Hi guys! I know, early update, after you JUST told us we would have later updates. Yeah sorry about that, but since I was done with this chapter I decided I would just post it (It was bothering me anyway XD) So thank you guys again for so much support, it inspires me so much to know people ready my stories. Anyways, enjoy!

Ps, thank you to all of you who advised me about Sting and Rogue's attitude, I'm still not completely sure if they sound right (Considering how important their role is going to be in the story) So if they do sound... Out of it, please don't hesitate to tell me :33

Chapter 9 (Unexpected)

Lucy's pov,

I couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable as we walked into Sabertooth's guild hall. Eyes were staring at me from all directions. I had no idea how they welcomed new members here but their reaction was enough to tell me that I wasn't expected.

Neither was an unconscious Minerva.

No one was running towards us to gather Minerva up to their infirmary or even welcome Sting and Rogue. In fact, everyone sat still as statues. Sting and Rogue didn't seem to be phased by this and continued to walk to their Master who was sat at the back of the room, his face expressionless.

I couldn't tell whether he was angry about Minerva or happy that Sting and Rogue was back unharmed. Either way, his very presence radiated power. I didn't need to be attacked by him to guess that he was incredibly powerful.

"Master, we are back with the client." Sting mumbled suddenly timid. I stared at him confused. What happened to the bravado act? The Master glanced at him and then at me. "I see. Why is my daughter out of commission Sting and Rogue?" I was surprised to find out Minerva was Sabertooth's master's daughter. They both looked a little flustered at the question. Neither of them able to spit out an answer.

"I said, why is my daughter out of commission, STING, ROGUE?!" Sabertooth's Master yelled, his spit raining down on the two. "It was me, I did it!" I said quickly, alarmed at his tone. Both Dragon Slayers glared at me. Are you that stupid?Written all over their facial expressions.

The Master turned towards me. His face twisted in an awful scowl. "YOU?!" He roared. I couldn't help but feel tiny under his gaze. I understood now why everyone seemed to be so afraid of him. He might not have been the most powerful wizard but everything around him radiated power, deadly power.

Makarov was one of the Ten Wizard Saints but he was never this rough with Fairy Tail. Not even when they had royally screwed up, which was what Natsu did regularly. I forced myself to look up and meet his burning gaze. I couldn't help but feel more than a little frustrated at this man's behaviour. I wasn't going to stand for this.

It's none of your business Lucy.

My brain hissed, but I ignored it, my old personality shinning through the persona I had gathered for the past few months. "Yes. I did it." I whispered, my voice sounded different even to me. It sounded cold, precise. Almost commanding.

Sabertooth's Master scowled at me, red faced. "HOW DARE YOU SPEAK BACK TO ME!" He snarled. I could see how angry he was. His energy crackled in the air like the tension surrounding me. But I wasn't going to back down, I refuse to, not now. "I would like you to calm down." I said coldly.

The angered man before me almost looked confused at my tone, like he had never heard anyone talk to him like that before. I quickly spoke before he could recover from the shock. "The reason I came here was because you summoned me here, didn't you?" I asked pointing at Minerva.

The man looked bewildered for a minute, like he was caught in a limbo between confusion and anger. "So Sting was not lying, you are Lucy Heartfilia." I hesitated before answering. "Yes, I am Lucy Heartfilia. I came here because you daughter had stolen my keys." He laughed, which made me flinch.

He. Was laughing?

"That was my idea, I am sorry. But you gotten them back didn't you?" "Yes but that's not the point." I muttered as he laughed some more. I looked to Sting and Rogue for help but they looked as confused as I was.

"Is it not? I'd say Minerva has done her job quite well. She bought you here, didn't she?" I scowled at the laughing man. "Yes but she would have been killed! Don't you care about your daughter's safety. She could have gotten both of us killed."

"She was prepared to put her life on the line for this mission. She knew how dangerous this was." He said solemnly. "Yes, but it's her life. Not. Yours. No one is obliged to give you their complete servitude." I snarled.

