Chapter 10: Change

"Welcome Lucy Heartfilia. You have front row seat to witness how I'm going to conduct my plan in becoming the most powerful mage in all of Earthland." Minerva said, smirking evilly.

"Minerva please, I beg you! Don't do this!" Lucy cried. "Are you really going to inflict more pain and suffering on other people by doing so?!" This causes Alicia to widen her eyes again.

"Hypocrite! It's you and your blasted guild who have inflicted pain and suffering on me!" Minerva said, her face distorting into an ugly scowl. "You don't know the humiliation I faced after my defeat at the festival!"

Lucy paused for a moment as she narrows her eyes. "Just answer my question from earlier Minerva! What are you up to?"

Minerva gestures Lucy to the machine and said, "This machine will help me absorb energy and magic from the elemental guardians and transfer them into my body. And I want you to operate it for me."

Alicia's mouth gape open. "Ab…sorb?" She uttered.

"How does that work?" Lucy asked.

"I want you inside the machine and used your Unison Raid spell to absorb their magic." Minerva said.

Lucy narrows her eyes. "Sorry Minerva, like I said. I will never help you."

This causes Minerva to snap her eyes open, charge over to Lucy and grabs her by her collar. She lifts her up high, causing Lucy to gasp in pain. Alicia widens her eyes in horror, shocked to see Minerva's changed personality which she has never seen before.

"You are trying my patience, arrogant scum!" Minerva growled at Lucy, her eyes darkened.

Alicia could only stand still with her eyes wide.

'Why…why am I remembering?' She thought to herself.

Flashback:

Alicia secretly enters a computer room and walks over to the console. She types on the keyboard as she stares at the computer screen.

"Password?" The voice from the computer asked.

Alicia takes out a thumb drive and inserts it into the computer drive. The thumb drive rewrites all the programming and coding inside the computer.

"Access granted." The voice from the computer said and it shows several documents on the screen. Alicia reads through the documents and her eyes widen in horror as she finally finds out the horrible truth of her existence.

By reading through the documents, she learns that she is actually one of the five hundred clones of a human known as Ada Clover who was killed in combat with her father, Relius Clover. She is clone number 222 to be precise. And the purpose of her cloning was to serve as training dummies to the mages of Alahorn. Any clone that passes the test by defeating the mage they faced will be worthy of being used as a soul to revive Rarchluka, king of Wyverns. Any clone that fails by behind defeated and dying will be used to turn into a husk as part of the Alahornian army. Over 215 clones have gone through the test. 50 passed and 165 failed. And either way, their lives have been forfeited.

Alicia then backs away and fell to her knees. She trembled in fear and tears freely roll down her cheeks. She now knows her true purpose and soon, she will die, just like the previous 215 clones before her. All her training in fighting skills and education of magic and Earthland were all set up for the day when she is to be sacrificed or killed.

During her education, she learnt about the humans in Earthland and how they are free to learn new things every day and travel around the world. But she can never be like them. She is nothing but a clone. A clone that is used to be sacrificed or killed.

Alicia wipes away her tears and instantly, her frown distorts into an ugly scowl. She looks up with her eyes deeply furrowed.

She now despised humanity. If humans are going to use her as nothing but a tool, then she will make them suffer. They will suffer the same fate as her.

Alicia narrows her eyes and clenches her fists tightly. She remembers why she joined Minerva in the first place. To teach humanity a lesson for their arrogance and stripping her freedom away from her. And by helping Minerva with her plans to become the most powerful mage in Earthland, all of humanity will be at the mercy of Darkness Falls and they will finally learn the true meaning of being oppressed. After all the torment she and her fellow clones faced through in the past, she can't forgive them.

But then, Alicia snaps out of her thoughts when she sees Lucy trembling in front of her.

"As long as I'm a member of Fairy Tail…" Lucy looks up at Minerva and yells at her. "I WILL NEVER WORK FOR SOMEONE LIKE YOU!"

There was a tense moment of silence.

Minerva then broke the silence by throwing her head back and laughing. Then she looks back at Lucy with a malicious grin. "You really are a stubborn bitch, Lucy Heartfilia." She said.

In great speed, Minerva charges over to Lucy and to the blonde-haired mage's shock, she is grabbed by the face.

Minerva lifts her up and Alicia widens her eyes.

Minerva yells as she turns to the side and delivers a swift punch to Lucy's gut. Lucy screamed in pain and agony as she is sent flying and crashing against the wall.

Alicia's mouth gapes open in horror. When the smoke is cleared, Lucy falls to the floor on her feet. However, she barely has time to get herself together before Minerva appears behind her and kicks her in the back, which sends Lucy tumbling through the floor.

"No!" Sami shouted while watching from his glass prison. He gets up and pounds his fist repeatedly on the glass as he watches this display of horror. "We got to do something!"

"What can we do?!" Park shouted. "We are trapped inside anti-magic glass barriers which strip away all our magic!"

"Poor girl…" Presa said frowning.

Lucy groans in pain as blood trickled down from her mouth and her body is covered in bruises. She tries to get herself up from the floor but Minerva walks over and stands above her. She grins as she pulls back her fist and brings it down at Lucy.

Alicia continues watching in horror as Minerva continues her merciless beating and rampage on Lucy. This is starting to remind her of the experiments which cause the deaths of her fellow clones. At this rate, Lucy may suffer the same tragic fate as the clones before her. She remembers how her fellow clones were maimed to death by the mages of Alahorn during the test and she can also imagine how they were turned into husks or have their souls drained to revive Rarchluka. And this Lucy…actually does reminds her of them.

Alicia closes her eyes and turns her head away. Lucy is a human and to her, humans deserved to be punished for their arrogance. However, Lucy is the first human to show her that she isn't like the other humans she had known. She definitely doesn't look like any of the mages who killed her fellow clones and just like her; she has lived through the life of pain. And she can overcome it then…

'Why can't I?' She thought. Is it because unlike her, her fate was decided before her birth? True. But still, if Lucy can overcome pain…

'Then I can too.' Alicia narrows her eyes in determination.

Lucy now finds herself gasping for air as she laid on the ground, completely helpless and severely injured by Minerva's beatings. Sami, Park and Presa all frown and gape their mouths open in horror as they helplessly watch her suffering.

Minerva walks over to her again and grabs her by her collar with one hand. "And now…" She said as she uses her other hand to create a sphere of dark magic. "You will obey me!"

Suddenly, something happened which Minerva never expected.

"CIRCULAR SMASH!" Alicia shouted, Minerva turns her head and she instantly widen her eyes and gapes her mouth open in shock. Alicia swings her yo-yo down onto Minerva and when it slams right in front of her, an explosion bursts out, sending Minerva and Lucy flying. As Lucy flies through the air, Alicia quickly jumps over and catches her in her arms. She lands on the ground safely and gently lays Lucy down on the floor.

Lucy slowly opens her eyes and looks up at Alicia who looks down at her with a concerned frown.

"A…licia?" Lucy uttered. Alicia sighs in relief and makes a rare small smile. Then, Alicia turns around when she heard a cough. When the smoke is cleared, Minerva is lying on the ground coughing and her dress is tattered.

She then looks up and growls angrily at Alicia. "Alicia!" Minerva hissed at her. "HOW DARE YOU! WHY?!"

Alicia narrows her eyes and her face distorts into an ugly scowl as she gets into a fighting stance, defending Lucy as she lies on the floor behind her. This surprises Lucy.

"Minerva…I trusted you before…but now, I know your true colors." Alicia said. "YOU ARE LOWER THAN SCUM!"

END OF CHAPTER