A/n Sorry it took so long, this chapter fought me.
It was a week after Freed's birthday. Lucy took a deep breath, trying to dispel her nerves. She wasn't sure she was ready for the coming talk. Hopefully it wouldn't be a confrontation. She should be ready for it, but maybe it was one of those things that one would never be ready for so it was better to get it over with. Lucy shook her head and chose to think of other things for a bit.
Over the last week, people slowly became used to seeing her with the Raijin Tribe frequently. But she hadn't abandoned her other friends. She talked with Mira every day, and had gone shopping with Erza and Wendy. It had been an entertaining experience, seeing some of the armors that Erza found. Some were dismissed immediately, others were given some consideration. She had done a small training session with Gray as well, mostly hand to hand, and Gray had been surprised to find that she was able to keep up with him fairly well. He had been holding back, but he admitted afterwards that she was better than he expected, especially for only training for a few weeks. She just raised an eyebrow. After that, he chuckled to himself, and told her that they should've given her more of a chance since she obviously did have more of the basics down in hand to hand contact than they realized in retrospect. They agreed to spar occasionally when they had the time.
The Raijin Tribe had also taken a small mission to see how they'd improved. They all agreed that the mild mission of catching some thieves plaguing part of Magnolia was easier than it would have been before becoming dragon slayers and the two weeks of training involved. Lucy kept up training, but not nearly as intensive as it had been for previous two weeks. Especially since it was hard to find a good spot for any of them to practice with their dragon slaying magic. Speaking of that, they were all sneakily eating their elements. Well, except for Bixlow. He just had to eat uncooked fruits and veggies and he was fine. He jokingly complained often of his healthier diet. Evergreen, Lucy, and Freed had more trouble, but by the week's end they had figured out a good system for each of them that would allow their magic to remain hidden until they were ready to reveal it.
Natsu on the other hand... that was a different matter. He was still depressed over Lucy leaving the team. He didn't even turn up at the guild for the whole week. Lucy was worried, but wasn't sure what to do. If he had appeared at the guild even once it would have been obvious that she had no intention of becoming reclusive like the others in the Raijin tribe. In fact, if anything the three were becoming more open. Freed often could be found debating runes with Levy. Bixlow and Elfman got along surprisingly well when Bixlow chose to try. Evergreen had taken Wendy under her wing so to speak and was helping the girl with becoming more confident. Lucy, when she wasn't among the others, helped her. After a few days, Lisanna had left to find out where Natsu had gone. She had returned a few times, reporting that she had calmed him down, but he was still hurt and didn't want to come back to the guild yet. Lucy had sighed, no one had seen this coming, that Natsu could possibly be this hurt. Happy was frequent both in the guild and Lucy's apartment as Natsu kept forgetting to feed him.
Lucy sighed again. She was avoiding the reason she was at this river in the woods by Magnolia. She couldn't ignore this any longer. She had to get it over with. It was time for a long overdue talk with Aquarius. She took out the key and called the spirit out using the water in the river. She wasn't sure what to expect, she knew from what Loke said that Aquarius felt bad, but, years of being called a brat made her wary of Aquarius' entrance. She stepped back as Aquarius formed in front of her, without a flurry of waves for once. That was a good sign.
They stared at each other awkwardly. Aquarius looked down, ashamed, but didn't say anything. Lucy just felt unnerved by the reaction. She thought she was prepared for this. But she really hadn't been prepared for Aquarius to act differently than before. After a moment she sat down as she tried to think of what to say.
"I'm sorry," Aquarius blurted suddenly. Lucy looked up at her, tilting her head as she felt tension evaporate from her body.
"Could you please tell me why? Why you treated me that way?" the celestial dragon slayer asked softly, feeling like a little kid again. When she couldn't understand why Aquarius didn't seem to like her after her mom's death. Aquarius sighed and settled down for a long talk next to her owner. She at least owed her that much. She just had to overcome her pride and stubbornness.
"I... I don't truly know. Layla's death was so sudden, we'd expected a few years more. She was a much better owner than most of the others I've had... And I grew attached. And grief struck, that's what started it. I was grieving as badly as you were. I should've kept it to that though, instead of holding on to it for several years... I hated you for living where she died. I shouldn't have, and I should've stopped that right away... but I let it fester. Which turned worse when I saw you harming yourself..." Aquarius took a breath, she wasn't crying, but she did sound rather sad. "For a moment, I saw a young Layla in your place, and I hated that you were harming her body. That you were wasting your gift of life. It never occurred to me that there was a reason and that I should try to help. I just... turned more bitter, more focused on myself and Scorpio. Because I figured that would keep me safe from harm. And then I... made everyone miserable with my attitude, and let my magic and fighting go lazy. It was stupid of me. I'm so sorry for everything. I'm trying to be better... but it's hard," she finished, looking down at her hands. It had been easier than she thought, admitting all that. Once she initially overcame her stubbornness and pride, it was like a dam broke. It all came spilling out. Lucy regarded her for a bit.
"Okay. I forgive you," her owner responded simply. Aquarius snapped her head up to stare at Lucy.
"After everything? How can you?" she questioned in surprise. She was expecting the cold shoulder. And she would've deserved it. Lucy shrugged.
