April 22, 2014 to April 22, 2014

Disclaimers: I do not own any part whatsoever of Fairy Tail.
Summary: Once the deed has been committed, it has been committed. There is no turning back. Enjoy! And don't forget to review please!

Chapter 2

Somehow, Team Natsu managed to miraculously restore the elderly woman's garden to the condition it was before. Luckily, their reward wasn't cut short and all things seemed to have settle down. They thanked the grandma before heading back to Magnolia, taking the forest as their short cut.

"Aye, I'm so tired of walking," complained Happy as he hovered in the air along with the rest of the crew.

"Oh quit whining," yapped Lucy as she dragged her feet along, "You're not even walking."

"We should be getting back to the guild soon if we take this path," said Gray as he walked with arms behind his head, "Just bear with it."

Suddenly, a tummy growl could be heard among the five members. Clearly, someone was rather famished after their job request.

"Hehe, I could sure go for some grilled meat right now!" piped Natsu with a smile as he rubbed his stomach area. Happy agreed readily, nodding his head. "Aye sir!"

Gray scratched the back of his head. "We could stop to look around for food, or we could just keep going."

"Break, break!" said Lucy, happily clapping her hands in applause. "We all need a break, so let's find some food!" Lucy was relieved - she could finally rest her tired legs for a good period of time before getting back onto the path towards the guild again.

The team decided to split into two: Natsu, Lucy and Happy were one group, while Erza and Gray constituted the other group.

"Let's meet back at this tree in half an hour, alright?" commanded Erza. Everyone nodded and parted ways. Team Natsu, Lucy and Happy went left, while Team Erza and Gray went right.

Natsu and Happy were cheerfully talking to each other with Lucy walking slightly behind them. She wasn't really hungry - she just wanted to relax and take her mind off from work. Observing her surroundings, she never really noticed just how beautiful the forest looked when it was sunny outside. Sunlight passed through the gaps that overlapping leaves made and created a path of light along the ground. It felt so nice to bask under the warmth of the sun's rays with the cooling comfort of the trees' shadows. The place was rather serene with little noise disturbance aside from their own footsteps and talking. Why couldn't all jobs be as soothing as this?

"Oh look, a mushroom!" pointed out Natsu. "We can grill that!"

"Aye sir!" replied Happy. "I bet it's a delicious mushroom."

"You idiots!" screamed Lucy, who had broken away from her reverie. "What if it's poisonous?!"

Natsu just shrugged. "Only one way to find out." He plucked the fungus off the ground, spewed out some hot flame to cook it and tossed the mushroom into his mouth. With a swallow and a slurp of his tongue, Natsu seemed pretty satisfied with his decision.

"Not bad!"

Lucy could only bring a hand to her face and shook her head. "What am I to do with you two... now, where was I?" She brought herself back into her realm of thoughts and continued to look around the vicinity. Just then, something seemed to have caught Lucy's attention - a small glint of light.

"I'll be right back you guys!" she shouted as she departed from them, following the source of that light. Lucy waved a hand before setting off.

"Oi, aren't you hungry?" asked Natsu, only to find that she was gone. He looked at his blue companion before they continued to pick out mushrooms.

Lucy continued to follow the light, but for what reason, she didn't know. There was just something about it that bugged her to find the source behind the glint. Maybe it was to a new place no one knew of? A treasure? Something exotic? Except it only led her to another typical, large tree. So the source of that light was just from a small hole in the trunk of the tree. She sighed, having gotten excited over nothing. But why did she follow it? She wasn't too sure herself.

"Well, whatever," said Lucy as she threw her hands up in the air, stretching her arms. "I guess I'll go back."

Another shimmer of light was casted and Lucy once more turned around to observe the light. Maybe there was something in the tree that caused for that glitter of light. Curious, Lucy once more headed towards the light and took a peek inside the small hole of the trunk, hoping to find out what was inside. But instantly, she grabbed her right eye with both of her hands and screamed aloud. She felt a piercing pain in her eyeball and couldn't see at all. It hurt to blink her eye, let alone open. Just what was that? She felt herself losing much composure as she continued to scream and yell in much pain, falling onto her knees, attempting to regain some control over her balance. It was as if a knife was driven right into her right eye socket and through into her skull.

How she just wanted this pain to stop!

"Does it hurt?" whispered a voice. Lucy instinctively brought her head up and looked around her surroundings with her other eye, only to find nothing but trees. She snapped back, feeling the pain surging through her body once more. Lucy just wanted the throbbing in her right eye to stop altogether.

"Damn it!" she cried as she enforced a lot of pressure onto the ground with her left hand. She screamed once more as another wave of pain went through herself.

"Lucy!"

Clasping her right hand to her eye, she turned her head to the sound of her name. Natsu and Happy were running towards her at full speed, probably having heard her shouts and cries earlier just now.

