Ch. 10 - Red Snakes

Apparently, Night Pythoness didn't take jobs. They didn't have S-Class Mages. They basically just went around and destroyed cities. This was so weird. She was gonna have to make some changes.

"Okay, guys," she said loudly. The women's excited chatter died down. "So, as your new…. master…. I'm going to change some things." She looked around the room. "From now on, I'm sorry to say I'm just too used to sleeping in trees and I wanna keep it that way. We're gonna sleep in the trees," she announced.

Much to Lucy's surprise, the women agreed whole-heartedly. Lucy paused before saying, "You're not mad?"

The women all shrugged. "Sandra made us sleep outside anyway," a short lady named Sami chirped. Lucy almost gasped before she remembered she wasn't supposed to care. "Good," Lucy muttered. "Also, we're waking up at dawn." Some of the women groaned. Lucy snickered. "I guess that's it," she said.

Lucy walked around the neat under ground headquarters. She had gotten her Insignia on her lower back, just visible if she lifted her shirt. Lupa was annoyingly following her around, asking her if she needed anything.

"No!" Lucy said overwhelmingly. "Why do you keep asking me that?!" She exclaimed. Lupa shuffled her feet awkwardly, her pale blue eyes cast down.

"Sorry. I guess it's a habit." Her eyes flickered around the room. "Our old Master was literally our master," she said. Lucy blinked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lucy wondered. Lupa rubbed her heavily bandaged arms.

"As in, she was the master and we were her slaves," she said quietly.

Lucy's eyes softened. "Well, as your new… uh… master, I promise to never treat this guild as slaves, but as equals." Lupa's eyes brightened. "From now on, we aren't guild-mates. We're family," Lucy said, recalling her family back home.

Lupa exhaled. "Whoa," she breathed.

Wow. This guild was not a guild at all. Lucy was going to get used to this. But before she was going to settle in, she needed to do something before she left permanently.

— A little over a week later —

Rimoro Village didn't seem to change at all. It took half the day on Emerald to get to Rimoro Village. Lucy had left the women at their old headquarters, saying she had some business to clear up first.

"Okay Emerald. I'll call you when I need you," she whispered, patting his neck. He nodded and bounded away.

It was the beginning of spring. The snow was melting and Lucy could pull off jeans and her favourite leather jacket with a studded collar.

Lucy peeked stealthily through the bushes. She smiled to herself as she saw Sakimo. Over the course of two years, she grew to a gorgeous young woman. Her hair had grown out to her collar bones, and her figure was curvy and mature. But, there was something wrong. She had lost her spark. She seemed depressed. Maybe it was just a bad day.

Lucy took a deep breath. Here she was, a guild master - a dark guild too - and she was nervous about seeing her old friends again.

The blonde rose and approached the village.

At first, nobody noticed her. She walked past an old lady. The woman paused. "Lucy? Is that you?" She asked, smiling. Lucy turned and grinned.

At the sound of Lucy's name, Sakimo turned toward the two. Sakimo's face was etched with confusion. As realization dawned on her, she took a small step toward Lucy, the corners of her lips turning up.

'Lucy,' Sakimo mouthed. She flew toward her, arms spread wide. Lucy almost dodged out of the way, but returned the long-awaited hug.

Soon, more villagers recognized Lucy and gathered around the blonde. Lucy was suddenly surrounded by many, but there was one person whom she wanted to see the most.

He stepped out of a hut. He had grown his hair out; it just reached the bottom of his earlobes. His handsome face lit up when he saw Lucy, and he ran toward her and engulfed her in his tan arms.

"I can't believe you're here." His voice was muffled from being buried in her shoulder. He let go of her and put his hands on her shoulders. "How long will you be staying?"

Lucy's forced a smile on her face. "I actually just joined a guild. I wanted to come and give you one last goodbye before I left permanently," she said, a weary smile frozen on her face.

Rimo looked crestfallen. "Oh," he said quietly, letting go of her shoulders. He looked back up at her with an emotionless wall. "Well, at least stay for a couple of hours. You can catch up with me and Sakimo. Have lunch with us," he said hopefully. Sakimo, standing beside Rimo, nodded enthusiastically. Lucy smiled grimly. It was the least she could do.

