Guess who's back with another update? That's right, finally, after all the stress of exams and trying to get used to all my new semester classes. I finally finished writing this chapter 2 months after the last. Which was way before exams so I had no worries. So I hope you're excited because I'm proud of this chapter and enjoy~!
Natsu and Happy soon arrived at Fairy Tail's inn. The other members still all talking about and drinking as such. But when Natsu entered the inn, Asuka saw him carrying Lucy on his back. On their way there, Natsu had ran and Lucy's hood fell while doing so. Exposing her face as Asuka smiled at the sight of the blonde. Though the tiny cowgirl was born way after Lucy disappeared, Bisca had shown her photographs of Lucy when she asked who they would look for on missions.
"Mama!" Asuka called. "Natsu brought back Lucy!"
The members that heard the young girl, which was practically everyone, looked at Natsu with concerned and shocked eyes. Besides Team Natsu, who had actually seen Lucy's face since she disappeared, everyone was shocked to see that Lucy did look like she never aged a bit. She looked only a year older than when she disappeared, having to been 18 when she did and she only looked about 19. They were happy to see her, but looked at Natsu suspiciously concerned.
"Uh... Natsu?" Wendy asked slowly. "Why is Lucy sleeping on your back?"
"That's... uh... kinda a long story..." Natsu replied awkwardly.
"Don't tell me you kidnapped her!" Makarov shouted in assumption.
"Hey! I want her back as much as you do, but I ain't gonna kidnap her!"
"Then start explaining yourself, Natsu." Erza demanded.
Natsu nodded as he carried Lucy over to a booth in the inn so she could lay there. Once she was comfortably in the booth seat, Natsu began to tell everyone the story from the start. How he and Happy encountered Yukino and heard of her being kicked out. How Lucy also stormed in with him to Sabertooth. When she left after releasing a quarter of her magic and finally when she told them to bring her to their inn and fainting.
"Interesting..." Makarov noted.
"Why would Lucy want to hide here of all places?" Gray asked aloud.
"Yeah... it doesn't make sense." Levy added.
"I asked her why and she said it has something to do with her power, but she fainted before she could say anything else..." Happy explained.
"If only we knew what her magic was, maybe we could find the answer if we knew." Mira said.
"Then why don't we just wake her up?" Natsu blankly suggested.
"Do you want her to kick your face, Natsu?" Gray asked.
"We might as well let her sleep." Wendy said. "We can ask her questions tomorrow morning."
"Wendy's right." Makarov agreed. "We should all rest for the night."
"I'll put Lucy in the extra rooms." Erza added. "Wendy come help me."
"Alright." Wendy replied.
The next morning, Lucy woke up in a spare room of the fairies' inn. She massaged her head from the headache she got last night and looked out the window to see it was just passed dawn. She sat up and got her cloak, that Wendy and Erza took off before laying her in the bed. Then, Lucy made her way downstairs quietly. Once she was downstairs, she looked around pretty sure that she was alone and took out her small communication lacrima and contacted the skulls' master.
He immediately replied and looked at Lucy worriedly through the lacrima. "Lucy? What happened?"
"Sorry... when I released too much magic, I fainted." Lucy apologized, lying in the process.
"Nothing to do with Mystical Fantasies or Fairy Tail?"
"It had nothing to do with them. I just stayed in my hiding place." Lucy replied.
"I see. It seems you haven't quite mastered your magic."
"I already mastered it." Lucy retorted. "It's sometimes too much magic to contain after all."
"That's true... you did create it yourself."
Lucy nodded and continued the conversation like that. Just him asking questions to her and herself replying with a simple lie compared to what really happened. She knew that the skulls' master was naïve. Or he just couldn't tell if a person is lying or not. Once the questioning was done, Lucy pretended to look out as if she noticed something. She then looked at the lacrima with a slightly troubled face and nodded.
"The mystics have come to get me. I need to go." Lucy said.
"Alright then Lucy. Talk to you again."
