Chapter 20

"N-no...It...can't be you..." Lucy said trembling. Lucy was still having a hard time believing that the boy in front of her was her old friends that she had assumed to be dead.

"Well, I don't know how you know my true name, but I can assure you that won't matter." Ryu said as he picked up the swords that Lucy knocked out of his hands.

And as he was, even though it was for a second, Lucy saw a splash of purple around his neck that was covered by the armor. Right then and there, she was able to confirm that it was truly her old friend.

"It is him..." Lucy thought. Her eyes were then completely zoned out.

"Pay attention!" Ryu called out as he charged towards Lucy. Lucy then snapped out of her trance and was able to move out of the way of one of his swords that he was about to run her through with.

"Ryu, please! It's me! Lucy!" Lucy cried.

"I do not know what you're talking about. We have not before today." Ryu said.

He ran towards Lucy and tried to cut her again, but she dodged again. That process continued from then on for awhile. Lucy no longer wanted to attack him, knowing that he was a close friend of hers. While that was going on, Lucy could here her friends calling out to her.

"Lucy, what are you doing!?" Juvia shouted.

"Come on! You can take this guy!" Sting cheered. After jumping away from another was of Ryu's attacks, Lucy skid across the ground.

"Are you truly that weak that you're afraid to attack?" said Ryu. Lucy began to be on the verge of tears.

"Ryu, you know that's not true! Please, we're friends! Try to remember!" begged Lucy.

"I would never be friends with a weakling." said Ryu coldly.

Something inside Lucy broke when he said that. In the past, Ryu was always saying how strong Lucy was and how he wanted to be as strong as her one day, so hearing that really hurt Lucy. Tear drops fell from Lucy's face. She placed her forearm over her eyes as that continued.

"Lucy, don't take that crap from this guy!" Sting cried.

"Take him out!" said Rogue.

"Try harder Lucy!" said Rufus.

As she heard those cheers from her friends, more tears fell down her cheeks. Lucy soon finally pulled her arm away from her eyes. and snapped her head up from looking at the ground to facing the sky.

"I can't do that!" Lucy practically screamed. Lucy let her head sink back to looking at the ground again.

"Even he doesn't remember...I do...We're friends, that's all I need to know." said Lucy quietly, holding her hand close to her heart. The entire arena was silent after hearing her yell like that. She looked up at Ryu to see if her words had gotten to him, but hadn't even flinch.

"You can say those pitiful words all you want, but just know this." Ryu said as began to walk towards Lucy.

"Once I'm done with you, I will go after all of your weak friends." said Ryu.

That's when Lucy's eyes shrunk and something inside her completely broke. The way he was talking, the way he was acting, and the way he looked at her, they were all not the same way she remembered.

"He...He's completely forgotten...Someone...anyone...what do I do?" Lucy thought. She was now close to breaking. Suddenly, Lucy began to here a voice.

"Defeat him." said the voice.

It was a calm and soothing male voice.(A/N: Can you guess who?)Lucy snapped her head up and began to look all around her, but she couldn't see anyone around her. The voice continued to ring through her head.

"He's under a spell. Defeat him, and he'll remember." said the voice. Lucy slightly jolted p from hearing that.

"...If that's the only way." Lucy murmured to herself. When Lucy looked up at Ryu, he standing only a few feet from her now.

"I'm sorry Ryu. But, it looks like I'm gonna have to fight." Lucy said as she stood tall once again.

"I never asked for your pity." said Ryu getting into a battle stance with his swords.

"I'm pretty banged up from earlier, and he seems to better with weapons than I am. So, I only have two other options." Lucy thought. She remembered what Mavis and Makarov told her, so she went with the ladder.

"HEAVEN'S TRANSFORMATION: ANGEL!" Lucy chanted.

A large gold magic circle appeared under her feet and Lucy was soon enveloped in a bright golden light. Her clothing turned into a mere white tank-top, white ankle length skirt with a gold belt wrapped her hips along with golden bracelets around her ankles, wrists and her head. She also grew pure white angels wings and her eyes became a golden color. Even her hair now reaches her knees.

"No way! Lucy just turned into an angel! That is so cool!" Jason cheered. The crowd was also cheering as well after seeing such a beautiful transformation.

"You think one transformation can defeat me?" said Ryu.

"I won't know unless I try." Lucy said.

She flew up a few feet with her new wings and, with her new powers, created magical halos in her hands and threw them separately at Ryu. He dodged one of them, but the other he tried to block with his sword, but the halo just sliced the blade the blade in half and just graced his cheek. When the halos hit the wall and ground behind him, the wall grumbled apart and the ground just shattered. Ryu was completely stunned when he saw what happened behind him. So, Lucy took that chance and flew towards him. He didn't notice her coming till the last moment when she suddenly appeared behind him. Lucy wrapped her arms around his shoulders from behind and kept a tight grip.

"Let go of me!" Ryu demanded as he tried to escape.

"If you insist." said Lucy. She used her wings to fly into the air, even higher than before, with Ryu still in her grip. When she stopped flying up, they were both at least 10 meters above ground. Lucy then began to fly down at high speeds and once she was at least 5 meters closer, she got ready to move her arms.

"I'm sorry Ryu." Lucy thought. She then threw Ryu downwards. It only took a few seconds before he slammed into the ground, creating a massive crater and a lot of dust. Lucy waited in the air for all of the dust to clear and once it was all gone, she could see her friend lying in the center of the crater she created.

"Unbelievable! Lucy has just beaten one of the red knights!" Chapati cheered. The entire arena then roared with excitement. Saber Tooth was possibly cheering the most for Lucy's victory and now being in first place.

Saber Tooth points: 66

As the crowd was cheering, Lucy slowly floated down to the ground, into the crater, right beside Ryu. His armor was now covered in cracks and scratches. She let her transformation come undone which made her hair return to it's original length and her clothes also returned to normal. Before trying to wake him up, Lucy picked up Ryu and took out of the crater and set him on the ledge of it. She then got down on one knee and began to try and wake him up.

"Hey, come on. Wake up." Lucy said, slightly shaking him.

Slowly, Ryu's eyes began to open. But, Lucy could see something in his eyes were different. The steeliness and coldness in them from earlier was gone, they now showed warm and kindness. His eyes were soon fully open.

"Wh-where am I? What's going on" Ryu said weakly. His eyes then shrunk when they stopped on Lucy. She let out a small laugh and small tear drops appeared on the edges of her eyes.

"I'm glad to have you back Ryu." Lucy said with a smile.

"L-Lucy?" said Ryu. She simply nodded and got back on her feet while extending a hand to him.

"Come on. We have some catching up to do." Lucy said. Ryu, who now had tears in his eyes, nodded and was about to take her hand, when suddenly...

*SLASH*