A/N: Hey guys, welcome back. Hopefully you guys liked the first chapter. Thank you to those who reviewed the A/N and told me who they wanted. I will be trying to write ones longer that, but it is a lot more difficult doing this from my phone. My goal is to at some point in this story, write a chapter with a minimum of 10,000 words. Hopefully by then, my computer will be up and running. But if it's not, oh well. I would also like to thank the people who followed and favorited my story. I feel honored. On another note, I think that I will be putting the first summoning of Lucy's new keys in this chapter. It depends on how long everything else will take to write before it, 'cuz I don't want to keep you guys waiting to long. ***Also, please note that this story takes place AFTER the tenrou arc but before the GMGs, therefore people like Sting and Rouge are about Lucy's age, but they don't know each other.*** All right, now on with the story! Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail or Bleach! (A girl could only ever dream of owning those...)
Chapter 2: A Deathly Mission
Lucy's POV
As I woke up, I felt a pair of arms around my waist. Now, this sort of this wouldn't have bothered me a little over five months ago, but Nastu had been ignoring me, so why the hell is he in my bed?! So I turned around in his arms, internally preparing a speech to start screaming at him, when I saw orange hair rather than pink.
'Why is Loke in my bed?' I thought to myself. I was about to begin questioning him when suddenly all the memories of the day before suddenly came crashing down. I stiffened in his arms at the thoughts over what my team mates had said to me. As much as I wanted to break down, I couldn't. I had to stay strong. I would not allow myself to cry because of it. I will not be seen as weak.
I got out of bed with those thoughts running around in my mind, keeping me from crawling back into bed and sobbing my heart out. I got into my normal morning routine, but anyone could see that I was more robotic than normal.
I began preparing breakfast for both Loke and I when I heard a thud and some groaning. When I entered my bedroom, I could barely hold in my laughter. Loke had fallen of the bed and knocked over a shelf of books and stuffed animals on top of him. And right on his head was an adorable baby lioness.
"Glad that you can laugh at my pain," Loke grumbled to himself. "Now will you help me up?" He said, still muttering about stupid plushy toys under his breath. I grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the pile of toys.
"Come on, breakfast is almost ready" I said walking to the kitchen. He quickly followed me, and began sniffing the air, trying to figure out what I had made. His face suddenly brightened.
"Pancakes?!" He said, resembling a child asking if they could begin opening their presents on Christmas morning. He almost ran, no I actually think he did run, to the pile of pancakes that I had just set on the table.
"Yes, Loke. I made pancakes. Would you like some?" I said teasingly. I set a plate of four large pancakes in front of him.
I turned around to put my own pancakes on to my plate. When I turn back around to the table to begin eating my food, I see the Loke intensely staring at my plate. While what remained on his plate were only crumbs.
"Loke, this is my food. If you want more you will have to make it yourself." I said firmly, I am not just an endless supply of food.
Loke pouted, but stayed silent as I finished my pancakes. When I ate my last bite, he decided to break the peaceful silence. "Lucy, about last night..." he trailed off, trying to make me fill him in.
I stiffened as I remember how Loke found me last night after I returned from the guild. "It was a mistake, Loke. I never should have broke down and cried. I was fine, just feeling more down than usual from the guild ignoring me." I said, refusing to talk about what happened.
Loke just frowned at me, then shook his head. "I know that's not what really happened. If it had, I wouldn't have felt the sure need to come help you. But if you refuse to talk about it, I can't force you. Just know that when you are ready to talk about it, that I am here for you." And with that, he dissappeared in a colorful 'poof'.
I was grateful that he left me to my own thoughts, but I couldn't help but feel a little lonely. After Edolas, the team slowly stopped coming by. At first they only came once a week, then once every other week, and finally after two months they just stopped coming all together. As if I was just pushed further and further back into their minds until they just forgot about me.
I refused to stay on that train of thought. They kicked me off the team. They aren't thinking about me, so I shouldn't be thinking about them.
Suddenly a thought about what Erza had said yesterday came to me. 'Going solo... You can get stronger' She's right. I could go get stronger. I will go on tougher missions until I'm on par with everyone who believed I was weak. Then I will get even stronger.
With this new mindset, I began my trek towards the guild. I called out Plue and started talking about my plan to become stronger.
"...And I will become stronger. I refuse not to." I said, almost smiling at the thought of me kicking Team Natsu's butt.
"Puun~ pun" Plue said cutely in response, but then looked ahead and disappeared. I followed his eyes.
As I saw the guild come into view, I stopped and prepared myself for the large possibility of seeing the new Team Nastu. If they were there, I would ignore them.
I pushed open the large guild doors and started straight for the request board, not looking at anyone. I searched through the requests that I could do, but would probably be difficult without back-up.
