This chapter will be 2,000-5,000 words or more. So this could be a long one! Enjoy!

I do not own Fairy Tail.

Let The Journey Begin

LUCY'S POV

Leaving the guild was probably the hardest decision I can ever make. I would be leaving my nakama who care so much about me, and they would be worrying about me every day, every minute, every second. Especially Natsu. He was the one who brought me to Fairy Tail and always stayed by my side. I can really use some company in this stupid train, it'll take nearly a whole day to reach the edge of Fiore. Gray would be comforting me right now, his cold yet some how warm arms gently wrapped around my body into an embrace that makes me feel safe. He would let me drift to a deep sleep on him as time flew by, whispering sweet and encouraging words into my ear. But I know that certain person I want right now will not see me for a whole year.

A poof of bright light appeared in front of me as I looked down at the wooden table and I feel a gentle hand being placed on top of mine which was set on my journal. I look up to see Loke smiling softly with eyes full of concern. "I felt how lonely and the distress you have gotten. Thought you needed some company."

I smile at my Celestial spirit, holding back the tears that are desperately trying to find a way to escape. "Thanks Loke... It's just that I'm already starting to feel so lonely without my nakama. I miss how Gray comforted me when I get scared or sad, I miss how Erza gives me brutal hugs, I miss how Happy begs for fish and give me little hugs, I miss how Natsu breaks into my house and when he lays his head on my lap while I run my fingers through his hair to help his motion sickness... I miss everything." I choke at the words towards the end of releasing what has been bottled inside. Soon enough, I began to sob. Tear drops splatter onto the table as my hands were hopelessly wiping away the never ending tears.

After a few moments of sobbing, warm muscular arms wrap around me and being engulfed in a calming warmth that caused me to freeze and stop crying. I look up to see Loke looking down at me in the seat next to me with his arms embracing me. "Lucy... you made the right choice to leave and train." he says as if he's trying to give me a hint.

"W-what do you mean?" I look at him with a curious, teary eye look which makes him stiffen and look away with guilt. "I can't say..." he replies with a painful voice, "You'll just have to wait and see for yourself."

He's not telling me something that must be really important. Why can't he tell me? Is it really that important? I sigh and bury my face into his chest. "Can you be there with me when what ever you're talking about happens?"

He smiles brightly, "Of course." Loke then pulls my body closer and runs his fingers through my hair which causes me to blush. "Get some rest. I'll wake you when we arrive."

I nod my head once before closing my eyes. The warmth from Loke is totally different from Gray's hugs, but they both make me feel safe some how. It feels like that I'm the only girl in the world that they need the most. It feels like that I'm the most important to them. More important than anything else.

I step out of the train with my trustful Celestial spirit Loke and breath in fresh, cool air before exhaling out with a sigh. I take in the sight of Dawn City, which was on the other side of Fiore. "Come on Loke! The forest isn't too far off so it'll take a couple of hours until I get there, so you can go back to the Spirit World. I don't like it when you use up your magic so much." I cross my arms as I look up at him with a smile on my face.

He contemplates on the order with a stern look, but then nods with a smile before poofing away which shocked some people that were passing by. I sigh and continue my walk towards the woods which wasn't too far off from the train station. I need to get extra deep into the woods so I can make sure that people from the city don't end up bumping into me during training. This is gonna be a long walk...

GRAY'S POV

It's the day after Lucy has left and everything is so quiet. Fairy Tail isn't it's rowdy, joyful guild like usual. It felt like something was missing, like there's a missing piece to the puzzle. That piece is Lucy. Lucy is always laughing, joyful, scary at times, just herself.

Natsu hasn't even picked a single fight since this morning. Fairy Tail is getting depressing every passing second. "This sucks..." I thought out loud with my head laying on the table.

"I want to go on a job, but it wouldn't be as fun without Lucy." Natsu mumbles. "I still can't figure out why she wouldn't bring me with her!" the dragon slayer suddenly yelled.

I slam my fist onto the table and suddenly stand up, "Shut up flame brain! You've been saying that for the past two hours! She probably doesn't want you to go with you since you destroy everything you see!" Natsu stands up as well, smashing his forehead into mine.

