Well hello lovelies. I am glad to be back writing for Regina in Dracones. I had taken a lull in writing this story, but I had recently bought the Fairy Tail game that takes place after the events of Tenrou Island. When I had gotten through a considerable point of the game, but before the Grand Magic Games, it had sparked my drive to write for this story. I hope that everyone is as excited about the following arcs as much as I am to write them. Anyways, I haven't received any other reviews for the story so I will just get on with the quote.
"Family isn't always blood. It's the people in your life who want you in theirs; the ones who accept you for who you are. The ones who would do anything to see you smile and who love you no matter what."
-Unknown
Now let's get on with the story!
ooo0 Regina in Dracones 0ooo
Thanks to the strong muscles of my wings, we were able to get to Phantom Lord's headquarters relatively quickly. Besides him giving me directions, Ga-chan kept quiet while his eyes scanned our surroundings to make sure we were going in the right direction. I appreciated the silence that Ga-chan was giving me even though I could feel that he wanted to talk with me. Once we got back to our home, we would have time to talk with each other and iron out the snag that we had in our bond. When we reached the headquarters, I was able to see that Lucy was standing on the edge of a doorway to what looked like a tower. She slowly edged towards the edge as if debating just jumping down to her death. My eyes widened at the sight while I grit my fangs that were lengthening due to my anger.
"Ga-chan, I'm going to switch my hold to your ankles so that you can catch Lucy."
All I got was a grunt of acknowledgement before his grip loosened on my wrists. I let go of Ga-chan's wrists so that I could flip him to hold onto his ankles.
"Lucy!" I called out to her.
At the sound of my voice, I could see the way her eyes widened and how her head snapped in my direction when she heard my voice.
"Nee-san," she whispered to herself.
"Jump and we'll catch you!"
There was no hesitation in the way she threw herself off of the ledge and closed her eyes waiting for me to catch her. Ga-chan reached forward when we flew closer to the falling Lucy. He grabbed her around her waist to make sure that he had a good hold on her while I let my lightning travel envelop us to bring us back to the guild hall. At the door of the guild hall, I touched down and let both of my cargo stand on their feet. While I pulled my wings back in and let my dragon features fade away, Ga-chan used his hand as a blade to cut Lucy's ropes.
"Thank you Nee-san," Lucy said softly while she rubbed at her wrists.
"I'm just glad that you're okay," I sighed with a small smile as I pulled Lucy into a hug.
As soon as my arms were around her, I could feel her shoulders start to subtly shake until she was crying into my shoulder. One of my arms went to curl around her waist while my other hand ran my fingers through her hair to try to soothe her.
"It's okay Luce," I shushed her in a calm voice. "You're back at the guild and you're safe. I'll be damned if I let Phantom get you again."
This only served to make her cry harder into my shoulder.
"Ever-Everyone...is...going to...get hurt," she hiccuped.
"It's what Fairy Tail does for its members," I told her. "It's all for one and one for all here."
A small smile formed on Lucy's lips at my words as she tried hard to dry her eyes. Once she had gathered herself, I led her and Ga-chan into the temporary guild in the basement where most of our members were trying to tend to their injuries. I scanned the room for a familiar pink head before I led the two over to him.
"Na-chan, watch over Lucy and Ga-chan for me while I tend to the wounded," I told him, watching Lucy hop up onto a bar stool beside the Fire Dragon slayer and Ga-chan lean against the wall on the other side of Lucy that was opposite Na-chan. He gave a nod to show that he would although he didn't hide the fact that he didn't like the last part. Now that I knew the two would be looked after, I went around the room healing any injuries that were past any bruises, scratches, or scrapes. Macao and Wakaba were the ones that I had patched up first so they took on the task of organizing an attack on Phantom Lord's headquarters. All the while they were planning, I could see that Lucy was internalizing her guilt at what was happening to the guild. As much as I could tell her that it wasn't her fault, I could tell that it would go in one ear and out the other. Gray seemed to pick up on Lucy's dampened mood and turned to ask her about it.
"What's the matter? Still uneasy?"
I watched the subtle way that she shrank in one herself with keen eyes as I finished up the last of my patients.
"No, it's not that," Lucy denied. "It's just...I'm sorry."
"Well, it's the fate of a rich heiress' to get chased," Elfman chimed in. "And the ones who protect them are men."
"Don't say things like that!" Gray threw over his shoulder at the somewhat nonsensical words.
"But I'm really surprised," Happy told her. "Why did you keep it a secret Lucy?"
Even though I knew that Happy was just trying to talk with Lucy, I couldn't help the protective instincts that rose at Happy's thoughtless question. I held myself back from speaking and let Lucy say what she needed to say.
