Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)

Chapter 17: Darcy, Part 1

After the next few weeks had gone by, all of the guilds in Fiore had found out the exciting news about what would be happening this year. They would be able to participate in the Grand Magic Games, the annual tournament that would decide the best guild in Fiore, and it would certainly be carefully watched over by the organization that created it. They didn't want anything like the Eclipse Project taking place this year, and the castle had now been off-limits for any tourists in the capital of Fiore.

Team Sabertooth had arrived in Crocus on the day of the preliminary round that would decide the eight teams that got to participate in the real competition tomorrow, and Lucy had a happy smile on her face. Upon seeing the many flowerbeds and flower shops on a street that the team was walking down on their way to the inn that was located in the Crocus Gardens, she ran over to a flower pot that had red roses growing in the soil. Lucy sniffed them deeply to take in their wonderful aroma, letting out a blissful sigh from the sweet scent.

She had always loved being around flowers, and the ones in Crocus had been handled with care every day. The roses always smelled really nice, and many other flowers were in the parks and meadows of the city. Crocus was a very beautiful place, and it also had some of the finest foods in Fiore. Lucy had remembered how the food tasted so great last year, and it would taste even better when Sabertooth won the tournament. She planned to win for her new guild, and hopefully end up beating Fairy Tail.

After all, Lucy had been wanting to really show Fairy Tail how she was so much stronger than her past self. She had thought back to all the times that Natsu had said she was so weak, and yet she had actually been the one to turn the tables on him. She wanted to make that rude jerk pay for what he had done to her, and Lucy really hated his attitude. She did not even want to talk with him during a fight, since all he would get from her was a fist to his mouth. She was going to show off her strength, and impress Sting.

"All right, guys. Don't have any doubts about entering the tournament, since we'll be the ones who win it! Last year may have been the year that kind of wrecked our rep of being honorable champions, since Minerva was so brutal to Lucy, but my girlfriend's current circumstances with Fairy Tail and our determination will make everyone see that we aren't a bunch of jerks!" Sting explained in a confident manner, smiling proudly while putting his hand into the air to create some kind of team gesture.

Everyone else touched Sting's hand, really ready to win this year, and they all knew that they had to bring their best efforts on to the battlefield. After all, the Grand Magic Games were known for their tricky events and match-ups in battles that almost seemed completely unfair. Sting had even thought of Yukino's battle against Kagura to be an unfair pairing, since Yukino's opponent had a sword that sliced through one of her strongest Celestial Spirits while the sword itself wasn't even unsheathed at the time.

Despite any planning that Team Sabertooth would be doing, they also knew that they had made a little bit of a numerical error on their part. Even though Sting wanted to be in the Grand Magic Games, having made Wendy the temporary guild master for the next five days, his participation caused the team to have six members instead of five. There could only be five members on each team for the final day, and someone also had to act as a reserve member on the four days that would transpire before the last event.

Orga was about to volunteer for that position, knowing how Jura Neekis from Team Lamia Scale knocked him out in one hit last time, but he was a bit shocked to hear Yukino volunteer to be the reserve member instead. She had a soft smile on her face, thinking that she would not really be that useful with only three of the Golden Zodiac Gate Keys, and the hazel-eyed Celestial Spirit Wizard also had secretly feared that she would make the same mistakes that she had made last year in her battle against Kagura.

Lucy had looked a bit disappointed from hearing Yukino say that she did not want to participate for most of the tournament, and the blonde mage had to wonder about her friend's soft smile. If she thought that her skills weren't up to par with everyone else's, then did she have the confidence about everyone else doing well? Rufus had even remembered how Gray Fullbuster beat him in the fight that they had in the library, and that made him look slightly nervous about this. History sure has a way of making people nervous, right?

Sting had even remembered how he lost to Natsu, forfeited in the Chariot event, and how he surrendered on the final day. He had caused Sabertooth to lose last year, breaking their winning streak, and the white dragon slayer knew that Fairy Tail had strong people in their guild. However, he also knew that he wasn't going to be manipulated by Minerva this year. Since she was gone, he could freely make his own decisions. He couldn't let Lucy down, though, since she was counting on him as well.

