A/N: Sorry for the late update, anyways, it's the Lunar New Year now so I have more free time these few days to write(during boring house visits XD), Happy New Year to any Chinese celebrating it too~! I always like to listen to Jasmine Thompson's covers on YouTube when I write, she has an amazing voice and is so inspiring to write to, anyone interested should definitely check her channel out!

Lucy couldn't sleep, she tossed and turned in her sleeping bag, which didn't feel as comfortable as it did the previous night, now that she wasn't as sleep deprived. Lucas was already snoring like a pig on his side of the cave. Lucy thought about the day, it was like a dream, seeing her brother, meeting the grandmother she never knew she had. All her troubles seemed far away, back in Magnolia, when she was on Meteor Island. Helva was a great person, although she wasn't exactly how she imagined her grandmother to be like, gentle and proper like her mother. Helva was brash and loud, someone who would probably fit in well in Fairy Tail. Still, being with Helva made Lucy feel a little warmth and closeness she hasn't felt in years,like how she always felt with her mother. Lucy then pondered about the training Helva was going to put her under the next day, will she become stronger? She wanted to become stronger fast, so that she could retrieve Kumori, she wanted to become strong enough to put Fairy Tail to shame, and make Natsu take back his statement about her being weak. Lucy gradually fell into a deep slumber, thoughts swirling out of control in her mind.

Lucy woke up the next day, in a completely different way from the first day, unlike the peaceful natural awakening on the previous day, she woke up to violent shaking and Lucas' screams of pain. She peered through her half opened eyes to see that the sun hasn't even risen.

"WAKE UP YOU LAZY ASSES! TIME TO TRAIN!" Lucy cringed and covered her ringing ears. Helva was standing between her and Lucas, one hand on her hip and the other pulling Lucas' ear. Lucas was groaning in protest, his ear red and swollen from the violent treatment. Lucy bolted straight up, seeing Helva looking down at her, with a devilish glint in her eyes, not wanting her other hand to be on her ear next.

Helva was barking out orders at Lucy and Lucas like an army commander, she led them to the clearing they ate at yesterday and started speaking. "From tomorrow onwards, I expect the both of you to be at the training ground at five every morning, whoever is late will face punishment! Our training schedule will include running, swimming, meditation and hand-to-hand combat. Magical gathering will be the only form of magical training for now. Training will end at seven in the evening every day."

"WHAT?!" Lucy and Lucas stared at Helva like she had grown another head.

"Why do I have to go through that hellish training schedule again! I thought I passed that stage already?!" Lucas protested.

"I thought we would be doing magical training!" Lucy whined.

"Lucas! It is always good to go back to basics, besides you should help with training Lucy. Lucy, celestial mages rely on their keys and are weak in hand to hand combat, which is their greatest weakness, they are useless once they run out of magic. Isn't that true for you, Lucy? I though you wanted to become stronger?" Helva questioned Lucy sternly.

Lucy stared at the ground, taking in Helva's harsh words. Helva was right, without her keys, she was weak, useless, a burden. All she ever does in combat was rely on her celestial spirits and allow them get hurt. Lucy remembered the last time she summoned Loke. She truly was useless. "I am sorry Helva. I will do my best to become stronger, I promise." Lucy apologized, with renewed determination.

Helva nodded approvingly, "That's the spirit!". The training commenced.

They started jogging through the woods, Helva ran behind Lucy and Lucas, barking at them every time one of them fell back the other, or attempted to rest. Lucy had never ran so fast over such a long period of time in her entire life. Her legs were burning as if they were on fire, muscles all over her body ached, her throat was parched and her face was flushed from the heat of the day and exhaustion. By the end of the run, Lucy felt like she had just been through hell and back, she was hoping for at least half an hour of break time, but Helva only allowed a five minute water break.

"You…went through THIS…and your still alive?" Lucy gulped down her water, as she panted between sips.

Lucas was looking equally worn out. "Trust me, I nearly died, I haven't done this in two years and this feels just like when I first started training under Helva."

Before they could carry on their conversation, Helva's voice was heard, "THIS IT A WATER BREAK! NOT A CHIT-CHATTING SESSION! COME HERE ONCE YOU DRINK YOUR FILL!" she roared. Lucy and Lucas jumped at Helva's voice and hurried over to the river.

