Yeah so I took a break for a few months but I'm back now. Hopefully, I'll keep bringing out a chapter every week since I have nothing else to do this summer XD. Sorry for the long wait, hope you enjoy :D

~Chapter Nine~

Lucy stirred awake, her shoulders sore from yesterday's training with Aysu. She lay still on her back as she opened her eyes, staring up at the ceiling. She had been so busy yesterday that she hadn't even had the time to dwell on the pain she still possessed. Her mind wandered back to her former guild's neglection followed by their harsh words and hateful looks. She wanted to hate them. Truly, she did, but she just didn't have it in her heart. They had so many great memories with each other, ones that shaped her into a better Lucy. She just couldn't let go of those precious memories.

Whilst she couldn't hate them, she was certainly disappointed and hurt by them. She just couldn't believe that a guild who preaches so much about family would be so hideous towards a member of their own. Of course, now she was at a conflict; Igneel and Grandine refuse to believe the behaviour of their successors was their own. It made Lucy believe that, perhaps, there was something she had missed.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the same aggressive banging as yesterday. "Rise and shine little girl!" Metalicana's gruff voice was slightly muffled by the door. Lucy rolled her eyes at the nickname and pushed herself up out of bed. "Alright, I'm up." Metalicana gave her another forty minutes to get dressed before leaving. Lucy did the same routine as yesterday before making her way over to her closet. Remembering Demeter's preference of traditional clothing, Lucy dressed herself in a red kimono that was patterned with pink flowers across the sleeves and waist. She matched it with red flat shoes before tying her belt around her waist, clipping on her keys, and placing her eyepatch over her eye.

She stepped out of the closet to be greeted by the sight of Metalicana stood in the middle of her room, his arms folded against his chest. He had a smirk plastered on his face. "You're lucky I didn't drag you out of there, dressed or not." He chuckled afterwards. Lucy scoffed at his remark and rolled her eyes at him. In earlier years, she would have called him a pervert or slapped him, but now she just didn't put the effort in, opting to just show her disgust through her face. "Come on, everyone's waiting for you." He walked out of the room and Lucy followed him, walking a step behind him all the way to the dining room.

"Good morning Lucy." Grandine smiled at the blonde, the first to notice her walk in the room. "Hi Lucy, how did your training go yesterday?" Venus asked with a sweet smile stretched her cheeks. "It was good." Lucy gave a small smile back. It would take her some time before she truly opened up and trusted everyone, so her answers were short for now. "Good morning Lucy, today you will be training with Grandine, Gaia and myself. You will rotate between your mentors throughout the week but you'll be training with me almost every day." Lucy nodded in response. "That sounds good." Demeter wasn't pleased with the lack of enthusiasm but she understood that adjusting would be hard for Lucy.

Once Lucy was finished with her breakfast, she followed Grandine out to the training grounds. "Have you seen Wendy's magic before?" Grandine asked Lucy as she stood facing her in the middle of the grounds. "Yes, she's quite strong for her age. Stronger than me. She fitted in right away at Fairy Tail." Lucy gave a sad smile, not unnoticed by Grandine. "You remind me of her." Lucy looked at her with confusion. She always thought of Wendy as a little sister figure but she didn't think they were alike. "She always denied her talents too. You're stronger than you know Lucy." Grandine smiled at her with warmth. Lucy mirrored her smile, silently thanking her for the compliment.

Grandine's lesson had the same concept as the previous teachings; studying the element. Grandine produced strong winds in Lucy's direction, which she had to attempt to steer the direction of. At first they started knocking her back and off her feet, disheartening her efforts. After one particularly strong wind, Lucy was flung to the other side of the grounds, landing on her side. Lucy ignored the pain, driven by her anger and frustration to stand back up. "This is useless! I'm hopeless. The only thing I was good at was fire!" Grandine sighed, walking towards Lucy. "You're not hopeless, you've only just started." Lucy stared at the floor, her arms crossed over her chest as Grandine was now stood next to her.

"You'll get better in time, don't worry." Lucy sighed heavily, not fully satisfied with her advice. Grandine placed a hand on her shoulder. "If you really want to excel, you need to clear your mind and your feelings. If you are at peace then, and only then, can you be at your full potential." Lucy finally looked up at Grandine, half a smile pulling at her cheeks. "I understand." Grandine patted her shoulder. "Good, now, lets try again shall we?"