She had always believed that he could do anything that he put his mind to, and Lucy knew that Sting was really strong. He had also fought evenly with her last week when she was using all eight spells of Fire Magic to get him prepared for the possible chance of facing Natsu again, and Sting had noticed that Lucy's flames were really hot. She had been focusing most of her stamina into the Fire Magic, making its power grow to the absolute peak of perfection, and this growth also worked to balance her other types of magic with it.

Sting had taken notice of Lucy's book now being a violet color, meaning that some new type of magic had appeared in some way, and he wondered why that book had a tendency to act so strange. It had some of the weirdest spells, and the book itself would still have no modern languages. They were all written in olden words of different languages, and Lucy was still somehow able to read them. Sting had wondered what was up with the book changing colors like that, and he decided that this was a perfect moment for him and Lucy to have some quality time together.

With his fast hands, Sting took Lucy's purple spell book and laughed while running off with it. She looked utterly shocked at what he had just done, running after him quickly, and the other members of Team Sabertooth knew that Sting was up to something. Since the preliminary round would begin in a few hours from now, couldn't the duo use this game of chase to do some sightseeing as well? Sting was planning to give it back to her, but only if this chase would end in his favor. Would his strategy work?

Meanwhile...

The two teams representing the Fairy Tail guild had entered into Crocus, determined to make Fairy Tail win once again. Makarov was confident that his teams could succeed in whatever the Grand Magic Games threw at them, too. Team Fairy Tail A consisted of Natsu, Erza, Gray, Laxus, Gajeel, and Juvia while the others who were known as Team Fairy Tail B consisted of Cana, Elfman, Lisanna, Mirajane, and Jellal. (In this story, Jellal is not a criminal anymore and Ultear admitted to being the one who was responsible for his crimes.)

Natsu seemed a bit unhappy to be on a different team than Lisanna, knowing full well about the deal that she had tied him to for him to earn her trust back, and everyone certainly would be pretty shocked about what he was going to do. This deal was a way for Natsu to show Lisanna that he owed her for everything that he had done to make her feel hateful towards him, and she wanted him to know how she and Lucy had felt when he was being such a rude jerk towards them. What would happen?

Lisanna looked pretty happy while she was talking to Cana about something, giggling a bit, but that happy mood changed when her blue eyes saw Natsu giving her that upset look. She shot a devious grin at him, making the cut-throat gesture as well, but the white-haired mage quickly changed her tune when Gray began looking in her direction. He had heard about what happened from Erza, who had heard what Lisanna told Natsu when he wanted to earn her trust back, and this would definitely affect his team.

Earning the affections of a woman certainly came at a pretty high price, and Natsu was actually going to miss out on two things that he loved. He was probably going to lose Lisanna, mainly if his dense nature got the best of him, and his recklessness would be annoying for Lisanna to watch. Mira and Elfman could see how Natsu was looking right now, both siblings wondering about what Lisanna had done to make Natsu look so down in the dumps, and he didn't even seem fired up for the competition.

"Wow, flaming idiot. You must feel like a real loser now for what you did to Lucy, since Lisanna is giving you all this bad karma to deal with. She still won't even get back with you, and it's all because you just don't know how to use your head. I bet you were wishing that you hadn't kicked Lucy off the team now, huh?" Gray asked him in a deriding manner while he was glad to see that Natsu was seemingly eating out of the palm of Lisanna's hand like a hotheaded puppy that was finally tied to his leash.

Natsu angrily shouted, looking pissed off about Gray's little jokes towards him, "Shut up, you stripper! I could care less about that idiot Lucy, and I don't need to hear her name anymore! I caused her some problems, and now life is giving me my own set of issues! I don't need you laughing at me like I'm some kind of stupid monkey!"

Both boys glared at each other, once again disliking each other for their different views on this situation, but Erza's death glare scared them both into trying to act like friends. They saw the harsh look in her brown eyes, hating the fact that Natsu was indeed the one who had caused Lucy to leave Fairy Tail, and she was curious about what Lisanna had in mind for her ex-boyfriend. If it was something humiliating, then it might be shown to the entire world on the Lacrima Vision screens. Wouldn't that be a sight for sore eyes?