"Laxus claims I'm too forgiving. And maybe he's right. But you seem to be truly sorry for your actions. I can't turn down an apology like that. I know it'll be a while before we can be friends again, there's too much lingering hurt and other negative feelings for that. However," her voice and face hardened, "I won't accept you acting that way again. Your move of using a wave to wipe out everyone is only to be used in emergencies. If you do anything I deem unacceptable, and we can discuss it if you like, I will ban you to the Celestial world for at least a week, possibly up to a month and refuse to call you. I will also discuss with Loke your punishment during that time. I trust him to deal with any wrong doing you do in the celestial world, but I'd like a say in your punishment if you hurt me or your friends or do anything unacceptable."
"That sounds fair," Aquarius admitted, feeling rather small. Lucy softened a bit.
"It'll depend on how bad it is. Whether it put me in danger or not. We all expect backsliding, no road is without that. And being confined and punished doesn't just apply to you. It applies to all my spirits. If Taurus, for example, takes too much time oogling me or anyone else when I call him rather than focusing, he'll be confined for at least a week and have mild punishment. I won't single you out, and everyone will be forgiven after their punishment is over unless they show no signs of regretting their actions." Lucy felt a bit happier now that she could do something about her spirits misbehaving, especially since she had enough spirits now to compensate for confining others. "Please pass that on. I won't be walked over like a doormat anymore, and while I want to be friends, I need to be obeyed in emergencies, and that doesn't always happen, and not just with you."
"I can do that. Shall I leave now?" Aquarius asked. Lucy shook her head.
"Let's just talk. About our grief over the death of my mom, about how we both felt, and I want to discuss what I find unacceptable with you, if that's alright." Lucy wasn't about to lose a chance to reconnect with her mom's spirit. Aquarius hesitated.
"I... I can try," she offered. Lucy smiled brightly.
"That's all I ask."
The talk that followed was refreshing for both spirit and human. Lucy had never actually truly talked about her grief, even recently she only talked around the true feelings. Now though both her and Aquarius were opening up and reexperiencing it again so that it could be left in the past once and for all. Both left the talk feeling lighter, even after Lucy and Aquarius discussed appropriate punishments for certain transgressions.
It was a good morning, the sun was shining, though the air was a bit chilled. Lucy stretched before starting her warm up routine, which she tried to do at least once a day even if she did no other training with her magic. It was a bit of yoga, some magic exercises, and some meditation. She was at her favorite training spot, a clearing with a stream nearby she could use to call Aquarius if she wanted. She fell into the 'zone' as she called it and let her mind wander over the changes over the last few weeks.
Time had passed quickly. Lucy made an effort to train with all of her spirits, and to improve over all. Her new and old friends joined her quite often, and so she didn't get to spend as much time as she'd like practicing dragon slaying magic. They went on small missions, ones that wouldn't take more than a day, and succeeded quite easily. Lucy had never felt so confident in her life and it was a wonderful feeling.
The others were gaining more confidence in social areas as well. Freed spent quite a bit of time debating with Levy about runes, and occasionally the two would share tips they'd picked up as mages. He also was getting along with the others more, and didn't seem as serious all the time, though that was still slow going. He did however strike up a surprising friendship with Mira. It started by him asking about her satan soul, looking for tips on how to use the darkness form he created with dark ecriture. It not only gave him ideas on how to use it, but also ideas on how things he could do with his dragon slaying magic.
After that, he could be seen talking to Mira about various topics as long as the guild wasn't too crowded. One of their favorite discussions wasn't so much a discussion but grumblings to each other how demon soul and any magic with 'dark' in it was considered evil. At least by many mages, as long as Freed and Mira stayed out of trouble and didn't do anything bad, the council was perfectly willing to not arrest them. Especially since Mira was such an icon. Lucy chuckled, she'd joined in occasionally and invariably, the discussion would conclude with the thought that magic wasn't inherently evil, it was the people using it that were. As long as they didn't use their magic for evil, it wasn't actually evil. Freed tended to look sheepish at that, because of what he did during Fantasia, but Lucy, Mira or even one of the others who'd grown more comfortable with him would basically tell him it wasn't completely his fault and that he'd made up for it since, and that was that.
Evergreen seemed to enjoy getting into arguments with Elfman for some reason. But she was social in other ways. Like when Wendy would seem shy, she'd jump in and help Wendy feel at ease, and tended to get mad at Carla for putting her down all the time. After all, Evergreen had dealt with that for much of her childhood, and that hurt. It wasn't very helpful either. So Evergreen now had a little sister in Wendy who was growing to like Evergreen's help and fashion advice. She took Wendy to train with Lucy occasionally, they started with just basic hand to hand, which Wendy balked at since she doesn't like fighting people. Lucy chuckled as she remembered that conversation and where it went from there.
(flashback)
"You want me to hit you?" Wendy asked, biting her lip, and close to tears. Lucy had a thought and went to dig out her dragon slaying book (she'd taken to carrying it everywhere or storing it in the celestial world where all she had to do was ask a spirit to bring it to her). Evergreen bent over to look Wendy in the eye.
