Thanks for all the great reviews! I'm glad you guys liked it :D I'm looking forward to writing about how Lucy and everyone in the guild have changed; I hope that you'll enjoy this chapter too!
-Myst
Lucy crept carefully through the guild to the mission board. Her heart beating quickly, she looked over the many different missions that she could take. She took a couple random papers down and debated on which one she should pick.
A relatively weak monster was attacking people in a close by town; an old man who needed someone to journey into a 'haunted' forest to find a flower that would cure his wife's sickness. And last but not least, a job escorting a monk-who thought that he might be attacked-to a temple where he was to deliver an important scroll.
She considered her options, but had to make a snap decision as she heard footsteps outside the guild door. She quickly picked up the one closest to her, which happened to be the one indicating that she was going to be escorting a monk, and ran to the back door. Carefully opening it just enough for her to slip through, she was outside and pulling the hood of her cape up and over her head.
Keeping her head down, and with the guild mission paper clutched tightly in her hand, Lucy made her way to the place where the monk was currently staying.
To say that this mission was boring would be the understatement of Lucy's life. The monk she was escorting was, as expected, the stereotypical essence of what they were thought to be. Bald, boring, and had a bad fashion sense. Not to mention the fact that whenever he talked to her the calm, serene and wise tone of voice he used never ceased to piss Lucy off.
She just couldn't believe that one man could possibly be all-knowing. Especially this one. Lucy constantly had to remind herself that there was a reason she was doing this. Taking deep breaths, she surveyed her surroundings with a critical eye and a calm demeanour.
She was taking the monk through a forest notorious for thieves, something she had decided because it was the fastest route to the temple. So far nothing had happened; in fact the only thing that had crossed their paths so far was a squirrel.
This made Lucy suspicious. Lucy wasn't the paranoid type, but she knew when something was up. In her training she had learned – almost effortlessly- how to read a situation and formulate a plan of attack in 2-4 seconds, depending on how disoriented she was.
This wasn't what should be happening in a forest in September. More animals should be out and about collecting food for the upcoming winter. The birds in the trees were quiet, making her eye her surroundings in suspicion.
"Walk carefully," Lucy warned, almost silently, "Something is coming."
The monk looked ahead, as if he hadn't even heard her speak, but Lucy could see how he trembled slightly. She wondered for a moment what was so important about a scroll, then dismissed the thought. She didn't need to know that, even if she was curious.
Pulling her hood away from her face, and letting it fall to rest gracefully on her shoulders Lucy stopped walking. She had finally detected the source of the problem.
Peering through the bushes at the side of the road were five bandits. Dressed in ripped and dirtied clothing, with a noticeable stench hanging over them, the bandits weren't very well equipped. With only knives and some swords they were poorly matched against a pissed Lucy. They jumped out of the bushes with a battle cry, raised their weapons above their heads and charged.
Lucy reacted immediately, pushing the monk quickly behind a tree and pulling her whip out gracefully from her side without the blink of an eye. Her whip cut through the air, knocking weapons from the hands of their wielders. The satisfying smack of the whip hitting flesh rebounded around the area, and like that it was over. The fight barely lasted a minute, but Lucy finally felt calmer.
She turned and walked to the tree behind which she'd put the monk. She smiled as she saw him huddled on the ground.
"It's ok now, I took care of them. We should get moving if we're going to make it to the temple by nightfall." She told him gently. It was obvious to her that he was unused to battles and in shock.
He bobbed his head, and with wide eyes stood shakily next to Lucy as if awaiting her command.
"Well, come on then." She said, a glint of humour in her eyes.
He nodded jerkily and followed after her on wobbly legs.
It was slow-going the rest of the way to the temple. There were no more surprises either, which Lucy was thankful for because they were already far enough behind schedule as it was.
It was already an hour past dark when they finally arrived at their destination. Lucy was happy, though she had hoped that she would be able to leave before dark. However that problem was entirely solved when the monks of the temple all but demanded that she spend the night there and then leave in the morning.
Lucy agreed reluctantly, though she knew that she would probably be late now. It had already been a day, so the team from the guild were expected to be back either late tonight or sometime tomorrow.
It had taken almost a full day to arrive, and she estimated that if she walked fast then she might get there sooner…. Oh well, she thought, I'll get there when I get there and that's all there is to it. Though I wish things had gone a bit more according to plan.
Frowning, she picked at the blanket she was snuggled under, wondering what tomorrow might bring. She wondered briefly how the guild would react to the news of her return, not to mention what they might think about what she had been doing. UGH! She thought frustrated with herself, Come on Lucy! Get a grip! You made the right decision to leave and train. For right now all you can do is hope for the best!
And she did, or she tried to anyway. She woke up throughout the night in a cold sweat, but couldn't remember for the life of her what it was that she had been dreaming about.
When dawn came she was up, bathed and ready to leave. After making hasty goodbyes to her hosts, Lucy walked away from the temple ready for a long day of walking.
Even though she was already running late, Lucy decided to walk the safer and longer way this time. She wasn't much in the mood for fighting at the moment. It was a nice day out and she wanted to enjoy it while it lasted.
When she came upon a town she was pleasantly surprised to find that they had a train station. She walked quickly to the ticket booth, wanting to find out when the next train would be in.
"Excuse me? Could you please tell me when the next train will be here?"
