Lucy POV

I watched as the deer seemed to smile at me before forming that of a man draped in cameo. He bowed. "Mistress Lucy, it is great to finally get to meet you. I am Orion, Gate of the Hunter."

I blinked at him before squealing loud enough to make Rogue and Sting cringe from the frequency.

"What the hell, Blondie?!" Sting screeched.

"S-sorry…" I mumbled. "It's just Mama used to tell me stories of her adventures as a young wizard with Orion. He was the first spirit he had a contract with. But then her wizard guild was attacked and the key was stolen by the enemy. I can't place the name of the guild she was in before she went to Love & Lucky, though."

"It was Scarlet Elves, Mistress Lucy." Orion spoke up. "I was the only key she had a contract with at the time other than Capricorn, who was entrusted to Zoldeo as a temporary holder until the day you decided to pursue the way of Mages."

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, that's right. Scarlet Elves was one of the Top 10 most demanded guilds when Fairy Tail was in the beginning of Master Makarov's reign as Guild Master. Maybe he'll remember something about them…"

"So, your answer, Mistress Lucy?" Orion asked carefully.

I looked to Sting and Rogue. "What do you guys think?"

"I don't trust them. There's something they're not telling us. If you want to follow your mother's wishes, go ahead. But we'll be right next to you the whole way." Sting said as Rogue glowered at them. "They have to be hiding something." He whispered to me.

I looked at Thomas and Orion. They were having a light conversation about my… Father. I was alarmed at the mention of his name. Completely ignoring Sting and Rogue, I walked over to Thomas. "What about my father?"

"Oh nothing, you'd like to hear, Lucy." Thomas dismissed me with the wave of his hand.

This sent up red flags in two crucial areas. He was working for/with Ivan and he didn't care about my answer to his offer. That meant two things, he was going to train me regardless or he was going to attempt to kidnap me. I stayed out of his arms reach, just in case option 2 was the correct answer.

"Well, Mistress Lucy? What's your answer? Will you learn Celestial Take-Over?" Orion asked in an eerily polite manner.

Gripping onto Loke's key, I glared at them. "No. My answer's no."

Thomas sneered at me. Slowly his features transformed into a look-a-like of the man I grew to fear in the last few months. There in front of me stood Ivan Dreyar, twirling a gold key ring around on his finger. On the key ring was one key; a black one belonging to Orion. He summoned his paper dolls and littered the ground surrounding Sting and Rogue.

"Rogue! Sting!" I yelled as Ivan grabbed my wrist squeezing it tightly. I let out a scream of pain. "Let go of me, you bastard!"

"Now, now, is that the way you treat your real father?" He sneered. "I see that bitch forgot to teach you manners."

"Don't you dare talk about Mama that way! It's your fault she had to remarry!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. "You have no idea what Laxus-nii suffered though because of a selfish man like you. You put him through hell! You are the reason Laxus was kicked out of the guild. You're the reason he strayed from his path. He's the best big brother I could have asked for, and I could have had him my whole life if you didn't cast out Mama for disagreeing with you about the Dragon Lacrima!"

He looked at me with cold eyes, one so similar to Jude's after Mama died. "I see you got Layla's stubbornness as well as her looks. Pity." He said coldly. "You ingrate. I gave you life and you speak to me in such a way. Just like Laxus, you take your mother's side blindly. We can change that." He smirked. "Let the fear seep into your being as you now know I will get you when the time is right."

With those last words, he pushed me away and disappeared in a wave of his paper dolls along with the other people with him, including Orion. I fell to the ground, feeling lightheaded and sleepy. Rogue was the first to reach me, easily picking me up and bringing me back to the tent. I watched as he looked at Sting with worried eyes. I didn't have to look at Sting to know that Sting's eyes matched Rogue's at the moment, both filled with worry, but I looked anyway. I was wrong, Sting's was worse. Sting looked so pissed and worried; he looked as though he was going to cry from frustration at any minute. I stretched out my hand to him and smiled reassuringly.

"Sting, Rogue, I'll be okay. Remember, we're going to compete in the Grand Magic Games together. That's a promise and Celestial Mages never break their promises."

Rogue squeezed me in a sort of hug as Sting squeezed the hand I held out to him. "Right." Sting said as Rogue nodded in agreement.

After a few minutes, I felt much better and Rogue reluctantly put me down. I moved to the campfire and began to prep a simple breakfast of toast and water. We hadn't been to town in two weeks so we were low on food and water. I looked up to find both my team mates looking at me with an emotion I couldn't quite place in their eyes.

"Hey guys?" I asked. "Wanna head to town when you're done eating? We're low on food again."

Sting looked frustrated. "We just went not too long ago."

"Well you are the one who eats most of our food rations within three days, Sting." Rogue sweat dropped.

Sting laughed. "Now, that's the longest I've ever heard you speak. I counted sixteen words there, Rogue. You're getting more talkative by the day!"

I joined Sting in his laughter, but I only chuckled lightly. "I like the sound of your voice, Rogue. You should speak more. It'll be good for you."

"Not interested." He nearly sputtered the two simple words as a large blush made its way over his cheeks.

"Right." I said slyly as I handed them their breakfasts. "Hurry up and eat. I wanna hit Magnolia before the crowds set in."

I'm sorry for the long awaited chapter. I kept going back and deleting what I wrote because it didn't fit with what I wanted or it was weird. So Sorry for that!

ALSO! I created a community called. GaLu and LaLu Forever :D I hope you guys check it out! If you want to be on staff pm me. I'll add you to it.

I'm also not doing too well in school right now... So if I don' post for a while I am most likely grounded for god-knows-how-long. Wish me luck! I'll need it.

Love 'n Lucky,

-SFL