Chapter 44

Demonic Flame: The Striking Star

...

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Screamed the blonde woman, falling from a high ledge she was standing on.

Someone had pushed her, it was a male's voice and he had a thick British accent too. The celestial assassin fell head first into what seems to be a deep body of water, it was swishing back and forth rapidly. Her golden keys had fallen off of her waist belt, Lucy repeatedly got slammed back into rocks, causing blood to leak from her mouth and float up to the surface, those keys were special to her, she was not going to lose it!

The blonde kicked her legs back from the rock and launched herself to where the keys laid flat on the ground below. Her dark chocolate brown eyes scanned all around her until they landed on a brown pouch that had golden keys sticking out from it. She had to act fast, the air in her lungs was sure to run out quickly.

Swim.

An action.

A verb.

Something so easy for Lucy Heartfilia, considering she had Aquarius wash her away multiple times and had to swim her way back. It was so simple! Just grab the keys!

She started to see dark spots around her, her vision darkening as the current of the water constantly pushed her back and forth.

Was she going to drown? She couldn't let herself get defeated like this, so pathetically! The others are fighting with all they've got, she couldn't bare to think it but some of her comrades may die, some won't live to see the sunrise the next morning! Fighting powerful enemies and here she was, getting defeated by water...

Drowning... Nobody even caused this... The water just so happened to be here!

It was beyond pathetic, she was not having it! She would defeat the person who pushed her down!

Her hand extended out to grab the pouch that had her keys, she grabbed it just barely and forced herself to swim up to the top. When she was at the top, she took a large breath of air deep into her lungs. The powerful current of the water pushed her unto dry land made of moss cobblestone, her blonde and wet hair spread out on the cobblestone. Lucy sat up slowly, coughing out the water almost got caught up in her lungs, her hair clinging to her body as she looked around at her new surroundings.

What happened? The blonde assassin stood up and caught her balance, looking at the rapid water current, the water was very harsh, wooden planks floated at the top, going down the direction where the water ran. First she was at the guild, then some lady in the air showed up and claimed she was a member of Taskimada's guild, a white blinding light and all of a sudden, she was transported into this weird place then pushed off of a cliff when she was trying to look down.

It just didn't make sense. Her clothes were drenched, her hair was wet and she felt cold. Wherever she was, the temperature and this water was not forgiving.

Lucy sighed, "This sucks... Where am I, anyways...?"

A woman with straight, white hair that reached her neck narrowed her dark red eyes. She had the ability of telepathy to talk to he teammates and also seeing what other people are doing with her mind, also know as her opponents, enemies against her and her comrades. Minami, a national-known hacker yet remains anonymous. Minami enjoyed watching how the blonde Fairy Tail assassin tried to find a solution out of the current problem she was in, it amused her greatly.

Why not spice up the fun?

She placed her index finger and middle finger together, placing them at the side of her head. A sinister smile came to her cherry red lips.

"Eilenoise? Can you hear me?"

Almost immediately, she got a response, 'What is is, Minami?'

"Our little blondey here is having a rough time trying to get out of MiZu's water training grounds. Go visit her, will you?"

'Heartfilia? Not like she'll be a challenge, play with her eyes a bit. I bet she'd cry for her precious Natsu to come save her!'

The two laughed, "Alright, just go and don't hold back. Unleash hell on her."

'Oh, I will. I will, indeed.'

Minami smirked, "Perfect..."

'Finally, I can have some fun'

Minami removed her fingers from her head, sitting back in her comfortable chair with a big smirk on her face.

"Go have fun, indeed..."

'Honestly, I'm freezing...' The blonde sighed, rubbing up and down her arms as she walked aimlessly through the place she was in. The water current constantly splashing on the dry parts and getting her feet soaked, her toes curled at the uncomfortable sensation.

Her eyes closed for a second, shielding her dark brown eyes. Her lip quivered, turning a blue-purplish colour from the unforgiving coldness. Once she opened them, it looks like she was in a different place, more likely, her apartment bedroom? What was she doing here? The temperature changed to a more warmer atmosphere just like her bedroom, or was she really there? Lucy wasn't stupid, she wouldn't have ended up in her apartment in the blink of an eye. Right?

