Chapter Four:
When Lucy woke up, she found herself lying on a cot inside a tent. Slowly sitting up, she felt her body protest and memories of what had transpired began to filter back to her. She remembered the ship she had taken, and not being able to see the island. How she had asked the captain to leave her there in the rowboat. The storm that had come up not long after the boat was a speck in the distance.
Lucy remembered the waves crashing against her tiny boat as she tried to hold on to the sides, grateful for her backpack, which had a water repellant spell on it, and praying for the island to become visible.
At the very last moment she could remember, the island had appeared, but before she could do anything else, the boat came apart and a piece hit her head, and all that she remembered was blackness.
After a few moments of sitting up on the cot and making sure nothing was broken, she looked around curiously. Her backpack was sitting at the foot of the bed, and it looked undisturbed, and more importantly, undamaged. Most of the other items in the tent were generic, or hidden in the footlocker that her backpack was placed on. The only personal item was a long grey coat.
Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, she tested her balance. Glad to find out that nothing was broken, although it did hurt, she stood up slowly, grimacing as the salt dried on her skin cracked and flaked. Hopefully whoever had put her here didn't mind having salt in their bed.
Pushing open the flap of the tent, she realized it was late afternoon. She must have slept through the day. Briefly she remembered the feeling of someone's arms around her, but nothing specific that would help her place where she was or who had found her.
Outside the tent, she found herself in a small clearing. A small stone monument stood at one end of the clearing, newly cleared of vines, and opposite it was a campfire. Standing there, Lucy realized that she had made it to Tenrou. But she wasn't alone.
Her first thought had been that Loke had disobeyed her direct order, but she didn't feel his presence outside of the spirit world. As her fingers brushed against the empty space on her belt, she remembered that she had placed her keys in her backpack in an effort to prevent them from summoning themselves. So, if it hadn't been a spirit, she wondered, who had made camp on Tenrou?
A shape loomed up out of the shadows cast by the surrounding trees, making her jump. Instinctively, her hand went for her keys, and her mouth opened to recite the familiar summoning, but she snapped it shut and detached her whip, sending it snaking out in front of her, ashamed of her reliance on her spirits.
The shape moved forward, and came into the firelight, and she realized that she recognized the person. "Laxus?" she breathed, taking in his bulky frame and lightning shaped scar.
He grunted as he set down the load of wood he was carrying. "So you're finally awake Blondie. Wondered how long you'd be out."
Sitting down on one of the logs near the fire, he rolled his shoulders as if they were stiff. Lucy was distracted from his presence by the appearance of Mavis, who nodded at her. "Welcome back to Tenrou, Lucy Heartfilia."
"Thank you," Lucy coiled her whip and returned it to her belt as she watched Mavis perch daintily on another of the logs that surrounded the fire pit.
"Yo, Blondie," Laxus grunted, causing her to turn back towards him. "What happened to your boat?"
She frowned at him, but said: "There was a storm. I couldn't see Tenrou until it was in full rage. A wave capsized me, and I guess I'm lucky I ended up on the shore."
"Oh," he said, tossing another branch on the fire. "I thought your spirit was causing trouble again. You know, that fish one?"
"Mermaid," she corrected automatically. "No, it was a storm. Aquarius…Aquarius had nothing to do with it." Lucy was proud of herself. Her voice only trembled slightly when she said her former spirit's name.
"Did Gramps send you here?" Laxus asked, reaching for a metal grate which he balanced over two strategically placed rocks. "You can tell him I'm not going back until I'm completely ready." He growled lowly.
"No, Master didn't send me here at all." Lucy said sadly, wondering how he hadn't known. "Laxus…he disbanded Fairy Tail."
The blonde in front of her gaped in shock. Some distant part of Lucy realized that this was probably a rare moment that should be remembered, but most of her efforts went towards maintaining her demeanor.
"What? When did he do that? Why didn't you say so earlier." Laxus snapped, looking at Mavis. "How come you didn't tell me, First?"
"Your grandfather disbanded the guild two weeks ago. I thought you knew." The First's reply was nonchalant. She kicked her feet absently as she continued. "I didn't mind you staying here though. It's always nice to have company."
Lucy stared at Laxus. "How come you didn't notice your guild symbol was gone?" she asked, confused at how he had been able to remain oblivious for the past two weeks. The loss of her own had felt like a gaping hole.
"It's still there, see…" Laxus pulled up the hem of his shirt to display a large design which Lucy vaguely remembered. He looked down at his chest and he whistled. "Shit. When did that happen?"
"How could you not realize…?" Lucy asked, her mind jumping to several conclusions, some of them less pleasant than others.
Laxus glared at her, the panic gone. "Don't look at me like that, Blondie. I swim every day. I guess I just didn't notice it when my guild stamp went missing. Anyway, what happened? Start explaining."
"I don't know," Lucy said, staring into the fire instead of looking him in the face. "He didn't give a reason, and disappeared not long after. Nobody was able to find him."
"Damn," Laxus said. "What did everyone do? I bet you Natsu nearly destroyed half the town." He chuckled grimly, stirring up the fire. "Gramps has got to be glad he's no longer responsible for that idiot."
"Natsu…was already gone," said Lucy, striving to keep her voice from trembling. "He left on a training trip. I got his note just before I found out. Grey and Juvia were gone too." Her arms instinctively wrapped around her torso, trying to keep her body from shaking with suppressed sobs.
