Look into my eyes, mama, tell me what you see

Tell me there's a chance for me to make it off the streets
Tell me that I won't die at the hands of the police
Promise me I won't outlive my nephew and my niece
Promise me my pastor isn't lyin' as he preach
Tell me that they'll listen if it's lessons that I teach
Tell me there's a heaven in the sky where there is peace
But until then, I keep my piece in arm's reach


The next few days at the guild were uneventful. What was left of Team Natsu- meaning Gray, Erza, Natsu, and Wendy- had left on a mission and wouldn't be back until later that day and Lucy was feeling antsy. Because of her agreement with Wendy, she couldn't leave the guild for another week or so, less she break the magically binding agreement between them.

So, she sat at the bar, next to Cana, enjoying a tumbler of scotch and a book. Her glasses sat low on her face as she let herself fall into another world. Or at least tried to. There was an itch beneath her skin, like ants crawling underneath all over her body. Her muscles twitched occasionally and her jaw clenched.

She had reread the same page almost twenty time before she sighed harshly and closed her book. Grabbing her glass, she swirled the amber liquid around, watching it go round and round, before she downed the rest of it, revelling in the burning feeling as it warmed her to the core. She closed her eyes.

"You doin' alright, Bunnygirl?" A rough voice asked to the left of her. She felt her magic shift and her body light up at the deep, gravelly-ness of that voice.

Cracking open a single eye, she glanced at Gajeel. "Just restless. I can't leave the guild and I can only train so much before I am thoroughly exhausted. There's not a whole lot for me to do here." She replied, slightly exasperated. She nodded to Kinana and tapped her glass; seconds later Lucy was nursing her third scotch.

Bored amber met amused scarlet and then Gajeel's lips curled into a smirk as he watched her sip at her drink languidly.

"Well, Bunny, if your feeling up to it and not drunk off your pert ass, how about you fight me on the training grounds?"

Lucy's widened by a fraction as she snorted. "I'd rather not have to hurt your feelings." She commented, taking another sip.

"Gihi! That's funny, Bunny, but you're not the only one who's been trainin' these past couple of years." Gajeel said, his smirk widening into a grin that vaguely reminded Lucy of a shark.

Lucy returned the grin, much to Gajeel's surprise, almost baring her teeth at him, but before she could say anything, the guildhall doors burst open with the arrival of Team Natsu.

"We're home!" Natsu announced, a wide grin on his impish face. Lucy huffed and downed the rest of her scotch.

She looked back at Gajeel. "Tell you what, I'll fight Natsu and if he loses, I'll fight you."

Gajeel raised a brow. "And is he wins?"

Lucy smirked. "If we draw, you get to come with me on my mission with the Raijinshuu, Laxus, and Cobra."

Gajeel leered at her, taking in her scent and memorizing it. "So sure you won't lose." He murmured, softly smirking at her heartbeat stuttered a bit.

"I didn't survive three years in the forests of Earthland to be defeated by a fire lizard." Lucy replied just as softly, eyes glinting, before she hopped off her stool and walked over to Natsu.

Gajeel's eyes raked down her body, taking in the thickness of her hips and legs and how her shorts cupped her toned ass just fucking perfectly. How her waist cinched and flared and how her calves flexed with each step. His dragon nearly purred at the sight of such a gorgeous body and at the attitude of such a strong mage. His lips pulled into a predatory smirk as he watched her carefully.

"Natsu! You- me, fight, ten minutes on the training field." Lucy said, getting Natsu's attention easily. The fire dragon slayer just cocked a curious eyebrow at her and nodded.

"You sure you want to challenge me to a fight, Lucy?" Natsu asked, giving her a curious once over. Lucy grinned.

"I wouldn't have said anything if I wasn't sure, flamebrain." Lucy replied, turned around to head to the doors, she called over her shoulder, "Unless, it's you who isn't sure?"


Am I passin' into the light?

