Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)
Chapter 11: Many Ways To Start Off A Morning
The following day, Lucy had woken up in a bedroom that looked similar to her former apartment in the town of Magnolia. She could hear the bluebirds happily chirping while they had landed on the balcony outside of her room, and the sunlight shined its warming rays on her face to assist the blond mage in fully awakening to begin a brand new day. This was her room at the guild of Sabertooth in the town of Castelia, having already been furnished with a bed, a desk, a bookcase, a commode, a dresser, a table with three chairs, a coffee table and an armchair.
When Lucy was in the Fairy Tail guild, Sting had always taken her back to her apartment before he would have to go back on the boat to Castelia Town. The white dragon slayer had memorized every detail of Lucy's bedroom when he would look through the windows, and Sting really was confident that he could make the large room feel like home to her. Of course, it wouldn't have that Fairy Tail feel to it. Lucy was a bit amazed by the fact that Sting had taken care of almost everything for her, and she smiled a bit while thinking about him.
Sting could be a cocky guy who liked to show off his talents for Lucy on some of the jobs that they did, but he could also be quite a smart guy when it came to forming a plan for Lucy's spells to effectively take down enemies. After all, his scheme against Hikari in the amusement park had gone really well. Thanks to believing in him while also having a strong will of her own, Lucy was able to use those five spells of Fire Magic while not much difficulty was involved. Her level of magical power had grown a bit more since last time, and the blonde mage smiled happily while she sat up in the bed.
Lucy removed the pink comforter off of her body, and she raised her arms high above her head. She began to not only think about the book, but also about her ten Golden Zodiac Gate Keys. She had been using them on parts of the job that did not require any support from the book's spells, and she also knew the benefits of the Celestial Spirit Magic. If she became stronger, her Celestial Spirits would also become stronger. However, using them to fight in many battles would just not feel right at all for Lucy.
She used to rely on them all the time when she couldn't do much in some fights, and summoning them in battle would really just remind her of her times in Fairy Tail with Natsu and his team. She still couldn't believe that he had the nerve to assume that she was a weakling on the day that she left Fairy Tail, and he had been acting quite egotistical while he loved Lisanna. Natsu had once been seen by Lucy as a guy with so much power that couldn't be matched, but now he had quite a rude mouth that couldn't be shut.
The blonde mage slowly got out of her bed to see that her bedroom came with her very own bathroom, and Lucy was glad that this was one room that Natsu couldn't break into. She sighed a bit while walking towards the bathroom t start her day off with a hot bath, and the look of irritation came into her cocoa brown eyes. She wanted to forget her past and move on, not wanting to even to think about what could've happened with Natsu's team in the guild of Fairy Tail if Erza had not told her to leave, but it had only been one day since that drama had transpired. Memories couldn't be rushed out so easily, you know.
She looked a bit stressed while unbuttoning her pink pajama shirt, before removing it with her pink pajama pants as well, and Lucy had to get Natsu and Lisanna out of her head. She was now in the Sabertooth guild with Sting, a great guy who had reciprocated the feelings that she had for him, and Lucy had to face the facts. While she really liked Sting, the bad memories of Natsu. However, bad things in her past did not have to slam her down in the present or in the future. The dramatic pages of her life were written into her very own book of destiny, but the next set of pages would be filled with peace.
After taking off her clothes and closing the bathroom door, Lucy turned the left faucet for hot water to run from the pipe and fill up the bathtub. While she had her thoughts mostly swirling around Natsu and Sting, she really couldn't stop thinking about the spell book as well. It had turned yellow from the electricity generated by Hikari, absorbing what seemed to be Lightning Magic, and the magic had wanted to join her like it was one of her new nakama. If the book and the types of magic were linked so closely, then what kind of book was Lucy using?
It clearly was not an ordinary spell book, seeing as it required a pure and innocent soul to be able to read it, and the book itself seemed to have all of its spells in foreign languages of olden times. Lucy didn't know this, but she wasn't actually reading and translating the words with her mind. The book was reacting to her emotions, the power in her heart, and all of her strength had let her access many of the book's abilities. She always had to abide by its list of rules as well, but they weren't unfair to her in any way.