Did Taskimada powerful members in his guild that were this good? Removing her hands from arms, the blonde decided to see if what she was in fact seeing was real. Her eyes wandered towards the door of her bathroom, her legs carried her over there and get hands went to the doorknob, opening it and entering an entire different setting.

Illusion?

A gasp escaped her lips, she recognized this place without a doubt. She was in her old room at the Mansion she use to live in, where her Father was and where her Mother had died of an unknown illness. Memories of her childhood came flooding back into her brain, taking over any other thought that dared to cross her mind. Lucy took a few steps forward as she looked at her bed, seeing a mermaid doll on it.

The mermaid had light blue hair that almost resembled sky blue. The mermaid had a golden band around her head, a purple bead at the center of her forehead. Se also had dark blue eyes with a sweet sowed-on smile. Her tail was sky blue with golden rings around it, she had a bikini top on that was white and blue, a 'M' like symbol just below her collarbone, golden bands around her arms.

Lucy picked up the doll, "A-Aquarius..." She stuttered softly, tears forming in her eyes.

The mermaid's eyes suddenly blinked, making Lucy jump.

'Hello, Lucy.'

Lucy immediately dropped the doll on the floor as it was engulfed into the floor. The scenery seemed to have changed when she looked up again from the floor, it was at the guild, some years ago. Around when they came back from Tenrou Island from being there for seven years and met everyone that had aged. Two weeks after that, Natsu, his cat-companion; Happy and herself had just came back from a mission that left them exhausted and deprived of any energy, they just wanted to come back to the guild and relax, getting something to eat was completely out if the question, Natsu kept bragging about it the whole train-ride.

Instead of being greeted by the guild, they were greeted by something else.

Mostly all of the guild members were crowding something, hands up and cheering loudly, people like The Thuder Legion, Wendy, Juvia and Gajeel were out of the crowded group. Natsu groaned, he really didn't need another fight. As he pushed through the crowd, he found out why they were cheering.

A woman with wavy, sky blue hair and dark blue eyes was in the center, hugging a crying Mirajane that was sobbing loudly. The woman had a dark blue Fairy Tail mark on her right shoulder, a big backpack on her back along with katanas hanging from her belt that occupied her hips. Natsu dropped the bags off his back once his eyes met hers.

Lucy watched from afar, seeing Natsu hoist her up into the air, spinning her around as a renewed energy found his exhausted body just moments ago. The large smile he wore when he saw that strange woman, it seems that Natsu had known her for a long time.

The blonde had watched her past self see Crystal and Natsu reunite, she remembered how sad she felt. She remembered the knife that got stabbed into her chest once she saw his lips press against hers, the depression and jealousy clashed with each other violently, her emotions all over the place. She remebered how everyone payed attention to Crystal, even Gray was happy to see her and joined in on the fun, hugging her while spinning around, smiling, and Juvia glaring daggers at her.

Without anyone noticing, her past self left the guild without a word.

A frown came her to pink lips, that was the day she was going to confess to Natsu about how she truly felt, after they had gotten something to eat and cooled off from the mission, it was going to be perfect... Until this happened...

'Aw, poor little Lucy.'

The voice... Lucy looked back into the crowd, seeing Natsu's hands around Crystal's waist. The bluenette smirked devilishly, her eyes narrowing.

'He was mine first, did you really think that you could have him? You shouldn't get too ahead of yourself, blondey. Nobody likes someone who sells herself out just to get a few extra jewels off, darling. Do you really think Natsu would want a slut like you?'

The scene shattered away like glass, it was now a black void she was standing on. The couple stared right back at her with smirks.

'She's right, Lucy. Nobody would like a weak and pathetic girl like you. Always prancing around like some whore that opens her legs for anybody to get what she wants.' A evil version of Natsu smirked along with the other Crystal, giving her a kiss on her cheek to prove his point.

'You should give up, you only need protection from your Celestial Spirits that fight for you. You don't fight with them, dumbass. They fight for you, it's not like you can defend yourself anyways. You damsel in distress, always needing to be saved by everyone. Erza, Natsu, even Gray!' The other version of Crystal spat, 'If it weren't for Natsu, you'd probably be dead ages ago the day you jumped from that building. You should've died that day.'