"Oh yeah?! If she didn't want me to go with her, then why do you think she didn't bring anyone else with her?!" he asks with his brown eyes full of rage. I freeze in place from his question and he sits back down into his seat when I've calmed down.

"He's right..." Erza joins the conversation as she picks at her slice of strawberry cake with her fork, "Why didn't she bring anyone with her?" she frowns at the thought.

I sit back down, "We'll just have to wait and see... This is going to be a long twelve months." I sigh before getting an idea, "How about we go on a mission that lasts a long time? We can kill some time doing that." I suggest.

Erza looks at me with a small smile, "Good idea, we can go on an S-class mission that lasts for a few months." she stands up, "I'll go look for a mission on the board." she then walks away to go upstairs.

A grin appears on Natsu's face, "I'm all fired up! The longer we go to kill time, the sooner we get to see Lucy!" This statement cause everyone's head to perk up at the hyped member of Fairy Tail. They all had small smiles at the idea and over half of the guild goes to the job request board. I smile in satisfaction at my idea. Maybe twelve months won't be as long as I think it will be.

LUCY'S POV

I finally managed to get through the groups of trees and loads of bushes that were in my path to get as deep in the forest as I could. It was almost as if I was going in a circle the whole time, but I eventually found a wide area for a good place to start a camp fire, then I could continue my search for a decent training ground. I take in a deep breath of the nature surrounding me, letting out a content sigh as I look up at the sky with a longing look. That's when I felt a sudden strike of powerful Celestial magic come to my senses.

I quickly look around to some how sense where the magic came from. Did some kind of thief drop a powerful Celestial key? Wait, was this what Loke was talking about? I should ask Crux... "Gate of the Southern Cross I open thee, Crux!" I thrust out the silver key from the ring, twisting my wrist slightly to unlock the gate. With a poof of golden dust, the levitating Celestial spirit appearing in front of me.

"Crux, can you tell me what that strong Celestial magic is? I'm kind of hesitant to find out." I ask him with a warm smile. He nods and immediately goes to a deep sleep while slouching before screaming suddenly after a little while. "What did you find?" I ask eagerly.

"I apologize, but I'm unable to tell you what the mysterious Celestial magic is coming from." he grins widely.

I groan loudely, "Why not? Is this what Loke was talking about earlier?"

"The Celestial King told all of us not to tell you what it is, but make sure you're prepared." he smiles, "It's nothing dangerous, of course, but that's all I'm allowed to tell you. Summon Leo and he may help you find where this magic is coming from." With a poof of gold dust, Crux left in a blink of an eye. I exhale loudly with a tinge of annoyance.

I lift up my key to summon Loke, but before I could say a single word to the spell he poofed in front of me. "What do you need, Princess?" he says while giving a charming smile. I look at the direction to where I felt the strong amount of Celestial magic. "Do you feel it?" I say in almost a whisper when I feel some of it's magic connecting to mine.

Just a second ago I was completely annoyed and confused, but as I concentrate on the magic I calm down. It makes me feel some what at home. "It's strange." I begin again, my breathing becoming deep and even, "It makes me feel calm..." By now I don't have any control over my body. My legs move on there own towards the Celestial magic, every step I take making the magic become stronger and stronger. Loke follows from behind silently, which was very unusual.

I follow the magic until I feel it's at it's strongest point which was right in front of a cherry blossom tree. "Loke, can you tell me what this is?... This feeling?" I turn around to face him with a calm and cloudy look. He sighs and looks down with a frown, it looks like he wants to say it, but he can't. What the hell? "Behind the tree," he eventually mumbles after a long moment of silence. Is he giving me a clue?

Before I was even able to think about it, I go behind the tree and find a silver key surrounded by cherry blossoms scattered on the short green grass. I pick it up with gentle fingers and examined it. It's a Celestial key. Draco's. I look up at Loke, "Is this?-"

"Summon her immediately. The Celestial Spirit King's order." he gazes at me with serious eyes. I widen my eyes in surprise. Why would the Celestial Spirit King order something like that? I'm so confused...