As the hot water filled the tub to its brim, Lucy turned the faucet for the water to cease its descent from the pipe. She stepped into the bathtub, feeling the heat from the water when she began to sit down, and Lucy also noticed that a copious amount of bubbles had appeared in the water. She blushed and looked nervous, hoping that she hadn't passed gas, and the blonde mage didn't even realize that the steam, heat, bubbles, and water were reacting to her Fire Magic. This type of magic could be called upon by Lucy for some fancy attacks, and it could even be summoned by heat to give her a relaxing hot bath.
Lucy let out a happy sigh, feeling her muscles click and pop while she stretched her body out in the tub, and she blushed a light shade of pink from feeling the hot water plant soft kisses on her skin. She was now going to have a life in the Sabertooth guild, finally getting to have much more time with Sting, and Lucy would also get to meet some of her new teammates as well. She would also be getting her new guild's insignia from Sting today, fully symbolizing that she had joined his guild, and the blonde mage felt much happier to see that her bad times were presumably disappearing.
While she relaxed in the water and was enjoying her first morning in the Sabertooth guild, how was her old guild doing without her? It had only been one day since she left all of those people behind, and some of the guild members weren't even around when the drama between Lucy and Natsu had ignited to that fiery boiling point. They probably wouldn't even be informed by Erza about what happened, since she wasn't the type of person who wanted tension to keep flaring between people. However, would today be full of surprises?
At the Fairy Tail guild...
Lisanna had just finished changing Natsu's bandages while he was in the guild's infirmary, having bandages to cover up the bruises on his face, arms, chest, and legs, and Lisanna had also let Gray check up on the fire dragon slayer. Erza had come along as well, not to check on his condition, but the scarlet-haired mage was really disappointed in Natsu for starting a fight with Lucy and saying such horrible things that he probably couldn't take back at this point. Erza also hated the fact that she had to kick out her best friend, too.
Gray had also been displeased with Natsu for causing that stupid drama with Lucy, knowing full well that she had already been saddened by him kicking her off of the team for being weak, and the ice mage could not believe that the fire dragon slayer just did not know when to keep his mouth shut. If he had not been so rude to Lucy, she would probably still be in Fairy Tail. She didn't even enjoy his presence, not wanting to see that dense idiot again, and Gray really wanted to freeze Natsu solid to really put his attitude on ice.
However, out of the four people that had been very upset with Natsu, Lisanna had to be the most displeased with his behavior. She wanted to become friends with Lucy, wanting to be on good terms with her while also not being enemies, but Natsu had completely ruined everything. He wouldn't even let the two girls be friends because he deemed Lucy as a weakling who always had to rely on the strong people, and he had been such a jerk to the blonde mage. He had acted so egotistical as well, and Lucy definitely put Natsu in his place when he had so brash to her.
The guild hadn't exactly been in full attendance when the fight had transpired, so people like Gajeel and Wendy would have no idea that Lucy had left the Fairy Tail guild. Erza didn't want to have to make her leave, and she looked a bit saddened while knowing that she had to do what was best for her friend. Lucy didn't deserve to be in a place where she wasn't going to be happy, not deserving to be in a place where she would be filled with sadness, and Erza had to let her go. This was all Natsu's fault, however.
"I still can't believe that a failure like Lucy managed to put me in this condition! If it was Laxus, I'd have no problem with it! I can take him on anytime, but I want to crush Lucy for roasting me with fire! I eat the stuff, so how the hell did I lose?!" Natsu exclaimed angrily while flames began to surround his body while he breathed heavily, only to see the flames burn out quickly before he felt intense pain once again.
Gray sighed in an annoyed manner, narrowing his dark blue eyes at the fire dragon slayer, and he almost felt like making a hammer out of ice to hit Natsu on the head with it. After what he did to Lucy for Erza to have to make her leave Fairy Tail, was he seriously still thinking about himself and being a total idiot? He had been so physically and verbally abusive to Lucy, always bullying her and calling her names, so now he was acting like there was no blame to be put on him? On top of that, how could he call Lucy weak when she beat him with his own element?