"Lucy, are you alright?" asked Happy as he flew by her side with a concerned look on his face. "What happened to your face?" Natsu instinctively observed the surroundings but to no avail, found nothing suspicious. He knelt next to her, placing his hand on her back.

"You alright, Lucy?"

"Y-yea," she croaked with a soft voice, "I'm fine." She got up onto her legs, still holding her hand to her face. "My eye just really hurts for some reason."

"Did something hit you?"

"I'm not really sure, but I felt something sharp just enter my eyeball or something," answered Lucy.

"Ewww," said Happy with a grossed face.

"It's not funny!"

"Well for now, let's just get back to Erza and Gray," suggested Natsu. "We promised to meet up with them about now and head back to Magnolia."

Lucy curtly nodded. The pain seemed to have stopped for the most part with just a slight burning feeling that resided inside. If she applied some eye drops, it should probably go away in no time.

Finally, after an exhausting day of that horrendous job request and the strange happening in the forest, Lucy flopped onto her comfortable, fluffy bed. She decided to separate from the rest of the team and retire home first before heading back to the guild. It had been too long since she got to be in her room.

"So nice," Lucy muttered to herself, burrowing herself into her covers.

"Ah, that's right!" Then she just remembered to apply some medicinal eye drops. Shuffling through her drawer full of cosmetics, she took out a small first aid kit she kept in hand and found the solution she was looking for. Keeping her right eye open wide, she squeezed a few drops onto her eyeball and blinked several times before putting it back.

"Does it hurt?"

"What?!" exclaimed Lucy, turning around in her room. "Who said that?"

"It hurts, doesn't it?" asked the strange voice. Lucy recognized it as the voice from the forest.

"What do you want?"

Once again Lucy felt that sharp pain she experienced in the woods in her right eye, and she fell onto her knees with both of her hands enclosing her right eye. "But the eye drops-!" She screamed in pain yet again. "What is this?!

"Stop! Stop it!" cried Lucy, on the verge of tears from the terrible physical feeling she was experiencing. "It hurts!"

"If it hurts so much, let me help you," cackled the voice evilly.

The pain that originated from her eye began to spread throughout her body just as before, but with a greater intensity than what she had felt the first time around. She cried and screamed as loud as she could, attempting to relinquish all the pain through her voice, but it did not stop the hurt she felt. She felt like tearing apart and throwing up all of her insides and her flesh out into the open. Just what was this feeling, it was indescribable.

Soon enough, the pain stopped running altogether.

Finally it stopped.

Lucy stood up from her kneeling position and brushed the dust from her legs. Turning around, she headed towards the front door and gripped the doorknob.

Wait, why are we going this way? I still have to shower!

Closing the door behind her, Lucy made her way towards Fairy Tail.

Wait, stop!

After what seemed to be a long walk, Lucy finally arrived to the front entrance of Fairy Tail. She stepped through the doors and cheerfully greeted everyone she saw in her sight.

Why am I walking this way? I can't take my own steps?

"Levy-chan!" shouted Lucy as she caught attention of her blue-haired mage, Levy McGarden. She ran towards her to give her a quick hug and a smile.

"Lu-chan, it's nice to see you! How'd your job go with Natsu and everyone?"

Lucy could only laugh off a response as she scratched the back of her head, "Well we did the job... somehow." She turned her head towards Mirajane Strauss, who was tending to the bar section of the guild. "Mirajane!"

Mirajane flashed a big smile at Lucy. "Hello Lucy! I hope everything went will with your mission."

Lucy took a seat at the bar next to Erza as Mirajane prepared a glass of water for her. "I suppose, for the most part. Erza did a lot of the saving, though."

"Lucy was certainly a big help to the battle," contributed Erza as she took a bite out of her lunch. "And of course our mission went smoothly. How could we possibly mess up?" She smiled at Lucy, and Lucy did the same.

The blonde took a sip out of her drink and placed her glass slowly onto the surface of the table. "Hey Erza," she started, facing the red-headed mage.

"Hm?"

"Can we talk?"

Erza replied as she continued to eat her meal, "Of course Lucy, what's up?"

I don't need to talk to you about anything though... why can't anyone hear me?

"Not here," whispered Lucy as she hovered closer to Erza, "It's kind of... private, you see. Just me and you?" Erza nodded in response and got up from her seat.

Anybody?!

"Let's have a walk around town then?" asked Erza. Lucy, however, shook her head.

"I have something to show you, so let's go to the forest, ok?"

...the forest?

The two ladies left the Fairy Tail guild and made their way to the proposed destination. Walking through town past the market, beyond the river, and a final exit from Magnolia began to lead the both of them to the forest.

"It's rare that we are ever alone, Lucy," started Erza as the two of them headed towards the forest beyond Magnolia. "We're always with Natsu and Gray as a team."