I thrust out the silver key with confidence and say in a demanding voice, "Gate of the Dragon I open thee, Draco!"

With a large amount of light shining, a green magic circle is created under it before disappearing with the light. Stood before me is Draco... who is female. "Ehh?! You're a girl?!" I jump back in surprise. She giggles in response of my sudden out burst. Draco has short green hair and light green eyes. Draco wore a dark green unitard, green dragon-like armor and carried a katana. She looks really badass for a Celestial spirit. "Why would the Celestial Spirit King want me to find your key?" I ask.

The green-haired Celestial spirit sighs and gives me a some what nervous look, "Lucy-chan... I'll just get straight to the point," she starts off, "the Celestial Spirit King has chosen you to be the first ever Celestial Dragon Slayer. Third generation dragon slayer."

I look at her with a blank look, "Eh...?" I blink a couple of times. A dragon slayer?... First ever?... Third generation?... I blink again before realizing that I'll become a dragon slayer just like Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy, and Laxus. My eyes go wide in shock and hyperventalate, "EHHH?!"

"S-Sorry! Sorry! I shouldn't have been so straight forward! Sorry!" she holds my hands to try to comfort me, staring into my cocoa brown eyes with concern. I relax slightly and my breathing evens out before questioning, "What do you mean?"

"The King will explain." Loke joins in on the conversation. "Time to go to the Spirit World." Draco nods in agreement. "Once you're in there, you'll be in Spirit World clothes." he reassures me before giving his signature charming smile and disappearing with a poof of golden dust. I look at Draco with a nervous look. She gives me a reassuring smile before I'm blinded by a purple-pinkish galaxy vortex and in a blink of an eye, I'm standing right before the Celestial Spirit King.

"M-Moustache Man..." I mumble before looking down at myself to find that I'm wearing a dress that's white and blue, with matching flats. I look up at the Celestial Spirit King who was grinning and ask, "Why me?"

The blue spirit sighs, "It's because your magic is extraordinary," he starts, "when you were helping Loke seven years ago, long before the Tenhrou island incident, you released so much magic, maybe more than any other wizard could even contain. You summoned all of your spirits without dying. No one has done that before..." He trails off and before I knew it, all of my spirits were behind me in a group, including many other spirits in the seperate world. "Your magic is undescribable, Lucy. Past Celestial magic users would die summoning five spirits. You though... you can summon all of them when going all out. You didn't even pass out, which surprised me! That's why I've chosen you. You're the most powerful Celestial Spirit wizard that the Spirit World has ever had, believe it or not." he grins widely.

All I could do is stand there in shock. This is an honor, but I'm so weak... I'm not possibly that strong! Magically... yes, but physically? Yeah right. I wasn't even able to defend myself from that nasty old hag from that dark guild. Becoming a Celestial dragon slayer... I can become stronger. I can help this world... I can defend it if something happens. Like when the Celestial Spirit King went crazy, or some kind of dragon swoops in, anything to defend this world when my nakama aren't there to help. I need to become stronger to protect this world and my own world. To protect my nakama and myself. I can tell he has put in a lot of thought to this and he trusts me a lot since I take care of my spirits and don't treat them as objects like almost all Celestial Spirit mages do.

I take a deep breath before looking up at the King and giving a nod of acceptance. "I'll do it." With that said, cheers erupted among the spirits and I smile, "So when will I get that lacrima, Moustache Man?" He grins widely.

"Right now." He extends his arm to point his finger. He taps the tip of his finger onto my forehead, suddenly getting dizzy. I blink as I look at my surroundings with blurry vision, feeling myself fall before being caught by very familiar muscular arms from a certain lion spirit. Before I knew it, everything went black and it seems like everything in my body shut down like a machine.