Once Lucy turned the lacrima off, she hid it in her cloak and opened the door to the entrance of the inn and left without a sound. However, what she didn't know was one of the fairies overheard the entire conversation from up the stairs and sat in silence, hearing everything from when the call started to the end of it. They had seen everything thanks to Lucy's back being turned and couldn't believe what they heard.
Once they were sure that Lucy was gone, they stood from their sitting position and went downstairs to where Lucy had been sitting just a few moments ago. They placed their hand on the table and looked outside the window. They began contemplate what they should do with they just heard. But they decided to leave the matter alone for now, wanting to see how it would go later.
The 3rd day of the Grand Magic Games, thankfully Gemini explained everything but Misaki and Corona did scold Lucy just a little bit. The boys excluding Takeshi however, thought it was unfair and protested that Lucy get a punishment she did something so irresponsible. But Misaki immediately made them shut up by bringing out her ghosts and listing out the amount of irresponsible things they had done in the past while this was Lucy's first.
The game for the day was Pandemonium and Misaki decided to participate in this one. But Lucy narrowed her eyes when she saw Dreymeil go right after. Then Erza went down too. Lucy prayed that this game would be short and thanks to Erza, it really was cut short in the end. Erza was the first to go and she chose to battle all 100 monsters inside Pandemonium, succeeding and shocking the crowd. Taking first place.
So Mato decided to bring of the MPF to rate the powers of each mage to determine the ranks. Millianna was next and did her attack, getting 365 as her score. But, the audience and some of the guilds didn't know how to react since they didn't know if Millianna's score was good or not. Which was to be expected since the MPF was never really brought out before until these games.
Lahar - the guest speaker - then began to explain how the MPF scores were tallied and soon explained that Millianna's score was that of a captains. Then it was Hibiki's turn. Making all his fangirls cheer for him. But sadly was disappointed and started to hug Cana since he got a score of 95. Next was Ogra as he shot his Lightning God Cannon which exceeded everyone else's scores with 3825 points.
"Look at his smug face after that, Misaki didn't even go yet." Yoru said.
"He doesn't even know what she's made out of." Zero added.
"Oh believe me, he does." Lucy said crossing her arms as Jura went. "I made sure he and those sabers knew who they were dealing with."
Dreymeil soon went towards the MPF. Lucy narrowed her eyes from beneath her hood and a pure black scythe that looked like black ice formed in his hand. He extended his arm that held the scythe so that it was aimed directly at the MPF. Suddenly, out of nowhere, ice that could also be mistaken for crystals collided with the MPF, giving him a score of 5395 points. Blowing Ogra's score in dust. Which made the mystics frown.
"That's not even his full power." Aria noted.
"We all know that." Sora said as Jura went up next.
After Jura casted his spell, he got a score of 8544 points. Which made the crowd and guilds dumbfounded. Fairy Tail wishing the best for Cana who had yet to go and the sabers looking at Jura like he was monster like they did Lucy when she told them about the potential in her guild members. Finally, it was Misaki's turn. The necromancer walked to the MPF, pushing her cloak out of the way and pulling out her scythe out of nowhere from inside.
"Whoa! Misaki from Mystical Fantasies has just pulled out her scythe from nowhere, we might just get to see just how powerful the second in command of the mystics truly is!" Chapati announced.
Misaki stared at the MPF and raised her scythe so that it would be right above her and slightly behind. A dark black purple magic aura surrounding her body. Then it gathered into her scythe, once it was done, Misaki made a slicing movement and a large slash along with ghosts came into contact with the MPF. Everyone looked at the MPF to see that her score was 8547 points. Just barely passing Jura's score.
"Amazing! Misaki has surpassed the Wizard Saint Jura's score!" Chapati commented.
"This just proves how equally matched the 2 wizards are." Yajima added.
"Indeed, if we had known her power was like this, she might be qualified to be a Wizard Saint." Lahar noted.
