Ch. 9 - Night Pythoness

—

Recap:

Rimo nodded. Lucy walked away. After walking a small distance, she turned around and waved. Rimo smiled and waved back.

"Stay gold, Rimo!" she yelled.

—

"We don't know yet, but this woman - if she is a woman - is powerful. Probably up to par with you guys. And possibly dangerous."

Master Makarov was listening to their conversation. He suspected this woman was Lucy, but there was no real proof. What was really surprising is that if this mystery woman did happen to be Lucy, then Lucy's strength had increased greatly.

—

— Timeskip: One year since Lucy left the guild —

Lucy POV

There was a time and place to be lounging in a tree chowing down on some unknown fruit doing absolutely nothing with the Sass King napping in a patch of sunlight, but now was not the time. Around this time, I should be on a run or hunting for dinner or something.

But, god, did it feel good.

One year. One year since I had left the guild. I deserved a break, right? Every day spent training (minus the two days she had spent in Rimoro Village). Every day spent in hardcore preparation. Preparation to go back.

I was going to go back.

What if they forgot me? Nah, they wouldn't do that… would they?

What if they don't accept me? I don't think I changed a whole lot. Did i? Nah…

"Oi, Emer," I announced. Emerald's eyes opened to reveal those beautiful dilated orbs. "I'm going back home." The feline's eyes grew hopeful.

I paused. "And you're coming with me." Emerald jumped down from the tree and rolled around in the grass happily. I laughed, letting myself fall from the tree and I landed swiftly in a crouch position. Emerald got up and nuzzled my face gently, but still forceful enough to knock me over. "Oh, man," I said to him, stroking his inky fur as I sat on the forest floor. "How will the guild react?"

—The next day—

"Gate of the Compass, I summon thee!" I cried. "Pyxis!"

The red bird appeared. "Hi Lucy! How may I help you today?" It tweeted cheerily.

I smiled. "Pyxis, I think the direction back to Fairy Tail is probably East, but I just wanted to check with you to make sure we aren't going to go back the wrong way," I directed.

Pyxis frowned. "It's correct, but aren't you going to go back to Rimoro Village so you can go to the train station?"

I sighed. "I should probably go so I can wish them a proper goodbye, but I can't take the train anyway because I have no money…" She said. "Oh, and Emerald is probably faster then the train anyway," she added as Emerald nodded smugly. I rolled my eyes.

Pyxis nodded understandingly. "Oh," Pyxis added, wiggling it's eyebrows. "You probably want to go see this Rilo? You liiike him," it said suggestively.

Wait a second. How the hell did Pyxis know about Rimo?

"You mean Rimo?" I said, aghast. "How the hell do you know what happened? And don't roll your tongue like that!" I snapped.

Pyxis rolled its eyes. "It's all over the Spirit World, Lucy. Your nickname is The Summoner of Sprits because you can summon four spirits at the same time! Your magic power is super duper high!"

"And tell me, how did you hear about Rimo?"

"Oh. Well since you're so famous, Loke comes back and told Sagittarius, he tells Scorpio, Scorpio tells Aquarius, and then it spread like wildfire!"

I knew I shouldn't have said anything to Loke. Oh, he is going to get it good the next time I summon him.

I sighed, rubbing my temples. "Okay, whatever. Just stop spreading the rumours," I groaned, as I waved the key and sent Pyxis back. I turned to Emerald to find him looking at me with an eyebrow raised. I didn't know cats could do that.

"What?" I barked. Emerald huffed and I jumped swiftly onto his back. I grinned, grasping Emerald's thick fur.

"I'm coming, Natsu. And, uh, and the rest of you." I frowned. Emerald snorted.

Apparently I can't be dramatic.

—

I was riding for about ten minutes when I heard an unnatural sound. A series of anguished screams tore through the silence of the forest.

What the hell?

I patted Emerald on his neck softly, signalling to him to slow down. I stood up on his back and jumped quietly up onto a tree. I nodded toward Emerald, then jerked my head toward the sound. I shook my head. Emerald stared at me for a second and then slinked away.