Lucy stood back to her position, as did Grandine. She drew out a long breath as she thought over her mentor's words. She knew she harbored an overwhelming amount of sadness and loss that was hard to let go of. She wasn't ready to forgive them yet, but she wanted to learn more. She knew that she would have to make peace with the past in order to succeed in her future. It wouldn't happen overnight, but she thought that maybe if she let go of one thought at a time, then that would still count for something.

Her eyes were clenched shut in concentration, her mind thinking back to her ex guild and it's members. She thought she could start by forgiving one person at a time. She thought it was fitting to forgive Wendy now, since she was training with her adoptive mother. After all, she didn't really think that Wendy had a big role in her misfortune, she was just following the crowd. A small smile crept onto her face. Yes, I forgive you Wendy, it wasn't your fault.

When she opened her eyes, she saw the gust of wind Grandine was aiming at her. She nodded as a signal for her to release it and prepared herself for the impact of the wind. She felt as though a small weight had just been lifted from her and she felt lighter. She reached out her left arm towards the attack, centering her hand towards the inside of the whirlwind. She braced herself for the impact, but found that the air simply pushed her back a little as it began to wrap around her arm, swirling its way across her shoulders before wrapping around her right arm. The air felt soft and gentle around her skin, it gave her a calmness that she had all but forgotten. Lucy couldn't express with words how proud she was of herself. Not distracting herself, she pointed the wind back towards Grandine, who also had a beaming grin on her face.

"Well done Lucy! Brilliant!" Grandine applauded her student as the winds made their way back to her. She simply dismissed them, making the air disperse out. Lucy jogged over to Grandine, clasping her hands together with a smile. "Thank you." Grandine returned the smile. Though she had only known Lucy for two days, she saw Wendy in her. She had felt like she was missing a piece of herself ever since she left Wendy and while she knew it was selfish, she hoped that soon Lucy would help replace that hole in her heart. "Let's go again, I don't want it to be a fluke." Grandine was disappointed at the lack of affection, but she took her stance again and repeated the simple air attack.

Lucy was able to achieve the same result, only this time making the whirlwind swirl around her body before sending it back to Grandine. "You're doing great. Let's see how well you handle this." Grandine praised Lucy as she sent a more chaotic storm in Lucy's direction. The power of the attack managed to push Lucy back slightly, but she pulled through. This time, instead of just controlling the direction of the wind, she was able to change the storm into a calm breeze before making it disperse. Grandine was shocked at the sudden rate of improvement after the last few hours being spent with such little progress. "That was very impressive considering your struggle earlier." Lucy agreed with her, very pleased with herself. "All thanks to you." Grandine fawned at Lucy. "Oh you're so sweet."

The pair of them were too busy discussing her progress to notice that Gaia had walked towards them. "I hope you're ready Lucy." Her soft voice pulled them out of conversation. "I am." Lucy smiled, rolling her shoulders. "I'll see you at dinner Lucy." Lucy nodded in response as the white haired woman walked off. "If you're smart, you can guess what training you'll be doing with me today." Gaia smiled softly, leading Lucy out of the training grounds. "I'm assuming that it'll be an introduction to your element?" Gaia nodded her head. "Well done, you've paid attention." Gaia lead Lucy into the forest, towards an open clearing. "We'll start simple for your first lesson; you'll be attempting to utilize the earth and plants, and you'll be learning how to communicate with animals."

Lucy raised an eyebrow at the last part. Communicating with animals? Had she walked into a fairytale? "You mean like singing birds and sewing mice?" Lucy mocked the situation and received a stern yet offended look from the brunette. "No. You'll learn to respect nature and all it's creations. You'll work with it, not have it work for you." Lucy lowered her gaze, feeling guilty for not taking the opportunity seriously. "We're here." Gaia stood still in the middle of the huge clearing she had picked out. "First things first; getting accustomed to nature."

