Here we go Chapter 4, just so you all know this is going to be a pretty long story. If anything I'm hoping to get a least three stories out of this. As you can tell a few things are slightly different and obviously contain some cannon pairings. A few unique pairings or at least hints of some obviously have been shown. This story does take place after the Alvarez Empire invasion so where the manga finished and I'm ignoring the 100 year quest. Poryliusica is also still present so...yeah. Anyways enjoy. I do not own Fairy Tail.

Chapter 4: Time Passes

Elena P.O.V

It's been three days since I joined Fairy Tail, it's been a change to say the least, I was still trying to avoid people, Bickslow has checked in on me now and then, I've been staying in the infirmary overnight until the bandages on my chest are removed today. They said I could stay until finding somewhere else and a few people have even offered to take me in. Problem wasn't them it was me. I still have some trust issues with a few of them. Bisca was nice enough to reach out after seeing how I reacted with Asuka, yet it was clear that Alzack felt differently. Levy and Gajeel also extended an invitation but, I told them I didn't want to be a bother as they had to put up with Emma.

"Hey Elena how are you doing today?" Wendy asked appearing beside me as I sat in my usual spot where I can be alone, and talk with Mirajane or Kinana. She was a sweetheart. "Romeo, Chelia and I are going to be training outside, do you want to join us?" she said reaching her hand out.

If I wasn't paying attention, I might have missed the encouraging sign from Kinana. I have never really spent any time with people my age, so I didn't want to get into an awkward situation. I didn't want to hurt anybody either so I wanted to avoid training.

"I have healing magic, so any injuries caused I can heal right up." she winked. It was like she could read my mind. "Come on, it'll be fun I promise." she said as she practically dragged me out the door.

Outside and around the back of the guild was a park of sorts, many different lacrima were floating in the air and a large sandy arena was set up. In the middle were two other teens and a large muscular black cat as well as a few older wizards sitting on the benches watching. One was Romeo's dad Macao, he was sitting with Wakaba. On another bench sat Laxus and Bickslow. I felt a bit more at ease that some adults were watching in case something went wrong.

"Hey guys, look who I brought." Wendy announced. There was a mixed reaction, Chelia smiled invitingly as did Bickslow. Romeo, Lily and Laxus seemed relatively satisfied but, a hint of worry was clearly evident. Macao and Wakaba however weren't as inviting, they almost seemed disappointed. "Elena says she's going to train with us." This brought a smile to Lily and Laxus but, only deepened the darker vibed from the two older men.

"You can't be serious Wendy!" Wakaba shouted. "I'm still shocked that Makarov even let that uncontrollable monster into the guild let alone train with you." he said puffing on his cigar. I instantly backed away and was going to say something, instead Laxus stood up and walked over. "Got something to say Laxus or are you going to back down like you did to her?" he asked, lightning crackled in his fists and Wakaba smoke turned into fists as well.

"Back off Laxus." Macao warned. The three of them stood in a face off for a few seconds. Romeo backed away from me and Lily stood in front of us and Chelia incase things got out of hand that's when I got an idea.

"We have a problem Wakaba?" I asked a grin appearing on Laxus face as he took a step back, the older adults shot me a death glare as Lily and the other teens seemed confused to what I was up to. "If so put your money where your mouth is. We all know I can be unstable, hell even I am aware of that. However, I won't stand by and let other people fight my battles. I was worried I'd hurt someone, yet here I stand because I was told nothing bad could happen and we both know Laxus could take us both out easily." I pointed out not noticing the nervous side glance from Laxus, if this was how this guild worked then I had to at least try. "So if you want to prove something then do it with actions not words, it seems to be how this guild works." I said courageously even though I was dying on the inside. I did not want to hurt anyone….well not anyone that mattered anyways.

"You picking a fight with me?" he said standing up, his hands in his pockets trying to act intimidating. Macao laughed as Wakaba turned to him with an angry scowl. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"You just got called out by a little girl." he laughed that's when Romeo stood up and stood next to me giving me a mischievous grin. He raised his hand then pointed at the two older men.

"Last I checked he wasn't the only one with an issue to the new girl, so how about a little wager dad?" he said grabbing their attention. "Two versus two, myself and Elena vs you and Wakaba if we win you apologise to her, if you win I'll do the dishes for a month and work at the bar for a week." Romeo said giving me a confident nod.

