I'm just so excited to keep the plot going. I'm gonna keep sending out a chapter each week, most likely on the weekend. Hope you're all enjoying the story :)

~Chapter 11~

The days soon passed by into weeks, and the weeks turned into months. Lucy's strength was undeniably twenty times stronger than when she had first stepped foot in the Dragon Realm, all thanks to her tutors. In the time that had passed, Lucy had spent next to no time to herself. Every minute she had went towards training, studying and looking after Demeter.

After the first incident in the dining room, her condition had gotten increasingly worse. It was common to see Demeter in the infirmary or resting in her bed. But, when she got the chance to, Lucy would sit with Demeter on her balcony. They would look up at the stars and name the constellations. It was the only time that it made the pair of them forget that something was wrong. Of course, Lucy didn't know the gravity of Demeter's situation and was told that it was a 'mild condition' that she shouldn't worry about, but it didn't put her mind at rest in the slightest. She couldn't shake the feeling that there was something else.

Right now, it was early in the morning. Lucy had already showered and gotten dressed for another days training and was now stood outside on her balcony. She stared at the sunrise, a soft breeze grazing against her face and hair. Her bare hands gripped the cold railing. While it had been well over a year in the Dragon Realm, the season hadn't changed from spring. Lucy was thankful that she didn't have to bare through the harsh winters or scorching summers in this realm, it was just perfect.

While the seasons hadn't changed, Lucy certainly had. Her hair had now grown to tickle the top of her back. She had replaced any fat that she had with muscle, making her body much more toned. Her skin wasn't the same either. It used to be soft and perfect and now it was rougher and she had many scars from training. It wasn't just her body that was affected, her personality was a lot calmer now and she thought before she spoke. The only thing that hadn't changed was the eyepatch that she wore every single day to hide her scarred eye. She was incredibly grateful for this whole experience, without it, she couldn't even image where she'd be. Her mind thought back to Demeter. She was a mother figure to Lucy, and it hurt her to see Demeter in such a weak state. She already lost two families, she didn't want to lose part of her third.

Banging on her door brought her out of her thoughts. "Bunny girl, your alarm is here!" Lucy shook her head with a small smile. Ever since she told Metalicana about the silly nicknames she had received in her life, he decided it would be funny to call her by the nickname Gajeel gave her. She had gotten used to the nicknames now so it didn't bother her. She made her way to her door and opened it with a smile. "Good morning Metalicana." He smirked back at her. "C'mon, lets go." They made their way down to the dining room, making small talk about Lucy's training with him. "Admit it, I'm a better teacher than Flamebrain." He smirked at Lucy and she smiled back. "You're both great."

He shook his head. "Nah, he's an idiot." He said just as they turned into the dining room. "Who's an idiot?" Gaia asked, overhearing Metalicana's insult. The man smirked. "Who do you think?" He nodded his head over to Igneel, who was already tucking into his breakfast. Lucy sat down in her usual spot next to Grandine and Demeter, who was able to sit at breakfast this morning. "Good morning Grandine, Demeter, how are you feeling?" Lucy gave a soft smile to both of them. Grandine patted the blonde's back and Demeter returned the smile. "We're just fine, thank you dear."

Lucy finished her breakfast quicker than normal, excited to train with Werner that morning. The Dragon of War was also finished and made his way out of the dining room, telling Lucy to meet him in the training grounds once she was ready. "Goodbye Lucy, make me proud." Demeter said with a smile. Lucy stood up and gave the woman a hug, smiling as she pulled away. "I will." Everyone waved Lucy goodbye as she left to meet Werner for her first lesson of the day.

As soon as she left the castle, she found Werner in the training grounds with at least two dozen cases of different sizes placed on a bench beside him. As she came into his view, he smiled and told her to stand in front of him and close her eyes. As she did, she could hear him open up the cases. "You can open your eyes now." Lucy opened her eyes to see many weapons and armours in front of her. "Since you have now mastered Requip with Raghnall, you can now learn The Knight. It's a form of Requip that stores armour and weapons." Lucy was overly excited about this lesson. She had always admired Erza's magic and now she was able to learn it for herself.

"All of these are yours. There are a lot more for you in the castle but we'll just use these for now." Werner said, gesturing Lucy to come closer to get a better look at her new armour. He pulled out a large sword from the first case. It had a gold grip spiralled in a light blue ribbon with a diamond spike-like cross-guard. The sword was incredibly long and widened at the tip of the sword, forming a T shape. The edge was a lighter shade of silver compared to the centre of the sword. It appeared to be very weighty but as Lucy lifted it, she was able to wield the weapon perfectly fine. Werner smiled at his student testing out her new sword. "It's called an Erskine sword. Do you like it?" Lucy stopped swinging her sword and nodded, very pleased with the gift. "Yes, it's amazing, thank you."