Finally, last but not least, it was Cana's turn. By this time, she was swaying side to side. Completely drunk from the liquor she just drowned down her throat. Fairy Tail B face palmed and thought for the worst, until Cana took off her white cover up and revealed red markings on her left arm. All of Fairy Tail gawked at the markings, knowing what it was. Lucy could see all of Fairy Tail turn to someone.
However, Mystical Fantasies could not see who it was. Everyone was looking at thin air on a part of the balcony. Lucy on the other had, could make out a faint shape of a long blonde haired girl sitting on the balcony. But she soon disappeared once Lucy stared long enough. The blonde guild master looked down to the back of her right hand that was covered with a glove. The one that had her Mystical Fantasies guild mark over her Fairy Tail one.
"Is it because of my Fairy Tail guild mark that I could faintly see what was there?" She wondered.
Her eyes went back to Cana, who emitted a bright light from her arm and aimed at the MPF. Everyone watched the brunette mage with anxious looks as she chanted 'Fairy Glitter', Lucy recognizing it as one of the 3 major fairy spells from the guild. Then, a massive explosion collided with the MPF and everyone closed their eyes, not wanting to be blinded. When the light died down, the crowd and guilds were in awe as the MPF was broken with a score of 9999 points.
"Whoa!" Ryu said leaning over the balcony where he stood. "She just destroyed that thing!"
"Impressive." Corona said, not expecting anything less from Fairy Tail.
"There's no stopping us!" Cana declared. "Fairy Tail will always come back stronger!"
After Cana's breaking of the MPF, the rankings were Erza in first place, Cana second place, Misaki third, Jura fourth, Dreymeil fifth place, Ogra sixth, Millianna seventh place and finally Hibiki is last. Fairy Tail cheered for their win and Mystical Fantasies greeted Misaki with proud words and smiles. Then Chapati announced the first battle of the 3rd day. Which was Millianna vs. Corona.
Corona jumped from the booth where the mystics team was and walked to meet Millianna, who was waiting patiently for the knight witch. They both greeted each other and then the gong rang throughout the stadium. While her guild members cheered for the older woman, Lucy could feel someone watching her from the crowd. She scanned the stadium and knew it was someone other than the skulls and fairies. She decided to dismiss it and watch Corona's match.
"Get ready to lose!" Millianna said, dashing to Corona rapidly.
Millianna began to go hand to hand combat with Corona. Throwing kicks where she saw she might land and punches to add some damage. However, Corona dodged all these attacks then jumped farther back for some room. Millianna smirked as she began using her magic, ropes heading straight for Corona. The knight witch, in a fast motion, cut the ropes with her left gold mechanical arm. No one noticing as she stood up straight.
Corona smirked as she flipped her hair with her right hand. "I believe you should be the one prepared." She said.
The older woman's eyes glowed a darker shade of pink and red. Millianna immediately halted, stopping just a few meters away from Corona. The mermaid sensing the older woman's aura grow from what it was just 2 minutes ago. With her right hand, Corona covered her right eye and her hair began to float. A bright magenta light covered the stadium and when it died down, Corona smirked at her change.
"What the-?" Millianna asked in a hushed voice.
Corona's skirt was now a high low skirt, showing off the golden armor boots she wore. Gold armor adorned her shoulders, chest and right hand. Her hair in a high pony tail, drifting to her knees. But what was the most noticeable change on her was her left arm. No one had noticed it before, since left hand would usually be covered by the ruffles on her sleeve, but now Corona's left sleeve disappeared. Leaving a large black mechanical arm that had sharp claws, replacing it.
"Amazing!" Chapati commented. "Corona of Mystical Fantasies has transformed into some sort of armor."
"Is this a form of requip?" Yajima questioned. "I've never seen it before."
"Her left arm, it's been completely replaced by that mechanical one." Lahar noted.
"It's been awhile since I let out this arm... I'm just dying to use it." Corona said.
"What...? What is that thing?" Millianna asked, intimidated.
Corona only smirked as she raised the mechanical arm. "Your worst nightmare."