"Don't worry, I'm tougher than I look. I can take a hit. You said you wanted to be able to help in a fight, right? Sometimes you can't just be support, you need to be able to fight back with more than just a few moves, which is why we're starting with hand to hand," Evergreen explained gently. Wendy nodded, but she still didn't look happy.
"I see the problem," Lucy announced suddenly. "Wendy, as a person you're not a fighter, you want to help people, and that's good, but it means you're vulnerable. By nature, sky dragon slaying magic is a healing and support magic, and not meant for combat as much as the other dragon slaying magics. That doesn't mean you can't fight; it just means it's harder for you. And if you weren't who you were... you would've never been a sky dragon slayer, at most it would have been wind dragon slayer magic." Wendy stared at her because of her knowledge of dragon slaying magic, that was something she hadn't even known before. She'd always known she wasn't really into fighting, but she didn't know her magic was that way either. Evergreen nodded.
"Should have known." She sighed and turned back to Wendy. "That's good to know, but you want to know how to help everyone out more than you already do. So besides working at making better support moves, and figure out how to heal from a distance, you need to be able to get out of trouble so we don't have to go into trouble for you."
"I know... but fighting just doesn't feel... right," Wendy responded quietly, close to tears. Lucy closed the book and stood up.
"That doesn't mean you can't do it. That just means you need to learn how to fight in a way that's comfortable for you. And we can help." Lucy informed her, putting a hand on her shoulder. Wendy looked up quickly.
"Really?"
"Really. And to start, we're going to share a secret." Evergreen smiled at her and then turned to Lucy. Lucy rolled her eyes, but smiled and handed Wendy the book she was looking at.
(end flashback)
Wendy had been rather pleased they were dragon slayers. For a few reasons. It meant they could help her (and they had), and also, it proved that not every dragon slayer had to be crazy into fighting, which had made her feel like she wasn't meant to be a good dragon slayer. Progress was slow, but she had finally picked up more of the basics of hand to hand, and they were slowly working magic into that fighting. She kept their secret and everyone assumed they were just helping her with hand to hand and with improving her power and technique.
Evergreen had also started making more connections within the guild. It was slow going because she really couldn't relate to many of the females in the guild, and her and Erza would always butt heads because they're so different. Surprisingly, Evergreen did however get along quite well with Cana. Lisanna and Mira were the others she got along with fairly well, but anyone else, well, they couldn't see past her actions during Fantasia and before, and didn't think she was much more than a stuck up snob and so didn't really rise to her attempts to talk. But still, it was progress.
Bixlow had the most trouble. He was the most eccentric of the group, and quite a few people didn't even realize he was actually quite smart, not as smart as Freed, but above average. His demeanor always made him look stupid, but that was who he was, and he didn't want to change that. Not after being stuck in an asylum. And he had heard people at the guild comment that he must be crazy, and he'd laugh, but secretly, it'd hurt. Because they were just more people who thought he belonged in the asylum. He'd never get rid of the taint it left him. But he found that surprisingly he could get along with Gray decently. And Elfman too. Somehow. So he was okay with it for now.
And then there was Natsu. He... that was another matter entirely. He didn't appear at the guild for over a week before appearing and moping around for a while. Lisanna took him aside for the hundredth time and finally got to the bottom of it... which led to an awkward conversation with Lucy. She felt her cheeks heating up at the thought of it.
(flashback)
"Um... Lucy, can I talk to you?" Lisanna asked nervously, fidgeting with her skirt. She'd just returned from comforting a still sulking Natsu. Lucy glanced up from her shake with a smile.
"Sure, what about?" she queried curiously. Lisanna checked around furtively before sighing.
"It's... private," she informed the blonde with sheepish look, cheeks a bit red.
"Alright, then lets find a place to talk." Lucy drained her shake, pushed it to Mira and stood up. They found a place after a bit and then settled down to talk. "So, what's this about?"
"Well... Natsu... I finally got him to talk about why he's so upset and well..." Lisanna fidgeted some more. Lucy watched patiently. "He... you know how he gets ideas into his head based on what others say? Well, a few years ago, he overheard Mira explaining crushes to me... and got the totally wrong idea and... hethoughthehadacrushonyou," she finished quickly. Lucy blinked.
"Say that last part a little more slowly please."
"He... thought he had a crush on you... and he also thought that you liked him back..." Lisanna repeated, and then added a little information. Lucy groaned.
"That's what's got him all in a huff?" she queried resignedly. Lisanna nodded.
"After listening to him though I don't think he actually does have a crush, he just... got the wrong idea. He doesn't want to see you hurt, which is common for him among regular friends, and... really just from what he described, he actually thinks of you as a sibling, and since he didn't have any idea of what that's like..."
"He took what he'd overheard and assumed..." Lucy sighed and sat down. "Well this is a problem. And I can't talk to him about it because he's still avoiding me..." She sighed again and thought hard about what to do. She didn't want to lose his friendship and in a way he was like an annoying younger brother she never wanted to have.
"Yeah, he's really torn up about it, but I think he understands the feelings he has aren't what he thought but that doesn't make him any less devastated. I think he does realize you didn't mean to hurt him. And he's not going to change."