"I wasn't trying to hide anything," she told Gray.
"After I ran away from home, I didn't really want to talk about it. For a full year, he never showed any interest in his runaway daughter. And now he wants me back? My father went to such terrible lengths to take me back. He's the worst!"
My heart sank at her words that Ga-chan and Na-chan didn't hesitate to send comfort through their bonds.
"But when you get down to it, it's originally my fault for running away from home, right?"
"That's not true!" Elfman argued. "Your father's the bad guy here!"
A small smile grew on my lips at Elfman's words.
"You idiot!" Gray shot at him.
"I mean, Phantom!" Elfman tried to amend.
I love these weird humans.
"Thanks to my selfish actions, I've caused all this trouble for everyone. I'm really sorry. I guess if I went home, it would end this, right?"
At this point I couldn't help but interfere.
"Now hold it right there Lucy," I spoke up with slightly narrowed eyes. "There is no way in hell you are going back. We are going to hand Phantom's asses to them and then we are going to tell your father that you will not go back. Do you understand me?"
Lucy's eyes widened at my heated words that had new tears gathering in the corner of her eyes. I walked forward to place a hand on her head in a reassuring pat. She gave me a watery smile before I walked over to Mira and Cana to see that they were trying to find Mystogan as well as talk with La-chan. I could see that Cana was getting nowhere with trying to find Mystogan, so I stepped forward to try to talk with La-chan. I placed a hand on Mira's shoulder to get her to step back when I saw that her words were not getting through to La-chan.
"I'll take this Mira," I assured her.
"Thank you Theia," she smiled gratefully at me.
I returned her smile before I let my dragon features take over to convey to La-chan just how serious the situation was here.
"La-chan, mihi opus est te venire(La-chan, I need you to come back)," I told him point blank.
There was no way that I was going to sugarcoat the order I was giving him.
"Senex coepi hoc bellum(The old man started this war)," La-chan said with a frown.
"Cur ego vadium illum(Why should I bail him out)?"
"Phantasma coepi hoc bellum(Phantom started this war)!" I growled in disapproval.
"Sunt adorti, populus meus, et tuum est officium, ut unus de mea Turba, ut interficeret eos in eorum locum(They have attacked my subjects and it is your duty as one of my Horde to put them in their place)!"
"Quid collegio opus mihi est, si non habetis(Why does the guild need me if they have you)?"
A roar left me at his question that caused my careful lid on my magic to lift just enough to cause the communication lacrima to shatter into pieces. How dare he?! Before I could give in more to my anger, I felt the ground above us start to shake. What is it now?! I used my Shadow Dragon Slayer magic to dissolve into the shadows and transport myself to just outside the guild doors on the street. What met my eyes when I arrived was the sight of the Phantom guild hall heading our way. Ah, so they are bringing the fight to us? I couldn't contain my smirk. That just makes it easier on me. The rest of my guild mates were quick to run up the basement steps to stand beside me to watch the guild hall move closer to us. However, my smirk started to slip when I saw a panel of wall drop on the guild hall to see a cannon being released.
"Everyone! Head for cover!" I called back to my guildmates when I realized that the cannon was firing as I released my limiter on my magic to get it to 43%. I made to jump in front of the whole guild, but Erza beat me to it while requipping into her Adamantine Armor. I knew that it would take the brunt of the attack off of her, but it would not be enough to stop her from taking serious damage. When the cannon fired, I made about five of my Full Moon Humming defense spells appear before Erza that would give her a bit more defense. Thanks to my interference, when the cannon ray had dissipated, I could see that while there were major cracks in Erza's armor, she was still standing. I made a quick healing magic circle under her as I rushed in front of her.
"Erza, once you're healed, head back to the others," I ordered her without looking back.
When I was in front of everyone in the guild, I sent an attack straight at the cannon to hopefully put it out of commission.
"Poison Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Belladonna Cannon!" I exclaimed, putting my palms together to send a large beam of acid poison shooting towards the cannon. When the attack hit, I could see the metal of the cannon slowly warp under my attack as well as the wall surrounding the cannon until there was hardly anything left from the cannon.
"The Council was right to nominate you for Wizard Saint," Jose spoke over a loudspeaker once I had let up on my attack.
"But we will be taking Lucy Heartfilia with us."
At his words, many of the guild members shouted out their complaints with fiery passion.
"I'd like to see you try!" I challenged Jose with one of my hips cocked out and a fist resting easily on said hip.
Just as I had finished my sentence, I could see numerous ghostly figures shoot out of the guild hall that I could feel were made up of shadow magic. Really? That is what he is sending after us? Before the minions could get past me, I started sucking them in so that I could eat them. When the first wave was gone, I let myself take a breath.