The knight witch immediately struck the ground with a loud boom, the pavement around her and Millianna shaking as Corona dashed for Millianna and stopped just far enough to encase Millianna's head with her claws for a split second. Then flipping over behind her. Millianna scanned herself over and then jumped away from the mystic. Corona smiled as she looked at the mechanical arm that glowed bright dark magenta.
"What did you do to me!?" She asked, shouting.
"Forgive me for acting so harsh, but I need to win for my guild." Corona first apologized. "As for what I did... I just took in your fears and nightmares."
"Her what!?" Natsu asked, listening closely.
"Is that even possible?" Gray asked.
"Even I haven't heard of magic like this." Erza replied.
"Alright!" Ryu cheered. "That's Corona for you! Once she gets ahold of those fears and nightmares, she doesn't have to do a damn thing!"
"All she has to do, is let that Devil's Arm of hers do the work." Takeshi added.
"Of course." Lucy agreed. "After all... she wouldn't be a knight witch without those nightmares."
At Lucy's words, Corona raised the Devil's Arm as it's claws became sharper and longer. Sting and Rogue had heard the mystics and Lucy speak about Corona. Sting shivering at the thought of facing his worst nightmare and fear in front of such a large crowd. Rogue himself not really showing emotion like usual, but just concentrating on what the knight witch would do next.
"Don't hold it against us." Corona said with a smile that shivers down the fairies' backs, reminding them of how Mira could do the same. "After all, it is just a friendly game, right?"
Millianna nodded slowly and the claws from the Devil's Arm extended, circling around Millianna. Black mist surrounding the mermaid. The lacrima vision tried to get a glimpse to what was happening. Millianna was frozen in place, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. Everyone wondered why she just stood there, but then Corona dismissed her black mist. Changing back into her normal attire and her Devil's Arm disappearing.
Millianna slid to the floor, falling to lay down defeated and frozen as she covered her eyes. The tears finally falling from her eyes. Erza and Team Mermaid Heel was about to go help the cat girl, but Corona had already gave her a healing potion like Ichiya's healing parfum. She gave Millianna a sorrowful smile, having to seen her fear and nightmares too when she took absorbed them with the Devil's Arm.
"You've had a rough life, huh?" She asked, holding her hand out for Millianna to take. "Believe me, I know how that feels."
Millianna gnashed her teeth and crying more as she nodded. Chapati then announced Corona as the fair winner for the first battle. The mystics cheering for their guild mate, the mermaids smiling that in the end it was a fair win and the fairies cheering for the 2 mages. Sabertooth on the other hand wondered what Corona had shown Millianna and wondered if she was able to do that, what would stop her from showing their fears too?
It sent shivers down their spines. They went to look at the cloaked guild master of Mystical Fantasies, who planted the worries going through their head, Lucy's arms were crossed and she smirked as she met eye contact with the sabers. Immediately making the 4 boys turn back to face the arena like nothing happened. Lucy chuckled, seeing their baffled expressions and went to watch the next fight.
After Eve and Rufus' fight, that ended with Sabertooth's win, the next battle made all of the mystics and fairies narrow their eyes in total disapproval. It was Sanzaru of Skull's Fire vs. Laxus from Fairy Tail team B. The rest of fairy Tail team B looked at Laxus and the lightning dragon slayer only closed his eyes as he walked to the arena. Sanzaru already waiting for him impatiently.
"So, I finally get to battle a fairy after all this time." The fallen angel kitsune said, holding the hilt of the sword to his right.
"Don't get to cocky, skull." Laxus said getting into battle stance. "You're gonna regret messing with Fairy Tail."
The gong rang and Laxus immediately started the battle off by using his Lightning Dragon's Roar. But Sanzaru just smirked as he drew his sword on the right side of his waist, holding it upright so that the lightning can collide. Ryu gnashed his teeth, remembering how the skull did the same thing when they battled in Magnolia. The sword literally cut the lightning in half, reflecting both halves to other sides of the stadium.
"Whoa! Sanzaru of Skull's Fire cut through Laxus' lightning with just a mere sword!" Chapati commented.