Escort Sir Humphrey
Reward: 40,000 J
'Too easy, not enough reward'
Find lost item
Reward: 65,000 J
'I want some fighting, this doesn't involve much of it, if any.'
Fight local bandits, possible mages
Reward: 150,000 J
'Perfect!'
I walked over towards Mira to get the job approved. "Hey, Mira I'm heading out on this job." I say, handing her the request.
She looks it over and is about to stamp it for approval, but first asks "Is this for Team Nastu?".
Before responding, I made sure my face was blank and would betray no emotion. "No, I'm going solo. They dropped me yesterday for Lisanna."
"Oh, Lucy. I'm so sorry. Should I go have a talk with them?" She said about to leave the bar, fully prepared to go Satan Soul on them if they disagreed.
"No, don't. Please just approve the request so I can head out." I almost pleaded, but you could still hear a slight beg in my voice.
"Are you sure that you want to go on this job though. Don't you want to do something a little easier?" She asked trying to convince me to be safe.
I nodded my head. "Yes, I'm sure. I need to do this. I will become stronger." I said, making my point clear.
"Okay, I will let you go, but promise me you will come back safe." She said sadly.
"I promise." I said with a reassuring smile. She stamped my request and waved goodbye as I left the guild hall.
Unknown to myself, Mira had begun sobbing underneath the bar, repeating "I wanted pink haired brown eyed babies!" Until Freed finally found her and consoled her saying that Lucy would still have beautiful kids.
I headed home to go pack for the mission. I never actually bothered to check where the mission was. I pulled out the request and read it over. Apparently it was located in a town just off of Mount Haboke, Shiroka No Machi (Translation: White Hill Town *I own the town, I created it*). Must be a small town, I had never heard of it before.
When I got to my apartment, I called out Virgo.
"Yes, hime? Punishment, hime?" She asked when she arrived.
"No Virgo. Could you pack enough of my things for a week and keep them in the spirit world during my job?" I asked kindly, trying to keep in my annoyance at her constant asking for punishment.
"Of course, hime. Punishment, hime?" She said. I swear, does She know how to say anything else?
"No punishment Virgo. And thank you." I say as I make sure everything is off and shut before I leave.
"I am done, hime. If there's no punishment, I will be heading back." She says, and disappears in a colorful flash.
"Well, guess I better head out if I want to get there by sun down." I said aloud, for no real reason.
I get to the train station and ask for a ticket to Shiroka No Machi. Luckily they actually had trains straight to there. Apparently they were used frequently by the townsfolk there because they could grow food so they had to get most supplies from out of town.
I walked to my seat, I hadn't got a whole car for myself like the team used to because what was the point for the whole car for only one person. So far, I had been the only one to get into this train car.
When the conductor told everyone that there was only 5 more minutes left to board, I safely assumed that I would have a quiet train ride. I pulled out my novel and was just starting to write when suddenly I heard someone shouting at another to hurry up.
I set my novel back down and was about to go see what the noise was about when it suddenly appeared right in front of me.
"Phew, we made Rogue. I almost didn't think we would." A blonde male said looking at his partner.
"Of course we made it. We have the great Sting with us! How could we not?" Said a red flying cat. Wait flying, talking cat. I look at it closer and realize it was and exceed, just like Happy and the others back at the guild. I wonder why he has exceed.
"We would have made it sooner had you not argued with the lady at the counter for our tickets." Said the partner of the blonde male. I saw another exceed on his shoulder, wearing a pink frog suit.
"Fro thinks so too!" Said the cute little exceed.
I should probably make my presence known. "Um, hello people and exceeds. I'm Lucy, and you are?" I said politely.
All their reactions were hilarious, the blonde one 'eeped'. The dark haired partner stumbled as he tried to turn and face me, causing the exceed to fall of his shoulder. That made the exceed start to fly, but as the exceed came up, they ran into the red exceed making them both fall to the ground.
"Who the fucking hell are you?!" The blonde one asked.
"I am Lucy Heartfilia. I just told you that. Are you deaf?" I said to him rudely. If he wanted to be rude to me, I would be rude right back.
"My apologies, Ms. Lucy. I am Rogue, Rogue Cheney. My partner over there, the annoying blonde one, is Sting Eucliffe." The dark haired, no... Rogue said.
"Apology accepted, for you anyway." I said, glaring at Sting during the last part.
"Sorry 'bout that, Blondie. You startled us was all." He said apologetically, and I would have for gave him. If he didn't call me Blondie. I began glaring at him harder."What?" He said confused.
"Do not, ever, call me Blondie." I said on the verge of growling." I get called enough freaking nicknames at home... " I muttered under my breath, assuming they couldn't hear me.
"I like Blondie, it suits ya. I can't imagine you with another nickname. Though I do wonder what your other nicknames are." He said with a smirk that has rarely left his face since he got on the train.
"What other nicknames..." I said trying to not sound like I was lying.