"Na-chan, Elfman, Gray, I want you three to head inside and fuck shit up," I ordered to the three guild members behind me.
They didn't hesitate to run forward towards the Phantom guild hall.
"Ga-chan, I want you to go with Lucy and act as extra muscle to protect her."
"You got it Hime-chan."
While everyone went to the stations I appointed them, I led the attack on the spectres that were trying to overwhelm us. When there were some successful hits on them, I pulled the smoke that was left into my body to be eaten and converted into energy. However, Jose must not have liked the fact that we were holding up so well because he called back his little shades only for the large guild in front of us to change shape into some humanoid giant. Let's see if I can't make some dents in this rust bucket, I thought to myself as I activated my Iron Dragon Force to give myself a bit more protection. I then flew up into the air and sent punch after kick at the metal of the building and I did manage to melt a few good holes in the metal when I saw what looked to be Lucy walking forward towards the giant. Slight panic rose in my chest at the sight of the blonde walking forward, but I calmed considerably when I could scent that it was Mira taking on Lucy's form to trick Jose. Oh thank the gods.
"You people are looking for me, right?!" the disguised Mira shouted at Jose.
"Stop your attack on the guild this instant!"
"Begone," Jose spoke over the loudspeaker. "You damn imposter."
I grit my teeth in annoyance that Jose was able to tell that it wasn't Lucy. Well, there goes that plan.
"I knew from the start!" Jose gloated. "I knew that Lucy wasn't there!"
As Jose talked, Mira let her transformation dissipate until she looked like her normal self. However, I wasn't ready for the magic circle that appeared under Mira to teleport her in between two fingers of the large robot.
"Mira!" I shouted in worry over the snowy haired woman.
"I detest girls who try to deceive me," Jose told Mira.
I kept my eye on Mira as I fell back to help the guild members fight off the shades in case I was needed to destroy the hand that held her. It didn't look like it was crushing her further just yet. I had just taken care of a handful of shades when an explosion along the wall of the giant's chest revealed Elfman who stared in disbelief at Mira being held in the robot's clutches. I warrily watched the exchange between Mira, Elfman, and a man dressed in brown who had to be Sol of the Element 4. As much as I wanted to help with Elfman's and Mira's predicament, I could sense that Elfman could unleash his Full Body Takeover successfully this time. His magic had grown enough to where he wouldn't lose control like last time. True to my feeling, after Elfman beat down Sol, he kept his consciousness to save Mira from being crushed. Way to go Elfman, I smirked. Now that Mira and Elfman were free, I launched myself back into fighting with my guildmates until we heard noise come from the large metal giant. For some reason the giant was sagging and the red lights that acted as its eyes had faded out. Alright, that must mean they've defeated the Element 4, I mused to myself. That just leaves Master Jose to take care of. Because Master Makarov is out for the count right now, it would be best if I headed inside to help anyone who happens to cross Jose's path. With that said, I used my wings to take off towards the powered down robot following Mira, Gary, and Elfman's scents.
ooo0ooo
When I caught up with the group, I was able to see Erza leaning against a pillar of the room while an unconscious Aria was a little ways to her right.
"Way to go Erza," I congratulated the exhausted red head.
"Theia," Mira, Gray, and Elf man let out in surprise when I showed up.
"It's you guys," Erza commented.
It was then that the three noticed the knocked out man on the floor.
"Here, maybe this will help," I offered while letting a healing circle appear under Erza.
"Thank you Theia," Erza sighed in relief as her battered body slowly healed.
"No problem."
We were left in relative peace for a few moments before we were overrun with a large magical presence. Hmm, it's large for a human, I smirked to myself. But it has nothing on me or Agnologia. Hell, even my advisors' and teachers' magical presence would surpass this. The others began to feel uneasy at the power while I calmly looked around the room. The only person it could belong to in this robot was Jose, but I don't think that he would be much of a threat. My thoughts were interrupted but the slow clapping that came from behind us. The others whipped around to find out where the noise was coming from, but I faced Jose with my head held high.
"My, my, I'm quite impressed, my Fairy Tail wizards," Jose spoke.
"To think I would be able to have such fun. I never would have dreamed it. Destroying Jupiter, taking down the Element 4...And even bringing my Magic Giant to its knees!"
"Hello Jose," I greeted him calmly.
"Now I must thank you for the fun you've given me."
At the way his voice was dripping with malice, I activated my shadow dragon force since his magic was based on shadows with my hands at the ready to put up a protective barrier in front of my guildmates.
"I'll enjoy this," Jose sneered.