Gaia looked at Lucy expectantly. Lucy threw back a confused expression. "Kneel by the tree." Lucy did as told and sat down at the roots of the tree, eager to know what she'd be taught. Gaia knelt down next to her. "Do you see that broken branch up there?" Gaia pointed to the half snapped branch just above their heads. "I want you to fix it." Lucy turned to Gaia with more confusion. "How?" Gaia placed her hand by the roots of the tree and gestured for Lucy to do the same. "I want you to channel your magic into the tree, to feel it's pain and heal it." Lucy sighed, nodding her head in understanding. She closed her eyes and pushed out a flow of her magic through her palm and sent it into the roots of the tree.

Her hand glowed a bright yellow as she gave her magic to the tree, finding the broken point. As the bark began to absorb her magic, her hand changed from a yellow to a pink glow, mimicking the colour of blossoms. Gaia silently cheered on Lucy as the pair of them heard a distant crackling. Lucy looked up to see each splinter of wood reconnect to the trunk. The sight made her grin. "That's great Lucy." The blonde thanked Gaia as the tree finished restoring the broken branch, leaves beginning to grow from it. "You can let go now." Lucy sighed in satisfaction as she pulled her hand away from the roots.

"Your lessons with me should be as easy as this one. Nature magic isn't hard to teach at all." Lucy was relieved to hear that. "Nature magic cannot be taught easily to anyone without good intentions, it defeats its creation. As long as you have a good heart, this should be a breeze." Gaia smiled, standing up from the ground.

Lucy walked into the dinning room with Gaia, they had just finished her first lesson. She had instructed Lucy to channel magic into the ground to create fast blooming flowers before teaching her how to call for animals. Whilst Gaia summoned a majestic deer, all Lucy received was a snail. Gaia told her not to stress over her lessons as everything would soon come naturally to her, it just took practice.

"Hey Lucy, how were your lessons with Grandine and Gaia?" Venus piped up with a large smile. "They were great, I'm excited to learn more." Igneel grinned at her answer. "That's what we like to hear." He encouraged her with a wink. "Who's your favourite so far?" Venus asked another question. "I don't know, I don't have a favourite." Lucy shrugged with a modest smile. Igneel scoffed. "She's just saying that to be nice. I'm her favourite obviously." Metalicana shook her head. "Shut up Flamebrain, you're delusional." Igneel glared at the man sitting next to him, fists clenched. "Oh yeah, Iron Princess?" Metalicana squinted at the fire dragon. "What did you call me!?" The two of them butted heads with sneers.

"Don't you dare." Demeter warned the pair of immature males. "I will not have the dinning room turned into an arena for your pathetic quarrels." She scolded them with darted eyes, making them stop immediately. Lucy smiled at the dynamic between them, reminding her so much of Natsu, Gajeel and Erza. After her advice from Grandine, she decided that the way forward would be to let go of all her anger and sadness. She realised it was toxic to focus on all of the bad memories and it would only help her to put the past behind her. This opportunity was far too important and rare to ruin with her past. She couldn't let herself get in the way of her future.

Lucy had soon finished eating, eager for her lesson with Demeter. "Are you finished?" Demeter asked, already standing up out of her seat. Lucy stood up, nodding her head. Demeter smiled at her eagerness and lead her back to the training grounds. "We'll be continuing our lesson from yesterday. I have a feeling you've made fast improvement." Lucy gave a determined grin. Demeter mirrored it, pleased to notice her change in enthusiasm. "Please summon Loke." Lucy pulled off Loke's key and used her magic to bring forth the spirit.

"Hello Princess." Loke bowed. Lucy rolled her eyes at the nickname. "Loke please just call me Lucy." He gave a smirk, one that she knew meant he would still call her by the obnoxious nickname. "Please take the same position as yesterday." They obeyed and stood next to each other, both holding either end of Loke's key. "Begin." She instructed and Lucy closed her eyes, emptying her mind to put more focus on Loke's magic. This time, his magic felt a lot stronger. She clenched her eyes tight to keep still, the surge of magic flooding her with adrenaline. Demeter knew it was working as she saw it was increasingly harder for Lucy to keep still.

Lucy felt his magic flow throughout her entire body. She felt stronger. It wasn't long before his magic had made its way around her entire body, not realising the change it had on her. "Well done Lucy. Open your eyes." Loke was impressed at the sight before him. "You look amazing." He gawked at his master, letting go of his key. Lucy gasped as she looked down at herself. "What just happened?"