He began to laugh at my tone. His laugh erupting in large bursts until he couldn't breath. "You speak like a weakling, I expected more from you Lucy Heartfilia, destroyer of demons." I scowled. "You speak of me well. But I refuse to let you continue to treat your comrades this way." "Are you challenging me?" He asked in delight.

I couldn't help but gag. This guy was even worse than his daughter. "If it is for the freedom of these people then I will." He smirked. "Why do you care so much about them? They are nothing to you. Absolutely nothing, you haven't met them before."

"Because a jerk like you doesn't deserve to have people like them around you." I hissed as I met his his eyes. The Master glared at me. "So be it, protect these weaklings. I don't care. But rest assured Lucy Heartfilia you can't defeat me."

I smirked. "I defeated Tartarus and I will defeat you the same way I did them." He laughed. "No, Lucy don't!" Rogue screamed but it was too late.

"Territory!" The Master yelled distorted appeared beside me, surprising me enough to make me waver. But I wasn't scared this time. Fighting Minerva was enough experience to fight this magic.

Speed. Speed is what I need. I have to be quicker than Territory.

"Chaos Dragon Slayer Second Element, Poison Dragon Slayer. " Wiping his smug look off his face. But it was quickly replaced by a crazed look. "I knew you were not weak." He whispered. "I can hear you." I said tonelessly as I rushed at him.

"Dark Poisonous Laser!" I yelled as I neared him. My laser fired out of me like a knife cutting straight through him. His blood flew into the air as he screamed, an ugly gurgling noise choking out his mouth as he fell to the ground with a thump.

I towered over him, glaring steadily at him. "I told you. I would free these people." He stared at me with red rimmed eyes. "... I..." I turned away. "You lost. Stop trying to say anything. You'll make it worse." I muttered.

As I looked away from the Master I met eyes with the rest of the guild. Their eyes was filled with shock and fear. I couldn't help but feel like a criminal, like I've done something terrible.

Of course their scared of you, you just killed their guild master, idiot.

I sighed as I straightened up. "Take you Master to the infirmary. I..." I drifted off, not able to think of anything to say.

What could I have said? I'm sorry about him? You should thank me? I just freed you?

Everything was silent for a minute before a girl at the back of the guild stood up from her seat. Her chair screeching loudly along the floorboards. She was short dainty girl with short white hair and blue rose on her head.

She slowly looked up to meet my eyes, without saying anything she bowed lowly. I gasped. She was... Thanking me? Everyone glanced at her as shocked as I was. But before I could say anything they were bowing too. Each and everyone of them. Even Sting and Rogue.

I stared at them, my eyes wide. "What are you doing? I just defeated you Master." Sting looked up at me and grinned, catching me unexpectedly. "You make quite a drama queen Blondie, or am I suppose to call you Master now?" I stared at him confused. "Master... I'm not..."

"You defeated Jiemma, you've earned the right." Rogue added. The girl who had gotten up first also spoke. "Plus you fought for us." Another man dressed in red and orange also straightened up. "I have memorised the fact that I would be honoured to call you my Master." He whispered. It wasn't long before people all around him was saying 'me too' too.

I blushed. "I... Can't... I..." Rogue grinned. "I told you Lucy, I'm not letting you give up, not now, not ever." I stared at him, tears spilling from my eyes before nodding.

I can't say I didn't miss the days when life was easy and my only job was to laugh and smile along with my fellow comrades. But the past few days have been exactly like that, filled with carefree laughter and happiness. There just wasn't a need for a reason to smile. Because it was already there, all around me.

No matter how many times I say to myself that I didn't care about family anymore, I did miss it and I had welcomed it back with opened arms.