"I don't recall ever seeing this type of weaponry in my life." Yajima added.
"Fascinating, not even the Rune Knights have such a weapon either." Lahar noted.
"What the heck is that sword?" Laxus asked as lightning swirled around his body to the ground.
"Please, you didn't even see the rest of my abilities." Sanzaru replied.
The white kitsune's tail swished to the side and he sheathed the sword in his hand while he took out the sword to the left of his waist. Mystical Fantasies' eyes widened, knowing full well what that sword - specifically - is capable of. Lucy desperately wanted to scream and warn Laxus of what that sword's ability is, but she knew that she would give herself away and rolled her balls into fists.
"Dammit all..." She mumbled to herself.
Laxus began to dodge all the swings coming his way from Sanzaru's sword and he soon regained stamina and surrounded his fist with lightning. He was able to land a Lightning Dragon's Fist on Sanzaru's back, but the skull only laughed. He straightened his back and cracked his neck for relief. Suddenly, black feathery wings spread from his back and black feathers fell from the air as he flew.
"Prepare to be cursed!" Sanzaru declared as the rest of the skulls at the booth smirked at what was about to happen.
"Cursed?" Laxus asked, voicing practically everyone - except the mystics' - thoughts.
Sanzaru then threw his sword at a fast pace, Laxus dodging the sword but not completely. The back of the blade had grazed Laxus' arm, making a slight stinging pain on him. Lucy and the rest of the mystics saw the blade graze the lightning dragon slayers' skin and knew that it had begun. Lucy grabbed her hood and tried to block her view along with the sounds of the crowd cheering for someone to win.
"Stop it..." She mumbled, a darker aura from her magic leaking fast at her negative thoughts. "Stop it, stop it..."
"Whoa!" Chapati said, feeling Lucy's magic power. "Do you feel that energy?"
"I don't think I have ever felt such strong magic energy in so long." Yajima noted.
"This magic aura, I cannot identify it." Lahar added.
The mystics looked to Lucy worriedly, ushering her to sit so that the skulls didn't see her in such a state. Fearing it might give away who she is. The skulls on the other hand smirked at the feel of the dark magic aura. Knowing full well that it was Lucy and that it was her negative emotions making her aura this way. A silhouette of someone else with the group smirking as they let the magic energy grow.
Natsu turned to where the mystics' booth was, turning just in time to see the members ushering Lucy to sit and hide herself as being the source of the magic aura. The pink haired male growled and turned to look at the skulls cocky faces like they had already won. He gnashed his teeth, seeing that Laxus looked up at Sanzaru angrily. The lightning dragon slayer's magic not producing as much as it was before.
"What did you do!?" Laxus demanded.
"I simply just placed a curse on you." Sanzaru said still in the air. "Don't worry it's not permanent, the curse was just to simply stop you from using magic is all."
"What!?" Makarov asked. "I didn't know that such a thing existed."
Sanzaru immediately dashed down and tackled Laxus. The blonde slayer being pushed back as he crashed into the wall. He wiped his sweat and tried to use Lightning Dragon's Talons, but there was just not enough magic for him to use because of the temporary curse. The fallen angel kistune continued to treat Laxus as his punching bag, the hits and damage taken not giving the blonde enough time to recuperate.
Lucy trembled, trying to calm herself and her overwhelming magic power. She could tell that the skulls were scanning the crowd for her, she could tell that Sanzaru was purposely making her feel bad for Fairy Tail's pain. She knew it all too well. Lucy looked to her worried guild members and turned to the wind spirit. Aria understood the look she got from her blonde guild master, having done this before and lowered the air levels around Lucy. Only so she would pass out.
When the magic power disappeared, Misaki turned to look at the booth the skulls were in and they still had the same smirks. The necromancer narrowed her eyes, she knew they were planning something but focused on the match at hand. "I have a bad feeling about this..." She thought.