The two older men looked at each other, it was obvious neither of them really wanted to fight but, hey they still accepted the challenge. Lily would referee and the battle was over if either side is out of magic power or if Lily calls it. I was nervous, I wasn't exactly confident with myself quite yet. Romeo caught on to this and gave me a friendly nudge followed by a happy smile.

"Just so we're clear, the battle is over when I say so or if either side surrenders. Laxus has agreed incase things get….out of hand." he nodded to me knowing how worried I was about doing any of this. "Now if we are ready, begin!" he shouted.

"Monstrous Armament: Will-o-Wisp!" I shouted dawning one of my weaker armaments. I wore a cyan colored long sleeved frilly gown with a dark blue flame patterns on the bottom and sleeves, the sleeves were held on by straps on the shoulders and I had blue striped socks going into my boots. I had a matching witches hat on my head with a small blue flame appearing out the top and a blue rose on the front. I was wielding a lantern on a chain.

Wakaba fired a barrage of smoky fists my way, I swung my lantern around causing the smoke to ignite in a blue flame. Meanwhile Macao and Romeo were neck a neck with dark purple flames.

"Rainbow Fire!" Romeo called out releasing a barrage of differently colored flames at his father.

"Purple Flare Shield!" He responded casting a large wall of purple flames. "You'll have to do better than that son. He said with a grin causing Romeo to become distracted as he was knocked out of the ring by a large fist of smoke.

"Romeo is out of bounds." Lily said raising an arm. He then looked at me it was two on one now, it was as if he was waiting for me to surrender. I gave him a look which he smiled at and the battle continued.

"Come now girl you don't stand a chance against us, you've barely done anything to attack us and now your partner is out just give up and leave." he said sternly. "Smoke Barrage!" he shouted launching another wave of flying fists at me, I dispatched them the same as I did before. Macao launched some purple flames at me causing a small explosion. They grinned victoriously before I emerged unscathed. 'What the?" he bellowed.

"Will-o-Wisps are spirits made of flames, the lantern I am carrying contains the same power as they do. Some say they lead lost souls to the afterlife, others say they burn the energy of the lost souls to consume them themselves. Needless to say fire won't be doing much, to me anyways but, you've gone and made me angry." I said blue flames erupting from the sleeves of my dress and the flame on my head grew larger. Unearthly Flame!" I shouted letting out a large spiral of blue flames causing Macao to be blown away.

"Macao is out of bounds. It is now a one on one battle between Elena and Wakaba." Lily announced. I floated into the air and swung my lantern around a few times over my head creating a ring of flames. "This should be interesting." Lily stated getting a nod from Laxus. Our battle had attracted a few more spectators.

"I've been pushed around enough in my life,I'm not going to let the words of some old geezer ruin the one chance I have at normality, I respect that you at least showed that you had an issue instead of hiding it like a coward." I announced noticing Alzack blush in the sidelines and a few other wizards doing the same guilty movement. "I may be a monster but, I don't care anymore." I said before finally launching my attack at the old man. Monster Slayer Secret Art: Flame Circle Edanna!" I roared as the fires lit up around him, hiding him from view getting many gasps from the crowd. When the flames died down, he reappeared unscathed and his cigar in ashes on the ground. He fell to his knees in fear. "How's that for uncontrollable.." I finished dropping my transformation nearly collapsing on the ground from exhaustion.

"I'm done." Wakaba said "Sorry for my outburst youngin." he finished before standing up and leaving. Macao looked at me, I simply rubbed my shoulders in discomfort as

Wendy rushed over to keep me from falling down.

"I'm sure she's not as bad as you think dad." Romeo said to his father. "She just needs some friends, she has no home, no family and has been through things neither of us can really understand so cut her some slack alright." he explained resting a hand on his father's shoulder before rushing towards me to congratulate me. Macao sighed and left to calm down a probably agitated Wakaba.

Bickslow P.O.V

Yeah Wakaba sure wasn't smart to be bad mouthing the kid like that. Even so, she seems to have adapted to how things generally work around here. One thing's for sure though, he was pissed. Not once ever, have I seen that man stand up to Laxus and he sure as hell wasn't going to back down from a fight. I sighed watching the climax of the battle. The other teens went and congratulated Elena, especially Wendy, I'm fairly certain I caught a brief blush from Elena from all the praise she was getting from the dragon slayer. Teenagers, they crack me up.

"Bickslow, do me a favor and keep an eye on Elena for me." Laxus said before leaving for the guild. "I'm pretty sure she is more drained then we realize and something tells me their is something important she isn't telling us." he finished I made a quick glance towards the monster hunter who was side eyeing us from a distance.