Lucy gasped, "No! Crystal and Natsu would never say that-!"

'-Out loud. You know we're thinking it. Y'know, apart from all that. In this world we live in where Natsu lost the only thing that cared for him, Igneel, he left him then came back but tragically died in Tartaros. Gray lost everything to Deliora, Erza was a slave to build the Tower of Heaven then was sold on a sex market where she was bought from Makarov. Juvia brought gloom wherever she went, never had a friend or any family.'

The other version of Crystal stepped away from the other Natsu, putting her hands on her hips as she gave Lucy an evil smile.

'And me, I lost my step-father, mother and brother to the hands of my real father, all my jewels, riches, and my house burnt to ashes, being kidnapped and sold on a sex market by people who have been eying me down for months. Being tortured, raped and tormented by a pedophile at the age of 13 and what about you? You had a mean father, oh boo hoo!'

Lucy stood her ground, glaring at her, trying not to let her words faze her.

'You even ran away from home, you angst-filled teenager, you had people there that cared about you, you lived in fucking luxury and get you decide to go leave all of it behind because your Father didn't accept your rice-ball, poor you! You didn't even have a plan, all you wanted to was join the guild. You even got Phantom Lord on our ass, a pointless War that we could've avoided-'

"-A War that brought Juvia and Gajeel into the guild..." Lucy frowned, "I know that War was my fault and I should've took it upon myself to end it but it worked out in the end!"

'Oh right!' The other version of Crystal laughed, 'Natsu had to come and save your pathetic ass and it nearly got him killed! If only you would've had your keys... By the way, where are they anyways, Lucy?'

The blonde gasp, patting the sides of her waist to find nothing was there. 'Crystal' pointed behind her, a sinister smile on her pink lips.

'It's over there~'

Lucy turned around to see a scarlet haired woman in an armored chest plate that had a red Fairy Tail sign on the ofth side of it, a golden Kruz sign going arose her chest and down the side. She held Lucy's pouch of keys in her hands, smiling evilly.

'Are you looking for these, Lucy? The keys that always protected you? The keys that should belong to someone else, someone who can wield its power. Not some Cana-like wannabe that thinks she can actually win a fight without these, but see, Cana can fight with her cards.' The evil version of Erza threw them over her head and to 'Crystal', the bluenette catching it with ease.

'Want them? Come and get 'em!' The bluenette giggled, taking out the keys from the brown pouch and discarding it somewhere. The blonde was about to run up to her until she threw the golden keys up into the air, Lucy gasped as she turned around, evil versions of her friends holding the keys within their grasp. The 'Crystal' that was in front of her vanished into thin air, appearing behind her with the others.

'The only way you'll get your precious keys back is if you take them! Think of it as a fun, little game to test your strength, will you be willing to fight your friends for your spirits?' The evil version of Erza scoffed, 'You have to fight each of us.'

'Crystal' nodded with a smile, 'Natsu has Virgo, Erza has Sagittarius, Levy has Scorpio, Wendy has Gemini, Mirajane has Aries, Gajeel has Taurus, Gray has Cancer, Juvia has Capricorn and I have Leo, the strongest of all the Zodiacs.'

'What will it be, blondey? If you fight me, you get all of your keys. But fight anyone else and you get the key they're holding so choose wisely, Lucy. Who will it be?'

The other version of Wendy chuckled along with Natsu, fiddling with the golden key in her hands, 'Or are you too weak to face one of us?'

'Natsu' smirked, 'Yeah, are you, Lucy?~'

'Pathetic,' The scarlet haired woman tisked, 'At least have some pride and dignity as an assassin to at least take on one of us if you care so much about your keys, Lucy.'

'Yes, Lu-chan.'

'Hurry up, Bunny-girl. Time's wasting or else Crystal would have to pick for you.'

The sky blue haired woman grinned,'So please, please, take your time... I'd love to choose someone for you.'