Natsu himself was also getting angry at the way the fallen angel kitsune was just treating a guild member of Fairy Tail like trash and he rolled his hands into fists. "Laxus! What the hell you doing!?" He shouted. "Stop holding back and kick that guy's butt! You really wanna be beat up like trash!?"
Suddenly, Laxus grabbed Sanzaru's foot out of anger. Clearly hearing Natsu and pushing the skull to the far end of the arena. Sanzaru looked at Laxus in shock as lightning sizzled around his body, ready to electrify anyone that dare to come near him. "You're gonna regret making me of all people a punching bag." He said growling.
Without a second thought, Laxus began to dash towards Sanzaru at lightning speed. Sanzaru unable to dodge and fall to the ground as Laxus continued to go back and forth. Occasionally sending lightning attacks from afar using his dragon slaying magic. While everyone was busy cheering for Laxus' comeback, Misaki turned to look at the skulls to see all of them smirking, except for Dreymeil who was not there. Which made her even more.
"Is Sanzaru being given punishment?" Misaki wondered. "Hmm..."
Once Laxus dashed through Sanzaru for the final time, the fallen kitsune fell over. The gong ringing as it was Laxus' win. The lightning dragon slayer panted exhausted from both his beating from Sanzaru and from using up so much magic. But as people cheered and Chapati commented on the battle with the other MC's, Sanzaru began to laugh. Making Laxus turn around with a raised eyebrow.
"What're you laughing about?" Laxus asked.
"Hehehe..." Sanzaru laughed. "It's all going according to plan..."
"What?" Laxus asked again, hearing his mumbling. "According to plan?"
But before he could ask anything else, Dreymeil appeared and silently took Sanzaru back to where his team was. "Congratulations on your win." Sanzaru added, as he and Dreymeil disappeared to where their team was.
"Hmm..." Laxus hummed in suspicion.
He went back up to where Fairy Tail Team B was waiting for him and immediately took him to the infirmary where Porlyusica is waiting for them. No one had seemed to notice what Sanzaru had said, including Gajeel and Natsu, so Laxus decided to keep the information to himself since he wanted to get more info. Not wanting to raise suspicion without proper evidence about some plan that Skull's Fire might have.
After the battle between Laxus and Sanzaru, it was finally Wendy and Sherria's battle. It was a great battle like the others and ended with a tie between the 2 slayers. Which concluded day 3 of the Grand Magic Games. Of course right when the games ended, Mystical Fantasies' team went dashing to where the others were to check on Lucy and sighed in relief that she just passed out thanks to Aria.
Once everyone was dismissed from the stadium, Ryu carried Lucy on his back since she was still passed out and then placed her in her room in the inn before heading out with the others to go around Crocus again. Wanting to go shopping for anything that could help their beloved master and to go sight-seeing in the city of flowers. After a few hours, sundown was nearly over and Lucy finally woke up. Getting out of bed immediately and going around Crocus without a second thought.
She wandered around, her hood covering her face perfectly and looking as if she was some foreigner from another past of Earthland. She ate at a small restaurant, paid and then sensed a familiar magic aura that belonged to a certain crystal ice mage in Skull's Fire. She followed it silently and soon enough found Dreymeil leaning on a tree crossing his arms looking bored with his own hood on.
He turned around, sensing the blonde celestial star mage and looked at her with a blank stare. Yawning as Lucy approached him with her guild master persona in play. "What are you doing out here in the open?" She asked simply.
"I could be asking you the same thing, Heartfilia." Dreymeil retorted. "Usually when a person doesn't want to be found, they simply stay in their hiding place."
"Hiding isn't my style." She replied harshly.
At the same time as the guild master and skull were talking, Natsu, Erza, Gray, Wendy, Happy and Carla were also taking a stroll down Crocus. But the 2 dragon slayers soon caught Lucy and Dreymeil's scents along with hearing them in the distance. They stopped walking, the remaining mages and exceeds noticing the curious and alarmed looks of Natsu and Wendy. Tilting their heads in confusion.
