A/N: I'M BACK GUYS! Well, I got back yesterday, but was far too tired to write, so long chapter today for you lucky things! I would have updated earlier, but I got my results from my exams today and lets just say I was disappointed in myself. They were okay, but not as good as I wanted them to be. :/ :'(
Either way, this is one of the chapters I managed to spiel out on my rainy holiday! There shall be more tomorrow, though I may be busy a lot organising university text books and becoming poor from the money loss. ;) :(
Hope you enjoy, and it's great to be back!
And to the reviewers who think it's the celestial dude who got chopped by the bad ass Polaris, do you really think I'd use the same villain twice? ;) mwahahaha!
Lucy's POV
'Luce! Come on a mission with us!'I laughed as Natsu threw himself across the guild to pull me into a tight, warm hug; taking a deep intake of breath as he smelt my hair that hung loose around my face.
For a moment, I thought I heard a low growl from beside me and glanced towards the hung-over Laxus who stood there nonchalantly, his hands buried deep in his pockets and his cloak resting on his shoulders as usual.
Hmm... must be imagining things...
'LUSSSHHHYYYY!' Happy flew forwards, slamming Natsu away from me so he could hug me as much as he could with his short cat arms.
'Hey Happy.' I giggled, hugging the blue exceed tightly and patting his head.
'Lushy! Can we go get my fish? Pleeaaaseeee! You promised!' He looked up at me with teary eyes, begging me silently as I smiled down at him, trying to restrain my happiness slightly. I'd missed Happy a lot, despite him constantly complaining about my weight and carrying me, and his annoying way of rolling his tongue and insinuating things to Mira, he always managed to make me smile.
'How about I get it after this job Natsu wants to go on, ne?' My smile widened as he began to drool slightly and hum in anticipation as stars appeared in his eyes. Natsu started cheering and jumping up and down in excitement, his arms waving in the air.
'YAY! Luce is coming on a job with us!' He ran over to the request board, quickly searching for a request before excitedly grabbing one and punching Gray in the face as he tucked the mission in his trousers back pocket. Obviously, this started a brawl, but I couldn't help but smile and shake my head.
I'd truly missed all of Fairy Tail, and it was nice to see Gray and Natsu up to their usual antics. I always felt more at home in the rowdy guildhall than I did anywhere else, and Natsu and Gray where the brothers I wished I'd always had.
'Hey, Blondie.' I looked up at Laxus, my smile fading slightly at his serious expression.
'Remember what I said; be careful out there.' I smiled softly at Laxus, my head tilting slightly as I inclined my head in agreement. Happy was too busy imagining the giant fish I was going to get him to notice the exchange, and so he was still in his fantasy land as I replied.
'I'm always careful Sparky.' He glared at me slightly, before ruffling up my hair affectionately and shuffling towards the bar where Mira had pre-made a huge line of her revolting gelatinous hangover remedy. Somehow, the brawl had intensified to include Gajeel and Elfman, yet it seemed to dissipate where Laxus trod, the members aware that should Laxus join the fight in his hung-over state that they would all be asleep for the next week due to the electrical surge to their systems.
I smirked at the thought of Laxus downing the green substance Mira had handed to him with an evil grin on her angelic face; the drink seemed to move and bubble when you weren't looking straight at it, and there was some sort of swirling colour change at the base of the glass.
Before I could observe Laxus's reaction to the drink, I was pulled into a familiar armoured chest, and had to quickly drop Happy so he wouldn't be crushed in the tight embrace that left me gasping for air, before I smiled and returned Erza's hug.
'I missed you so much Lucy. Both Lisanna and I had a lot of difficulty without you; especially in our attempts at controlling those two.' I laughed lightly at her pained, whispered words.
'I missed you too Erza, so much.' I mumbled quietly, tightening my hold around the woman who I always looked up to and who I considered as a big sister. I felt tears prick at the corners of my eyes, and forced them back. Of course, Ever and I had grown just as close as I was to Erza, yet no one could replace the spot in my heart reserved for her.
The scarlet haired woman had been my idol, and I aspired every day to reach the level of strength she had, as well as to gain the strong and pure heart she hid behind her armour and stony exterior.
Our hug tightened even further, before we slowly released each other, grinning through our teary eyes and squeezing each other's hands.
'Hey cosplayer, fancy going on a job?' Bix's loud voice called out from behind me, interrupting mine and Erza's sisterly moment, and before I could react or turn to glare at him, his long tanned arm was slung over my should and his familiar hand brushed against my bare arm, making me shiver slightly.