When he raised a hand that began to cover with shadows, I used a spell that Grandine had shown me called Ile Armor to boost the defense of my guildmates behind me and cast Full Moon Humming under them as an extra form of protection. Since Jose was using shadow magic, it might be best if I used my White Dragon Slayer magic.
"White Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Light Chakram!"
Two chakrams of bright light formed at the palms of my hands that I sent hurtling after Jose who, in return, sent little wisps of shadow magic shoot out at my chakrams. While he was distracted with that, I dashed out of my previous position to launch a new attack.
"White Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Heaven's Arrow!"
This time dozens of arrows rained down from the ceiling to hit Jose. Instead of hitting him, my arrows burrowed themselves in the walls and the floor while Jose phased out of the way of all of my arrows. Alright, if he wants to be slippery, I'll just have to hold him down. Before Jose could move again, I urged my Shadow Manipulation magic to shoot forward and attach to Jose's shadow. Once it connected, I could tell that he was frozen when hatred filled his eyes as the whites of his eyes bled to black.
"Celestial Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Meteor Shower!"
I could only watch with satisfaction as Jose was hit dead on with my natural magic at 43%. Should I release my limiter just a little bit more, I questioned myself only to shrug and let my power come through at 50%. When I let up on my magic, I was able to see that Jose had taken considerable damage and probably would have taken to a knee had I not still had control over his shadow. Now that I got a good shot in, it should be fine to let him go after another attack. I made to launch one more attack at Jose, but was interrupted by the familiar warm magical power that was Master Makarov.
"Master," I greeted him warmly while I let my shadow manipulation go.
"You have done well protecting the members of the guild," he praised me with a kind smile.
"Why don't you take the others back to the guild and I'll finish up here?"
"Of course."
In a flash I let go of the protective barriers around my guildmates and lightning traveled us back to in front of the guild. Or should I say the remnants of our guild. Even more anger welled up inside me, but I pushed it down so that I could travel through the shadows once I dropped the others off to search for other guild members who could be still in the robot. It turned out that Na-chan and Happy were the only ones left, so I took the two by the hand and teleported them to where I had dropped the others off at.
"Our guild," Na-chan seethed when he saw the rubble our guild was reduced to.
"We can rebuild it Na-chan," I assured him with a hand on his shoulder.
"Besides, I think Master is going to pay Jose back tenfold for what he did to our guildmates and guild hall."
Just as I uttered those words, I could see the devastating effects of Master and Jose clashing brought up that made the water fly up in waves. The sight made Na-chan smirk in satisfaction when he realized that I was right.
"You stay here and look after our guildmates with Erza. I'm going to go grab Lucy and Ga-chan to bring them back."
At the mention of the ex-Phantom Lord member, Na-chan gave a grimace.
"Oh come now Na-chan. He is a member of our Horde."
"Doesn't mean I have to like it," Na-chan retorted.
I gave a sigh with a roll of my eyes at his attitude, but decided to leave it as it was.
"I'll be back."
I didn't wait for Na-chan to say anything else before I let my wings unfurl and carry me into the sky.
It didn't take me long to find the two of them by using my nose to track their scents. When I got to the end of their trail, I saw that Ga-chan took Lucy to an abandoned warehouse with Ga-chan right behind the door. To let Ga-chan know that it was ok to come out, I let out a soft roar that only he could hear. As soon as my roar ended, the door opened and Ga-chan's red eyes took me in for any injuries.
"You know I won't get hurt from the like of Jose," I teased him, waltzing into the warehouse.
"Nee-san!" Lucy exclaimed in relief when she saw me.
I held my arms open for her and she happily wrapped her arms around me in a hug.
"It's alright Lucy," I soothed her while I ran my fingers through her hair.
"Master is taking care of Jose as we speak. The guild war is over."
"Thank god," Lucy sighed only to stiffen not long after.
"I'm gonna have to go back home to confront Father."
"I'll go with you," I offered. "I can get you there a lot faster and I also have some words to share with Jude."
When Lucy heard my warm words, her chocolate brown eyes shined with gratitude and love up at me.
"Come on. The guild is waiting for us."
Lucy didn't hesitate to take my hand in hers while Ga-chan stood back with his arms crossed over his chest. Even though he had an indifferent look on his face, I could tell that he felt anxious and out of place now that he had defected from Phantom. He would never say it out loud, but he felt uneasy about coming back to a guild that he had attacked whose members probably hated his guts. My face softened at the emotions I could feel swirling through Ga-chan's end of the Horde bond while I held out my other hand towards him.
"C'mon Ga-chan, that includes you."
I could feel his hesitation at my invitation, but I could also tell that he wanted to come back with me.
"All of your crimes have been forgiven Ga-chan. The guild members will have to accept that or they'll have to deal with me."