The ice mage responded coldly, foldling his arms while looking down at Natsu as he stood across from his bed with a stern glare on his face, "You really have to be kidding me, flame brain. Even after taking all that damage and being burnt badly by Lucy's flames, you still don't get it? She is strong, and you picked the wrong girl to piss off. Think about what you'll say before you actually say it."
Natsu looked angered by his rival taking Lucy's side on this, defending her like she actually mattered, and Natsu refused to accept the loss that he had experienced. He just could not believe that Lucy was strong without her spirits, and he hadn't really cared about the book that she wielded. The fire dragon slayer thought it was just stupid thing in her hands, and he even bet that it was some kind of unknown Celestial Spirit Key. Either way, he still refused to acknowledge that he had been beaten fairly in a fight against Lucy.
"Gray, she is lower than me! You've never seen Lucy win any fights by herself, have you? She can't do anything on her own! I am in a higher class of power, and failures like Lucy hide behind Celestial Spirits!" Natsu shouted back at the ice mage, refusing to accept any of this, and his pride really was getting in the way of him understanding anything from a different point of view.
Erza had fierceness in her brown eyes, really miffed by Natsu's words about her friend, and she really hated how Natsu had said that Lucy was lower than him. If she was so much weaker than him, then how did she have such great control over three spells of Fire Magic and seem to be able to work well with her attacks when it seemed like she had seen them for the first time? No other mage could do that, and Erza still seemed a bit impressed by the fact that Lucy ate Natsu's flames to power up her own moves.
She told Natsu in a harsh tone while glaring at him from his left side, anger in her eyes as her fists were clenched, "Just how cruel and rotten can you be, Natsu? Lucy was kicked off the team in such a rude way by you, and you still continued to bully her because you assumed she was weak! Even if Lucy is in a lower class than you, she's not a failure! How does it feel to be wounded by the person you were mocking? Don't ever take Lucy lightly, you understand me?!"
Gray and Erza were both upset with Natsu for still thinking of only himself, not even trying to see this whole thing from a different perspective that was wider than his own, and both mages left the room in silence while leaving a few heavy footsteps behind. Natsu scoffed at them for yelling at him like he was the main bad guy here, which he certainly was, and his attitude hadn't just been affecting them. It was actually putting quite a strain on the entire team, his arrogance and recklessness causing the discord, and Lisanna gulped a bit while having regret in her blue eyes.
She had seen Natsu as such a great and happy guy when she first returned to Fairy Tail, but then he started to change after ousting Lucy from the team. He loved Lisanna a lot, she definitely realized that, but the fire dragon slayer would sometimes have kisses with her that weren't even formed out of love or romance. Whenever Lucy would pass by them, he would kiss her. Whenever she was alone at a nearby table, Natsu would make Lisanna be in her bra and panties while they would cuddle and kiss. She would blush happily and be even happier when they went to his house on some nights, but it didn't feel like love.
It felt more like he was showing off his romance with Lisanna to just make Lucy jealous at any chance he got, trying to emotionally tear down the blonde girl, and Lisanna didn't want Lucy to end up hating her. She seemed like a really nice person who could be friendly at times, and the two girls actually came close to being friends. However, based on how Natsu acted yesterday with all of his heckling and boasting, Lisanna couldn't take it anymore. She hated seeing Lucy suffer abuse, but she did something about it. If she wanted to have some peace in this guild, then Lisanna had to pick one side or the other. Since Natsu's pride and arrogance seemed t be growing more than their love, the white-haired mage knew what she had to do.
"Natsu, listen. We need to talk. I'm glad that you think I'm strong for your team and that we have a great love, but you've been acting so arrogant and rude towards Lucy. I know she was my replacement, but she's still a person who deserves some respect. Even if she is weak, or was until yesterday, I want to be on good terms with her. Also, kissing me to hurt her is totally not a good thing. It's like you're just using me as a tool to make her feel bad, and that's not right. I want a fair relationship." Lisanna explained in the nicest way possible, trying not to verbally punch Natsu in the gut like how Gray and Erza had done.