She was about to nod her head when a clear voice rang out from the hut Rimo was in.

A woman's voice. It sounded quite familiar. Lucy frowned. Where had she heard that voice from?

"Rimo? Who's there?" It said. "Introduce me!"

The second the voice began to speak, Samiko cast her eyes down. She took a small step back.

Lucy had just recognized the voice and was about to bolt out of the village when a bandaged, tall woman stepped out from the hut. 'Oh, crap,' Lucy thought when her eyes locked with the woman's.

Night Pythoness's former guild master. Sandi.

A bloodcurdling scream ripped through the town and Rimo rushed to her side, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. Sakimo stepped behind Lucy.

"Sandra, you should be resting," Rimo exclaimed. Oh. Her name was Sandra. Awkward.

Sandra raised a trembling finger toward Lucy. "It was her," she whispered, her eyes wide as saucers. "She was the one who did this to me."

Rimo glanced at Lucy laughed forcefully. "Lucy would never do something like that, Sandra. You're just disoriented, that's all," he said. Sandra shook her head vigorously.

"It was her," she shrieked. "She was the one that took my beloved guild away from me" All eyes were turned toward Lucy.

Lucy didn't utter a word. What could she say anyway?

Sandra eagerly continued. "It was her! I was just having a talk with one of my guild members when she jumped from the tree and began to attack me!" The villagers didn't say a word. Rimo turned towards Lucy. Lucy was surprised to see his eyes big and hopeful.

"Lucy," he asked calmly. "Tell Sandra that she has gotten it wrong, and that it was merely a woman that looked like you that did this." Lucy remained silent. She couldn't lie.

Rimo's eyes turned pleading. "Please, Lucy," he breathed.

Lucy felt a burning sensation behind her eyes. "I can't," she said, her eyes cast down.

Rimo paused. "Why?"

Lucy stayed silent, begging herself not to cry.

"Why!?" Rimo barked.

"Because I can't lie!" she shouted. Rimo was taken aback.

"Does that mean…?"

Lucy looked up a Rimo, locking her hardened eyes on his angry ones. They both stayed quiet, accessing the situation at hand. Sandra took the opportunity to speak.

"She ruined me," Sandra cried, faking tears. This woman was really something else.

Rimo's face was dark.

"Get out."

"If you'd just let me explain-" Lucy began.

"Get out of my village!" He screamed. Sakimo ran up to him and thrust a note in his face. "No," he snapped. Sakimo pleadingly looked up at him. After a few seconds, he looked at Lucy, avoiding her eyes. "You can talk to Sakimo, but don't you ever say a word to me again," he said, eerily calm.

"You need to listen to me-" Lucy tried to say.

"You came here to say goodbye," he said quietly. "So, goodbye, Lucy."

He turned away, guiding Sandra back to the hut. Before they entered the hut, Sandra looked back smugly.

Lucy looked around at the villagers. Shockingly, they all looked back at her sadly before walking away and returning to their things. Lucy felt tears well up in her eyes and she was swept into an empty hut but Sakimo.

im so sorry i couldnt do anything, lucy.' Sakimo's face was full of sadness and fear. Lucy shook her head and blinked away her tears.

"No, it's not your fault," she said assuringly. "Why is the village so afraid of her anyway?" Sakimo locked her eyes with Lucy's. She began scribbling on a piece of paper she fished out from her pocket. It seemed she was writing for a while before she finally gave it to Lucy to read.

'sandra is our older step sister. after our parents died she was never the same. she was always nice to rimo, but she hated me. i think she thought that rimo paid more attention to me then her. i was only a toddler after all. when i was 11 she was already starting to learn magic. she was around 14 at the time. she… 'tested' her magic on me. she blasted me in the throat with a kind of magic that goes from the inside out. my vocal chords were destroyed, and i never spoke again. sandra blamed it on me, that i had somehow it to myself to gain attention from rimo. sandra told me that if i tell him what actually happened, she would take out my eyes as well.'