It would be the most rational thing to do and fight Crystal, but she is a very skilled and powerful person at what she does. If she were to do it individually, she'd definitely get her ass handed to her, especially with Natsu, Erza and Mirajane. It'd be best to get all the keys by facing the strongest, giving that she will most likely lose, Lucy still had faith.

Lucy sighed but looked up in determination, get fists clenched and eyes glaring daggers at them, "I'll fight Crystal."

The bluenette looked wildly amused, 'Oh really? Well, that settles it.'

The keys that were in everyone's hands all fell into the hands of Crystal which she the placed them into her pants pocket, the others vanished into thin air with smug smirks on their faces. The dark void that surrounded them faded into oblivion, the scenery returning to what it was before. They stood on the mossy cobblestone, the rapid water stream still has rough as it was before.

"What..?" The blonde looked confused.

'You dumb, blonde...' She tisked, 'I'll go easy on ya' at first considering you're a weakling, besides, it won't be fun if I just ended your life now so let's do some one-on-one combat.'

That would kind of be relatively easy considering Lucy has no magic, she agreed to this version of Crystal's terms.

'Very well then, by all means, try and beat me.'

Lucy nodded, running up to her with her fist up, ready to strike a punch into that smug face of hers. The bluenette just laughed, dodging the lunch and holding her fist within her hand.

'Now, pay attention. This, blondey-' Crystal's other palm balled into a fist and aimed at Lucy's stomach, making her stumble back a few feet and then eventually fall over from the pain, blood leaking from the corner of her chapped lips.

'-Is what a real punch feels like.'

Lucy refused to lose, she got back up and held her stomach, glaring at her with wavering eyes. The blonde swooped in for a swift high-kick to the side of her head but Crystal caught her leg with ease, smirking as she squeezed it by the ankle.

'And this-' The bluenette jumped in the air for a second before landing a kick to Lucy's throat, sending her flying back into the mossy cobblestone beneath their feet.

'Is what a real kick feels like. Jesus, you can't even fight? Then what good are ya'?!' She walked over to Lucy, looking down on her as her foot swinged back and aimed for the center of her back, the blonde went rolling as she cried put in pain but made an attempt to stand up and fight. Once she did, she kept on getting knocked down over, and over, and over again.

But she still kept getting up, Lucy may be not as skilled as her friends but she knew one thing, whenever she got knocked on her ass, she kept getting right back up.

The sky blue haired woman grew bored of this constant game, with one final and powerful punch to Lucy's chin, the blonde fell over. 'Crystal' smirked as she stepped her foot at the side of her head, digging the thick heel she had from her boot into the side of her head, leaving a red, bruised mark.

'Finally, you had the common sense to stay down. You're gonna die now, blondey. Any last words or one of those friendship speeches?' She snorted, 'How does it feel to be slain by your own comrade?'

The bluenette laughed manically, looking down at the blonde beneath her feet.

"Yo... U... R... Ade, 'astard..." Lucy muttered, the words that came from her mouth were mumbled and only a few made it out. The sky blue haired woman's laughter subsided as Lucy struggled to speak.

'What was that?'

"I said... You're not my comrade, and you will never be, bastard..." Her hands palmed into clenching fists as she tried to raise her head from underneath 'Crystal's' heel. The bluenette was astonished, moving her foot away from her head.

"Even though you may sound and look like Crystal, you will never be her... No matter how much magic you use, no matter how much research you do on her..." The blonde stood up slowly.

"You will never be her! Crystal is a caring and loving human being that will never say ANY of those things to her fellow comrades and guildmates, that goes for all of the other people you tried to copy! Despite my envy and regretful thoughts towards her, I will never think of her in this way at all! Despite all of my feelings for Natsu, I have never said one mean thing to Crystal from the moment I met her!"

The sky blue haired woman raised an eyebrow at her sudden change in behavior and took a few steps back, 'What... Are you getting at...?' She growled, 'How dare you, you blonde slut! I'll make you pay!'

Her hand lit a blue flame as she charged her flaming fist directly towards Lucy's face.

"You can't, you're nothing more than a illusion!"