"It's Lucy." Natsu answered, as if reading their minds.
"But she's with that Skull's Fire guy... Dreymeil." Wendy added. "And they're... talking?"
Erza looked at the others, everyone nodding to each other, which she returned. Then the scarlet haired mage turned t the dragon slayers and narrowed her eyes. "Let's see what's going on."
They hid behind a few bushes that were nearby, close enough to hear both Lucy and Dreymeil. Saying they were surprised is a bit of an understatement. Team Natsu was shocked to see the 2 talking. They knew Mystical Fantasies and Skull's Fire were enemies, so why would Lucy be meeting up with Dreymeil especially alone? The fairies decided to stay quiet and just listen in on the conversation.
"Well then, we just might capture you ahead of time if you keep at it." Dreymeil added.
"Like my guild members would let you and I'm pretty sure your master would want to wait for the right time as well." Lucy replied.
"I wouldn't be too sure of that, Heartfilia." Dreymeil said, shocking the fairies. "Master isn't that predictable."
"Heartfilia?" Happy whispered, quiet as a mouse. "Dreymeil knows that she's Lucy?"
"Be quiet, Happy. We might miss some important information." Carla hushed.
"Oh believe me when I say, I know your master more than you think." Lucy said, surprising not only the fairies but Dreymeil too. "I've known your master more than anyone in your organization."
"This is crazy..." Gray whispered. "What else has Lucy been hiding from us."
"Hush Gray!" Wendy whisper-yelled. "Lucy is still talking!"
"Your master would want to wait exactly for a moment when I'm vulnerable, when I can't call for anyone's help." Lucy continued. "But there's no way that I'm going to be alone."
Dreymeil smirked and then turned away. "Go ahead, Heartfilia. Talk like that while your peaceful lifestyle lasts. We're going to break your precious mystics fast and then we'll go for Fairy Tail next."
Natsu was about to jump out of his hiding spot after hearing Dreymeil's threat towards Lucy, her guild and Fairy Tail. But luckily, Erza had held him back without much struggle. "Silence! We need to hear this so we can tell the others! Is that understood?" Erza whisper-yelled sternly.
Natsu gulped and immediately stayed still and obeyed. "A-Aye..." He replied.
"I would never let your filthy guild touch my nakama." Lucy immediately replied. "I did not vanish for 6 years and sacrifice those 6 years of my life, to have you guys take away what I love most. You will lose."
At those words Erza dragged Natsu, covering his mouth from any noise he would make, back to Fairy Tail's inn to tell them everything that they've heard. Gray, Wendy, Happy and Carla following close behind them in silence. Lucy and Dreymeil didn't notice a thing and the blonde guild master watched as Dreymeil disappeared into the shadows of the now pitch black dark sky in Crocus before making her way back towards her own inn.
Team Natsu barged in the inn, panting from the running they did to get there and the rest of the fairies looked at them very concerned and worried. "You've been out awhile, what took you guys so long?" Mira asked.
Natsu raised his hand as he panted, gesturing for the others to wait until they caught their breath. Mainly Natsu, who Erza didn't let go until they were a fairly far distance from before so that Natsu wouldn't run back to see Lucy still there. Happy and Carla were the first to catch their breath. Mira handing them a glass of water, which they drank in relief and the 2 exceeds flying for the most part of the way.
"We... we saw Lucy..." Happy said, looking down.
"But... she was with... Dreymeil... from Skull's Fire..." Carla added.
"What!?" Makarov asked. "But you said they were her enemy."
"Master there is more to the story than just that." Erza spoke up, finally catching her breath. "Dreymeil knows that she's Lucy."
The reveal sent some shocked gasps, fully knowing that Lucy had been keeping her identity a secret from the skulls but now one of them knows. "What are we going to do!?" Levy asked.
"It was weird. Luce seemed to not mind, that means she must've already knew that Dreymeil knew of her identity." Natsu said.
"Why didn't she do anything about it then?" Cana asked, drunk. "It just doesn't add up."
