Chapter 2
Everyone in Fairy Tail, especially the boys, are crowding on the mission board to take random missions and then run outside the Guild.
"Out of the way Lucy!" a fiery pink haired boy said as his talking and flying cat flew by his side. He pushed the said blonde out of his way as he went towards the mission board where he fought for some mission about killing a huge beast.
That fiery pink haired boy, is none other than Natsu Dragneel. He is the infamous Salamander of Fairy Tail, or the Flame Demon in the Take Over Team. His powers are almost limitless and he can never be affected by any kind of Flame Magic because he'll simply absorb them to energize himself.
"Hey! Why is everyone seemed so busy today?" Lucy asked Fairy Tail's bartender who bore a very long, silky straight hair and had a radiant smile casted over her face.
"Well, tomorrow is a big day for aspiring mages like Natsu," Lisanna said as she gave a vague answer.
This is Lisanna Strauss, a well known model across Fiore and even neighbouring countries and the well-known bartender of Fairy Tail. She is always cheerful and is very caring towards her friends and quite oddly, she is the little sister of none other than the demon herself.
"He can aspire all he wants but I'll definitely beat the crap out of that guy!" and the demon is here, surprising Lucy with her malicious looking smile. Here we have Mirajane Strauss, the eldest of the Strauss siblings and the feared leader of the Take Over Team. She sports a wild look and her eyes screamed with bloodlust yet no one can ignore her beauty.
"What are you two talking about?" Lucy asked in confusion. Mirajane laughed at her, somewhat insulting the blonde mage.
"You seriously do not know, well, you've got to really here the history of Fairy Tail, anyways, you'll know what's going on tomorrow novice, I've got to go slay some monsters bothering these kind folks, please stamp it for me Lisanna," Mirajane winked and saw Lisanna being covered by people who wanted their quests stamped on too.
Lucy sighed and decided to go home to rest.
The Next Day...
Almost everyone gathered inside the Guild, even those that Lucy haven't even saw before.
But what's weird, in Lucy's perspective, is that almost all of the S-Class Mages are present. Erza Scarlett or the feared Titania who is barely in the Guild is present, along with her teammate and partner, Jellal Fernandez who is an S-Class as well. Ultear Milkovich is also present in the Guild, but that's nothing really new. Gildarts Clive, Fairy Tail's Ace Mage is also present and of course, the wild Demon, Mirajane.
All of these mages stood around the Master, who is standing on a platform inside the Guild. All other members are below, cheering for the event that she isn't even aware of. She tried finding her only friend in the Guild, Lisanna, but failed in doing so.
"What the hell is happening here," Lucy mumbled almost to herself as she distanced away from the crowd. The master took a microphone and began his announcement.
"Since long ago, this has been Fairy Tail's custom and now," Master Makarov, the 3rd Master of Fairy Tail said.
"The moment has arrived to announce the participants for this year's S-Class Wizard Promotion Trial!" Makarov continued, making everyone cheer up and shout with glee. After a moment of silence, Makarov proceeded.
"What?! It's starting today? This isn't good," Lucy said as a look of astonishment past on her face before turning into one who is panicking. She almost jumped in fright when she felt a hand on her back.
"Lucy, what's wrong? Lisanna asked, confused at the reaction Lucy had. Lucy sighed as she found who it was and smiled.
"Oh, you almost scared me, it's just," Lucy paused and Lisanna became more confused.
"It's just what, is there something wrong with you, are you feeling sick?" Lisanna asked, Lucy shook her hand frantically.
"No, no, its that I never really expected that it would be so soon, and with all that happened around us, I almost forgot about that, and well, yeah," Lucy said, Lisanna nodded and Lucy almost sighed in relief.
"The venue for this year's trials will be Tenroujima Island, Fairy Tail's holy grounds. The strength...the heart...and the soul, I've been watching for each of these things for the past year and now, I chose eight participants," Makarov paused, which was followed by a dead silence in the crowd due to pure anticipation.
Lisanna stepped away from Lucy and went inside the crowd, and Lucy had a clue as to why.
"For the first contender, Cana Alberona!" Makarov announced.
"That's my daughter!" Gildarts said proudly.
"Shut up old man!" Cana blushed in embarrassment before throwing her mug to his dad who made it disintegrate within seconds. Apparently, a black haired guy told Gildarts about his wife being pregnant before he left and as a responsible father, he did his best to search for his daughter and was surprised that it was none other than Cana.
"Next up, Freed Justine," Makarov said and this made Evergreen and Bixlow cheer for their teammate as he went up the stage with Cana.
"The third and fourth contender are Lucy Heartfilia and Mest Gryder," this surprised everyone, including Natsu and even the Ice-Mage, Gray. There were a lot of whispering the occurred but no one really questioned the orders of the Master.
"Who's that?" Natsu asked Lisanna, who seemed confused at the announcement as well.