"And I don't think he should just for me... I just mainly needed personal space at home and space to be myself and to grow myself without being stifled, and..." Lucy sighed yet again. "I think that if I had run into any other person from Fairy Tail first, I'm not sure I would've thought him a friend. You're much better at being his friend than I am, I don't have the patience for his antics and cluelessness." Lisanna smiled at her.
"But you've done what no one besides Laxus has been able to do, get the Raijin Tribe to open up... I guess everyone has different strengths, huh? Even when it comes to friendships," she commented thoughtfully. Lucy nodded.
"I think you're right, and I don't want to lose Natsu's friendship, and I hadn't wanted to hurt him... I just needed to think of myself for once. And seriously, one of the problems was he wouldn't use the door and would sneak in my window and be in my bed when I went to go to bed! Do you know how disturbing that could be?" Lucy asked, laughing a little. The other chuckled.
"Yeah, that's our Natsu. I don't think I could handle that constantly either." There was a slight emphasis on 'constantly' and she was blushing a little. Lucy smirked.
"You have a crush on him don't you?" she enquired, gently teasing. Lisanna nodded slowly, turning redder.
"I have since I met him. He was adorable and always rushing into trouble... and he had that heart of gold he still has. Then I ended up in Edolas, and I kept comparing that Natsu to our Natsu... and missed him so much, and when I came back... he's the same as before, yet different because he's older, you know?"
"I think I do know. I'm sure you'll get it through his thick head sometime. Now... let's conspire to get him to talk to me." Lucy grinned.
(end flashback)
Once they added Happy into the mix, they were able to get Natsu alone in the woods to talk. He stubbornly acted like a child, but Lucy just started rambling about anything she could think of, including life at the guild, and eventually he smiled, and then laughed, and soon they were mending things between them. Natsu started finally accepting that they would never be super close again, but he was okay with that since his friendship with Lisanna had rekindled quickly during his sulking.
Lucy chuckled. He'd had to bribe Happy with lots of fish because the exceed was not very pleased with Natsu. Happy had been patient but Natsu was too busy sulking to feed him and was boring company much of the time so Happy would try to get him to do something, and fail, for hours. Thanks to the boredom, he ended up going to Lucy's for fish, and even on two or three small missions with her.
Overall things were going okay with Natsu now. He kept forgetting about the enchantment protecting her apartment, however, and hitting it, but even that was getting better. Lucy sighed contentedly. It's nice when things finally start to fall into place.
She shifted positions and started conjuring small balls of celestial light, manipulating the magic. Making it smaller, larger, adding and subtracting magic, changing the color from its natural state. It was rather relaxing, and helped her become more acquainted with it. She remembered doing an exercise similar to it when she was younger and trying to get the magic power to summon Cancer or Aquarius. But she'd since forgotten that it'd once been possible to get her celestial magic to manifest, but with the dragon slaying magic, it was easy, so she varied the difficulty. She added another ball of light and changed the sizes of each at different rates, working on increasing her control.
She giggled as she came upon another memory of the last few weeks. That had been an amusing day. It started when Evergreen and her wanted to go on a day trip, and Freed remembered that Laxus' current city was only an hour away by train. Once Bixlow was informed, the four headed to that city. They wandered for a bit, trying to find their friend...
(flashback)
Lucy sighed and strained her ears for any sound of Laxus. She shared frustrated looks with Freed. They'd been trying to figure out where he was for at least thirty minutes. Then she finally caught his scent and started off after it. It didn't take the others long to catch his scent at all and then they were off to the woods. They followed his scent, mingled with a new one that was vaguely familiar, to a clearing, where they froze upon seeing a little yellow cat squirm under a fur coat.
"Awwww..." Lucy whispered. Laxus was playing hide and seek with an adorable little exceed, pretending not to see her hiding under his coat with her tail exposed. The four exchanged smiles and decided to watch for a while. They wondered if he was paying attention to the fact they were there or not.
"Gotcha!" He lifted the coat finally to giggles from the little exceed. She jumped into his arms and snuggled there. Laxus froze suddenly, catching their scent, and then looked right at them.
"...how long have you been there?" he asked with a sigh.
"Long enough to see her hide under your coat," Lucy replied first, grinning as they stepped forward. Belle looked up at them curiously.
"What's her name?" Evergreen queried as they sat down next to Laxus. He smiled down at the exceed, who was looking at them with wide, curious eyes.
"This is Belle, she's about two weeks old now."
"Awww..." both Lucy and Evergreen murmured at the same time.
"who day?" Belle piped up curiously as she squirmed to get a better look. Laxus set her down. She wandered over to Bixlow first, peering up at him curiously.
"That's my friend Bixlow, and that's Freed, Evergreen, and Lucy." Laxus pointed at each of them in turn.
"Hi. I like you," she declared and sat down in Bixlow's lap. The soul mage wasn't sure how to react at first but eventually relaxed.
Laxus told them quietly how he found her and about how exceeds age. They were horrified by the circumstances, but amazed by the knowledge about exceeds.
Belle started getting bored and messing with things she maybe shouldn't mess with.