Unknown to Fairy Tail or Sabertooth, the Grand Magic Games would actually be doing a little bit of collaborating with the Grand Fiore League. They would still be having the various events, but the sponsors also were aware of Raven Tail's cheating ways last year. They definitely wanted this tournament to have some fairness to it, and that's why the battles would have a little twist. Even the preliminary event would be something exciting that was from the Grand Fiore League, but nobody knew what it would be.

Lisanna had a pretty devious smirk on her face while seeing Natsu's group walk past hers to reach the inn where Fairy Tail would be staying, and she was definitely going to truly make him pay for what he had done to her. She also saw this as a true way to show Lucy that they were really friends, and the blue-eyed girl just hoped that Natsu would hold up his end of the deal. She had even shook hands with him while making this deal, promising him something good as well, but the fire dragon slayer had to really keep his word with Lisanna. He owed her, you know.

Elsewhere, in Crocus...

Sting had stopped running when he had arrived at a grassy park, noticing that there was a concession stand selling dessert on the nearby street, and he prepared to get some cake for him and Lucy to eat. Speaking of his girlfriend, she had finally managed to catch up with him while panting heavily from running so far to get her purple spell book back. Sting noticed that Lucy looked pretty exhausted from all that running, and she tripped over her left foot while looking pretty confident about retrieving the book.

He had caught her before she could fall, letting the blonde-haired girl rest her head against his chest, and she sighed happily from feeling Sting's warmth. She wanted the book back, but Lucy found herself blushing when she looked into the charming blue eyes of Sting. She had no idea that he stole the book to not only privately discuss with her, but this was his way of luring a girl on a date with him. He loved to see Lucy in a determined mood, knowing she would be ready to take on anything, and taking her book was a great way to get her all psyched up.

Speaking of the book, Lucy and Sting still had no idea that Darcy was existing inside of it. She had an aura form, as seen in her fight against Gray and Juvia, but she could also take on a physical form to let herself out like she was a Celestial Spirit. The book would change Darcy's spells to fit Lucy, since the blonde girl was the current wielder of the book, and the Darkness Magic would still be in the book after Darcy left it. Karen had just sent her into it to make Lucy work with a sixth type of magic, thus working towards breaking the sixth seal.

Lucy and Sting decided to happily share a box of a dozen glazed donuts, wanting to have some sweet treats before the preliminary round of the Grand Magic Games would begin, and both of the mages took six donuts from the box. While Sting hurriedly ate his donuts, feeling famished from all of the running that he had done, Lucy had taken her time eating the donuts to enjoy the sugary taste. She always loved to eat sweets, since they were so sweetly delicious, and they went well with a sweet girl like Lucy.

Sting and Lucy were now sitting on a brown bench in the park with the purple spell book between them, and they both gasped in a surprised manner when the book began to glow with violet beams of light being emitted from it. Lucy opened up her spell book, turning to the sixth section of it, and she noticed that the words for the first spell were written in violet text. The unreadable spells had their text displayed in a lavender color, letting Lucy know that these spells could not be used yet, and she would have to work with one spell for now.

There was also another white card on the first page of the sixth section of the spell book, and Sting looked curious while he wondered about what rules this card had for Lucy. She had been getting fair rules that could easily be able to abide by, and the fact that other types of magic could join Lucy's book was a nice bonus as well. Sting narrowed his blue eyes, seeing Lucy slowly pick up the card to read it while looking a bit nervous about the spell book's new piece of advice, and both of them wondered what the card would say.

"Welcome to Darkness Magic, master of the purple book. You have unlocked a very versatile type of magic, since it is capable of assisting you in a few different ways. It focuses mainly on appeal when light is present, but its powers grow when darkness is near. Your heart possesses no real darkness, but this new type of magic may work well with your beautiful brown eyes." Lucy read in a somewhat shocked manner, seeing the conditions of this new type of magic, and she also seemed miffed at the fact that it was probably useless in the daytime.