"What happened to Ever, Freed, and Bix? Or Erza, Mira, Cana, Wendy, and Gajeel."
Taking a deep breath, Lucy said: "The Raijinshu left to train on their own. Erza went with Doranbolt to the magic council to deal with any dark guilds that pop up. Gajeel and Levy went on a training journey. Charle took Wendy to Lamia Scale to train with Chelia, and Mira and her siblings went to look for Master. Cana went to Quatro Cerebrus. I stayed in Magnolia until two days ago, hoping someone would come back, but nobody did. Everyone else either left to train or joined other guilds."
Letting out a low whistle, Laxus stared into the fire himself. "Why did you come here then? You should have gone with Wendy or Erza, or your bookworm friend. Mira wouldn't have minded you going with her either. She's always been too nice since that thing with Lisanna. And someone should have gone with Cana to keep her out of trouble. If you couldn't find anywhere else to go, you could have gone to see that Celestial mage in Sabertooth."
"Natsu told me to take care of the guild," Lucy said. It had become her mantra in the past two weeks, the reason why she had gotten up during the days in the hopes that they would come back. "Tenrou is the last place where the guild, or at least the memory of it, exists."
Mavis nodded. "This island will always be home to Fairy Tail, as long as my spirit remains. Lucy, you are welcome to stay as long as you like."
"Thank you Master Mavis," Lucy said gratefully, sitting on one of the logs. "Why are you here Laxus?"
The dragon slayer looked pensive, staring into the flames. "I want to train," he said curtly, after a long silence. "I…I figured Mavis and Tenrou would be my best bet to get stronger. So as soon as that human-hating old hag let me out of the infirmary, I came straight here. Mavis has been working me hard ever since."
"I can understand that," Lucy murmured so softly he almost couldn't hear it, touching the empty spot on her belt where her keys used to hang. "I understand that completely."
"Where are your keys Blondie?" Laxus asked suddenly. "I looked all over the beach for them, but I couldn't find them. Aren't you supposed to take better care of them?"
Biting her lip, Lucy refused to look at him. "They're in my backpack."
"Don't you normally carry them on your belt so you can reach them in a hurry?" At Mavis's inquisitive look, Laxus held up his hands. "Freed went on a Celestial magic research kick a while back. He always feels as if he has to share what he learns with all of us. Bix was actually interested in this tangent, which made it even longer than it usually was. Plus he had drawn up a list of potential weaknesses to exploit in Celestial mages, since the Saber girl was in the Grand Magic Games."
"I'm not using my keys right now," Lucy said flatly. "I don't want Leo to think he can just jaunt in and out whenever he wants, so I put the keys in my bag." At Laxus's confused look, she added: "Leo is the proper name for Loke."
Laxus still looked confused, but Mavis nodded in understanding. "What's your plan then," the First asked, her eyes sparkling. "How do you plan to spend your time on Tenrou?"
"Training," Lucy said softly. "I'm going to be stronger so I don't have to depend on my spirits any more. Next time, I'm…" I'm not going to force my friend to sacrifice herself to save me next time.
Mavis studied her. "So you're not going to summon your Celestial spirits any more?" she probed inquisitively.
"No." Her flat tone drew Laxus's eyes, but she didn't notice as she continued. "I have my Fleuve d'etoiles, and I can learn to fight with my own two hands. For the time being, I will not summon any Celestial Spirits."
"As you wish," Mavis said. "I hope you'll allow me to assist where I am able?"
"Of course, Master Mavis," Lucy said respectfully. "Your assistance would be very much appreciated."
"Why aren't you using your spirits?" Laxus burst out. "Aren't they your main strength? Not using them makes you useless."
"I will not use my spirits as a shield…" Lucy began angrily, but Laxus cut her off. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. All of Fairy Tail gets it. But without them, how do you expect to fight?"
No more. I will not ask them to give any more of their strength to me. Lucy thought, tears rising up in her eyes. "I don't know," she spat out, hiding her sadness with anger. "But I'll figure it out, just like everyone else has. Why should I be the exception?"
He still looked confused as he watched her. Mavis studied the both of them carefully, before saying: "I've come up with a good plan."
Both heads swiveled towards the girl. "What is your plan, Master Mavis?" Lucy said.
She clapped her hands together definitively. "Lucy, I'm putting Laxus in charge of you and your training. I'll take charge of Laxus's, and we'll all do quite well, I think."
"First," Laxus snapped, rising from his seat on the log. "How is that going to…"
"Oh hush," Mavis flapped her hand at him. "You have certain goals, right?"
Starting to protest again, she silenced him with another wave of her hand. "Think of this as a real world experience. You wanted to be strong enough to protect people, right?"
"Well, yeah," he said, looking sheepish.
"Then she's your first subject." Mavis said, shutting down any other arguments. "Effective now."
"Hey, does anyone care what I want?" Lucy snapped. "I'm not a damsel in distress to be protected. I want to protect."
"Hush," Mavis said. "Part of learning how to protect people is equipping them with the skills they need to protect themselves. Nobody's always around when someone needs their help. Teaching them how to defend themselves may save their lives more often than actually being present. Give him a chance."
"All right," Lucy mumbled skeptically, looking at the lightning dragon slayer who was scowling into the fire. "I'll give him a chance."
"First, can we talk for a minute?" Laxus growled. "Privately?"
The first master of Fairy Tail shrugged and said: "Fine, if that's what you wish. Lucy, please excuse us."