The fire dragon slayer asked in a shocked tone, his eyes starting to widen in shock, "What are you saying, Lisanna?"
She told him in an apologetic manner, placing her left hand on his right shoulder while she sat on a stool near the right side of the bed, "If you're really the team leader, and you can't agree with what the rest of us are saying to you, then there is no team anymore. If I'm only here for you to make Lucy jealous, then there's no love between us at all. You and your pride make a better couple, it seems. We're through, Natsu. Goodbye."
Lisanna got up from the stool and left the room, before closing the door behind her. She didn't want to have to end her relationship with Natsu, but his arrogance and harsh demeanor towards Lucy were really making him have an attitude that was too big and breaking apart like a large ship that had hit extremely dense rocks. He was definitely sinking to being a lowly jerk, and Lisanna looked a bit depressed while tears formed in her eyes. Natsu had definitely made some bad choices, and now he was mentally too far gone for her to reach.
Elsewhere...
Wendy and Carla had been on their way to the Fairy Tail guild, but they had decided to check up on Lucy before anything else was to be done. The duo had received a large basket of chocolate cookies on a job that involved delivering sweets to the people in the faraway town of Cerulean, and Wendy thought that it would be nice to share these cookies with Lucy. She hadn't seen the blonde mage in quite a while, and they also hadn't been talking much. That certainly wasn't good for any kind of friendship, right?
She had stopped by Lucy's apartment to give her the sweets that would probably cheer her up, and Wendy smiled a bit as she softly knocked on the door. At first, there was no response. Could Lucy be busy showering or something? It wasn't like her to not give any kind of loud response to let someone know that she was in the apartment, and Wendy knew that Lucy would definitely love to have her over for anything. The blonde mage was always friendly to her, and the girls would always help each other out.
The young sky dragon slayer still heard no response, and she knocked on the door once again. Where in the world could Lucy be? Wendy was beginning to look a bit worried, and Carla also looked concerned. They knew that Lucy would at least leave a note or a sign that she was out somewhere, and then the girls heard the sounds of a certain blue Exceed eating something from within the apartment. The window had also been opened up, prompting Wendy and Carla to go inside. It was fitting to find a window of opportunity, right? (It's a somewhat obvious pun, I know.)
They went inside to find that the lights were on, clearly having been turned on by someone, and Happy sat on the couch while he ate a chocolate and cherry-layered cream cake that Lucy had left behind in the fridge. He was joyfully eating the dessert, either trying to cheer himself up or not have a care in the world, and Happy's noisy eating had made Wendy and Carla look over the couch to see him enjoying the Black Forest gateau. (That's the name of the delicious cake, if you did not know that.)
"Breaking into Lucy's house when she is away just tells me that you really lack manners, Happy!" Carla told him in a scolding manner, having a reproving look on her face while she flew on to Wendy's head.
The blue Exceed became a bit startled, flying up into the air to see Carla and Wendy, and he quickly tried to come up with an excuse for eating the cake from Lucy's fridge. At that moment, he also remembered that it wasn't Lucy's fridge anymore. This wasn't even her residence anymore, since she had let Happy know that she was leaving the Fairy Tail guild to go and begin a new life somewhere else, and he looked a bit disappointed to be in front of Wendy and Carla right now. How could he break this news to them?
After all, they hadn't heard about what happened yesterday between Lucy and Natsu. Happy knew that the Fairy Tail guild now had enough tension and sadness, and he didn't want to bring more to his friends. He couldn't tell them that Lucy had boarded the S.S. Aqua to the town of Castelia, and he also could not tell them that she left the guild because of Natsu treating her so horribly. Nobody else needed to deal with all the stress, and the story would really be better if it was heard from Lucy's point of view. She experienced the whole story, after all.