"You got that right," huffed Lucy, "I feel like I can never get a break from them. They just have so much energy, you know? I don't know how you can keep up with them, Erza."

Erza simply smiled at Lucy's response. "Let's just say that the three of us have been through together a lot. We've been in Fairy Tail since we were rather young, after all."

Hearing that made Lucy smile as well, but somewhat hesitantly. After all, Lucy had only joined recently, and she was seventeen years old. She never experienced what it was like to be a young mage in Fairy Tail like Erza, Natsu, Gray, and everyone else near her age. She had been in the Heartfilia Conglomerate since she was born, and did not have any real childhood friends whom she could turn to. But she was happy, so very happy, that she had been led to the doors of Fairy Tail - her new home.

"But that doesn't mean we haven't been through a lot either, Lucy," continued Erza, breaking Lucy's trail of thoughts. "All the battles we've fought together and succeeded are just as important to me."

Lucy couldn't help but widen her smile into a cheeky grin upon hearing her friend's words. "I'm glad we're partners, Erza."

"So where are you taking me in the forest, Lucy?" asked Erza. "We've been walking for quite a while, haven't we?"

"Oh right!" exclaimed Lucy, "I totally forgot! It's this tree I wanted to show you."

The two women ended up in front of a large tree within the forest. At first sight, it appeared to be just as similar if not the same as the other trees in the forest, but there was an aura around it that distinguished this particular tree from the rest. Of course, Erza immediately picked up on this difference.

"There's something wrong this tree, isn't there?" asked Erza, her eyes narrowing with a serious glint. "It's as if something has possessed it."

Wait, stop...

Lucy walked closer to the tree. "It was here that I felt a really strange pain in my eye. I mean, it went away after, but for some reason..."

"For some reason...?"

Get away, Erza!

"It's calling to me now," finished Lucy, turning to face Erza with a blank stare.

Erza!

Suddenly, a searing flash exploded within Lucy's body. The place where she first felt her body ache was in her forehead, and at that moment she felt like her head was going to split into two pieces. The pain was so intense it almost felt like she was going to be torn to shreds from inside out. Screaming in agony, Lucy couldn't maintain her standing position and fell to her knees. Erza could only watch in shock at her comrade's sudden movements.

"Lucy, what's wrong?!"

Lucy, however, did not respond to Erza's words as she continued to writhe and grovel in pain. An electric shock continued to run throughout her body. No matter how hard the Celestial Spirit mage attempted to regain conscious control over her limbs, she could not move them to her will. She felt herself tiring out, battling against an unknown force that appeared to be taking over her body. Her mind was running tirelessly, and soon enough, she blacked out. No longer could Lucy see or think of anything in her head anymore. The pain subsided as well, and it didn't seem difficult to move now.

"Lucy, are you alright?" asked Erza, running towards Lucy. Having expected a verbal response, what Erza encountered instead was a missed blow to her chest where her heart rested.

"Oh, I'm alright," said Lucy as she got up from the ground and onto her legs, retracting her arm that had just been pointed towards Erza. She grinned maniacally. "I'm alright."

Erza covered her armor with her hand and breathed heavily. This clearly wasn't the same Lucy as before. Erza quickly took action by requipping herself into a different battle armor and took a few steps back. Lifting her sword in her right hand, she froze in position, ready to aim.

"Who are you?"

Lucy just threw her head back and laughed. "I'm Lucy, Erza! What do you think you're doing pointing the sword at me?" She stared at Erza with murderous intent, "Aren't we friends?"

"You're not Lucy at all, are you?" proclaimed the other mage. "What did you do with Lucy?"

"Lucy?" she responded with a smirk. "Why, I'm right here." She patted her hand against her chest. "You're talking to the one and only Lucy right now."

"Nonsense! Lucy would never do that to her guild mate, let alone a friend!" shouted Erza rather angrily. "Where did you take Lucy? Answer me!"

Lucy only sighed in exasperation and ran a hand through her hair. "Like I said, I'm here. Don't you get it? You are talking to me right now-" A smile broke off her sentence but was finished gleefully, with an evil tone: "-Titania."

Erza only continued to stare at Lucy with serious intent, confirming her earlier statement. She drew her sword further back in preparation for an attack. "Lucy never calls me Titania."

"Oh really?" asked Lucy, cocking her head to the side. She chuckled to herself as she stuck a hand into her pocket of Celestial Spirit keys. "Well, let's just say that she does call you that now."

Owari.

A/N: I'm probably not going to update any time soon due to finals approaching... so if you could patiently wait, I would be forever grateful! Please review and give me any feedback! I am very happy to be criticized because there is always room for improvement. Arigatou!

Ja ne, and I do not own any part of Fairy Tail!

Eternal-Angel