw lol. So again, THANK YOU!

Oh, and - Fairy Rains- no offense taken! I'm actually HYPE that you're reading my story! I've fallen head-over-heels for YOUR story myself! Lol.

CHAPTER TWO will be up NEXT WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15th, 2016!