Happy thought that the secret was perfectly safe between them, but he just had to tempt fate. He had gone into Lucy's apartment with the intent on getting some food, but he hadn't exactly checked out his other surroundings. Lucy had left a note on her desk, addressing it to Wendy, and the little azure-haired girl took notice of what the blue Exceed was looking at. This note probably contained some great information for Wendy, having been written earlier than the time that it was meant for, and she wondered what Lucy wanted to tell her.
After walking over to the desk with curiosity in her brown eyes, Wendy picked up the note and read aloud in a calm tone, "Dear Wendy, this is your friend Lucy. By the time you have found this note, I will have left for the town of Castelia to begin my new life. I want to be free from the drama that Natsu is causing me, and a fresh start will help me do that. We must part ways for now, but I hope to see you again at the Grand Magic Games or any event that makes our paths cross. Be good, ok? Your friend forever, Lucy."
At that moment, Wendy widened her eyes in shock at the revelations in Lucy's letter. Not only had she left Fairy Tail, but Lucy had also left the town of Magnolia. She was now in Castelia Town, the place where Sabertooth resided, and Wendy knew that those people were the rivals of Fairy Tail. The Sabertooth guild used to be the strongest guild in Fiore, but then Fairy Tail took that title away from them in the Grand Magic Games of X791. If Lucy was there, it wouldn't hurt to just pay her a visit. Wendy was her friend, after all.
The maiden of the sky ran out of Lucy's apartment with Happy and Carla flying right behind her, and Wendy really wanted to see Lucy again. She wanted to make sure that Lucy was okay after going through what Natsu had done to her, and Wendy knew that Lucy would eventually be strong enough to beat him. She kept running down to the harbor at a quick pace, not going to miss the S.S. Aqua's next voyage to Castelia Town, and Wendy had also brought the large wooden basket of chocolate chip cookies for Lucy to enjoy some of them.
Back at the Sabertooth guild...
After finishing her shower, Lucy had changed into some clothes that she had brought with her from her apartment back in the town of Magnolia. She had traveled down the left elevator, seeing its golden doors open slowly for her, and Lucy noticed that the Sabertooth guild was definitely not like the Fairy Tail guild. There weren't any early morning brawls transpiring over utter nonsense, and the guild members just seemed to be sitting at tables in the guildhall while they chatted with each other about various things.
Lucy wore a simple green top with some blue jeans, and her flat shoes were black. She also had her blonde hair in a ponytail on the right side, accessorizing with a red ribbon as well, and the blonde mage did look quite fashionable this morning. She also had the yellow spell book clutched tightly in her right arm, and Lucy looked around in the guildhall to see that Sting and the other members who were on Team Sabertooth were located at a table near the waffle-dispensing machine. She heard her stomach let out a loud growl once again, so wouldn't it be convenient to join her new friends for breakfast?
She made her way over the waffle machine first to get something to eat, and Lucy also put the yellow spell book on the counter. She grabbed a golden plate near the waffle machine, and put it under the large dispenser. She pressed a green button, causing a stack of seven waffles to elegantly fall in a perfect stack on to her plate, and then Lucy noticed that a blue button was flashing for a few moments. She pressed it out of curiosity, and hot maple syrup came from the dispenser to give her waffles a pretty great taste. Lucy's eyes were filled with amazement from seeing this, and she also pressed an orange button to make a square of butter complete her breakfast.
The blonde mage carried her plate over to the table where her friends were located, and she noticed that her running speed had gotten faster than before. That was mostly because she now had three full types of magic at her disposal, and the Lightning Magic probably also had non-spell abilities as well. As Lucy pulled up a chair to the table, unaware that she also pointed the index finger of her left hand over at the book, she made a harmless beam of yellow lightning hit the book and surround it in a sphere of energy. It acted like a string connected to her finger, and Lucy had brought the yellow spell book over to her chair by making the lightning sphere float through the air.
"Good morning, Lucy. I see that you've decided to start off your morning with hotness, even though you just used some lightning. That's pretty hot, too." Sting told her in calm tone, smirking in a cocky manner at the thought of going up against her new type of magic that had allied with her.
As she giggled a bit at his flattery, having happiness in her beautiful cocoa brown eyes, Lucy replied in a happy manner, "Thank you, Sting! I'm glad to have this new magic with me, and getting my guild mark will be just as awesome! You can decide whenever you want to give it to me, though."