Laxus wasn't an idiot, he knew she could hear us, her hearing was just as advanced as the dragon slayers. She's told me before on how it's a double edged blade, sure she hears things but, sometimes she wishes she didn't. Her eyes turned red and slitted for a moment before she shook her head holding it with her hands. She said something to the others and left towards the guild. Obviously, I followed her, knowing full well she would notice.

"Is there a problem Bickslow." she said shyly tapping her fingers together. "Laxus wants you to watch me. I overheard him, he also thinks I'm hiding something." she said again. We were standing in the entryway of the guild so the only other people around were those going in and out. "If I tell you, you are not allowed to tell anyone else got it!" she said holding up a pointed finger.

"If it's that important to keep secret, you don't have to. You've only been here a little while, so it's natural you don't trust us completely yet." I said with a grin she let out a sigh of relief. "However." she flinched "If it is something important to know that could cause trouble, you should at least tell myself, Laxus or the master. We accepted you into our family, and family take care of each other." I took on a more serious tone.

She reached into her shirt and pulled out necklace. It was thea simple vile full of blood Wendy had noticed when we first brought the girl in. However upon further inspection, it was now nearly empty. She blushed a little bit before taking in a deep breath.

"So….you know how dragon slayers need to eat something of their element to regain their magic?" she asked and I nodded knowing where this was going. "I don't necessarily need to do that but…." she hesitated.

"But?" I asked pulling her a little bit to the side. "Go on, I won't freak out I promise." I said putting my hand over my heart and making an x over it. She took in another deep breath before continuing.

"As you know, I can't really control some of the impulses of the more powerful monster souls. One of those being the vampire, so whenever I feel drained I kinda get this craving...I swear, it doesn't take much usually only the smell will make it go away but, recently I used a lot of magic power, to near draining levels so I had to take a few drops in order to keep the vampire in check." she said holding her head in her hands.

I would be lying if I said, I wasn't a bit rattled. However, she has mentioned how badly the monstrous instincts can be to control, what worried me more was the fact that her little vile was pretty much empty. I rested my hand on her shoulder. And she raised her eyes to me, they were red and slitted like before, she shook her head and her eyes went back to their normal violet color.

"Sorry, I really need to take a drop." she said looking at her vile licking her lips a bit before dropping a few drops of crimson liquide into her mouth. She blushed a bit while swallowing. "If it settles you down a bit, it's only pig's blood. Doesn't really help as much as it used to though." she admitted.

"Human blood works better than?" I asked hesitantly. "I take it your vile has already been emptied since you got here then." she looked down at her feet. "Look I'm not judging you but, if you need to feed then you need to feed." I said a bead of sweat dripping down my forehead.

"This wouldn't be a problem if I didn't lose control, I had to down the whole vile after that just to keep myself from relapsing and it's really embarrassing and I can't help myself, it doesn't help that everytime a brawl goes down, the smell of blood from injuries fills the room." she rambled I caught a bit of salivation when her eyes turned red again but, she snapped out of it soon after.

I calmed her down, so she wouldn't have a breakdown and looked at her with both sympathy and anxiety. Sympathy because it was only now, that I realized how hard of a time she was having and how difficult it must be to explain gruesome things like this to other people and anxiety because at any litteral moment she could lose herself and chomp on my neck. I sighed and grabbed her hand dragging her upstairs to the infirmary, grabbing Erza on the way her confusion was silenced when I gave her a serious look. I wasn't the serious guy so it wasn't normal for me to have that look in my eyes unless it was absolutely necessary.

"Bickslow is there a problem?" she asked me before I sat down on one of the beds and pointed to a needle and a blood pack. "Why do you need." she looked at Elena who was already struggling to keep her eyes in check. "I see." she said before preparing everything. She then looked back at the girl. "How much?" she asked in a very whispered but, worried tone.

"You...you..don't have to.."she hesitated. Erza rested her hand on her shoulder and asked her question once more. "How much?" she repeated. "At least a pint." she blushed again.

Erza injected the needle carefully into my vein, Elena had to avert her eyes in order to keep herself from pouncing on top of me. She was holding her nose plugged and had her eyes glued closed shaking her head repeatedly. After the pint was full, she turned to give it to Elena who took it and began to drain it. She was like a child with a smoothie, a very warm, very red smoothie. I shuddered a bit, her teeth were like daggers and her eyes were red and slitted she must have been starving. Erza didn't seemed too bothered by it which worried me more then the younger girl actually drinking the plasma.