"Lucy Heartfilia, the new girl who entered the Guild not even a month ago and Mest, I think he was Mystogan's disciple," Lisanna said, as if she knew a thing or two about Mest, but simply can't remember him at all.
Lucy looked embarrassed as she went up, earning glares from the others.
"Well, what do you know, you managed to compete huh, I don't know how you pulled it off but let me just warn you that it won't be easy," Mirajane said as she patted Lucy not-so-gently.
"Mira, don't scare her," Erza said rather calmly, which surprised Lucy. This was the very first time she ever heard the Titania speak, because usually, it would be Jellal who would do so.
"Mind your own business," Mirajane said as she glared at Erza.
"Don't challenge me, Mirajane," Erza threatened Mirajane with her own deadly glares. There was a deadly glare battle that commenced between the two mages as lightning seemed to spark between them, scaring Lucy.
"Can you please not fight in here," Jellal said as he separated the two duelling mages. Lucy sighed and felt thankful towards Jellal. She was so focused on this that she never noticed Levy McGarden rising up with them.
"Hey, let us do our best okay?" Levy said, surprising Lucy who was so focused on what's happening between Mira, Jellal and Erza, which still rages on as they threw insulted to and fro.
"Umm, okay?" Lucy said as she sweat dropped at the sight.
"For the seventh contender, we have Gray Fullbuster!" Makarov said and Gray climbed the stage with pride.
"Lastly, we have none other than..." Makarov said before pausing as he looked at the reaction of the crowd. Everyone seemed to be begging to join the battle but sadly, not all of them has what it takes to be an S-Class, maybe in the next year, but for this year...
"Natsu Dragneel!" Makarov said and the crowd went eerily silent before everyone cheered.
"You did it Natsu! You really did it!" Lisanna said as she hugged Natsu tightly before letting him climb the stairs. Natsu was quite flustered at the sudden outburst of Lisanna but managed to shrug it off.
"Let me say that even if you are new, I won't go easy on you because this is the year that I'd become an S-Class," Natsu said at Lucy, yet he was smiling cheerfully at her, he offered her his hand. Lucy almost rolled her eye.
"Okay?" Lucy said awkwardly before shaking his hand.
"Each of you should choose a partner in twenty four hours, your partner can either be the key to your success or the one who can make you lose, there are only two rules in choosing a partner, the first rule is that you can't choose an S-Class to become your partner and number two, your partner should have the Guild's insignia, and remember, only one shall prevail!" Makarov said. The crowd dispersed as they went their own ways.
Some people were sad at the results while other simply took it as an inspiration. Some girls thought that there was a biased decision, especially those about Lucy as she was just new and most of them are in the Guild for almost 3-4 years.
And Lucy isn't comfortable with it.
"She won't win, as they say, cheaters never win," a girl mocked.
"Yeah, they never do learn, magic used for cheating aren't really that useful, they only show how weak and pitiful a mage is," another said.
"And don't you know that talking behind a person's back is the most pitiful thing to do?" another said.
"Yeah," the girls agreed at the last statement before being surprised at who it was.
"Ultear?!" they stuttered as the black haired, Ice-Make mage appeared behind them with a sly smile.
"Yeah, it is me, and if I heard another bad thing spoken to that young girl, I can't guarantee your safety, are we clear on this?" the Ice Mage said, the others nodded like dos do to their master and scampered away, scared at what might happen to them.
Ultear Milkovich is the well known daughter of Ul Milkovich, she is a renounced mage and gained the title as the Ice Queen. She is best friends with Lyon Vista of Lamia Scale and is the leader of Absolute Zero, together with Gray and Meredy, a girl they found in a ruined city. Contrary to her title, she is a very kind yet sly mage.
"Thank you," Lucy said, but instead of a warm smile that once casted upon Ultear's face, it was a look of hostility, as if she was threatened. Lucy almost smirked at this reaction.
"You, you're not," Ultear said before Gray appeared and passed by between them, Lucy's eye glow red for a while and her smirk even widened further.
"I'm not what Ultear-san?" she said after Gray passed by, her smile genuine and kind. Ultear blinked again and her eyebrows met in the center of her pale, silky face.
"Whoever you are, I'm watching you," she said and left Lucy's sight. Lucy almost laughed at her reaction.
Before, she was the one who's scared, she was the one who have to carefully watch their steps.
But, the time had changed.
Because she isn't Lucy Heartfilia, there is no Lucy Heartfilia anymore.
Her soul died after years and years of pain, and she was reborn. And now, her time is near. Very, very near.
"Imitatia, is everything set?" There was a voice in her head. But she ignored these voice and walked towards the long haired mage.
"Hey Lisanna, can you be my partner?" Lucy asked with a gentle smile.
"Sure Lucy!" Lisanna said and hugged her. 'Yes...Nee-chan,' Lucy thought maliciously.