Lucy decided to conjure up a ball of light, and soon there was a game of magic balls floating around, at least one from each person, using their dragon slaying magic, though Bixlow also had his babies join in to entertain the little exceed. She loved it, especially when Lucy and Evergreen got theirs to change color.
(end flashback)
After that, every time they saw Laxus and Belle, they just had to play with her that way, especially now that her wings started to develop so she could chase them through the air rather than just glide. She was now a month old, and still adorable. She displayed a curious and affectionate personality so far. Lucy couldn't wait for Laxus to move back to Magnolia so she could see Belle and him more frequently. That little exceed was just too adorable. Especially since her favorite place to sleep besides his arms was his head.
She finished up her magic exercises and sat down to meditate, working through her memories in more detail, storing them, and just reflecting on everything. It had a wonderful calming affect on her, and helped her get through the day sometimes. She breathed in and out evenly. And then was startled out of her meditation when she smelled a human. She tensed, looking around. And then froze while her mind mentally made the connection between the smell and her father. Jude Heartfilia was standing there in front of her.
"Lucy. I've found you at least," he announced, but his happiness wasn't that of a father being reunited with his daughter. Lucy stood up, unconsciously taking a defensive fighting position.
"Hello, father," she replied calmly, though her heart was beating fast. "Why did you want to find me?" He seemed surprised.
"Because it's time for you to stop this foolish nonsense with the guild, and come home, get married, and settled," he declared firmly, crossing his arms. Lucy tensed.
"I'm not returning," she replied tersely. "It's no longer my home, I don't want to get married to anyone you choose, and I love my life with Fairy Tail." She carefully took a whiff of the air, and as expected, there was the scent of several others hiding in the woods, surrounding the clearing.
"Then you leave me no choice. NOW," he ordered. The hired mages jumped out. Lucy started moving immediately, dodging the first volley easily. She reached for her keys, and wasn't surprised that a mage had already taken them. She looked up at her father. He smirked.
"Now will you come, or shall I have them drag you by force?" He at least had the decency to act regretful. "You're useless in a fight without your keys." Now she smirked. She'd landed next to the stream. She stuck her hand in the water.
"A lot has changed since we last saw each other." She took a deep breath and for the first time outside of training, activated her eye. She stared right at her father as her right eye glowed a deep midnight blue and her iris glowed a brilliant gold. He took a step back at the eerie sight.
Aquarius, Cancer, and Draco appeared. That was one of her more recent accomplishments, calling three spirits at once and still be battle ready. She grinned triumphantly at the look on her father's face.
"That won't be enough," he informed her, but there was a slight quaver in his voice at the looks both Cancer and Aquarius were giving him. She smelled the air and sighed.
"Should've known, more mages, right?"
"After last time, I had to be cautious," he retorted. She shook her head sadly.
"Isn't there something wrong with the fact that you have to hire mages to take me back to that prison? Why aren't you the father I remember?" she inquired softly, not really expecting an answer. He stepped back. The resigned look on her face combined with the still glowing iris startled him.
"Attack." He didn't want to look at her, but couldn't help it. He didn't really want to see his daughter take on 20 hired mages. Said mages rushed into the clearing once more, firing spells off.
Lucy nodded to Aquarius. The spirit smirked and sent a jet of water at Lucy. And to his surprise, Lucy opened her mouth and swallowed it. She had to resist using Natsu's catchphrase as she felt her magic rise and it invigorated her.
"Now let's show my father what we can do," she declared with a smirk that most only saw on Gajeel or Natsu. She turned and punched the mage about to attack her with a glowing fist. Draco roared a challenge as he charged into the fight. Cancer followed doing what he does best; makeovers, specifically in the hair department. Aquarius started using controlled jets of water to take down mages. Lucy joined in the fight, a blur of gold magic showing where she was. It took a bit of effort, but eventually all the mages were defeated. Lucy stood there panting as Draco returned to the Spirit world, though Aquarius and Cancer stayed.
"That should've been impossible! You can't be that strong!" Jude exclaimed. Lucy sighed.
"But I am. I've been practicing. You can't make me go back there."
"You're my daughter, and you will do as I say." Despite his firm tone, he did seem uncertain about if she would actually obey or not. Lucy sighed, but before she could speak, Aquarius did.
"You should be ashamed of yourself. Layla wouldn't be happy with how much you neglected Lucy, nor with you attempting to get Lucy to leave her guild. Especially not since you met her at a guild." Aquarius was at her most menacing, causing Jude to shrink back. Lucy found it entertaining not to be on the receiving end.
"Aquarius is right shrimp. You have failed your duties as a father shrimp. And left Lucy to grow up on her own shrimp."
"You buried yourself in work, and became obsessed with business, everything is about it. What happened to love? Family? Friendship? Where did you let that go?" Lucy asked her father beseechingly. She was willing to make amends if he was, though she was annoyed at his attempt to kidnap her.
"You've certainly failed your daughter, she got where she is without your help." Aquarius took over again, still pissed off. "You have no right to take her away from what she's accomplished to get married to someone she either barely knows or doesn't know at all. You have no right to dictate what she does. Leave her alone, let her stay, I don't care what you choose to do as long as you don't drag her with you or hurt her. And if you do either, I won't be the only spirit who will exact revenge," she hissed. With that, both her and Cancer disappeared.