"Dreymeil also seems to sound like Skull's Fire has a plan that Lucy won't be expecting." Wendy replied. "But apparently, Lucy knows something more than she lets on."
Laxus narrowed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. "What do you mean?" He asked.
"Lucy... she has had a past with Skull's Fire master." Gray revealed, sending more shocked gasps. "And it sounds like it was way before she met any of us."
"What could that mean?" Lisanna asked, thinking.
Suddenly, a young girl that was in her early teens walked through the crowd. She was barefooted and had long wavy blonde hair that went to the floor and green emerald eyes. Though she was younger than those present in the bar, she carried herself with a serious manner as well as a child aura around her. It was Mavis Vermillion, the first master and founder of Fairy Tail. However, it was just a type of hologram that can only be seen by the Fairy Tail guild members.
"I knew it." She said with a stern tone. "I had my suspicions."
"First?" Natsu asked. "Whaddaya mean by that?"
"I need to fill you in on some things." Mavis replied. "Something I've wondered about that celestial mage."
"Me too." Laxus added. "I have my own concerns about all of this."
Meanwhile, with Lucy, the blonde guild master was almost back at her inn. She was about to take a turn when someone tapped her shoulder. She stopped and turned around, expecting to see someone from her own guild or Fairy Tail. However, she was taken aback when she found Rogue from Sabertooth right behind her. She looked around behind him. Not seeing Sting or their exceeds anywhere either.
"Mystical Fantasies' Master?" He simply asked with his usual tone.
Lucy nodded slowly and tilted her head. "You're Rogue from Team Sabertooth, right? Where's the rest of your loud group?"
"I left them back at our inn." Rogue simply replied. "I wanted to talk to you about something ever since yesterday during the games."
Lucy raised an eyebrow and looked at Rogue curiously. "What? Is it about how I-"
"It's about how I know you are Lucy Heartfilia." Rogue said making Lucy freeze on the spot. "The supposedly celestial mage that died off on a mission 6 years ago."
"Wha-What?" Lucy asked, unable to deny his claim.
"You can deny it all you want, but I saw you while talking into that small communication lacrima with someone from Skull's Fire and I also heard your guild member Zero call out your name." Rogue added.
Lucy gnashed her teeth and looked around. She saw a park in the distance and gestured Rogue to follow her. "Let's not talk here."
Rogue followed Lucy at a certain distance. The blonde celestial star mage feeling his eyes on the back of her head. Once they were at the park, there was no one there so Lucy sighed and removed her hood from her face. Taking a deeo breath before turning around so Rogue could see her face. Rogue was surprised to say the least, he had heard of Lucy's disappearance along with the news of the fairies' core members but he knew she was way later on after that.
So he didn't expect to see her look just a year older than she should have been when she had disappeared. "What?" Lucy asked, waving her hand in front of his face.
"Nothing... you just look similar from 6 years ago is all." Rogue replied.
"Well, I can't deny that. But I had to sacrifice some things."
"Sacrifice?" The shadow dragon slayer asked. "Sacrifice... what exactly?"
"Well... since you figured me out... I guess I could tell you." Lucy said, sighing as she sat on a swing and reached for the stars. "It started like this..."
Oh my lord! I finally finished this chapter after updating this story literally 2 months ago, I have now finished chapter 9 and I can finally start writing the backstory and hopefully finish it by this week since I have it all planned out and I'm on March Break as of the time I publish this. So yes! More time for me!
So anyway, there were a lot of things that happened here today, that I'm pretty sure you fellow readers will pick up almost immediately. You better make sure to read carefully and try to think about all the small hints that's I have given from the 9th chapter and this chapter. But, I'm sure you can figure out the gist.
Finally, yes it was Rogue that listened in on the conversation during the second day. At first I was going to make it Sting, but I thought that would be a bit more obvious, so hence the change. But which of the fairies do you think overheard Lucy's talk. I feel like it's fairly obvious. But you never know. So thanks for reading this chapter! Hope you enjoyed.
Ja ne~