Her placed up a hand. "Don't thank me, thank Demeter." Lucy made a mental note of that. "Moving on, I want you to unlock a dimension with your magic to store all of your armours and weapons. This way, you wont need to move them around and nobody will be able to steal them." Lucy did as instructed and sent her Erskine sword into a storage dimension. "Here is your Ansgar." He handed Lucy a long wooden spear with silver bands wrapped around the grip. The tip of the spear glowed a bright yellow, indicating it's immense power. There was a silver decoration on the spear of a man's face. His mouth was open and blended down into the grip of the spear. Lucy held and twirled the spear, getting accustomed to its form and weight. She Requipped the spear to her storage dimension.

Next, was a suit of armour. There was a galea made of gold, along with a gold breastplate, gold belt, gold rerebraces and gold cuisses. There was a pair of gladiator sandals, a leather skirt and a maroon chiton. Accompanying the armour was a rectangular shield painted red with gold wings and a gladius sword. "This is the Athena's Armour. Instead of placing the armour on yourself and then Requipping it to your storage dimension, you can just send it to your storage space first and then when you Requip it, it'll appear on your body." Lucy understood and used her knowledge and magic to send the armour to her storage dimension.

The next hour was spent by Werner showing Lucy her new armours and weapons and Lucy Requipping them into storage. There were weapons of all different kinds; swords, daggers, spears, hammers, double bladed swords and bow and arrows. Lucy had to admit that the rest of her armours could put Erza's to shame. After Lucy had finally stocked away all of her gifts, the rest of her lesson was spent duelling Werner and testing out a weapon or armour of her choice. Lucy was excited to try out a suit of armour and chose her Titanium Scales Armour.

"Requip; Titanium Scales Armour!" Lucy called out and a bright blue light encased the blonde. As soon as the light faded, Lucy was stood in her full suit of armour. There was a large headdress with long curved horns, decorated with large and small titanium rings and small chains that fell down by either side of Lucy's head as well as dangling in front of her forehead. Her eyepatch had been removed with the rest of her clothing to be replaced with the armour. Around her neck were silver rings that covered the whole of her neck and reached the top of her collarbone. There was a titanium breastplate shaped like a bra (and was connected to her shoulder plates) and was decorated in titanium scales. Her arms were bare but her hands were adorned with metal gloves. There was a band around her wrists with small chains connecting to the tip of each metal claw that covered the tip of each of her fingers. Her feet and legs were covered with titanium scale chaps that connected into her boots. Behind her was a pair of large metal wings and a metallic tail. In her hands were two identical titanium katanas wrapped in black ribbon at the handles.

Lucy was already used to combatting with an even heavier and thicker suit of armour, so this was a breeze for the blonde. Lucy charged at Werner and Werner charged at Lucy. They began clashing their weapons, each one equal to the other's skill. Their first battle lasted for half an hour, with no winner, before they switched their weapons for practice. Lucy opted to Requip out of her Titanium Scales Armour and chose to replace it with her Erskine Sword to practice combat with the sword. Werner had switched from a sword to a hammer and shield, giving Lucy a diverse experience with her opponents weapons.

"Werner! We need you in Earthland, it's Acnologia!" Datura was hovering over the training grounds in her dragon form. Werner's face tensed up and he quickly apologised to Lucy before shifting into a dragon himself. Both of the element dragons flew off into the distance, a few soldiers of Werner's following them. Lucy was stunned to silence. What was happening in Earthland? Who was Acnologia? She Requipped her Erskine Sword into storage and started to walk to the castle. She was disappointed that her lesson was cut short, but knew that it would only be something really important if they needed Werner's assistance.

As soon as Lucy stepped into the castle, she heard a commotion down the north corridor, where the meeting rooms were. Her curiosity peaked and she made her way towards the noise. She kept her steps light, so not to alert the dragons ahead of her. "I am still your queen and you will respect my wishes!" The instant Lucy heard Demeter shout, she picked up her pace, fearing the worse. There was a dead end in front of her, the corridor turning left and right. She was about to turn down the right corridor, towards Demeter, she bumped into Samael.

The blonde fell backwards, her hand reaching out to grab anything to stop herself from falling. Thankfully, Samael had latched onto her wrist and pulled her back upright on her feet. "You should watch where you're going Lucy." His voice was soft and with kind intentions, but anything he said would sound chilling when accompanied by his dark aura. She smiled at him out of embarrassment. "I'm sorry Samael, but I heard Demeter yelling... is she okay?" Lucy asked him, worried about the woman that took her under her wing. Samael smiled gently, nodding. "She's fine, meetings always end up with someone shouting."

He helped dismiss her worry but only replaced it with curiosity. "What's the meeting about?" Lucy hoped that he wouldn't give a vague answer like he usually did. He placed a hand on her shoulder, gently redirecting her back down the corridor. "It's nothing you should worry about. I believe you're training with me next, perhaps we could start your lesson early?" He smiled down at the frowning blonde. "I guess..." She still had many questions to ask Samael, but she knew that she should wait to ask Demeter about it.

Samael's arm had dropped from her shoulder, the blonde now walking by his side. "I must warn you. This will be a challenge of emotional strength." Samael didn't look at Lucy as he spoke which worried the blonde. "What do you mean?" She looked up at him, anxious about the outcome of the lesson. He didn't speak until they were in the training grounds and inside the safety shield. "Today, you'll be expanding your soul outside of your body." Lucy was stunned to silence. Her mouth was open but no words left her lips. Samael chuckled at her innocent reaction. "Don't worry, nothing will go wrong. This is a move that you can make when your life depends on it. It's necessary for you to know this."