"Oh 'all those freaking nicknames back home' that you just mumbled about." He said. I swear his smirk just got even bigger, if that is even possible.
"I said nothing of the such" I said, not wanting them to know my other names.
"Suuure you don-" He was suddenly cut off when he went a shade of green that should never be seen on a person.
"Heh, you have motion sickness don't ya!" I said mimicing his smirk. He kinda reminded me of Nastu and his motion sickness. I stiffened at the thought. I shouldn't be thinking about him.
"What 'bout it, Blondie?" He said trying to glare."Blondie, you okay?" He said confused at my posture.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, worry about yourself." I said trying to sound nonchalant about it.
"Whatever, not my problem" he said. He could probably tell that I was lying. He just shrugged and looked away.
I took my novel out again when it was quiet and ignored everyone as I continued to write. After about ten minutes of writing I felt a pressure on my lap.
"Sting! W-what are you doing?" I said nervously. Who would when a guy you barely know puts his head on your lap?
"Mmmghh... Comfy..." He said, and promptly fell asleep. I didn't want to push him off and probably give him a concussion, but I didn't want to leave him in my lap. In the end, I just sighed and picked my novel back up.
"I apologize... for... my friends... behavior." Rogue said. He sounded just as bad as Sting, but at least appeared a little better.
"I understand, I had a friend who used to do this all the time." I said. Before I could change the topic, Rogue spoke up again.
"Had? What happened?" He said looking genuinely curious.
I sighed at his question. "It's a long story and I don't feel like going down memory lane. Sorry." I said, politely disregarding his statement.
"It's alright, I understand." He said. Then we just broke off into mindless chatter for the remainder off the time. Unconsciously, I began playing with Sting's hair.
When the train came to a stop, Sting rolled off my lap and onto the floor. Head first.
"What the hell Blondie?" Sting yelled at me.
"Karma. You slept in my lap, you woke up on the floor. Hope you learned your lesson." I said. I grabbed my stuff and walked to the door.
"Goodbye, Rogue. I enjoyed chatting with you. I hope I will see you again." I said, and then promptly left without waiting for a response.
I pulled out the request paper and looked for who I had to meet for more information.
Apparently, the mayor had sent the request. I went to go search for the mayor's home. After asking for direction from the townspeople for ten minutes, I found where his house was located.
When I reached the home, I knocked on the door. A short man with very little hair opened it. He looked like he could be Master's brother.
"And who may you be, deary?" The tiny mayor said. His voice almost reminded me of the Blue Pegasus' Master Bob.
"I'm Lucy Heartfilia, mage of Fairy Tail" I paused to show him my guild mark. "And I am here for the request you sent out about the bandits and possible mages." I said, letting myself in after he opened the door further.
"Okay, well go to the living room and we will discuss this more." He said, dropping the sweet voice, taking on one that was more serious and grave.
I nodded as I walked though the home. I noticed that his house was a lot more shabby than most mayors homes. It looked like he was an average citizen rather than a mayor of a town.
I sat down on the couch across from the chair he sat on. "Is there more information that you could give me on these bandits?" I asked nicely.
"As the request form said, there is a large chance that they have mages working for them. When the bandits robbed a particular public place, they used a couple mages to help them. Although they could've just been hired for the job." He said, answering part of my question.
"Do you or anyone else in the town know the location of their hideout?" I asked, trying to get more info on these people.
"They are hiding out in the abandoned werehouse just outside the east part of town. It should be easy to find." The mayor said.
"Alright. That should be enough information, the bandits will be cleared out before the end of the week." I said with a smile, before heading out to go find a hotel to stay in.
I went to closest, and only, hotel in town. I rented a room for the next few nights. Afterwards, I went to go find the bandits hide out for research.
When I found the were house, I crouched behind a large bush and listened. After an hour of doing this I knew roughly what I would be going up against.
There were around ten bandits, which could easily be taken out with Taurus. Then three mages. From the sounds, there was an ice mage, a water mage, and take-over mage. Hopefully me and Loke would be enough to take them out.
I returned to the hotel to get a good night's sleep, since I knew I'd have a long day ahead of me.
The second I reached my hotel room, I collapsed on my bed and fell into the black void we call sleep.
When I woke up, I called out Taurus and Loke to discuss my plan.
"...that's about it. Any other ideas?" I said, seeing if one of them had a better plan.
"Well, hime. You could call out Aries as well for defense for us and I will use my own power rather than your's so you don't drain yourself." Loke said.
"That's a great idea! Thank you Loke." I said with a smile.
"Mooooo... if thats all, we'll be mooing back now." Taurus said, and both spirits disappear.
I began walking back to the bandits hide out that I found yesterday. On my trip there, I pulled out my new keys. I had yet to summon either of them yet. Maybe I will tomorrow before I leave. Unknown to myself, rather than putting them on the key ring in my pouch, I had just put them into my pocket.