I rolled my eyes, trying to disguise my reaction to his touch, and smiled at his babies as they nudged against me in greeting, their high pitched laughter ringing out.
'Sorry Bix, Natsu asked first.' I struggled to shrug under the heavy weight of his muscular arm, and only succeeded in making his dangling forearm swing slightly.
'Aw! Come on cosplayer! You know Freed and Ever will be all snappy cause there's "no one good enough to talk to" and "Laxus-sama is amazing, but Lucy-sama understands books so much more!"' I laughed as he threw his voice in a comedic impersonation of his team mates.
'Sorry Bix, I promised Natsu. I'm sure you can handle being without me for a few days.' He groaned, and shoved more of his body weight onto me, his chest brushing against my back slightly before I staggered under his mass.
'Oh get off Bix. I was talking to Erza!' I pouted as I snapped at him, removing the sharp edge of my tone with my expression. He laughed as he released me, before sobering up immediately as he noticed Erza's death glare.
'Lucy and I were having a sisterly moment; I would greatly appreciate your immediate absence, Bickslow.' I struggled to hold back my grin as Bix shuddered under her gaze and nodded his head rapidly in agreement.
Before he left, he gave me a quick half hug, his arm tight around my shoulders as he leaned in and whispered to me.
'Be careful cosplayer.' I smiled and nodded, staring into his dark red eyes as he stepped away and sauntered across to sit with Laxus at the bar.
'Well, you two seem close.' Erza commented, her eyebrows raised and her arms crossed as she smiled at me.
I felt a blush creep along my face before I clamped a hand over her mouth, looking around to see where Mira was.
'Ssh! Mira might hear... and of course we're close! They trained me for over a month!' I felt Erza's lips stretched into a grin under my palm as she waggled her eyebrows suggestively at me.
I grimaced at her, removing my hand from her face as I pouted sadly.
'You've been spending way too much time with Cana. And Mira.' I whined, folding my arms and looking away from her as she laughed lightly, before she forced me into linking arms with her.
She pulled me towards the table where Team Natsu sat, excluding both Natsu and Gray, who were now throwing frozen and flaming chairs across the guild at each other.
Ever's POV
I watched Lucy exit the guild as she waved in our direction, before being dragged out by Natsu who was in a rush to take her on the job he'd picked out for them. From what it looked like, it would only be Natsu, Lucy and Happy going on this job.
I frowned as I placed the empty glass on the table and rose gracefully to walk over to Erza who sat alone at a table, Lisanna having finally left to calm down a fuming Gray.
She looked up from the cake she was eating, and seemed surprised as I sat beside her.
'Don't talk, just listen, Titania.' She nodded slowly, her expression serious as she stared intently at me, understanding from my own gloomy demeanour that what I had to say was important.
'There's not much I can tell you, it's up to Lucy what she wants you to know. Just know this, Lucy is stronger, no doubt about it, but don't leave her in a fight. Stay with her at all times, do you understand, Titania?' She frowned at the repeated use of her media given title, but nodded her agreement.
'Make sure you tell the pink haired idiot. I can't deal with that much stupid; after all, I'm the true fairy of Fairy Tail.' I smiled, but no emotion reached my eyes as I stood and exited the guild, making my way hastily towards Fairy Hills.
As soon as I was shut in the safety and seclusion of my room, I breathed deeply to try and hold back my growing panic and worry for Lucy.
It was true Lucy's strength had improved; at an alarming rate if truth be told, both physically and magically due to the intensive training programme Bix and Laxus had put her through, along with the frequent sessions Freed and I managed to get in her breaks. However, rather than the magic she'd absorbed from Tenrou originally returning to the island as we'd hoped, the opposite occurred.
Instead, it was as though Lucy had become a magnet for the magic of the island, and it became harder and harder for her to retain her control over her ever increasing magical supplies.
There's only so much magic a magician's body can store before it overflows, and becomes too much for the mage to handle without getting rid of it. If that didn't happen, the magic would either consume the mage entirely, or it would forcibly expel itself in powerful and pure shots of energy that exploded wildly with no concern for damage or harm to other people or the mage themselves.
She could easily summon all of her spirits at the same time, and keep their gates open for hours. Also, her control over Urano Metria had improved astronomically and the spells strength had multiplied tenfold as well. From what her spirits told us of Urano Metria, the more powerful the mage the harder it was to control that spell, so it was a testament to her focus and magical discipline that she was able to control it as she could, however it wasn't enough.
She was now definitely a mage to reckon with, but she had to remain constantly alert of her magic levels, for if they overwhelmed her we had no idea what would happen. Seeing as this type of magical absorption had never occurred in history, we could only base our predications off of cases where mages had an illness that caused their magical containers to shrink and then their magical ability destroyed them.