"I don't need you protectin' me Hime-chan," he huffed although he did finally take my hand.
"Of course not Ga-chan."
Lucy nor Ga-chan said a word as we set out back for the guild, but I knew that Lucy wanted to give a little chuckle at the way Ga-chan was trying to hide his blush while we walked. Thankfully our walk back to the guild wasn't that long and we had managed to get back in time to witness Master Makarov use Fairy Law on Jose.
"What the hell was that?" Ga-chan asked with wide eyes at the magical display.
"That was Fairy Law," I explained.
"It's one of the three legendary fairy magics that have been passed down from Fairy Tail Master to Fairy Tail Master."
"Why would Jose want to fight someone so powerful?" Ga-chan questioned in disbelief.
"Because he's jealous of Makarov's power," I surmised.
"Either way, it doesn't matter now."
Slowly the light faded until Master Makarov stood at the top of the destroyed guild hall/giant robot to speak to all of my guild members.
"This victory is not from just my power," he began.
"But a victory for our whole family."
Everyone gave a large cheer for our victory that only served to make Lucy feel bad.
"Lucy...," I started that only trailed off when I saw her face.
She wouldn't listen to anything that I had to say right now even if I did utter the words. I gave her hand a squeeze before letting go of both her hand and Ga-chan's hand to fly up to where Master Makarov was to lend him some help getting down.
"Need some help getting back to the ground, Master?"
"I'd appreciate it Theia."
I took both of his hands in mine then flew up into the air and back towards where our guild members were waiting for us. I gently sat Master Makarov on his feet then touched down and pulled my wings into my back.
"They've really made a big mess now," Master Makarov sighed at the destruction of our guild.
Once again I could feel Ga-chan's guilt of what happened, but I was quick to send him comfort through our bond.
"U-Um...Master," Lucy spoke up as she walked closer to Master Makarov.
"You've had a tough time, I know," Master Makarov commented when he saw the sadness on Lucy's face.
"Don't give us that face, Lu-chan," a familiar and very welcomed voice spoke up.
Lucy's head all but snapped towards Levy's voice.
"We're back," Levy grinned like the energetic woman she was.
"Levy-chan!" Lucy cheered happily.
To either side of the petite bluenette stood Jet and Droy in heavy bandages.
"Everyone world together to beat them," Levy said.
"The guild can be rebuilt Lucy," I chimed in.
"You guys…," Lucy trailed off.
"Sorry for making you worry, Lu-chan."
"No!" Lucy denied at once. "This is all my…,"
"I heard," Levy told her. "But nobody thinks this is your fault, Lu-chan."
"Lucy," Master Makarov joined in.
"Fun things, sad things...We can't share everything, but what we can...we should share. A single person's happiness is everyone's happiness. A single person's anger is everyone's anger. A single person's tears is everyone's tears. You have no reason to feel guilty. Lucy...You should be able to tell how everyone feels."
By this time I could see that Lucy was beginning to cry, but I knew she needed this moment to bond with the guild rather than me monopolize comforting her.
"Raise your head!" Master Makarov said. "You're part of the Fairy Tail family."
After that powerful speech, it wasn't long after that the Rune Knights appeared to interview us about the war between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord. They had wanted to take Ga-chan in after what he had done, but my vouching for him had saved him from going with them. The first night I took Ga-chan back home and took him to the room I had saved for him when Na-chan and I had first moved in. When he first sat on his king sized bed, he couldn't believe that I had had a room for him already prepared when he wasn't even thinking about living here. That night I let him get used to his room on his own and gave him directions to my room if he needed anything. After a week everything had calmed down and we were able to start construction of our new guild hall. Master Makarov had even removed Phantom's guildmark from Ga-chan's shoulder and instead replaced it with Fairy Tail's guild mark. When we did start construction on the guild hall, everyone was having fun helping out. Out of all of our guildmates, I was the only one who could carry about ten logs of lumber around that Na-chan tried and failed to copy. That only dissolved into another fight with Gray that Erza immediately squashed with a thump over the head with her lumber.
"It's whack a mole," Happy commented.
I couldn't help the laugh that escaped me while Ga-chan looked at me like they needed serious mental help. Well, he wasn't too off the mark,
"Are they always like that?" he questioned in disbelief.
"Yes," I confirmed. "But you'll get used to it."
He looked like he didn't believe me about it, but he didn't say anything more about it. We all continued with construction, but there was a nagging feeling in the back of my mind. I looked around the construction zone to see if there was something missing about my guildmates when I realized that I hadn't seen Lucy around anywhere. She left without me, I realized.
"Na-chan," I called out for the pink haired dragon slayer.