"Well then….that happened." Lucy said wide eyed as she entered the room and closed the door. "I came to see why Bickslow was in such a rush to end our conversation but, I can see why." she said with a nervous giggle. Elena let out a relieved sigh dropping the now emptied plastic bag before realizing the celestial wizard was in the room and hid herself nervously.

"Are you better now?" Erza asked worriedly. "You could have told me that you needed it, I figured as much once I understood your predicament and remembered the vile Wendy noticed when we first brought you in." she explained. "How often do you need to feed?" she asked caringly.

The fifteen year old hesitated "Not often, only if I use up way too much magic power, if I only use some magic the smell is usually enough to stop the cravings." she said. "I usually keep some blood in this vile to keep them at bay but then well…" she stopped.

"But then you lost control and had to consume whatever you had." Lucy pointed out. "Trust me when I say this, I've seen people eat weird things, hell my boyfriend literally eats fire. I once saw gajeel take a rusted gear from an old lawn mower and devour it like it was cookie." she said causing the young girl to giggle.

Classic Lucy, we don't call her the light of Fairy Tail for nothing she always knows how to cheer people up. I looked at Erza who simply stared at Elena before she stepped forward then sat down next to her.

"I'll go and make sure nobody else knows about this." I said opening the door only to find that literally everybody was eavesdropping, they all fell once the door was actually open. Some of them laughed nervously, others looked like they were either going to be or have already been sick. I sighed. "Would you all give the poor girl some space already!" I shouted getting a surprised reaction from a lot of them, I never got angry but, this just pissed me off.

Lucy P.O.V

After Bickslow shouted at everyone they all left back downstairs, Bix said he was going

to go and let Laxus know, if he didn't already. I sat down with Erza and Elena, it was only now that I noticed just how much damage her body has sustained. She had a scar going over one of her left eye, a larger gnash going down the side of her neck covered mostly by her guild emblem. She had many small scars down her arms and I could only imagine how many were on her back. She caught my staring and blushed nervously, way to go Lucy I mentally kicked myself.

"Where will you be staying once you are discharged from the infirmary?" I asked her changing the subject. "You could come stay with me and Natsu we have plenty of room." I suggested she shook her head.

"I appreciate that but, I don't want to be a bother to either of you. I still don't really trust Natsu either he was the one who was ready to sell me out almost immediately." she finished a loud sneeze was heard from downstairs followed by the sounds of an annoyed Grey. "I'll probably just find somewhere close by I don't sleep too much either so it's not a big deal." she said rubbing her eye. Upon further inspection, I could now see the hidden bags under her eyes, she must be exhausted.

"Then come stay with me." Erza said in a serious tone. "I live alone in a large house so there won't be any issues." she said and before the young girl could decline she spoke once more. "I would also, enjoy getting to know you better." she finished. A few tears welled up in the young girls eyes before she broke out into tears. I left the room to give them some time alone.

"Hey Lucy!" Natsu shouted before running up to me and giving me a small peck on the cheek. "I've got a job for us, and I think you're going to like it." he said holding up the paper.

On it was a wanted ad for taking down a rogue monster of some kind hiding out in a cave near a neighboring town. It had a large payment of jewels and a silver celestial key as a reward. I jumped up excitedly, leaving my worry for the young girl for now, she had Erza with her so I'm sure she would be fine.

"Alright let's go!" I said as we bolted for the door before we were stopped by Juvia and Grey. "What's up guys?" I asked. "We were just about to leave on a monster hunt care to join?" I asked getting a sigh from Natsu.

"Actually we're heading up that way on a similar call, if we help each other out things will go easier and we can get more profit." Grey explained holding up another poster for defeating a nearby monster.

"Then let's get going." Natsu said before I flashed him a devilish grin. "What? Did I forget something? Wait...no no please Lucy anything but that." he frowned. I laughed a bit at his reaction.

"That's right Natsu, there's four of us and you know the deal now we get to take the train." I said excitedly getting a few laughs from those around us and a very annoyed growl from Natsu himself, even after all these years dragon slayers and motion sickness never go well.

"Have fun salamander!" Gajeel teased laughing maniacally. Before looking at Levy who smiled evilly. "Oh no." he said looking over the paper she was holding up. It was a boat ticket.

"Have fun on the boat ride." Natsu teased back. This was going to be a long ride.