Since the Grand Magic Games were normally going on while the sun was out, her Darkness Magic probably was useless. However, the card had let Lucy know that it could be used for appealing during the day. She now seemed a little confused by the card's words, since appealing with spells would not damage her enemies in the slightest, and Lucy wondered if this magic was tricky in some way. How would it work, and what in the world would her new moves be like? Would the sun's rays of joy not shine on her, since daylight was not like darkness?

Narrowing her brown eyes and clenching her teeth, Lucy shouted with strong emotions while looking at the first spell of Darkness Magic in her purple spell book, "I call upon thee, the first spell, Dark Optica!"

Lucy looked directly in front of her, seeing the grassy park with pink butterflies going on some flowers, but nothing had happened. She kept looking around, hoping to find that appeal, but nothing had worked. There was no sign of her spell anywhere, not causing something in the sky or making shadows change, and Lucy let out a frustrated sigh. She put her hands on her red T-shirt and blue jeans, wondering if they somehow changed, but they did not. What in the world was the purpose of these spells?

Sting calmly looked at his girlfriend, putting his left hand on her right shoulder to comfort her, and he began to notice that something was different. Her eyes had changed color from brown to purple, having a violet glow like they had finished charging up power or something, and this spell surprisingly had a unique ability. It allowed Lucy to shoot out a violet ball of Darkness Magic from her left eye, sending it high into the air, and it quickly popped like a balloon to make lots of purple glitter fill the sky.

This pretty sight also came with the added side effect of making the sky turn a lavender shade of purple, and Sting noticed his girlfriend looked like she was staring out into space. Lucy's eyes were now giving her a view of the entire city, letting her see everyone who was here in Crocus, and blinking her eyes would cause that person or thing to glow with a purple aura for a few moments. What in the world was that spell going to be used for, and how could Dark Optica be used as an attack move? Was it useless?

When Lucy regained her senses, her eyes changed back to being cocoa brown. The sky also became blue again, putting everything back to normal, but some people were still surrounded by the purple aura. Lucy wondered what was going on, as she saw the members of Team Twilight Ogre pass by while they seemed unaffected by her little spell, and she simply decided to just wait for the preliminary round to begin. Had Dark Optica really been deemed as useless by Lucy, or was it just waiting for the perfect charge?

Suddenly, many purple blasts of Darkness Magic began to occur all over the city of Crocus! People were being blasted upward into the air, some even being surrounded by the blasts when they fell off of rooftops, and even Team Twilight Ogre was sent blasting off into the sky. Lucy had remembered not seeing anyone she knew while using Dark Optica, and she also did not realize that the appeal part of the spell was not used in a cheerful way. The purple smoke that lingered from the blasts were causing people to sound like they were choking, having breathed it in, and Sting looked shocked at the spell's true effect.

Lucy and Sting were lucky that they were unaffected, just like their teammates who had no clue about what was happening, and the other members of Team Sabertooth had been on a street where no people were around. The toxic smoke was not going to affect them, but it had reached the lungs of the members who were part of many other teams. They fell to the ground, losing their chance at being in the Grand Magic Games since only full teams could enter the preliminaries, and they were unable to move while they were choking in pain.

Lucy thought to herself while looking happy at the sight of this, unaware that Team Sabertooth and seven other teams were safe from this temporarily-lingering and deadly spell that only targeted anyone seen in the Dark Optica attack, "The book's spells are supposed to be used by me for good purposes. Why did this one create something so toxic and bad? Was that card telling me the truth, or do I have dark feelings inside me that I refuse to unleash. Why am I smiling at the sight of something so horrible and unintentional? Am I nice on the outside, but dark on the inside?"

How was Chapter 17? Did you like it? Sorry for not having the preliminaries, but I thought the ending would be more dramatic with some foreshadowing for you. Lucy has unlocked Darkness Magic, but it appears that her feelings are starting to merge with those of Darcy's to create a nice and deadly attack. It's because of their opposite personalities, really. What will happen tomorrow? Will Sting try to help Lucy see that it was the book, and not her who did such a horrible thing? Standby for the update!