"Huh?" he answered back.
"Make sure the guild doesn't attack Ga-chan," I whispered to him so that only he could hear me.
"And if you leave the guild, take him with you."
"Why do I have to?" he groaned.
"Because he is your Horde mate and we don't turn our back on members of our Horde."
Na-chan gave a sigh yet he still promised me he would.
"Wait, are you going somewhere?"
"I won't be gone long," I promised him.
He looked like he wanted to question me further, but said nothing as I lightning traveled myself to the station that would take Lucy the closest she could to the Heartfilia estate. I knew it would take some time before she showed up so I resigned myself to lounging outside the entrance of the train station to wait for her.
ooo0ooo
When she finally did show up, I pushed myself from the tree I was leaning against and caught up to her.
"I told you that I was going to come with you," I said that had Lucy jumping a bit in fright.
"Nee-san," Lucy uttered in surprise before she looked a little saddened.
"I didn't want to trouble you."
"Lucy, we're family," I sighed with a smile on my lips.
"I want to take on your burdens because I love you. I really don't mind."
My words seemed to cheer her up a little for she gave me her own soft smile as we both started for the Heartfilia estate. Lucy didn't seem like she wanted to talk on our walk, so I let her get lost in her thoughts. It wasn't until we spotted old Mrs. Spetto that Lucy shook herself from her funk.
"Mrs. Spetto!" Lucy greeted the older woman with a bright smile.
"It's been a while Mrs. Spetto!" I chimed in.
As soon as the woman saw our faces, hers took on a look of shock with tears beginning to brim in the corners of her eyes until she full out bawled her eyes out.
"Madame Lucy! Madame Theia!" she cried out only to have the rest of the servants join her.
"I'm so glad you're ok Madame Lucy," Mrs. Spetto told Lucy.
"I'm also glad to see that you managed to find Madame Theia."
"I'm sorry for worrying everyone," Lucy said to the small group.
"M'lady, we have some new reference books from the East," the librarian spoke up.
Various other exclamations came from the servants until one young girl hurried out from the estate.
"M'lady, M'lord asks you to come to the study at the main residence."
At her words, Lucy gave a frown yet I could see determination in her eyes while she looked up at where her father's office stood. I reached out my hand to take hers in mine so that I could offer her some comfort. Without turning to look at me, she gave my hand a squeeze to show that she appreciated my support. We were both then led inside so that we could get fitted into dresses to meet with Jude Heartfilia. Lucy was put in a dress that made her look even more like her mother while I was put in a beautiful dark blue dress that had a slightly plunging sweetheart neckline that hugged my waist to my hips then flowed down my legs with a slight hugging of my legs with two trains coming down from the back of the dress that started at the small of my back. For my hair, the maids made a crown braid around the front and sides of my hair while the rest of my hair was put into a low bun at the nape of my neck.
"You two look so lovely," one of the maids praised us with her hands on her cheeks.
"Your dress has gotten a little small on you though," another maid told Lucy.
"It's fine," Lucy assured them before giving a turn to face them.
"We'll be off then."
The heels of our shoes made soft clicking sounds against the hard floor of the manor until we stopped outside the study.
"It's Lucy and Theia," Lucy announced us. "I've returned, Father."
"Come in," Jude bade us.
I moved forward to push open the large door and let Lucy walk in before me.
"So you have finally returned, Lucy," Jude commented.
"With Theia no less."
"Father," Lucy began.
"I apologize for running away from home without saying anything. I truly regret those actions."
"You have made a wise decision," Jude said.
"As long as you are in that guild, I must use my wealth and influence to crush it."
"What little wealth you will have in the coming months," I retorted with a raised eyebrow.
"Hold your tongue!" Jude snapped at me.
"You should watch your tone," I warned him, flashing my dragon eyes at him.
"From the way you have been trying to take loans out to counteract your debt-,"
"Nee-san, please stop," Lucy spoke up as she reached forward to place a hand on mine.
Even though I had so much more to say to Jude, I resigned to let Lucy have her time to talk now. I could say what I needed to when Lucy left the room.
"You have finally matured Lucy," Jude seemed to praise Lucy.
"It seems I've made you realize how much trouble your selfish actions cause for those around you."
At Jude's words, my body moved on its own towards Jude, but Lucy's hand putting a bit more pressure on mine so that I wouldn't do anything else.
"You are the daughter of the Heartfilias. You live in different worlds. It is fortunate that you finally understand this, Lucy."
All I could do was stand beside Lucy and clench my hands into fists even though I wanted to teach Jude a lesson for how he was treating his own daughter. It made me long for the time when everyone knew of my status in the world and did not dare to go after me or my own. Stupid human customs, I growled in my mind.