The bluenette halted her actions, her mouth slightly opened and her eyes wide. The dark blue eyes relaxed as her body started to fade away, she gave Lucy one last smile before completely fading away into nothing. The blonde haired woman sighed, panting slightly.

Pain is nothing more than something in the mind... The illusion of Crystal beating her to a pulp was all in her brain, no visible injuries nor blood was found anywhere on her body. Lucy took a deep breath and let it all out, relaxing herself a bit. It was all over, whenever the victim is aware that it's an illusion then they are no longer under the impression that it is real and so, the illusion disappears.

"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! HOW DARE YOU?! THIS WASN'T HOW IT WAS SUPPOSED TO GO, YOU IMBECILE BLONDE!" The voice that yelled at caught her off guard, an explosion happened right beside her and sent her flying back into a wall.

A woman with long, flowing, hazel brown hair that reached her ankles and piercing red eyes that burned through Lucy's very soul. She wore a black and scarlet red dress that reached her knees on her 5'4 body, she floated down slowly with her hands as fists, a scowl on her face. She growled.

"You damned blonde!" Eilenoise fumed, "How dare you?!"

The bruenette floated unto the ground, walking towards the gray smoke and mist from the explosion she created. Eilenoise heard coughing and hacking coming from there, seeing Lucy's golden locks shine through the dark mist that surrounded along with her keys that were glowing and shaking violently. She smirked as Lucy made an attempt to reach for her keys.

"No, you don't..." Eilenoise reached out her hand and a small yellow spark formed in the middle of her palm, creating another explosion that blew Lucy's keys right off her belt and sending it flying into the water. The side of her waist was bloodied and bruised, it burned and ached with the cold temperature hitting te sore spot along with a few droplets of water.

"You piece of Fairy Scum..." The brown haired woman tisked, "Ruining my plan, I have other things to do y'know and yet you still choose to defy my illusions. You could've gone out the easy way but you choose to do this..."

Eilenoise gasped, seeing a smile on the blonde's face before she cackled with laughter.

"Do you really think that... I would ever give into you? Do you really think that you would be able to beat me... Us? Fairy Tail?" The blonde snickered, "You raged this War before, we didn't start anything... If your Master stayed away then this wouldn't be happening."

She slowly sat up, "I will not give up..."

Fight...

"I will not..." Lucy went on one knee to stand up.

Fight!

"I will not give up!" She got up on her own, glaring right at the brown haired woman as anger surged through her veins.

FIGHT!

"I'll blow you to pieces!" Eilenoise's lips curled into a devious smile as her red eyes glowed brightly. Lucy nodded, giving her a cocky smirk.

"Hit me with your best shot!"

"Confident, are we?!" Eilenoise held out her hand, a red spark igniting in the center of her palm as a large explosion was aimed at Lucy, some of the water was launched up into the air from the impact, cobra tone went flying out of the ground. The brown haired woman grinned in victory, waiting for the smoke to clear up to see the blonde's lifeless and bloodied body on the floor.

But what she saw was not was she had anticipated.

Instead, she saw a golden shield surrounding and protecting Lucy, her golden zodiac keys surrounding it as it glowed brightly. Lucy herself, had her arms in front her face in the form of an X, safeguarding herself from the incoming blast from Eilenoise. Once she didn't feel anything, the blonde opened her eyes to see a shield in front of her with her keys surrounding it. The two looked confused.

"What is this...?" Lucy questioned herself, "This protected me from the blast...?"

'Indeed, Princess.' A familiar voice answered, Lucy gasped.

"Loke?!" The blonde looked around her, looking for the source of his voice, "Where are you? Loke!"

'Calm down, Princess. You weren't able to access your keys which is why w forced ourselves to protect our Master. We couldn't let you down nor can we keep this barrier up either. We shall give you the power of the Zodicas.'

"What are you talking about?"

'Fight... You can't give up now.'

The keys outside of the barrier glowed till it looked like balls of light, a golden aura surrounded Lucy as her clothes and hair changed.

Her hair was braided in two for Cancer and were held by ram-like horns from Aries. In the center of her forehead had a purple jewel that resembled the one Aquarius wore with the golden band around her head even if she didn't have Aquarius' key. She wore dark shades that resembled Capricorn, shielding away her eyes.