(Am I looking into mercy's eyes?)
All the world is out of your hands
(Then ascending into the dark) Another night
You got to die a little if you wanna live
Change coming
You'd best be ready for it

Something I've begun to fear is about to change its form
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a shift in times
But I won't get tired at all


Half the guild had followed Lucy out after that; curious as to what the Celestial Mage was going to do.

Lucy stood in the middle of the combat field, ways away from the jungle gym her and Bickslow were training on before, stretching out her muscles and warming up before she took on Natsu.

The man in question was staring at her weirdly, like he couldn't understand what she was doing. He knew, of course, what the purpose of warming up was, but he never pictured Lucy to be one to do it.

Then again… he never pictured her challenging him either.

"You ready, Lucy?" He called out to her, stripping off his vest as he faced her; a cocky smirk was plastered on his face. Lucy would have fun wiping it off.

"More than you know, Natsu." She replied back, hands on her hips. Shehad a determined glint to her eyes and her body was tensed with anticipation.

Makarov held up a hand. "Standard dueling rules apply; knockouts only, no killing or serious breaks." He looked at them and smiled. "You may begin."

Lucy got into position, her right leg forward, her left foot back, hips loose and knees bent with her arms positioned in front of her face. She narrowed her eyes at Natsu and gestured for him to come at her. He grinned wolfishly, his expression animal-like.

Fists lit with lightning flames, Natsu flew towards her, aiming her her face and the open spot on her stomach. Lucy closed her eyes for a moment and shifted to her right, feeling the air besides her shift and churn and then she felt Natsu's flames guide past her body. Opening her eyes, she lifted her left leg and kneed Natsu in the stomach, hard and below his solar plexus, effectively causing his breath to stall in his lungs and for him to collapse on the ground.

Lucy fully turned around to look at him and just barely dodged Natsu's fire ball he shot at her; bowing backwards into a backbend and flipping back onto her feet. She ducked and danced as he came at her again and again, trying to strike her with his fire.

On one particular dodge, she used his shoulder to lever herself into the air and jump off of his with practiced ease, using her momentum to call upon Capricorn's Star Dress. Light shined around her as black leather pieced itself into her body; a collar around her throat that connected to leather straps around her bust and hips via steel chains, a black and purple leather bodice followed by a long black/purple skirt that split at her hip bones to reveal the tanilizing thigh high white socks and steel toed boots. Black leather gauntlets adorned her forearms, magically infused iron knuckles sat comfortably in her hands and horns grew from her head, curling around to the back of her head as a pair of half moon glasses dropped onto her face and her hair tied itself into braids.

When she landed, Natsu could only stare at her. Lucy looked powerful and badass and holy Mavis…. Fucking edible. Lucy smirked and took advantage of his momentary stall, delivering a satisfying right hook to his face, followed by another knee jab to Natsu's face, breaking his nose and knocking him out.

He fell to the ground with a muffled thump and the crowd was silent as they stared at their once dainty Celestial Mage. Lucy was panting lightly and as she ran a hand through her hair, her Star Dress faded, leaving her in her shorts and loose crop top.

"Winner: Lucy Heartfilia!" Makarov announced, feeling proud at how his child had grown.

Gajeel gaped at the blond as she walked passed him, patting him on the chest and saying,

"Better pack now, Gajeel, we're leaving soon."

He stood amongst the cheering and jeering crowd for a moment, trying to calm his libido and his dragon as they both burned with desire for the formidable blond.

The journey ahead was going to be interesting.


Am I passin' into the light?
(Am I looking into mercy's eyes?)
All the world is out of your hands
(Then ascending into the dark) Another night
You got to die a little if you wanna live
Change is coming
You'd best be ready

Be ready, ready for it
Be ready, be ready
Ooh, ooh ooh
(Let me out)


I may or may not have been binging Gorillaz. Humanz and The Now Now are my life now.

And yeah, that fight was one sided. Natsu doesn't actually want to hurt Lucy, there are also rules in place because it's a duel, not a fucking throwdown. Her throwdown was with Erza who would have probably destroyed Lucy going at it full strength.