Lucy looked up and saw the raw pain in Sakimo's eyes. She continued reading. 'the whole village knows the truth but is too afraid to tell rimo. either way he wont listen. shes brainwashed him too much. when she left to join that guild, night pythoness, the whole village was relieved. rimo was sad, so, so sad. no matter how many times i told him, he always blamed it on himself. thats why he was so reserved. but ever since you came along, he started to open up a little more. but now… shes back.' Lucy stood there with the paper in her hands, letting her brain absorb this newfound information. She let the note flutter to the ground and she found herself embracing the slim woman tightly.

"I won't let her get to you," Lucy whispered. She felt Sakimo nod. "Stay strong, Sakimo."

Sakimo nodded, and hugged her tighter before letting her go. She quickly wrote another note. 'thanks. and do not worry about rimo, he will come to his senses sooner or later.'

Lucy smiled sadly. "I hope so," Lucy said, more to herself then Sakimo.

Sakimo smiled back and hugged her once more, before letting Lucy go on her way.

Lucy stepped out into the bright sunlight and zipped up her leather jacket. She plastered an impassive expression on her face and avoided the pitying stares form the villagers. She walked to the edge of the village and whistled.

Emerald came shooting through the village before stopping right in front of Lucy. His eyes were wide and concerned. Lucy forced a smile on her face and patted Emerald's velvet snout.

"Let's go. I'm finished here," she said coldly. Emerald, for once, didn't be sassy and waited for her to climb on before the streaked away.

— Two years later —

— Fairy Tail Guild —

"Hey, Ice Princess, why you breathing so close to me?"

"Well, I don't know, Flame Brain, maybe it's because I'm human and I need to breathe!"

Wendy giggled. Natsu and Gray were going at it again. "Look, Carla! They're fighting again!"

Carla scoffed. "It's about time, they haven't fought for a month!"

"Carla! I got you a flower! It's almost beautiful!" Happy padded up to Carla holding a daffodil in his tiny paws. Carla looked confused.

"What do you mean, almost beautiful?" She asked.

"Because nothing is as beautiful as you, Carla!" Happy exclaimed, well, happily!

Carla blushed. "Fine, I'll take it." Happy was overjoyed.

The guild doors slammed open. "Natsu! Gray! Let's go on a job! I need to buy more cakes!" Erza's stern voice rang through the bar. "Let's go on an S-Class. I need some money to buy more cakes." Erza's eyes sparkled in excitement.

Natsu and Gray halted their fists. Gray shrugged. "Eh, why not! We haven't really gone on a job together in a couple of months," he said.

For once, Natsu agreed with Gray. "Yeah, sure. We're all S-Classes now, and we haven't gone on an S-Class together yet. I'm all fired up!" Erza nodded approvingly. It was obvious she was still the most mature and strongest out of all of them, even if they were S-classes now.

3 minutes later, the trio, plus Happy, stood around the S-Class job board. Gray jabbed his finger at a request. "How about this one?"

Erza read the listing and then nodded. "Sounds good."

It was a job to find one tiny gem for a rich blacksmith on a cliff that was approximately 100 plus miles long. There would be bloodthirsty animals along the way. The job would be difficult and time consuming, but still rewarding.

Erza turned toward Natsu, arms crossed over her chest. "What do you think about this job, Natsu?…Natsu?"

Natsu was immersed in one particular job listing. "Let's take this one," he murmured. Erza and Gray both frowned. "Why this one," Erza asked, squinting at the paper. It was a job from the mayor of the wealthy city of Conai. It requested the protection of one or more mages, because he feared that his town would be targeted next by some dark guild. This guid has been trashing and destroying towns, mainly wealthily.

"Oi, Flame brain, why this job?" Gray muttered, frowning.

"Yes, why this? This one requires us to defeat an entire guild," Erza said.

Natsu shook his head, crossing his arms behind his head. "I dunno, but I just got this feeling that we have to do this one," he said distractedly. "Come on, it even says it's a Women's Only guild of… what's that? 19 people?"