I wake up to find two light green eyes staring down at me with wide eyes, I blink a couple of times, recognizing those eyes, and go over the events that happened before I blacked out... Those green eyes are Draco's, I remember that. Oh yeah I was getting the lacrima inserted! I almost immediately sat up, but my forehead took a serious impact with the spirit's and I was forced to lay back down from the pain, "Shit! Ow ow ow, sorry Draco!" I rub my forehead including the spirit and slowly sit up to find myself not in the Spirit World anymore and I was back to my normal clothes.

"How long was I out for?" I ask her and she begins to play and fiddle with her fingers. "W-well... It took nearly the entire day to put the lacrima in you in the Spirit World, so in your world it's been almost two months." she rubs the back of her neck and smiles innocently. My eyes widen and I stand up quickly with wobbly legs. "Oh no! I gotta start training!"

Draco stands up and waves her hands to settle me down, "Hey hey, you still have tons of time! Besides, you'll be training with Loke and I for now on!" She points at herself with confidence, giving a nod. "To become a third generation dragon slayer you do have to be trained by a dragon."

I smile and suddenly give her a bone crushing hug, "Thank you so much! I'm going to enjoy training with you, I just know it!"

"Can't... breath..." she gasps out and I immediately let go. "I'm sorry!" I bow apologetically frantically.

She giggles at my frantic movements, "It's okay, I should have told you that getting the lacrima would of made your strength ten times stronger, so you still need to adjust... hehe... The King kind of went over board putting Celestial magic into the lacrima along with mine. He got a little too excited."

I laugh along with the dragon spirit at the comment, but mine immediately stops which causes the kind spirit to become worried. "What's wrong, Lucy-chan?" she asks with a kind tone.

"My face feels funny... and my arm." I touch my left cheek with one hand where I feel a strange sensation on. I look down at my arm to only see a beautiful black tattoo of designs. "E-Eh?..." My eyes widen in shock and confusion. The tattoo design started from my shoulder and stopped at my wrist.

"That's the side effect from my magic. It gives you beautiful designs on your body." A mirror poofs into her hand and she hands it to me. I hold it up to see myself with a scar over my left eye and tattoos above it and on my left cheek. "Holy- oh my gosh!" I touch my cheek with a shaky hand and move it up to the scar. "I'm gonna have to get use to this..." I sigh and hand back the mirror.

"Hey Draco?" I sit by the cherry blossom tree where I found Draco's key at, "Why was your magic so calming to me? My legs seem to have moved on their own." I look up at the clear blue sky and take in a deep breath, smelling all of the things around me, and I notice how my senses are way sharper. I can hear squirrels from a far distance, smell the food from the city, it was strange.

"It's because your mother owned my key once, but she lost in a battle and it was stolen from her." My mother? I look at her with wide eyes, my full attention now on her, "She was a wonderful woman. Very strong. You're just like her too... I think that you're some how connected with me since your mother's magic has flowed through my key." She smiles sadly and immediately changes the subject. "Anyway, since you're technically just a second generation dragon slayer right now, there are some things you should learn about being one since it's like being a dragon."

"I'm friends with four dragon slayers, I'm sure I know about everything since one certain dragon slayer forced me to listen." I rub the back of my neck and smile.

"Even about Mating Season?" she asks. I nod and replied, "He was totally serious about it while talking about it, I was really shocked. It seems like a pretty big deal for dragon slayers since it chooses who you're destined to be with." I smile. "I even learned how you're suppose to hold yourself back when you find your mate."

She nods, "Good! Then we can skip that part- oh wait! By the way, since you're a lot like a sky dragon slayer, you don't get motion sickness!" she smiles brightly.

I sigh in relief and lean against the rough tree, "Thank Mavis..."

"Since we're done with that, let's begin training!" Draco smiles, but her smile instantly turns into an evil smirk and her voice some how darkens, "I'm not gonna go easy on you, so be prepared."

"A-Aye!" I stand up abruptly, my spine practically as straight as a ruler and as firm as a boulder when I salute with a scared look on my face.

That took a while! Next chapter I'll be time skipping since a year is a while... Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that chapter! I'll be writing the next chapter immediately after I upload this... but maybe I'll take a break... gee-hee!...

~Sugoi! Sugoi! (~•3•)~