Lucy closed her mouth and simply nodded. "I'm afraid that expanding your soul is not a skill that you can learn. You need to intake an Immortality Lacrima. The lacrima won't hurt to absorb and even though it implies it, it will not grant you immortality. You will age and die at a normal rate but it can be used to avoid death in a way." Lucy couldn't believe what she was hearing. He wanted to give her the power to cheat death. "Do I have a choice?" Lucy finally had the strength to talk. Samael looked at her blankly. "Of course you have a choice."

"Does it do anything else?" She wanted to know more about this Immortality Lacrima before she went anywhere near it. "It also gives you the ability to see and communicate with lost souls, or ghosts as humans call them. You would also have the power to remove a soul from its body." The power was tempting. It would be interesting to be able to communicate with the dead... She pondered on the decision. "What are the side effects?" Samael walked towards Lucy with a smile. "There are none. There is nothing to worry about." He placed a hand on Lucy's shoulder, reaching into his cloak with his other hand. Lucy followed his hand to see him pull out a small black lacrima. It was no bigger than a pill. "You only gain from this."

Lucy tried to think of the pros and cons in her head, still unsure of her decision. "I'll take it on one condition." Samael smiled at the blonde. "You don't have to take it if you don't want to, it's just something that might help you one day." He took a few steps back, realising he was probably pressuring her even more by standing so close to her. Lucy sighed, chewing her lip. "No, I'll do it. It'd be cool to talk to ghosts." Samael stared Lucy down, trying to detect any hesitation. "Is that your final answer?" Lucy nodded.

"Alright, what's your condition?" Samael spun the lacrima slowly in his hand. "I want you to tell me what the meeting was about, and don't leave out any details." Lucy gave a stern face. Samael nodded. "Very well." Lucy relaxed slightly, internally shocked that he gave in so easily, he would always shut her down whenever she questioned him about any serious business. Samael held out the lacrima to Lucy. She stared at it for a few seconds, studying it before she gently picked it up. It looked so small and harmless. Samael watched Lucy look at the lacrima in between her fingertips. "You need to swallow it. Once you do, you'll feel a strange sensation for about a minute."

Lucy switched her gaze from the lacrima to Samael, slightly worried. "Are you sure it's safe?" Samael tried to give her his friendliest smile to comfort her. "I'm sure. And if anything goes wrong, which it won't, I'll be here to help you." Lucy sighed, drawing the lacrima up to her lips. She gave Samael one last look before she dropped the lacrima in her mouth and swallowed. She could feel the lacrima move down her throat until she felt her chest start to tingle. She gave Samael a confused look as she felt the sensation spread out towards her stomach and shoulders. It moved down to her elbows and knees, causing her to lose balance and fall backwards. "What's going on?" Her words came out slurred, the lacrima making her feel really dizzy, as though she was about to faint.

"It's normal, don't worry Lucy. I'm right here next to you." She managed to get a glimpse of his blurry face before her eyelids felt heavy. She lost all control over her limbs and fell backwards, this time she felt a pair of arms catch her head before it hit the ground. In the space of a second, her body had completely shut down and her eyes were now closed. Samael had Lucy's head in his arms, knowing that she would faint. The Immortality Lacrima took very little time to take effect, meaning that as quickly as she fainted, she would regain consciousness.

Just like clockwork, Lucy's eyes fluttered open. She looked around but found there was nothing different. "It didn't work." Samael smiled at Lucy. "It did, you just don't see any souls because you aren't using the lacrima's powers right now." Lucy sat up. "Was I supposed to faint?" Samael nodded. "I don't feel any different." Samael nodded again. "That's because you aren't using the lacrima."

Samael helped Lucy stand up, her balance still slightly affected. "Now it's your turn of the deal. What was the meeting about?" Lucy gave Samael a stern look, hoping it would encourage him to not back out from his end of the bargain. "Of course." He looked down with a sigh. "There's been an attack in Earthland. A dragon called Acnologia has resurfaced after decades and..." Lucy leaned in closer to him. "And?" He glanced up at Lucy. "And he's attacking Fairy Tail. Igneel, Grandine and Metalicana want to go and help them but Demeter has ordered them to stay here for their own safety."

"Oh my god." Lucy muttered under her breath, shocked at the news. She had very mixed feelings about the attack. On one hand, there was a sliver of her that thought they deserved their bad karma, but the rest of her hoped that they would be safe from the attack. She was hurt by them but she still cared deep down. Samael placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Werner and Datura will take care of it."

There was a deep roar in the distance, making Samael and Lucy snap their heads towards its direction. "What's that?" Lucy asked, searching for the dragon responsible for the noise. Samael turned his body towards the castle. "They're back. Come on, you have a right to know what happened." Lucy followed Samael blindly, too distracted in her mind to focus on where she was walking. She hoped for the best.

Sorry it took a bit longer than usual, haven't had wifi for a couple days :(