All rights go to Hiro Mashima!

When Lucy got into the cave, she couldn't believe what her eyes told her brain. Instead of a normal cave, this one was completely decorated into a small minimalistic home. There was a table with a chair, some books on a shelf and there was even a small fire place with a chair in front of it.

"It looks so comfy… It's like a cave-house?"

She walked towards the table and a lot of books were thrown on it, opened on different pages. There was no dust on them. Maybe there was still a person living here? When looking at the research books, a small brown one with golden stitches and a sun embroidered on it got her attention. Somehow, it felt familiar… She picked it up and looked at the cover. It seemed to be a small notebook. When opening the lock, she couldn't believe her eyes and subconsciously sat down on the chair as her hand covered her mouth in disbelief. The notebook was handwritten, and she knew those curls, almost as elegant as the writer itself. It took her a moment to realise she had another diary from her mom in her hands. She read the first page and it seemed to be different from the one she already had. It didn't talk about the different ways to summon spirits or about the spells that a celestial mage can do. It spoke about her mother's life. As in a real diary. All her feelings, the things she went through… And it was about Lucy and her father, how he loved them both but couldn't really show it. Of how she was glad they protected the mansion with one of her spells… Wait, what? Protect the mansion? Lucy was confused. How in the world did the mansion need protection? She wanted to read further, but suddenly a figure came into the cave house. She was too slow to move away and sat there, waiting for the person to yell at her by entering his home. When she saw who came in, she couldn't believe her bad luck. The blue hair became visible when he shed his cloak and his muscles looked like they could fight her all day. He hung his cloak on a little pin in the wall by the door and noticed her. An awkward silence filled the space. He looked confused as to why she was here and then saw what she was holding. His interest was triggered.

"How in the world were you able to open that?"

Lucy looked down at the notebook in her hands and wondered why he would ask such a thing. She opened it like you would open any notebook, open the lock and flip the pages... Suddenly, the question of how he got it became more important and she reached for her keys with her right hand, holding her mother's diary in her left.

"How did you get a hold of this?! Don't try any spells! You know, like the other day… and… uhm… tell me the truth!"

When she heard what nonsense she said, she couldn't believe why her brain wasn't working normally. The person in front of her realised she only remembered him from his attack on her and he massaged his temples with one hand to find a way to explain her what he wanted to do. He sighed. Lucy thought she overstepped a line. It was obvious he was way more powerful than her and if he wanted to, he could turn her into dust.

"Please sit down, I'll explain and won't try anything, so you can let go of your keys."

Lucy didn't know what to do. She was in a cave with a man that attacked her earlier. Whatever she wanted to, she couldn't run for it as he was standing in front of the only way out. So, she sat down on the chair, still holding onto her keys.

"Alright, with keys it is… I'm Jellal and you probably know that already but what you're holding is your mother's diary. And I've been trying to open that thing all day and couldn't find any spell that worked. So how could you open it?"
Lucy looked at the diary: "I just picked it up and started reading."
Jellal seemed to think for a minute and then understanding graced his face.
"It's a blood tie… It must be. You know, your mother was a smart and powerful mage. Not many mages can pull that off. So, let me tell you something else. Although it seems that way, I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to stop the emperor."

Lucy didn't know what she had to believe. For the next hour Jellal talked about how he gained the trust of the emperor. How he wronged his friends in the past to stop an invasion. He had things to do and decisions to make to take down the plans of the emperor for an upcoming war. It was a lot of information to take in, but she felt he didn't tell her everything. To stop the emperor, he needed to know what was in that diary. Her mother tried to help the emperor before but failed and was never seen again. He needed to know what went wrong to avoid it happening again.

"But now that I see it's a blood tie, I can't possibly read it and I won't ask you to read it to me. I do suggest I train you. I don't practice celestial magic, only heavenly body magic but it's close enough to teach you your basic tricks in battle. If it comes to that…"

She didn't know what to do. She stood up, looking at the diary and at Jellal. He also stood up. Why didn't her mother tell her about this? Was this why she died? Did she ask too much of her magic trying to avoid an upcoming war? What's this talk about war anyway. This was the first time she heard it. Maybe he was only playing her, trying to gain her trust. It could be all lies to guide her like a puppet. She didn't know. But she would know a lot more if she read through the diary. Why was she here anyway? How did she end up in this situation? This wasn't her battle. She was just a girl running away from home, not ready to be thrown in the premises of an upcoming war.

"I'm just a celestial mage who isn't even that good. Can't you find someone else?"
"Being a celestial mage is rare. I think there could be three more in this world, but they aren't a daughter of a powerful celestial mage like your mom."
"I'm not that special…"
"You are. When I train you, you will become more powerful than you could've imagined."