When I arrived at the hide out, it was completely silent. Something was wrong, had I went to the wrong place? Did they move? Had someone tipped them off about me? I was still thinking possibilities when 12 bandits surrounded me.
"Lookie what we got here boys! The town sent a puny Stellar Summoning mage after us." Said one of the bandits. Probably the ring leader by how he spoke to them.
"Yeah boss, like she could do anything!" Said another one.
"Please, a squirrel could do more damage than this one!" That was the last straw. I reached for my pouch, but it wasn't there.
"Looking for these, girly!" Said the ring leader, holding up my keys and whip.
I just growled at him. I was totally defenseless. My keys were gone, as was my whip.
"Get 'er boys. If ya keep her alive, maybe we could have some fun." The ring leader said and watched the group slowly advance on me.
Then, when one was about to attack, Loke came out of his gate and punched the man into a world of unconsciousness. "Ready to serve, Hime." He said, and promptly started attacking the others. Loke dealt with the majority of the by using Regulas. I knocked out the other with my famous Lucy Kick.
After ten minutes, all that was left was the ring leader, who was actually holding his own against Loke. Suddenly the were house opened and out came the three mages.
"We thought you would've had this done by now, but you know what they say," said one of the mages. I think it was the take-over mage.
"Never eat unicorns? What does that have to do with anything?" Said the water mage. Everyone stopped fighting for a moment and just sweat-dropped at this comment.
After a minute of silence, the take-over mage spoke again. "No you idiot. If you want something done, you have to do it yourself!" After he said this, he kicked Loke in the ribs, and then slammed his skull into a tree, which made him return to the spirit world.
"Now that the summoner can't summon, She should be easy to take down." Said the ice mage who had yet to speak 'till now.
The mages cornered me into a tree when I suddenly felt something scratch against my leg that had definitely not been a stick or tree. I had only then remembered that I shoved my new keys into my pockets. Hopefully they won't mind fighting without a contract.
I pulled out both of my newest keys and shouted out their names. "Open, Gate of the Shinigami! Open, Gate of the Arrancar!" And with a poof, two figures appeared, currently sword fighting, when they suddenly realized that they were in a new location.
"What the fuck?" Both simultaneously said. I took a closer look at them, and honestly they both look like delinquents.
One had light blue hair, with eyes to match. He also this green war-like make-up under his eyes. He wore a white open jacket. What was disturbing about him was how he had a hole straight through his abdomen, and a bone mask on his jaw.
While the other one had orange hair and his eyes were blach with yellow irises. He had an odd mask covering his face. He wore a black shihakusho.
Both were clearly strong, by the amount of magic they had taken out of me, but still delinquents.
"Rather than fighting each other, would you guys fight the people in front of you?" I asked trying to sound nice. I didn't have time for them to be fight each other.
"Tch, whatever." Said the one with blue hair. He then promptly knocked out two of the makes with a single punch, that was faster than any of us could see. Except maybe the orange haired one. He didn't look surpised when the two mages went flying.
"Ichigo, you do the rest, these fools aren't worth my time." Said the blue haired one.
The orange haired one, or Ichigo apparently, seemingly teleported to the bandit and remaining mage and must have hit their pressure points by the way they both crumpled to the floor.
"Oi, Blonde girl, send us back. We were fightin' and you interupted us. So unless you want that whole mountain and town to turn to ash, get me the hell out o-" He said, but was cut off.
"Forced Gate Closure!" I said, not wanting him to destroy the area and make me lose the reward.
"Umm... Miss, send me back as well. You look like your about to pass out, and I feel like it is because of me. Oh, and sorry 'bout Grimmjow, he's kind of a douche..." Ichigo said.
"Hai, I may call you out some other time, but for now, Forced Gate Closure" I said and watched as he disappeared.
When he was gone, I fell back, feeling the drain of my magic. 'Mira's gonna kill me' was the last thought I had before I passed out. But I could've sworn I felt something pick me up as the blackness surounded me.
A/N: YAY, another chapter! BTW, when I summoned those two, it was during their fight in Hueco Mundo when Ichigo goes to save Orihime. I'm so happy that its so much longer than the first! Gosh that was hard to write. I never knew why author's complained so much about battle scenes, but I do now... I just had to do the part with Mira, because I could see her doing that if Lucy was really ever kicked off Team Nastu. On another note, I introduced Sting and Rogue because I know there are Sticy and Rolu fans out there so I wanted to give them a chance. And people who are rooting for Toshiro and Lucy, don't worry, you guys will have a chance as well. I am also so happy about the number of views I've gotten! +600 views in only three and a half days! Also, continue reviewing for who you want Lucy to end up with. The poll will go up the day after I post chapter three, so if you want your pairing in the running, better review soon. Love all my readers! See ya next time!
-Tay!