Another strenuous session of their training started, Lucy chattered as she stepped into the freezing water, pausing a while, allowing her body to grow accustomed to the cold. They started swimming, as Helva instructed, against the current, which thankfully wasn't too strong. They swam through the river, Lucy was barely able to catch up, the running had already used up nearly all of her energy reserves, Helva sure is fit for her age, Lucy thought as she glanced at Helva, swimming with ease through the waters, she hardly broke a sweat during the run too. Lucy accelerated, kicking her legs with as much strength as she could muster to stay in line with Lucas, who was much faster in the water than she was. She swam on and on, imagining that she was like a mermaid just like Aquarius, she always did that when she was younger, summoning Aquarius in the bathtub, Aquarius got mad at her every time. Lucy smiled fondly at the memory. They swam down the never-ending river, until they heard the roar of a waterfall in the distance, both Lucy and Lucas sped up, wanting to get the swimming over and done with.

They arrived at the waterfall, pelting down violently on the river, gushing hard against the rocks, it was beautiful yet brutal, its deafening roar filled all of their ears, Lucy gulped at the thought of meditating under the force of nature before her, how is that even possible? Helva urged them forward, Lucy squeezed her eyes tightly as she stepped into the waterfall, the weight of the falling stream of water pushed her down, nearly making her fall, she sat down on a rock, smooth with ages spent sitting under the waterfall. Lucy kept her eyes closed, the waterfall felt like bullets pelting down on her back painfully, the consistent roar of the waterfall was louder than ever in her ears, her golden hair clung damp around her face, her senses were overwhelmed.

"Relax and clear your heads of thoughts! Focus on your surroundings and center your body! Listen to the nature around you!" Helva shouted over the waterfall.

"How the hell am I supposed do that?" Lucy yelled back.

"JUST KEEP AT IT!" Helva was hollering now, Lucy kept her mouth shut and did as she was told.

Lucy struggled to sit upright under the waterfall, she tried clearing her head of thoughts just like Helva has instructed, however, the more she tried, the more unwanted thoughts clung to her mind. Memories of past come flooding back to her, the time spent her mother before she died, her father's cold treatment after her mother passed away, the day she met Natsu, the recent chains of events that led to her leaving Fairy Tail and coming here. They played over and over in her mind until they became jumbled and distorted, Lucy spiralled down the memory lane.

"LUCY! You are losing focus! Stop thinking!" Helva's voice jolted Lucy awake from her trance, how did she even know Lucy was losing focus, Lucy will never know.

Lucy broke out of her thoughts, grasping onto reality once again. This time, she preoccupied her mind by focusing on her surroundings, the howl of the waters was all she heard at first, then the whispers of the tree branches, movements of a hare rustling in a nearby bush, calls of wild animals throughout the forest. Lucy started picking up magical signals of Helva and Lucas, she could vaguely feel the qualities of their magic, and she could feel that Helva's magical power was an astonishing amount more than she usually revealed. Helva must be wearing lots of resistors, she thought. Unknowingly, hours passed as Lucy steadily kept her meditative state.

Timeskip

It was lunchtime and Lucy was inhaling the cooked wild boar Lucas hunted. Since the morning, Lucy had ran non-stop for two hours, swam until her legs cramped, and meditated under a waterfall all the way till noon. Lucy noticed Helva looking intently at her from the corner of her eye, swallowing her food, she looked at Helva with a questioning look.

Helva made her way towards Lucy, "I noticed that you did pretty well for your first time meditating under a waterfall, how did you feel about the training?" she asked, sounding slightly curious.

"Well…at first it was very hard for me to let go of the unwanted thoughts, but after you interrupted me from them, I tried to focus on listening to my surroundings, sounds that I can't usually hear became clearer to me, and I felt Lucas and your magical signals and their general qualities. Is that normal?" Lucy explained.

Helva straightened her herself as her heard what Lucy said, "You mean you could pick up our magical presence despite the resistors? And feel their qualities too?" she confirmed, getting really interested in the conversation.

"Yeah that's right, is there something wrong with that?" Lucy frowned, concerned about the way Helva reacted.

"No, no, I didn't mean it in a bad way, I just suspect that you may be a magic sensor, and a very talented one at that, people who can sense magic at such a high level are rare, most magic sensors can't even sense magic with resistors being worn, much less say qualities. Were you already honing magic sensing abilities before?" Helva reassured Lucy.

"Not really, although there are times I sense magical presence of hidden or approaching enemies." Lucy replied thoughtfully.

"We will need to work on that someday, or your rare talent will go wasted. Now, we need to get started on our next training segment, shall we?" Helva stood up, seemingly with a rush of energy just thinking about training.

Back at Fairy Tail

The guild was slightly more alive than the previous day, idle chatter was heard here and there in the guild hall. In one particular corner, Wendy, Juvia, Gajeel and Levy are crowded together, speaking in hushed voices. They were discussing about their plans to further investigate about Lucy and Lisanna's case.