Gray rolled his eyes. "It's 17, dumbass," he said.

"Whatever, stripper. Can we take this job, Erza?" Natsu pleaded. Erza looked at the paper uncertainly.

"Are you sure?" She said, rubbing her temples. Natsu nodded eagerly. "… Fine."

"Yeah! I'm all fired up!" He screamed, running out the door.

Erza and Gray both sighed. Once Natsu was focussed on something, there was no getting him out of it. Time to head to the city of Minno, the most recently attacked city.

— City of Minno —

"So, you're going to throw away everything you have, and lead a life of honesty from now on, is that clear?"

The plump man nodded fearfully at the woman who stood before him, fire and chaos in the background. All the women were dressed in black cloaks with designs of white snakes spiralling up their backs. This one, however, was different. There were red snakes. The man put two and two together and figured it was best not to piss this one, especially this one, off. "Crystal," he said.

"Good. And if you decide to go against my orders," she leaned in closer. "I'll find you," she whispered. The man shuddered and nodded again. The woman smiled.

A loud whistle tore through the city and the woman stopped destroying the buildings. "Let's go. We're done here," she yelled. The women all nodded and dispersed. She whistled again. A giant black panther with green eyes appeared, it seems, out of nowhere. The plump man shrunk down into the rubble fearfully.

The woman jumped on to it's back with impeccable agility. She turned toward the man one last time.

"Sorry," the woman said, before the speeded away.

— About 1 hour later —

"Damn, they really trashed this place, huh," Gray commented, kicking a rock.

Erza nodded. "Yes. There was only 17 of them too," she said. "Pretty unbelievable."

Natsu sniffed the air. Smoke, dust and a faint whiff of cherry blossoms and peaches. Huh. Smelled like Lucy. Natsu paused. He took a big whiff of the air. Yup. Definitely peaches and cherry blossoms. Wait… That meant Lucy was here?

"Lucy!" He hollered. Gray and Erza stopped their investigating.

"What did you say?" Erza said sharply.

"I can smell her…" Natsu whispered. "She was here. She was here, guys!" He yelled.

Erza shook her head.

"I think you're just smelling things, Natsu," Gray said uncertainly. Natsu shook his head.

"My nose is never wrong," he protested.

Erza sighed. "You may look around, but I highly doubt that," she said, rubbing her temples. "Gray!"

Gray jumped. "What?"

"Continue the investigation and maybe we can figure out where we this guild will strike next," she commanded. "Look into the buildings and talk to the people, see if they know anything about the guild. Seems like this guild only destroys towns, not the people."

Gray groaned. "Are you kidding me? And Natsu just gets to look around for-"

Erza's piercing glare burned holes through Gray's head.

"On it," Gray said hurriedly.

Meanwhile, Natsu was trying to make sense of this nostalgic smell. Happy was rushing after him. "Natsu!" He yelled.

"I gotta find her, Happy," he muttered, more to himself then Happy.

Happy sighed. He knew he was going to have to tell him the truth. "She's gone, Natsu."

Natsu stopped so short Happy smashed right into Natsu's head. "Owie…"

Natsu didn't feel a thing. He just turned around and locked his eyes with Happy's large ones. "She's been gone for 3 years, Natsu. Stop looking," Happy said, rubbing his head.

Natsu looked around. "I can't, Happy. I can't just let her go."

Happy giggled. "You liiiiike her," he said cheekily, expecting Natsu to vehemently deny this and go about his day like normal.

But Natsu didn't say anything. Happy began to get worried as a minute passed. Natsu thinking was weird.

"Natsu?" Happy squeaked. "I didn't mean anything by that, you know I never do."

Natsu looked at Happy, pure pain in his eyes. "But you're right," he said quietly, probably the most serious he has ever been.

Happy was confused. "H-huh?"

"I do," he said.

Happy was getting kind of annoyed, because Natsu's mixed signals were really mixed. "What?" He chided.

"I minph I eeah er," he said.

"Huh?" Happy padded closer. "Natsu?"

"I love her, Happy."

Happy was processing.