"There is only one reason I've had you returned," Jude continued on with his hands behind his back.
"A very fortunate event. A marriage with the son of the Jurener family has been proposed."
What. The. Hell?! Jude went through all that trouble to get her back home just so he could sell Lucy away in a marriage proposal?! I could feel myself start to shake with anger at Jude's detached treatment of his daughter, but I was able to calm myself back down at the feeling on Lucy's hand on mine.
"Yes, I figured it was something like that," Lucy sighed.
"A marriage with the Jurener family will allow Heartfilia Railways to make solid strides to the south. This marriage will ensure our future fortune."
"Our fortune?" Lucy echoed quietly.
"And you must give birth to a boy," Jude added without listening to anything but himself.
"So he can become heir to the Heartfilia estate. That is all. Return to your room."
"Father, you seem to be mistaken," Lucy spoke up that greatly surprised Jude if his posture was anything to go by.
"I have returned in order to show you my resolve. It's true that I was wrong to leave without saying anything. It was no different than simply running away. So this time, I'm going to tell you exactly how I feel before I leave!"
I couldn't help but feel proud for how Lucy was standing up to her father. This talk was very long overdue. My greatest joy of Lucy standing up for herself was the way Jude was staring at her in disbelief that his daughter would talk back like this.
"Lucy!" Jude exclaimed in shock.
"There is nothing fortunate about having your fate decided for you! You must grab your own happiness yourself! I'm going to walk my own path!"
I placed a hand on my hip to watch Lucy calm down slightly from her passion driven speech until she was speaking more calmly.
"Don't go deciding on who I'll marry. And…Don't lay a finger on Fairy Tail again!"
With the way she was conducting herself now, I could see an uncanny resemblance to her ancestor Anna. What I wasn't expecting was Lucy ripping the bodice of her dress, leaving her in her corset.
"The next time you do, I and everyone in the guild, will consider the enemy!" she declared firmly.
"If you hadn't have done that, maybe we could be a bit more civil. But it's too late now. You have hurt my friends far too much."
Throughout Lucy's speech, I could see that Jude couldn't even begin to try to wrap his head around her words. If he would have stopped working for a bit to actually get to know his daughter, he would have known how brave and strong Lucy is.
"What I want isn't money, or pretty dresses, or fortune forced upon me…," Lucy continued while she walked back towards the study door.
"I'm not Lucky Lucy of the Heartfilias anymore. Fairy Tail is my other family now, and they recognize me just as Lucy. It's a far more loving family than this. I lived here only a little while, but leaving the home I lived in with Mother was incredibly difficult. Mrs. Spetto, Old Man Belo, Mr. Ribbon, Mrs. Aed...It'll be really hard to leave them all."
I could hear the shaky breath she took in to steel herself for the rest of the conversation.
"But...But, you see...If Mom were still alive, I think she'd tell me 'You go do what you want to do'."
"Layla," Jude uttered under his breath.
"Farewell, Dad."
Lucy and I headed back towards where we had changed so that we could change back into the clothes we wore here. While Lucy took off her dress to leave here, I instead requipped my dress into my requip space so that I could have it for later. When Lucy had first witnessed me hoarding pretty clothes, she had given me a weird look. In my defense, dragons tended to hoard many different things whether it be jewels, fabrics, or money. Mine just happened to be clothes.
After we had dressed in our clothes, I followed Lucy outside to where her mother's grave was.
"Layla would be proud of you Lucy," I told her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Thank you Nee-san."
We stood for a few more minutes of silence until we heard several voices shouting our names.
"It seems the others found us," I chuckled at Lucy's flustered look.
While Lucy explained her note to Na-chan, Gray, Happy, and Erza, I couldn't help but notice that Ga-chan had come too.
"Hey Ga-chan," I greeted him with a wide smile.
"Why'd you come with the others?"
"Salamander said that he had to watch me," he told me with a roll of his eyes.
"But he also said that you would be here."
My face softened at his words and my arms automatically wrapped around his shoulders to give him a hug. Ga-chan was truly trying to fit in with this guild that he attacked that was also vastly different from the guild he grew up in. I could feel Ga-chan's embarrassment through his part of the bond right alongside his gratitude and affection for me. Slowly Ga-chan's arms moved to hold me around my waist while his face lowered so that he could inhale my scent.
"You're doing great Ga-chan," I whispered in his ear.
"If you ever need to just step away, I'm here for you."
"Hey!" Na-chan complained when he saw how Ga-chan and I were holding each other.
I gave a sigh at Na-chan's possessiveness yet a smile still grew on my lips as I let go of Ga-chan. Ga-chan also released me, but his arms moved slowly.