The man in the booth looked up from his book, blinked a couple of times and then blushed before saying, "Umm yes I can tell you that. Oh where did I put that schedule? I just ha- Oh! Here it is, the next train will be coming in about thirty minutes."
Lucy smiled and nodded her thanks to the flustered man before buying a ticket and wandering around town looking for a place to eat. She settled on a family restaurant finding that the food smelled better to her than others.
Once she had ordered, she pulled her hood down having forgotten it was up until now. She gazed out the window, not really looking at anything in particular. When the waitress set down her steaming plate of food, Lucy jumped in surprise.
Lucy smiled at her, "Thank you."
The woman nodded with a small smile on her face before turning around and walking back to the kitchen. Lucy began to eat with a satisfied smile on her face, she was right to have chosen this place the food was delicious.
When she was done, Lucy left the money on the table and got up to go wait for the train. Pulling her hood up once again, Lucy exited the restaurant with a quick pace. Her cloak billowing behind her in the wind, she made her way through the unfamiliar streets hoping she hadn't gotten herself lost.
On the way to the train station she remembered that she had told Master Makarov that she would send one of her spirits ahead of her to tell him where she was.
"Open, canis minor gate Nicholas!" Lucy said, summoning Plue. Plue too had changed over the years, now bigger and less twitchy Plue was a spirit Lucy spent a lot of time with and had come to count on.
"Hello," Lucy started, smiling, "I've a favour to ask of you. Do you think you could transport through the spirit world to Master Makarov's office to let him know where I am and when I expect to be back?"
At Plue's nod Lucy continued, "Ok just one more thing; you can't let anyone but the Master see you. The rest of the guild doesn't know that I'm back yet."
Plue seemed to roll his eyes but nodded anyway, agreeing to her terms. He waited patiently while Lucy told him what to say, then he left to the spirit world and Lucy went off to find the train station.
Once there, she boarded the train as soon as it arrived and quickly found a seat. If she had calculated correctly, the train would arrive at her stop in about two and half, maybe three, hours.
Lucy dozed, head leaning against the window with her hood still up. In fact she would have missed her stop if it hadn't been for the ticket collector shaking her awake, having made small talk with him for a little while before she slept, she had mentioned where she was going.
"Thank you! Really, thank you so much!" Lucy said, flushing with embarrassment.
"No problem Miss Lucy, I hope you have a good time in Magnolia." The old man replied with a carefree laugh.
Lucy smiled, and got off the train making sure to pull her hood down over her face. She'd made it this far, and she would be damned if this didn't turn out properly. Walking swiftly through the town with her head down, Lucy made it to the guild without any trouble.
She made her way to the back door, her heart thumping loudly in her chest. She opened the door and slipped inside silently. Her first stop was the Master's office, knocking softly on the door. When no answer came she knocked louder, still no answer.
Deciding he was out in the main area with everyone else, Lucy walked quietly down the hallway. She peered around the corner, being careful not to be seen. Spotting Makarov by the counter chatting to Mirajane, she tried to think of someway to get his attention without alerting anyone else.
She came up with nothing and instead settled for just walking up to him. As she strode toward him every eye in the guild watched her. The Master, noticing the quiet room, turned around and his eyes widened.
"You weren't in your office." She said, pointing out the obvious.
He smiled, and nodded, "No, I suppose I wasn't. Well now that you're finally here, why don't you go wait for me up on the second floor?"
He turned to the guild, and exclaimed, "I will have an announcement to make in a few minutes so don't go anywhere!"
He followed Lucy up the stairs, eyes firmly planted on the stairs he was walking on. Or at least that's what he'd say if it was ever brought up. Once at the top, Makarov and Lucy caught up on the last two days. Nothing much had happened at the guild, only the normal; though Lucy thought that the term normal was used loosely.
They were just finishing up when a familiar voice called out, "HEY! Master! Are you almost ready! I'm bored!"
Lucy giggled at how little Natsu's personality had changed. Makarov glanced at her, a frown on his face but laughter in his eyes.
"OH SHUT IT!" He shouted back at Natsu, coming over to stand on top of the railing.
"Well get on with it already! And who was that weird person in the weird clothes!" Natsu retaliated.
Lucy's brow twitched at the insult, and she stepped up so that she could be seen again.
"YA!" Natsu exclaimed, "That one! Who is that? And what was it that you wanted to say?"
Lucy almost burst at being called 'that one' but with a shake of his head Makarov silenced her.
"If you would be quiet then I will continue," He paused to see if there would be any other interruptions, when there were none he continued, "Now that that's done, lets get to it shall we? As you all know Lucy has been away for three years. I had previously told you that it was because I asked her to take a long term mission that required her to have no contact with the that wasn't completely true. I have been prompted to tell you the truth, so here it is. Lucy left to train."
Lucy hit him upside the head for putting it so bluntly. Everyone in the guild froze.
"Ouch! Really, why do you have to be so harsh?" He whined.
"Well you didn't have to put it so bluntly. I mean, why couldn't you have eased into it a bit more?" Lucy waved her hands all around, gesturing wildly. In this time she managed to knock her hood from her head.
Everything in the guild was still, until finally one voice spoke up. Sounding shaky and emotional Natsu managed to choke out the question running through everyone's mind:
"Lucy?"
Ok, there you go! I hope you like it! :D Please review and tell me what you think, or something that you want to happen! I'll definitely try to find a way to work it into the story!