I jumped silently from tree to tree. The screaming became louder and louder. Did I hear laughter?

I continued my search until I found the source of the agonized shrieking. I perched in a high tree and watched curiously as the scene played out before me. I squinted my eyes.

I made out a tall woman that bore an uncanny resemblance to Minerva and a small, petite teen with fair skin and bright orange hair.

"Get up," the tall woman commanded, with not sense of pity for the poor girl.

The girl lay on the forest floor, bloody and bruised in various places. The tall woman smirked and kicked her roughly with a pointed heel. How the heck does she walk in those?

"Forgive me, Master, but I can't," the girl murmured. The tall woman laughed, a cruel and piercing sound. She shot her with a blast of magic.

The girl writhed in pain, screaming. I winced. It looked pretty painful. I remembered what had happened in the water ball at the Grand Magic Games. Minerva. My eye twitched at the mere thought of her name. This woman was beating this girl for what? Her own pleasure? People like that need to die.

I reached for my dagger but paused. I can't just butt in like that. I'm not that type of person anymore. I won't let my emotions control my actions. I can't.

The woman continued using the girl as a punching bag, all the while laughing cruelly. After about thirty more minutes of ruthless beating, the tall woman paused.

The woman raised her arm and powered her magic up, with a sadistic grin. "Any last words before you go and sink into hell, bitch?"

The girl shuddered and twitched helplessly.

"Hah! You're nothing but a coward," the woman spat, aiming at the girl.

Coward.

My façade shattered and I dived down from the tree without thinking. My hands quickly found my dagger and I positioned myself in front of the red headed girl, deflecting the blow.

Now that I was face to face with her, I could get a good look at this vicious woman. Long jet-black hair cascaded down her back and was secured at the very end with a red ribbon. Her features were sharp and her eyes were an intense gray with small flecks of blue. She was chillingly beautiful.

"Well, well, well," the woman murmured. "Who has dared to interrupt my punishment?"

I kept my mouth in a tight line, refusing to answer.

The woman's lips curled up to a bone-chilling smile. "Don't be shy," the woman prodded menacingly. "My name is Sandra. What's yours?"

I spat on the ground and stood my ground in front of the girl. "That doesn't matter right now," I growled. Sandra stuck out her plump bottom lip into a pout.

"Aw, too bad. This girl doesn't want to play," she said, faking hurt. "I guess I'll have to kill her also, right, Lupa?" The girl behind me, Lupa, shivered and didn't move an inch.

I laughed unhumorously. "I had a bad experience with with a bitch like you, once. She acted just like you." I locked my eyes with her piercing gray ones. I saw a flash of surprise in them. I put my jelled dagger back in it's sheath before choosing to go with my true weapon.

My whip.

"Hah!" The woman huffed confidently. "You're going to try and beat me with a mere whip?" The woman laughed loudly. She powered up her magic. "Come now," she spat. "Show me what you got. I'll have fun with you now, and I'll kill yo-" She didn't get to finish her sentence because my whip just happened to crack against her smooth face. She stood in surprise as she slowly registered what had happened to her. "Why you little-" She lunged at me, shooting me with a blast of magic.

But I was ready.

I blocked easily and quickly summoned Loke. "Hey Lucy! I'm just that irresisti- Oh, I see we are in a situation here," he said stupidly. Didn't know Loke could sound so stupid.

"You don't say," I shouted, still finding time to be sarcastic while blocking Sandra's angry punches. "Take that girl away from danger," I directed. Loke swept Lupa up in his arms and disappeared into the forest. I hope he doesn't try anything with her.

Sandra's magic punches were fast and difficult to block. God, each of her punches felt like a train hitting me. She was fast too. Not only getting punches at me, her defence was impenetrable. After only 15 minutes I was covered in bruises and she was still a perfect as she was before.

"Aw, looks like girlie here can't get any attacks on me," she panted. Wait… She panted? Was she tired?