"I know it's a lot to take in but- "
"Give me time to read it… and to think about it. First, I don't trust you. Second, Natsu clearly doesn't trust you because he didn't even let you finish talking at the house. We got hurt because of you… For the moment, stay the hell away from me."

Suddenly, Natsu came in the cave and saw Lucy standing, hearing the last words she said. His face immediately turned into one hot mess of anger.

"What the hell are you trying to do with her?!"

His fist lit up in flames and missed Jellal with a mere inch when he dodged the attack. Natsu kept on throwing punches and yelled at Lucy to leave the house. Lucy avoided the brawl and ran straight for the cave entrance, glad to have someone to distract Jellal and get out of there. She set one foot outside and Jellal passed her through the wall with Natsu's fist attached to his head. The cave didn't hold, but gladly they were all outside now. She watched how Jellal recovered, dodged Natsu's punches swiftly and touched the ground on a couple of places. It seemed weird, but suddenly Lucy knew instinctively what he was planning to do.

"Natsu watch out! He's planning a trap!"

Natsu noticed Jellal's movements now and got out of his range of attack. A mere second later, a cage of pure energy was built and Natsu would've been trapped in there if it wasn't for Lucy. Natsu threw a fireball to Jellal, but he diverted it and it hit a tree which caught fire instantly. Jellal conjured a shield and all Natsu's attacks were futile. Then Jellal did some signs and Lucy remembered the coming spell, but it was too late as Natsu was already trapped in the magic circle. He couldn't avoid the attack, tried to make a fire shield around him, but the shield let some of the magic through. Steam arose from his skin and he charged at Jellal the moment the magic circle disappeared. Jellal was fast, but Natsu faster. Another attack of Jellal left Natsu immobile and Lucy saw other signs in it. It seemed as if the sky split open and lightning shredded Natsu's clothes and scorched his skin. Another magic circle formed when Natsu was still recovering. When the attack hit, Natsu was forced on his knees. Lucy couldn't watch this no more. This was savage! How come this guy could do any good? She was already reaching for her keys to help Natsu, but he got out of it and hit Jellal with a burning fist like she hadn't seen before. Jellal got tossed ten meters further and Natsu was there before he could get up. Jellal had to take hit after hit, but soon had enough and counterattacked with his own sparring moves. Jellal hit Natsu in the stomach and jumped away to make signs for another magic circle. Natsu tried to get out of his range, but he was too late as the circle was much larger than the previous ones. Other magic circles appeared in the sky, aiming for Natsu and the attack was more than Natsu could take. He was forced down and hated the man in front of him more than he could imagine. He wouldn't let him get the best of him. He stood up, adrenaline pumping in his veins numbing the pain in his muscles and his wounds. Blood soaked the remainder of his clothes and there was only one thing on his mind. Kill the fucking bastard in front of him.

Lucy ran towards the fight when she saw the size of the attack. She had to help, but she was too late. When she summoned Loke, the attack had already hit Natsu. She froze as she felt the air shift. The parts where Natsu didn't have any wounds were now covered in scales. Steam came off his skin before he was covered in fire. Jellal couldn't do anything as Natsu's speed had visibly increased. Petrified, she didn't know what to do when Loke asked her what he had to do, who was on her side. When Jellal got hit multiple times, he couldn't avoid Natsu anymore and Lucy knew she had to stop this. She told Loke to break up their brawl and she did something she didn't expect to do. She followed Loke and when he got them off each other, Lucy took hold of Natsu's shoulders.

"Natsu! Stop this! Right now!"

She saw his hate, his anger for the man behind her but somehow, he now focused on her. She saw his features getting softer and he smiled while his legs started to shake. The adrenaline was wearing off…

"You ok, Luce?"
"Stupid, you're in no shape to ask that. I'm fine, are you?"
"A bit bruised, nothing Wendy can't fix."

She couldn't hold him as he fell. His knees didn't support him anymore and he needed a lot of rest and band-aid. Jellal got up and said something to Lucy, but she didn't listen.

"Leave. When someone has good intentions, they don't do this to the friends they want to protect. Don't contact me again, Jellal. Loke, help me carry him to the river."

Jellal left, knowing full well what was set in motion. He did his job for the emperor, not only that but he now knew that Natsu willing to go in his full mode when it comes to this celestial mage. That wasn't good. When he walked away, he saw a monkey disappearing in the shadows. Great, now the emperor knows that too. Everything he tried to stop was still set in motion. He couldn't read the diary and the only clue didn't want to see him anymore. Then it's time to operate from the shadows again. And to be honest, that was his specialty.

Hello everyone, I hope you like it! A brawl is always so hard to write, but so much fun in my head. Do leave a comment if you want, I really want to improve my English writing

Anyway, thank you for reading!