Her outfit's neckline was a V shape that exposed her clevage that was held up by a choker where chains were connected and extended on each side of her breasts. Her outfit was half black and half gold with large golden beads going around her waist that had each of the Zodiac signs of then that she had. The half colours represented Gemini and the black and gold represented Leo. The outfit was a one piece, a black scorpio tail came out from the back of the outfit to represent Scorpio. Around her wrists were silver handcuffs that had small chains connected to them that represented Virgo.

She had a black whip that came with a gold ribbon around the base with a small bell that represented Taurus, a blue spiral of water surrounded the whip along with a bow that had a lot of details with the Sagittarius sign on it along with star arrows. The blonde wore black stockings and boots in the same colour.

The glow disappeared, revealing herself to Eilenoise.

Lucy's mouth opened automatically and her eyes closed, "Stars of the heavens, the elements of the Earth... All of you will rise to my command..."

The words were just flowing out on their own, "The Zodiacs I have in my possession will lend me their power..."

Eilenoise attempted to use her explosion magic on the shield that protected Lucy but got no luck, her magic didn't work and this blonde was just chanting gibberish? She didn't like where this was going at all!

"I open thee, Celestial Gate... The Roar of the Lion, the Horns of the Ram, the twins, the Chains of the Maid, the Rage of the Bull, the Arrow of the Archer, the Tail of a Scorpion, the Gentleness of the Crab..."

The blonde opened her eyes, revealing her golden eyes that mixed in with ocean blue, "SHINE!"

"CELESTIAL SPIRAL!"

From the sky, hundreds of golden beams came falling down at an alarming rate, all of them going directly went to Eilenoise who screamed loudly, begging for mercy at the last second. The golden beams crashed through the ground, some of them landing into the water of where they were. The blonde's eyes rolled into the back of her head as her exhausted body went limp, crippling to the ground and laying right next to the brown haired woman, her keys beside her.

Eilenoise had a smile on her face as her eyes grew heavy, darkness blinded her vision. Her heartbeat slowed, taking her last moments to look at the passed out Lucy.

'You look like... Someone I knew before...'

Her eyes closed, 'That's right...'

...

'Mavis-san...'

...

I tried my best, to get this out before I went to sleep. It's 1:00am and I'm tired as all hell, this might not be all that good. I didn't plan for this chapter, this was completely a brainstorm a few days ago since I didn't know what to write, but don't worry. It won't happen for other chapters, make an exception for this one. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed. Leave a review.

Thanks for your support, means the world. Sorry for grammatical and spelling errors.

And the magic Eilenoise used is called Arc of Illusion magic, it's a type of lost magic like Arc of Time and such. And the ending there, you can try and theorize it. The next chapter will be with Gray and Juvia! I promise, I'll try to make it better.

Arc of Illusion is a type of Lost Magic that Eilenoise studied when she was younger, one hundred years ago along with her friend, Mavis. She wanted to be as good as Mavis was, how realistic Mavis' magic was. She strived to be just like her, but more advance. Toying with people's minds and making past memories into illusions so they can relive it. Bad memories. This is called 'Nightmare', trapping the victim in a illusion of a bad memory and making the people that were involved in it turn against the victim and say hurtful things.

This led to Eilenoise being an outcast amoung other people, but Mavis wanted to be her friend. And so they did, the two had their fun along with an illusion Mavis made up called Zera.

But as time passed and the years flew by, Eilenoise wanted nothing more than to be the best of her abilities. She wants to make people pay for her outlasting her and making her feel alone. The day she found out Mavis died was the day she snapped, she studied and studied. Learning much about Illusion magic as much as she could then burning the books afterwards so that nobody would learn them.

As she reached a certain age, the brown haired woman cast a aging spell on herself to prevent her body and systems from aging and staying healthy.

Eilenoise wandered the lands alone for decades, until she found somewhere she belong at the guild; Demonic Flame, where she learned how to use explosion magic if her Illusion magic were to fail her.

I may or may not write certain backstories for characters but we'll see. I love you all, thanks for reading.