I had an idea. It was far fetched and quite possibly dangerous, but it was worth a shot.

"I'm just getting warmed up," I smirked. "And," I said mockingly, "Your punches are kinda off aim a bit. I think you should go practice a little more, eh?" I saw the rage light in her eyes.

"You're gonna get it blondie," she shrieked, diving toward me. She went on an attack spree, full of anger.

I blocked as many as I could, and her punches were substantially weaker then her first ones. If I could just make her angry one more time… She was panting hard now. She didn't have many bruises, but she looked weary.

"You know," I said, "I thought you were pretty fit when I first saw you, but it seems you gotta bit of a muffin-top coming along," I teased, grinning despite the scratches on my face.

Sandra screamed in fury. She used up all the rest of her strength to attack me, fuelled by her rage. In the beginning, she seemed strong and confident. She may have been powerful, but her power was limited. Her attacks were now weak and her defence pretty much sucked.

Sandra laughed. "I may be tired, but you're all bruised up," she hissed. "I haven't got so much as a scratch on me. You'll be an easy opponent, even if I am tired. Go back to where you came from."

And then she said it. My trigger word. The word that was the source of all my sadness and anger. The word that caused me to push away the ones that I loved and leave my home. The word I hated.

"Bacon."

Just kidding. She didn't say that.

"Coward," she spat.

And that was it. I was blinded.

I didn't know how long had gone by before I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist and yanked me away from the once-beautiful body.

"She's done already, Lucy! Stop!" Loke shouted. I continued blindly throwing punches at the air. "Lucy! Stop!" Loke screamed. I froze.

What happened?

Oh, my god.

I broke free of Loke's arms and rushed toward the woman. "Lucy, no!" He yelled. But I wasn't going to attack.

I placed two fingers on her neck. Please. Please. Please.

I felt nothing, at first. And then I felt it. A pulse. Weak, but there. If Loke hadn't come… Oh, god, would she be… I almost vomited at the thought.

I whistled. Emerald was at my side in minutes. "Take her to the village hunting grounds. Make sure you put her somewhere where they can find her," I said. Emerald nodded and picked her up with his tail, depositing her on his back.

"I'll wait here of you, yeah?" I patted his neck.

—

"So, if I called you a coward you would freak out and go crazy? That's pretty shallow, you know," Loke snickered. I shrugged.

"I don't know what happened. I guess my bottle of emotions finally broke," I replied.

Loke nodded. "Oh, by the way, the girl is awake now. She said her name was Lupa or something."

"Where is she?"

Loke shifted. "I left her in the forest because I felt I should check on you," he mumbled.

"You freaking IDIOT!" I screamed as he went running to go find the girl.

—

"Go home Loke, and I'm gonna have a little talk about your gossiping habits next time," I said.

"Love you too!" He said, disappearing.

"So you're a Celestial Mage?" A silky, shy voice said from behind me.

"Yeah." I turned to see the petite girl all bandaged up sitting behind me.

"Thanks. By the way. For saving me," she said shyly.

"So, uh, can you get home or something?" I replied, choosing to ignore her thanks.

She shook her head. "I belong to a guild, actually."

Well, great. All I needed now was a 14 year old or something like that to lug around with me.

"What type of Magic?" I asked.

"Heat magic. I can heat up inanimate objects. I can't set them on fire, but I can heat them up without burning them," she replied, twirling a braid.

Huh. Haven't heard of that before. Then again, I've been living in the forest for a year now. "Okay. Wonderful. Now go home," I said, turning toward Emerald who was perched atop a random boulder. I clipped my cloak closed and pulled the hood up.

"Um, actually, I have a request for you," Lupa called.

"What do you want?" I asked. "Food? Water? Do you want me to bring you home or something?" I was getting annoyed.

"You kind of just defeated our guild master," she blurted. I choked. Pathetic, isn't it? I can choke even without something in my mouth.

"That was your guild master? Why the hell would she beat you up like that?" I sputtered. "What's the name of your guild anyway?"