Jude stared at where they were for a while, and then at his daughter. He wasn't sure how to react, but he saw an opportunity. He reached for Lucy's arm.
"Come on, we're going. Or else I'll hire a real dark guild to take out your guild." He started to drag her. She found the strength to wrench her arm away from him.
"I'll never go with you to get married! I don't want to be trapped without human contact again, I don't want a loveless life, and I'm NOT leaving my friends! And I can't allow you to hurt them again!" she yelled at him fiercely as she leveled a glare at him. "Now leave."
She turned, collected her things, and left, pointedly ignoring him following her, waiting for the opportunity to try again. She walked as quickly as she could manage, and her heightened senses gave her faster reflexes, so she was able to dodge his attempts easily. Once they reached the city, he had to give up on snatching her for now, because there were too many witnesses. He followed her to her apartment. She turned and glowered at him.
"You never learn, do you father?" she growled. "Leave my friends alone, and leave me alone if you are still going with that hairbrained scheme of locking me away to to be a porcelain doll for marriage. Go home and think about what Aquarius and Cancer said. And I mean think about it." She entered the apartment. He attempted to enter, so he could try to find out what she meant. But he couldn't enter, since she didn't invite him in. She closed the door, leaving her father to his misery as he tried to figure out where he went wrong. After a while, he decided it was best to go home and do his thinking like she suggested.
Lucy leaned against the other side of the door with a sigh of relief. That was emotionally draining, and she was closer to collapsing than she let on. Three spirits out, making it 4 against 20, five mages each. She took down 5 mages on her own and held open three gates at once. No wonder she was exhausted. She took a deep breath after a while and went to the bathroom, drawing a warm soapy bath. She'd need it after that fight.
She slipped into the bath with a sigh of contentment and a hiss of pain. She was covered in bruises and cuts, as well as having sore muscles. Not bad for her first solo fight though. She'd need to go to sleep early if she wanted to be able to celebrate Evergreen's birthday the next day. She yawned. Not a problem, she was tired enough to fall asleep in the bath. Which she did a few minutes later.
In the end, Loke ended up popping in with his sister to get her up because he was concerned after the three that fought reported to him on what happened. His sister was along just so that he didn't end up on the end of Lucy's wrath for seeing her naked. He turned around and left the room while Kiara woke her up.
Lucy half-heartedly grumbled before thanking Kiara who ended up helping her get ready for bed and making sure the cuts were tended to. She yawned and endured a questioning session with Loke who was worried about her mental state after confronting her father like that. After he was satisfied, he left her to sleep and went to inform the Raijin tribe in case they worried. He recognized magical and physical exhaustion easily; she wouldn't be up until 7 at the earliest, and then only long enough to eat and then go back to sleep.
Lucy woke up with a yawn and then nearly fell off the couch. She blinked sleepily, confused until she remembered that she had Evergreen over for the night to celebrate the other's birthday. The two of them had enjoyed a night of gossip and giggling before they went to sleep after midnight. Both had agreed that denning would've been weird without the boys, and Lucy had insisted Evergreen take the bed.
The party for Evergreen had gone rather well. She loved her presents, and it wasn't just the Raijin Tribe who got her presents. Mira and Erza had gone together to get her a matching set of earrings and a necklace, fairy themed. Elfman had bought her an assortment of candy, both of them blushing and denying that anything was between them besides a budding friendship. Lucy had enjoyed teasing her in private over it until Evergreen finally admitted she may have a small crush on him. Others she'd started making friends with had bought small gifts, mostly small things.
Evergreen confided to Lucy later that it was the best birthday she'd ever had. It even trumped the birthday after she joined the guild, which also happened to be the day she met Laxus, Freed, and Bixlow and became friends with them. Evergreen then thanked Lucy for helping her open up to the rest of the guild. It was amazing what a difference lowering her emotional walls could make, though she admitted that she would've never had the courage if it weren't for Lucy. It had been a great day all around, despite Lucy's lingering tiredness.
The celestial mage smiled at the memory of the day before as she stood and stretched. She left Evergreen to sleep a little longer. She started to get changed and paused at the sight of her bruises. She sighed and shook her head, remembering how worried the Raijin Tribe was over her exhaustion and her confrontation with her father. Thankfully, they did back off a bit when she pointed out that she'd been able to take on those mages by herself, even if she was exhausted afterwards. And she also noted that her father may have actually listened this time, so there would be nothing more to worry about.
After she finished dressing and finishing her normal morning routine, she stretched, wincing. Her muscles still protested the movement, so that made stretching all the more necessary. She yawned and worked her way through the stretches. Her magic was nearly back to normal thanks to celestial food and being a dragon slayer, though she figured she'd probably have lingering tiredness for a few more days, and decided to use minimum magic for a few days. Magical exhaustion was no picnic, but dragon slayers weren't as affected by it as normal mages thanks to their ability to eat their element.
Once she finished dressing, she finally woke Evergreen. It took a bit but finally the other mage sat up and fumbled around for her glasses. Lucy helped her out by handing them to her.
"I think we should just eat out for breakfast, I really don't feel like making anything," Lucy remarked when Evergreen was done getting ready.