Lucy was now dressed in a black evening dress. It had a ribbon decorated corset and a long slit up the side of her left leg, plain black heels to match the beautiful dress. She had Loke's sign stamped by her right collarbone and a black ruffled collar around her neck. There were black ruffled sleeves to match the collar and the hem of the dress. Her hair now reached down by her lower back and was a strawberry blonde colour, a similar shade to Loki's. It was spiked and gave the illusion of a lion's mane. There was a black ribbon fashioned into a intricate flower, it was placed in front of one of her cat ears poking out from the sides of her head. She also gained a lion's tail, which was gently swinging behind her. To complete the whole transformation, her nails had grown longer into claws and her teeth had grown into fangs. Her eyepatch had been removed, revealing her mismatched and scarred eye.

"You completed a Star Dress transformation." Demeter answered with a smile. Lucy laughed from shock. She couldn't believe it. "Wow." She was still admiring her transformation, as was Loke. "Yes, it is incredible. But that's not all Star Dress does." Lucy looked at her with curiosity. "You can also use Loke's attacks and defences while in Leo Star Dress." Loke and Lucy grinned with excitement. "You'll be able to use Regulus and Telepathy. And the same effects apply for your other spirits. Star Dress can only be obtained from keys that you have. You need the spirit to channel their magic into you for the first transformation before you can transform through calling it out." Lucy was really excited by all of this information, wanting to test out her new power.

Demeter saw Lucy's excitement and smiled. "I can tell you want to try out your new powers, but I want you to go through each of your spirits Star Dress first. You'll be given some time each week to train with your spirits, they will teach you how to use their powers." Lucy nodded in understanding, slightly disappointed that she wasn't able to practice now, but was equally happy to see what her other transformations would look like.

Time flew by as Lucy summoned spirit after spirit, performing a Star Dress for each of her spirits, she was able to perform them on her Gold Keys and her two newest keys. Her Capricorn Star Dress was composed of a long black and purple dress with two large slits, revealing both of her legs. There were buckled straps wrapped around her neck and waist, connecting down the middle of her chest. Her black sleeves also had a buckled strap around the top and bottom, her thigh high boots, which were half white and half black, were also accessorised with buckled straps at the top. She had sunglasses shielding her eyes and goat horns sticking out from her head along with a goat's tail. Her hair was white and elongated into two thick braids tied with black ribbons into bows. Capricorn's sign was stamped at the top of her left thigh.

Her Aquarius Star Dress was a yellow bikini top with a turquoise pattern similar to Aquarius' sign. She had a matching turquoise wrap skirt with a yellow hem and bow at the side of the skirt. Her sleeves were the same as her skirt. She wore turquoise sandals with ribbons crossed around her calves and turquoise ribbons in her two small ponytails that were at the back of her head. Her hair was a little longer than her original hair and styled into waves. Aquarius' sign was stamped across the top of her chest.

Her Aries Star Dress mainly looked and felt like she was wearing pink clouds as a dress. It was striped with a pastel pink and a white fluffy material and reached a few inches above her knees. Her sleeves were the same shade of pink, but made of a more tight fabric, and were cuffed with the white fluffy material. She had a white fluffy collar around her to match the dress. She had striped tights with the same pink and white colours. On her feet were pink booties with the pink fluff around the top. She had curled ram horns out either side of her head and her hair was now a light pink, a few shades darker than her dress. Her hair was in tight curls and sat on the top of her shoulders. Aries' sign was stamped on the top of her left shoulder.

Her Taurus Star Dress was another bikini top with a cow print, as were her sleeves. She had brown leather trousers that were full length on her left leg and shorts on her right leg. They were held up with a red leather belt with a gold buckle. Her belt watched her red leather gloves and collar with a gold cowbell. She wore brown leather boots with Taurus' sign printed in gold across the top of the boots. There was a bull's tail growing from her lower back and bull horns coming out of her head and her hair was still blonde and put into two buns at the back of her head. Taurus' sign was stamped on her right thigh.

Her Gemini Star Dress was a slightly long, collared shirt and trousers that joined to her shoes. The whole outfit was spilt in two, down the middle, each side swapping from white to a light blue. There was a gold belt around her waist and a gap in the front of the shirt that was hemmed with gold thread. Her left sleeve was blue with a gold hem and her right sleeve was white with a gold hem. On her head was a large, half white and half blue headpiece that was outlined with gold ribbon. Her hair was split with a middle parting and pulled into two low ponytails that reached her hips. The right side of her hair was blue and the left side was white. Gemini's sign was stamped on her left cheek.