Lupa frowned. "She took me out here to kill me because I caused shame to the guild," she answered. "I failed a job."

I nearly blew up. "What a shitty guild master!" I exploded. "No offence."

Lupa shrugged. "None taken. She was pretty mean," she said. "And our guild is called Night Pythoness. It's a women's only guild, too." She lifted her shirt to show a red Insigna. It looked like a snake or something curled around a star.

Huh. Haven't heard of that before. "I haven't heard of it."

"That's because we're a dark guild."

Oh okay. Wait, what?

"But you're so nice!" I blurted. Why was I so being so nice to this girl anyway?

"Just because we're nice doesn't mean that we can't be a dark guild. We just don't believe that magic should be limited. We should use it to our full extent. The magic council can't control us. The things that we do aren't illegal in our eyes," she said. "Anyway, back to my request."

"Shoot," I said, taking a drink from my canteen of water.

"Can you be our new guild master?"

This time I actually choked.

"G-guild Master?" I stammered. "Why me?"

"Well, you kinda just almost killed our old one," Lupa pointed out. Right. I forgot about that.

"Uh, I'm not powerful enough for that," I said hastily.

Lupa frowned. "We need someone to lead. There's only 17 of us," she stated.

I shook my head. "Sorry. I'm nowhere near powerful enough to become a guild master. And I got somewhere I need to go."

"Please! It would mean the world to me! You just need to lead us, that's all!"

I shook my head again, feeling pity for the girl. "Sorry Lupa. No can do." I hopped onto Emerald's back.

"There's nobody else who can lead," she begged. When I didn't respond, she said, "At least take me back."

Maybe I couldn't join, but was there harm in helping out an injured girl? Why not. "Hop on and point to where the HQ is."

—

"Emerald, wait here. I'll be back out soon."

Lupa smiled. She leaned against me awkwardly. Their guild was located underground, and their door was trapdoor so well hidden that nobody would have suspected was there at even close inspection.

She pointed to a small handle and I flung open the trapdoor. "Guess who!" Lupa called.

The chatter in the room stopped. "Lupa?"

"Was that who I think it was?"

"She's back?"

"Oh, my gosh, I thought she was going to die!" A small crowd of women gathered at the base of the stairs.

"Lupa!"

Lupa rushed downward at her fellow guild mates. "I'm back, guys! With the help of this lady here, I survived!"

I was then sucked down into the brightly lit underground room. I was crowded with 'thank you's' and 'how did you do it's'.

"Wait…" One older woman asked. "Where's Sandra?"

"This lady almost killed her," Lupa said simply. "But don't worry, she's not dead.

The guild went quiet.

"Oh," the same lady said. "Well, at least she's not dead."

"Oh, please," another said. "That's the least of our newfound worries. The question is, who's gonna be our new Master?"

I began to back slowly up the stairs, but all 17 pairs of eyes were focused on me.

"What's your name and magic?" The older woman asked.

"Uh, Licia Partfilia. Celestial Magic."

The woman clapped her hands together. "Perfect! It even goes with our name! Pythoness means conjuror of spirits! You shall be our new guild master!"

"Uh, no," I replied. "I got… stuff to do."

Once again, all 17 eyes were starting at me. "Please?" Lupa said.

Well, I knew I was probably going to regret this later. I was also probably never going to get to rejoin Fairy Tail again. I was probably never going to see Natsu (and the rest of the guild, of course) again. They were also a Dark Guild that didn't seem very dark.

But as these women looked at me with their eyes full of hope, what was a supposed to do? Reject them again and just leave them in their weird underground cave thing?

"Fine."

A/N:

Does anyone actually read these? haha.

Sorry for the delayed update! I have a french project due on Wednesday that I haven't started on yet so….

Thanks for reading!

Also, tell me if you like Lucy's POV better or Third Person POV better.

By the way I don't own fairy tail. In my dreams I do though.

Stay awesome! Reviews are greatly appreciated!

-jo