"Yeah, I think you're right. It's fun once in a while anyways," she added.
They found a nice place to eat a small breakfast at, chatting and laughing throughout the whole meal. Finally, they headed to the guildhall... to find it already in chaos despite it being 11am. People were dashing about, grabbing mission fliers, sometimes multiples, and leaving. Usually alone.
"Already that time of year..." Evergreen sighed. "Why does it always have to be after my birthday?" she grumbled as she pushed up her glasses before heading to the Raijin Tribe's usual table. Lucy watched the chaos in confusion, trying to figure out what was going on. After ten minutes of asking and observing others, she gave up and joined Evergreen and Freed.
"What's going on?" she queried as she sat down. Freed looked up from his book and sighed.
"S-class trials are coming up," he informed her as he set his book down.
"There's trials for being S-class?" she asked in surprise. Evergreen and Freed nodded.
"Yeah, they go someplace to undergo the trials, and then one person comes back an S-class mage," Evergreen explained.
"Who goes? And why am I just now finding out about this?" Lucy questioned quickly. Freed half-smiled at her curiosity before he spoke.
"Master Makarov chooses who goes based on performances on missions, and not just in the two weeks leading up, so I don't know why most like to rush and take as many missions as possible. At this point, he most likely has a decent idea of who is going, it's not likely a lot of missions over two weeks will change his mind. As for why you're just finding out about this, I believe it's become something of a guild tradition not to inform people who weren't around for the last S-class trials about them coming up, mostly I believe because most new guild members aren't nearly experienced enough. Though with the addition of Gajeel and Juvia this year, that may change."
"Why not inform the new members about the S-class trials? If they don't know about it, they can't prepare, and believe me, it's rather confusing and surprising to come into the guildhall during morning hours to find it bustling with chaos," Lucy observed.
"Well, Freed didn't say it was a smart tradition," Evergreen responded, smirking slightly. Lucy giggled.
"That's true. We should rescue Wendy," she added, spotting the sky dragon slayer in the midst of the crowd, looking confused. So they got up and guided Wendy over to the table, where they had to explain the trials to her. Carla remained with the other two exceeds, watching the chaos.
"I don't think I'd be close to making it..." she commented quietly at the end.
"I don't think I am either, so don't worry about it, we just have to work hard for the next year," Lucy responded cheerfully. Wendy brightened a bit.
"That's true," she answered with a shy smile.
"And you're a healer not a fighter, so it doesn't matter if you're S-class or not," Evergreen added with a smile at the young dragon slayer.
"Maybe you should apprentice to Porlyusica," Freed suggested suddenly. They all looked at him in surprise. "She is getting old, and the guild could use more healers that know their stuff besides her in case of injuries beyond first aid knowledge."
"That could be nice..." Wendy commented softly. "I'd like to know more about healing..." She paused and tilted her head. "Tell me about Porlyuisca?" All the younger slayer had heard about Porlyusica was she was a recluse healer who occasionally decided to help the guild out.
"Well... she doesn't like people in her home and she grudgingly agrees to help out, and she likes to appear gruff and rude," Lucy began the explanation.
"But really, she does care about people, she just likes to pretend not to, and I don't blame her for being irritated at people in general- as a whole people can be stupid," Evergreen informed her.
"And we know it can't be true that she just likes peace and quiet because Laxus told us that she used to be a part of the guild before Master Makarov became Master," Bixlow added in, "and she had to be able to handle noise and crowds and annoying people on a daily basis if she was a part of the guild."
"Which does explain why she likes peace and quiet now, though I believe she has more reasons than that to want peace and quiet, maybe even something triggered her retreat," Freed mused. Wendy stared at them with wide eyes. Lucy sighed.
"I think she'd take you on as an apprentice though, despite all that." Wendy smiled, then her face fell.
"But... I'm so shy and Carla is always berating me, if Porlyusica is really that angry and mean and scary... I don't think I could handle it," she whispered, hanging her head in shame. Evergreen moved over and put her arm around the girl.
"There's nothing wrong with being shy," Evergreen told her softly. "I was shy too, no need to be yelled at for it, you'll do fine as long as you don't do something really stupid in front of Porlyusica, and I mean Natsu level stupid," she joked. Wendy started giggling.
"Yeah, you'll be fine Wendy, you just need practice in overcoming your shyness," Lucy assured her. Wendy smiled in return.
"Thank you... I'll keep trying my best." Wendy relaxed a bit as the topic changed away from her. That was another thing she needed to work on, handling situations where the attention was all on her.
"So who do you think will make the trials?" Lucy asked the others curiously. Freed hummed thoughtfully.
"I don't know, usually it's anywhere from 5 to 10 people in the guild. Natsu and Gray are almost certainties, as is Cana," Freed mused.
"Cana?" Lucy inquired curiously, glancing over to where she was drinking yet again. Bixlow nodded enthusiastically.
"She's been in the trials every year since the year Laxus became S-class!" he exclaimed. Lucy sent Cana a more thoughtful look.
"I didn't realize she was that good. She's always... drunk... I don't think I've seen her use her magic much..."