"You're going to have to get used to me hugging our Hoarde mates," I told Na-chan.
Instead of answering me, Na-chan gave a huff. Oh gods, this was going to take a while for Na-chan to get used to Ga-chan. We all made sure to say goodbye to the servants who had trickled outside when Lucy and I had greeted Team Natsu plus Ga-chan as we all headed back towards the entrance of the estate.
"I'm really sorry I worried you all," Lucy told Team Natsu.
"Don't worry," Erza assured her. "It's our fault for jumping to conclusions."
"I guess we were worried for nothing," Gray sighed.
"Sheesh, what a spacious town."
"It's so calm and peaceful," Erza agreed.
"This isn't a town," I denied.
"It's our garden," Lucy added.
"Our land goes all the way to that mountain over there."
It took a minute, but I could see the immediate change in Gray and Na-chan's attitude.
"All hail, Princess Lucy!" Gray uttered.
"The sky sure is blue," Erza commented.
"If only they could have seen my estate," I whispered to Ga-chan.
"Now that was somethin'," Ga-chan agreed.
"I have to admit that I miss it," I sighed.
"We could always go back or rebuild an estate," Ga-chan offered.
"You are sweet Ga-chan, but for now I should stay close to Fairy Tail."
Ga-chan made a noise of acknowledgement as we continued on our walk.
When we arrived back in Magnolia, and we had all settled down for the night, I had received a lacrima call from Jura when I was sitting at my vanity table brushing out my hair. I made sure that the towel that I was wearing was secure before I accepted the call.
"Hello Jura," I greeted him warmly. "To what do I owe the call?"
He seemed to have been taken a back a little by my state of dress, yet he was able to remember what he was going to say.
"I have news regarding your Wizard Saint status," he told me with a small smile.
"Oh, do tell?"
"You have been approved and the date for your induction has already been set."
By then I had finished brushing out my hair so I sat my brush down and pushed my hair behind me.
"When is it?"
"About a week from now," Jura answered. "And it is to be held at the Fiore branch Council building."
"Thank you for telling me Jura. We should meet up the day before the ceremony and talk."
"That's actually another reason I called," Jura admitted.
"I wanted to catch up with you."
"Okay," I smiled. "Do you want me to go first or do you?"
"I'm afraid that I have nothing of importance to share," Jura smiled.
"I have been going on the odd job and watching my guild mates grow, but what about you? I heard about the incident with Phantom."
"That...is a long story," I admitted.
I ran my hands through my hair as I started telling him what had happened during the incident. I have to admit that Jura was a good listener just letting me get everything out and nodding his head to show that he was following along with what I was saying.
"So, a member of your guild was part of Phantom?" Jura mused.
"Yes, and he is now a part of Fairy Tail. He has cleared his sins in the way of the dragons. However, a few members of our guild does not believe that it was good enough for him to pay for what he did."
"How are you taking it?"
"I'm a little annoyed that they don't trust me," I grumbled that bordered on a growl.
"But I'm more worried about Ga-chan. He may not show that it bothers him, but I can tell that it does."
"I'm sure that he will adjust little by little with your support," Jura assured me.
Even though I knew that Ga-chan would be able to get through his first few rough months in the guild, it was nice to hear Jura also tell me that Ga-chan was going to be fine.
"Thank you Jura," I smiled. "Talking with you really helped."
"What is a royal advisor for, Your Highness?"
"You're funny Jura," I deadpanned, having to stop my lips from quirking up into a smile.
"I try."
"I'll see you in a week."
"Until then."
When I hung up the call, I could feel the lightness in my chest as I readied myself for bed. I could only imagine how the guild was going to react to the announcement that I was to become a Wizard Saint.
ooo0 Regina in Dracones 0ooo
And there we have it lovelies. The newest chapter of the story. I have to admit that the last part of the story seemed to drag and not sound right as I typed it. Hopefully it doesn't sound to off. What I really needed to do with the last part was to set up the induction into the Ten Wizard Saints and to set up for the arc after Loke's Arc. Slowly but surely I am making my way through the different arcs to get to the major plot points that I had outlined beforehand. I am also finding it a bit hard to factor in Ga-chan earlier in the story since it was a bit before he joined the main cast in the anime. Although I do so love writing Ga-chan's character. Besides what I am working on with the story, I am curious to see what you guys think of Jura's and Theia's budding friendship. I didn't think that I was going to end up with Theia being friends with Jura, but that is what I fould myself going with as I started developing the story further. Well, I don't have much else to say so I will sign off. If you guys have and questions or comments, feel free to leave a review or to shoot me a pm. Remember, reviews are magic!
-White Wolf