Later that week,

"Have you considered my offer?" I whispered as I sat next to Minerva's bed. She had woken up a few days ago and hadn't utter a single word to anyone since, I had offered her my position. Position as guild master.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting the position to be mine in the first place. I didn't want it either. I could hardly control my own emotions, being a guild master would mean controlling people around me and I've had enough of manipulating people in any way, anyway.

She didn't answer me, giving me the same silence she had given me every time I had asked her that question. I couldn't understand why she wouldn't do it. She was like her father, power-hungry and a leader, but I was certain she had learnt from her father's defeat and her own defeat that an iron-fisted ruling could get her nowhere.

And honestly I didn't know who else to give the position to.

I glanced at the clock ticking silently hanging from a far wall. Tick tock, tick tock. "I don't want to be the guild master, find someone else to do it." Minerva suddenly said. I turned around so I was facing her. "Why not?" I asked as I met her eyes.

She sighed. "Your not the only one who knows about my father's defeat. There's enough people talking outside about it." She said slightly irritated as she glanced at the closed door. "And what does your father's defeat have anything to do with this? Minerva I've told you why I can't accept the job enough times."

She glared at me. "I know your reasons Lucy Heartfilia. The reason why I don't want to be guild master is as good as yours." She hissed as she turned away again. I sighed. "What is your reason anyway?" "None of your business." She snapped.

I frowned and glanced at the clock again. "Fine. I have to go, but before I do just give me a straight answer. Why don't you want the job?"

Silence answered me and I sighed again. "Nothing. Ok." I muttered under my breath as I pushed the chair I was sitting on back under the bed. I walked across the room towards the door and opened it. Giving one last glance at Minerva.

But as I was walking out the door Minerva spoke up, "The reason I don't want the job is because... Because I know how cruel my father had been." I turned towards her but stayed silent. Minerva continued with the same tone, like it was hard to get any of these sentenced out of her mouth.

"I know how cruel my dad was to them. He's always been convinced that it was wrong to be weak. To have your flaws. It was what drove my mother away." She laughed then, a strangled noise coming out of her throat. "And I believed him. I believed that you couldn't be really happy until you were completely and utterly indestructible. I was sadistic, evil. Pain was the first lesson, the only thing, he's ever taught me really."

I stared at her shaking shoulders and realised she was crying. I couldn't help but feel nervous, talking about dads were a sensitive subject with me, because it meant talking about Jude. And Minerva clearly had some kind of issue with Jiemma.

"He was convinced that no daughter of his was going to be anything but pure strength. He trained me from a young age, taught me how to destroy... He never me the good you could do with magic. But I didn't know that, I didn't know there was good in magic."

I walked slowly towards her as her toneless voice slowly began to shake. "And after Fairy Tail had been taken down... He thought we finally had a chance, a chance to become the strongest guild in Magnolia. He was the one who had gathered Sting and Rogue and a few of the strongest mages in this guild. He was the one who had defeated the old master and took this guild by storm."

"And now that he's... Gone, it's finally dawned on me, that everything I've been doing had been awful. So don't you get it? I don't deserve to be guild master." She finished, her tears getting the sheets under soaking wet.

I stood next to her and put my arms around her, pulling her into a hug. "You want to know why I don't want to become guild master? It's because ever since I was born my fate was decided. The reason I left my father was because of that. Then I met Fairy Tail... I thought I really had control of my decision then, I thought... I thought getting an apartment and choosing my next job and earning my next meal would really be taking control of my life. But it wasn't really."

"Because I was weak and stupid. I threw myself into stupid situations just to prove I wasn't weak, but the truth I just was. And every time I had to have someone else to save my stupid ass. And the whole time other people were taking care of my life. Not me. Whether I died or not was their choice, not mine at all. I couldn't even take care of myself."

I laughed softly as Minerva quietened in my arms. "I guess that's why I fell into the darkness. After I had destroyed Succubus Eye, the day I fought Loki and Gildarts was the first time I had questioned the darkness. I mean it seemed like the best idea then. After getting kicked out of Fairy Tail and all. It fixed my flaws, it made me stronger, indestructible like you said."