"We think it may have something to do with her past, she's also been a member of the guild since before we joined, and she's a few years younger," Evergreen added.
"No parents then or ran away..." Lucy observed quietly, thinking about it. "Who else could be up?"
"Well, probably Gajeel or Juvia, I am not sure Master Makarov would have both be in the trials this year since they're both new," Freed responded thoughtfully.
"I think Bisca or Alzack have a chance," Evergreen contributed. "And Macao and Wakaba are getting a bit old, so I don't think they do..."
"What about Elfman?" Bixlow suggested innocently, before smirking at Evergreen with his tongue out. She swatted at him with her fan before thinking about it.
"He's gotten a lot better recently so I think that it's possible..." she commented with a blush. "I think that about covers it, Max and Laki are good but not nearly on the level of Natsu and Gray, so they have no chance..."
"What about you guys?" Lucy queried. "You're all pretty good." They all shrugged. She crossed her arms and stared them down. "Please don't tell me you're doubting your own abilities, you may not be as good as Natsu, but you make up for that in strategy, so you all would have a chance."
"It's not that..." Bixlow sighed, serious as he always was when it came to personal feelings. "It's just..."
"After Fantasia..." Evergreen continued quietly, looking down.
"We're not sure we deserve it," Freed finished. Lucy sighed and relaxed, knowing their fears well. Wendy watched in surprise; while she was spending more time with them and getting to know them, she hadn't realized they had emotional turmoil beneath the masks they wore in public. She hadn't actually really wondered about those masks in the end.
"Just the fact that you're still beating yourselves up over it means that you deserve it. You've learned from what happened, you've started socializing outside your comfort zone, and all our missions have been successes without much damage," Lucy listed. "And finally, if Master Makarov is okay putting Natsu and Gray in the trials after they took that S-class mission, and caused so much damage doing other missions just since I joined, one bad day from you guys where you followed your only friend shouldn't matter."
"Well when you put it like that..." Evergreen smiled slightly, before giggling. The other two relaxed as well, Freed his usual self, and Bixlow grinning widely.
They turned to other topics, discussing possible training methods and when it would be good to train together, and also debating about taking a mission together, if it was a good idea at such a chaotic time.
There was a large crowd of people waiting around the meeting hall of the guild. They mingled and talked, though most kept glancing in the direction of Master Makarov's office. The Raijin tribe watched in amusement. Wendy was sitting with Gray, Erza, and Natsu. Carla and Happy were also with them.
"Didn't the flyer say he'd announce who'd be participating at noon?" someone asked.
"I thought it said 1."
"Well I could've sworn it said 3!"
"Well the first two can't have been right, it's already 2!"
Lucy looked up from her book at that, as did Freed. Evergreen wore a smirk as she watched the chaos, and Bixlow casually leaned back in his chair and chatted with his babies.
"Didn't every flyer have a different time?" Lucy questioned suddenly. Freed marked his place in his book thoughtfully.
"I believe you're right..."
"Guess Master Makarov wanted there to be chaos before he announced it... he had to have done it on purpose..." Evergreen observed. Lucy giggled because it was rather entertaining watching people get frustrated. Then there was a small poof of light as Loke appeared.
"Lucy... I forgot to warn you. Last year, before I knew that I didn't have much time left, I agreed to be Gray's partner in the next S-class trials if he is chosen and if partners are allowed this time," he explained quickly and nervously. Lucy stared at him for a moment.
"While I really wish you hadn't waited so long to tell me, I'm glad you didn't wait until it came time to select partners. And I'd be really put out if I didn't have Lupus, Draco, and Kiara, and my extra training." He winced at the thought. "But I'm okay with it, we're just waiting for the master to come out to announce who's competing." Loke relaxed.
"Thank you. I didn't want to break a promise." He pulled up a chair and sat with them to watch.
"Come on Gramps announce the trials already!" Natsu yelled, standing up, hands lighting on fire along the way. Erza sighed and hit him before pulling him to sit down again.
"He'll be out when he's ready," she stated firmly before returning to her strawberry cake. Natsu twitched in pain. Lisanna patted him on his back, smiling a bit at his antics. Lucy shook her head.
"Ah the sounds of the guild in chaos." She took a sip of her lemonade.
"When isn't it in chaos?" Evergreen inquired with a smirk.
"In the mornings. Or when everyone is passed out drunk," Lucy responded promptly, grinning deviously. They all laughed.
Conversation continued idly. Finally, though, the master stepped out.
"Alright, listen up brats. It's time for the S-class trials. I've chosen 8 of you to participate, you may choose your partners, as usual, and be ready at the boats no later than 10am tomorrow. Or we'll leave without you."
A/n And now onto more interesting things. Finally. I think that's why it was so hard for me to write this chapter. I want to get to Tenrou Island and write it... And I want to get to GMG because that is going to be insanely awesome to write especially with the changes I have in store. Anyways, hope you enjoyed it.
On another note, this is no longer the only fanfiction I'm writing actively. I'm working on two Sword Art Online fanfics as well as one Harry Potter fanfic. Also, November is coming up and I'm participating in NaNoWriMo with my original novel. Which means I'm not going to be able to devote as much time to writing fanfictions again, but hopefully it won't change much.