Her Cancer Star Dress was an emerald kimono that had an open back and had two slits. There was a large bow at the back of the kimono in the same colour. Her sleeves were also emerald and were very loose by her wrists. She wore black sandals with white thigh high socks. Both her socks and sleeves were tied with red ribbon at the top, matching her thick red satin belt around her waist. She had a string necklace full of seashells that hung loosely around her neck. Her hair was now an ombré of red and orange and was kept in her choppy bob and had claw hair clips tucked into the front of her hair. Cancer's sign was stamped on her left rib.

Her Virgo Star Dress was a black and white maid's outfit with white thigh high socks and black small heeled shoes. She had a white frilled collar around her neck and a matching headband with two black ribbons on either side and her hair was longer so it could be pulled back into a tight low bun. Virgo's sign was stamped on her right upper arm. Lucy thought that this Star Dress wasn't as exciting as the others but kind of already expected it not to be since Virgo was a maid. Virgo's sign was stamped on her right shoulder.

Her Scorpio Star Dress was more armoured; her shirt felt more like a red and orange stripped leather breastplate with a high collar. Both her sleeves and trousers were a dark brown leather with grey knee, calf and elbow protectors. She had a large scorpion tail that was the same shade of red as her shirt. She also had a red headband around the front of her head, two bangs poking out from behind it. Her hair was now black with the sides shaved and pulled back into one tight, high ponytail that reached her thighs. Scorpio's sign was stitched into her headband with gold thread. Scorpio's sign was stamped on top of her right breast.

Her Sagittarius Star Dress was a bright green, low cut leotard that flared out at her hips. Her sleeves were sewed into fingerless gloves, covering her whole arm. Her boots were reached her thighs but had a similar 'v' cut in the front of the boots to her leotard. Both her leotard and boots had a gold intricate pattern sewn into them. She had a gold ribbon tied around her neck and around her short ponytail. Sagittarius' sign was stamped at the top of her right thigh.

Her Falling Eagle Star Dress was a white leotard with a frilled tutu overlaying it. There were gold feathers around the sweetheart neckline of the leotard before connecting to her sleeves which were made of white silk and hung loose on her arms. She had silver armour boots that reached up to her knees, inches below the two golden garters on her thighs. Her hair had changed to a bright gold and white ombré which was tied back into a neat braided bun. There were a few golden feathers weaved in between the braid. The main feature of her Star Dress was the giant white and gold wings grown out of her back. Lyra's sign was stamped in between her shoulder blades.

Her Little Fox Star Dress was a plain cream coloured kimono with ruby stripes down the sleeves and the sides of her waist. The kimono ended at her knees where it met her bare skin. She had matching cream coloured silk flats on her feet with bright blue anklets hugging her skin tight. Her hair was a scarlet red and spiked out and messy at the front while the back of her hair was pulled into two large square-like buns at the sides of her head. Like Loke's Star Dress, she had fox ears atop her head, a long thick red tail and claws. Vulpecula's sign was stamped on her right cheek.

Lucy had returned to her original state as she sent Vulpecula back to the Spirit Realm. "You've done exceptionally well today Lucy. You must be proud of yourself. I am." Demeter gave her a motherly smile with her praise. Lucy thanked her and agreed. "I am proud. I can't wait to learn more but I'm really tired right now." Demeter kept her smile. "Of course, you've had a long day of practice. I'll see you in the morning Lucy." Demeter spoke as she walked Lucy back to the castle and left her as they went their separate ways.

Lucy all but leapt onto her bed, feeling so drained from today that she needed sleep right that second or she'd pass out anyways. She messily dumped all of her stuff on the floor next to her before tucking herself into her sheets. It felt as though she passed out as soon as her head hit her pillow.

Not the best chapter but I hope it's length can make up for me being away for so long. (I changed up the Star Dress a bit btw) I know the 'epiphany' was kinda cringe but I'm telling you I changed it like ten times and that's the best I could come up with. Next chapter should be up shortly tho :)