"Natsu! We got the next target. It's the nearest wealthy town. We need to make it there before nightfall. They always attack at midnight, so let's go now," Erza commanded.

Natsu nodded and ran towards her, Happy following close. Happy was still shocked at the confession. After all, Natsu wasn't a very serious person. But Happy knew Natsu. He knew he was telling the truth.

— City of Carmel —

— Nightfall —

"Oh, sweet land," Natsu exclaimed, hugging the concrete ground.

Gray rolled his eyes. "It was literally a 30 minute train ride. Don't be such a drama queen." Natsu didn't respond; he was too busy kissing the ground.

Gray turned toward Erza. "So, what do we do now?"

Erza shrugged. "We hide. We wait," she said, pulling out a cake.

Gray blinked. "Where did that come from?"

— Midnight —

Erza was eating cake as Natsu slept. Gray was his usual reserved self.

BOOM

Erza sat up. Natsu snorted awake. "Hey, is it time to go kick this guild's butt yet?"

"Wait," Erza whispered. "Can you see that woman over there?"

Some women had already begun to destroy mansions and buildings. "Natsu, Gray, you take the ones with the white design. I'll take the one with the red."

Gray nodded. "She's different, I'm betting it's the master." Erza nodded and was about to send them off when something weird happened.

Everything stopped. The explosions stopped, the chaos stopped, everything stopped.

"What the hell-" Gray began when a silvery, tiny voice interrupted them.

"Our master would like to fight a particular person," it said. It belonged to a small girl, her face hidden by a hood.

Natsu instinctively punched at the source of the voice, but she dodged swiftly.

"How did you find us," Erza demanded, rising to her full height. The girl smiled.

"We have our ways. Now, I would like to make a deal. We'll stop the destruction if you fight with our guild master. 'Kay?"

"Fine," Erza said, pulling out her sword. "Where is she?"

The girl's hands flew up. "Oh, no, not you! She wants to battle the pink haired dude!"

"Me?" Natsu exclaimed. "Cool! I'm all fired up!"

Erza stepped in front of Natsu. "No. I'm going."

The girl shrugged. "Sorry, she only want's the pink haired guy."

"It's salmon!"

ERza sighed. "You better win," she barked.

Natsu nodded happily. "Where is she?"

The girl grinned. "Town square!"

Natsu bolted off, leaving Erza and Gray behind. Gray nudged Erza. "For a dark guild, they're pretty nice," he remarked.

—

"Iron Dragon fist!"

The guild master dodged swiftly. She smiled.

Natsu, Gray, and Erza were almost surprised. They had all expected a smile full of hate and cruelty. Instead, the woman's smile was kind and gentle.

Crack!

The sound of a whip echoed loudly, snapping across Natsu's face.

A whip?

"Oi, Erza," Gray muttered. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I hope not," she murmured back.

The crack of a whip and the sound of Natsu's constant yelling went on for an hour more.

"Erza. It's her," Gray said. "I'm 100% sure." Erza just nodded.

Natsu, being both stupid and too immersed in the fight didn't notice.

"Urano Metria!"

A blinding light exploded from her, and 20 seconds later, both were laying on the ground, completely exhausted.

"What the heck was that!" Natsu yelled excitedly. "I can barely move!"

The guild master sat up. "I'm finally up to par with you," she said.

"Huh?" Natsu said stupidly. Erza and Gray glanced at each other, seeing as she was going to confess who she really was they might as well not interrupt.

The woman smiled softly. "Why don't you take a breather, Natsu."

Natsu rolled onto his stomach and rested his head on his hands so he could see her. And then it hit him.

Peaches and Cherry Blossoms.

"Lucy…?"

Lucy smiled and pulled off her hood, revealing the blonde hair Natsu had ached to see again for three years.

"Actually," she said, "I go by Licia now."

A/N

I don't own FT.

Hey! The long awaited chapter 10 has arrived! I don't know what to do after this, so please PM me if you have any ideas on how to get them out of this awkward situation.

How did you like this chapter? It's literally midnight, so forgive me if it's a bit iffy.

And vote on the poll please!

-jo