"But power comes with price. Mine was my mercy, my humane feelings. Fighting Gildarts gave me back some of that, pain. And all at once, I had to gather my feelings back. The ones I had numbed down.. I guess what I'm trying to say is that being weak or any other flaws is what makes us feel and feelings are what makes us stronger. I didn't want to be guild master because I didn't want other people to be controlled by someone who was controlled her whole life."

Minerva was silent as I let her go and slowly headed for the door again. But before I went outside I spoke again, "And there's one more thing... I made a promise to Fairy Tail I would destroy it. No one else. And I can't do it if I'm guild master."

I sat in Jiemma's old office, spinning around slowly in his chair. No one had come in and take his stuff away yet so the room was still filled with his things. Gold coins filled the room and trophies. I stared at it and the thousands of complaint letter which sat in pile, messily on the corner of his desk and sighed.

Jeez, maybe I should have left him injury free for a few more days. Or at least till he figure this out.

I sighed and picked one of them up.

Master of Sabertooth,

Because of the unfortunate carelessness of your guildmates, we as the council would like you to pay for the multiple buildings destroyed and the fine for the war you have incited between you and Twilight Ogre.

The total is 12,00, 000 Jewels. Please get it to the council by 15th of May X791.

Wishing you well,

The Magic Council.

I glared at the numbers on the paper and groaned. 12,00,000 Jewels?! Where the heck do I get that kind of money?! Sheez, and who would be stupid enough to pick a fight with this guild anyway?

I sat back down on my chair and picked up another piece of paper only half concentrating on the words now as I let my mind drift off and somehow land back to this afternoon.

Minerva.

I sighed. It was true right? I didn't want to be guild master, but at this rate...

Maybe I shouldn't push her... A knock on my door woke me up from my thoughts and I quickly left the letter on my desk.

I walked the door and opened it revealing a hobbling Minerva. I frowned and stared at her. "What are you doing here?" Minerva glared at me. "Not standing here." She snapped. I looked at her confused before stepping sideways so she could step in.

I gestured to the seat in front of my desk and sat back in my chair. "So... What are you doing here?" Minerva didn't sit down, but went straight to the window next to my desk so I could only see the back of her head and body. I didn't leave my chair and just looked at her for a few minutes.

"Enjoying the sunset?" I whispered. Minerva stiffened. "I know you didn't spend so much energy hobbling here for nothing, so why are you here?" Minerva laughed weakly. "I can't enjoy the sunset from here?" I crossed my arms. "And you don't have a window yourself?"

Minerva sighed. "Alright, you caught me. I... I came here to accept the job." I stared at her surprised. "What?" "I said I'm here to accept the job. Ok?" "But... What changed your mind?"

Minerva turned around and I noticed tears in her eyes. I felt my eyes widened in shock. "Minerva..." She shrugged grinning a little. "I hate it when I'm wrong you know. If I had been wrong about one of my dad's trick questions I'm sure I wouldn't even be able to walk right now. But your right... Being guilty about what I did is useless. It's what you do afterwards that counts. Everyone makes mistakes, it's what makes us human."

I smiled softly. "Thank you." She turned around again. After a minute of silence she spoke, "Don't be, I didn't do this for you Lucy Heartfilia." I sighed. Still hesitant I see. "Look Minerva, we're both tired and emotional at the moment. Let's just call it even and both go to bed?"

She nodded and left, her lingering footsteps echoing in my ears long after she left.

I sighed for what? The fifth time that day and laid back onto my chair again and closed my eyes. I've hardly gotten any sleep for the past week, it felt like years since I had last slept. I relaxed my head against the chair and made myself comfortable.

I might as well sleep here, I didn't have an apartment yet and had been camping at the guild for the past few days. So what difference would this be?

So how was it? I hope I didn't butcher this personalities too much XD If I have I'm sorry ._. Read and review if you feel like it :)