Master Mavis was just as worried as all of us. She'd helped with Lucy's training where she could, and had observed many sessions, and had warned Lucy when we decided to come back to the guild not to get into any big fights or difficult missions, though she could easily make it as an S-class mage now.
Privately, I felt she could hold her own against Laxus, Gildarts and even the old Mystogan before he left for Edolas. However I looked at it, if Lucy had a single slip up and lost focus at any given time, she would be in a lot of trouble; along with anyone near her.
Her spirits had been especially worried for her.
Flashback
After one week on Tenroujima
I was walking towards the clearing where Laxus was training Lucy, carrying bottles filled with water for each of them when there was a massive explosion from the direction I was headed in.
For a moment, I froze in shock, staring at the immense cloud of smoke that billowed from the clearing and the sudden silence that permeated the air. I felt the bottles slip from my arms as I started to run, thrashing my arms ahead of me to slap the clinging twigs away from me as I desperately advanced towards the clearing.
I burst out from the trees to see Laxus holding a limp Lucy in his arms as blue magic that looked like sparks of lightning sparked form her skin.
Suddenly, Nick and Loke appeared, pulling her out of Laxus's arms, earning an aggressive growl from him before Nick began to heal her and Loke cut Laxus off with a dark glare as he knelt with Lucy's head resting on his legs.
'What the fuck happened?' Bix was beside me and breathing heavily as Freed appeared from the trees. I shook my head as I started forwards, Bix and Freed right behind me as we converged on the group, our eyes not leaving the phoenix spirit as he healed Lucy.
'I don't know what happened; one minute she was focusing her magic, then she got distracted by something and it spiralled out of control.' Laxus stood and began to pace with clenched fists, anxiously watching Loke as he combed his ringed fingers through Lucy's blonde hair and muttered comforting words to her before she groaned and opened her eyes.
'Lucy-Hime, are you alright?' Virgo had appeared beside her, and knelt with her expressionless face staring down a her master; the only show of her concern was in the tight, white fists her hands had made that now slowly ploughed into the earth.
'Hey guys, I'm fine. No need to worry.' She laughed quietly, her throat sounding dry and parched as she reached out to Nick and Virgo to reassure them.
'"No need to worry"!? What the fuck blondie!? You could have died!' Laxus was shouting, his body quivering with unrepressed rage and his face pale with his worry and pain; his eyes overflowing with absolute fear at the idea of her death.
Laxus got a glare from all three of Lucy's spirits, before Virgo ignored him and grasped Lucy's hand in her own, gently rubbing her pale skin.
'Hime-sama, His Majesty has expressed his concern for your magical output. He requested for you to wear this bracelet as a limiter. It shall absorb the majority of your excess magical output as long as you focus it into the bracelet. Punishment Hime?' As Virgo spoke, she slipped a dark blue beaded bracelet onto Lucy's pale bare wrist, and the magical pressure surrounding us all decreased rapidly. I'd had no idea that this had all come from Lucy, and gasped as the weight of the pressure left my body, my eyes widening in shock. I knew Freed, Bix and Laxus felt the same decrease, and we all stared at her in shock.
Virgo smiled slightly as Lucy smiled at her and shook her head at the spirits request, before she disappeared from our world, and I swore I saw her face crack as tears began to slide down her face before the golden light took her home.
Flashback Ends
Ever since then, Lucy had worn the bracelet from the spirit world, and it had absorbed a great deal of her power. However, she had now developed into constantly producing the magical energy that she had accumulated from Tenrou, and so it had become a never ending cycle. Lucy would always have this huge amount of magic pressing against her.
Freed had analysed the bracelet, and he concluded that he was unsure of how much energy the bracelet would actually take before breaking, so Lucy had to watch her magic even more vigilantly than she would have otherwise had the bracelet had an unlimited ability to absorb it all.
Basically, if her focus slipped too much, though it was unlikely at this point- controlling her magic had become a subconscious and almost automatic habit for her by now- she could be in severe danger.
I slid to the floor, and wrapped my arms around my legs, hugging them tightly to my chest as I rested my head on my knees; my thoughts now completely focused on Lucy as I worried about her wellbeing more than I had in over a month.
Unknown POV
In the shadows of an alleyway stood a figure cloaked in the darkness, the shadows seeming to swallow him into their ominous depths and hiding him from the light.
He smiled as he saw the woman being dragged along by the dragon slayer.
'And so it begins...' He chuckled before descending into the pit of darkness and disappearing on the breath of a cold wind.