Sting smiled at Lucy's response, glad that she was enjoying her first official morning in the Sabertooth guild, and he really liked how she always dressed in such a stylish manner. Her personality was so sweet as well, having such a high amount of positive energy today, and that certainly went well with Sting's confidence. He saw Lucy as one of his greatest mages in the guild already, despite not showing off much to everyone else, and Sting wondered if her lightning was just as strong as his light.
Rogue was also happy to know that someone as nice as Lucy was joining Sabertooth, and he could guess that all the fiery explosions came from her when the group visited the amusement park in Nimbasa Town. That immense level of magical power was really something to sense, and the shadow dragon slayer had never seen a spell book that could change colors or have such unorthodox spells. Even Natsu didn't have a spell of Fire Dragon Slayer Magic that could make a maelstrom of fire combine with another of electricity to create so much power, so what kinds of spells was Lucy using?
Frosch smiled happily at Lucy, looking pretty carefree, and then the green Exceed's eyes shifted from the brown-eyed girl to her yellow book. It began to faintly pulsate with a saffron glow, making Frosch look a bit surprised, and it wasn't the only one who witnessed that moment of amazement. Yukino picked up the yellow book while Lucy was talking with Sting to find out more information about the towns near Castelia, and the woman with light blue hair began to open Lucy's book with some curiosity about it.
Much to her surprise, the languages were far too old to be read by anyone in this lifetime. Yukino flipped through some of the pages, seeing the four different languages in their different colors, and the weird types of text made her wonder how Lucy could read this. These languages weren't even in the Celestial Spirit World, since Yukino also had borrowed a few books from there, and she wondered what that pulsating glow had been. She turned to the fourth section of the book, the section with Lightning Magic, and three lines of yellow text had been written.
Yukino closed the book and put it back on the spot where Lucy had placed it, and she really wondered who would make a strange book like that. If the book was not in a modern language that anyone could understand, how could Lucy read it? Had she extensively studied ancient languages to know exactly what these spells were talking about? Her mastery over so many spells had really impressed Yukino, seeing Lucy as two threats in one with a spell book and many golden keys, making her smile a bit at the fact that a much kinder person had taken Minerva's place.
As Lucy was now eating her waffles, tasting the delicious golden treat with sweet syrup added, the guild's entrance doors suddenly opened up to reveal a familiar face to her. She turned her head to see that Wendy Marvell had come to the Sabertooth guild, and she was not alone at all. Happy had arrived at the guild with Carla, still trying to flirt with the cat that he loved the most, and Lector smirked a bit while flying towards Carla as he pushed Happy out of the way. Even cats could have little rivalries, you know.
"Lucy-san! Your letter was right! You're here!" Wendy exclaimed happily, delighted to see her best friend once again.
She replied kindly while running to give Wendy a big hug, "It's been such a long time, Wendy! I haven't seen you in a whole month!"
As the two girls shared their hug of friendship, the light from the guild's entrance doors being opened had created shadows. They were certainly perfect for a certain strange woman with silvery-blue hair, and she came out of a table's shadow before she hid under it again for no one to really see her come out of nowhere. Karen had been keeping watch on both Fairy Tail and Sabertooth, gathering as much information as she could, and the shadows also informed her that Lucy's spell book had changed color once again.
"The third seal has been broken, and she has learned how to earn the respect of someone else's Caster Magic. My master could also do that as well, having been a pretty great person who had me as her assistant, and now I have truly found the perfect young maiden for her. Of course, for the maiden, I must also hope that something interesting to observe her abilities even more." She thought to herself in a calm manner, smirking with yet another scheme in mind.
How was the 11th chapter? Did you like it? Sorry about having a lack of StiCy in this chapter, but it was made to really develop some other characters. Natsu and his team have broken up, and Lisanna has broken up with him! Will he ever get her back? Will Sting and Lucy test out the new spells in the yellow book? What does Gajeel tell the guild when he gets back from training? Standby for the update!