"Okay, I gave it some thought and Kumori is the only witness to what really happened during the mission, I feel that our first step is to get Kumori to detail what exactly happened that night." Levy started.

"Sounds like a plan, except that the girl wouldn't say a word to anyone." Gajeel raised his concern.

"Juvia thinks that someone can get closer to her and cajole her into saying something." Juvia suggested helpfully.

"How about Wendy? She is one of the youngest member, and she is so gentle, she wouldn't scare the fragile child. If we have to pick someone to talk to Kumori, Wendy is the best choice!" Levy decided excitedly, pleased that the first puzzle piece of their plan is found.

Wendy blushed, "I…I don't think I would be a suitable person, I am not really good with words, I might not be able to get the information we need…" she trailed off, looking down, twiddling her fingers, unsure of herself.

"Wendy! Be confident of yourself, your gentle personality is exactly what it takes to talk to Kumori, no one else in the guild is calm enough for this! I am sure can get Kumori to open up to you." Levy affirmed Wendy, with a gentle squeeze on her shoulder.

"Juvia thinks that you fit the role perfectly." Juvia agreed, murmurs of agreement sounded all over the small group.

"Alright…I will try my best then!" Wendly relented, determined not to let her supportive friends down.

(Lisanna POV)

I lay on the infirmary bed, feeling completely elated and victorious. I can't believe I kicked that annoying bitch out so easily. It's a shame she didn't die though, if she had just died with that girl I wouldn't have to worry about the girl speaking, now I have to deal with another fly too. Who was that man anyway, I may just take revenge on him for disrupting my plans. Now that Lucy is gone, I shall have all the love and attention she stole from me back.

Mirajane stood at the infirmary door, looking curiously at her sister smiling darkly to herself, what is with her expression? It seems so…evil.

Lisanna turned to see Mira at the door, the expression she wore seconds ago disappeared as if it was never there, replace by her usual angelic smile, "Mira-nee, you're here! Good morning!" she quipped cheerfully.

Mira beamed warmly at her sister, settling down on the chair beside Lisanna's bed, "You seemed happy about something just now." Mira, mentioned suggestively, trying to get Lisanna to tell her what was on her mind.

"Oh, I was just happy that you came to see me!" Lisanna looked at Mira, smiling with her beguiling face.

That was before you even saw me though…Mira thought. "I see…" Mira replied awkwardly, not wanting to press on the matter any further.

Mira accompanied her recuperating sister, chatting hours away till late afternoon. Lisanna can be up and about again tomorrow, according to Wendy, Mira smiled happily at the thought, however the expression she saw on Lisanna in the morning haunted her.

Meteor Island

Lucy had just completed her magical gathering training which was just like how she had trained with Capricorn before. She was now starting her hand-to-hand combat training. Helva ordered Lucy to spar with Lucas, while she instructed Lucy on her moves at the sidelines. Lucy could tell that Lucas was holding back on her, his movements seemed to slow down a little before hitting her, even then they still hurt quite a bit. Lucy felt a little insulted by that, but reminded herself that Lucas was obviously much more stronger than her, the training wouldn't be productive with Lucas just overpowering her and putting her down with every few moves throughout the whole training, she just had to become stronger so that Lucas could fight her seriously one day. Lucy jump as she avoided a low roundhouse kick, only to be striked on her back by Lucas' free hand, sending her sprawling on the ground.

"You should always jump backwards and away from the opponent when dodging a low kick!" Helva chided, "Anyway, that's enough for the day, let's have dinner and turn in early for tomorrow's training."

For dinner, the three of them sat around the fire, this time grilling fish over it. Lucas was stuffing food into his mouth like a caveman, Lucy shook her head looking at him it, Lucas kind of have a very similar personality to Natsu. Lucy nibbled on her own fish, skewered on a stick, the fishes on Meteor Islands were actually very good and also abundant, they caught several in minutes. Unlike the flying fish Happy was so obsessed with, she shuddered at the memory of the nasty piece of monstrosity she placed in her mouth back then. Happy would love it here, its like a fish paradise, Lucy thought.

Lucy realised that she would really start to miss everyone as she was reminded of Happy. She was constantly reminded of Fairy Tail throughout the day, at every idle moment she had. Forgetting Natsu, Fairy Tail and everyone, wasn't as easy as she thought, despite their betrayal, two years of ties couldn't be forgotten so easily, but Lucy was determined, she would never forgive them.