"Talking"

'thinking'

"Spells"

Disclaimer: I do not own either Fairy Tail or the Seven Deadly Sins

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Chapter 16:

Taste of defeat

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Boar Hat, Location unknown

The Sins and Elizabeth all sat in the bar with the exception of Diane for obvious reasons. But none of them said anything as their heads were down. After what happened in Byzal they all knew what happened, they lost. And not just any lost, they had lost one of their own.

Laying on a couple of tables was Lucy, or better described Lucy's body.

Ban growled as he remembered the scene when he found out. He was carrying King when he heard Elizabeth cry out. Fearing the worst, he rushed over and stopped dead in his tracks. What he saw caused his blood to go cold as he saw Elizabeth holding Lucy crying her heart out as blood covered the two.

After that everything was a blur for everyone as they regrouped and left Byzal as fast as they could. And before they knew realized it both Grimoire and Veronica slipped in with them as they sat on the other side of the bar as they didn't know what to do or say.

"What do we do?" Suddenly asked King as everyone looked at him.

"What do you mean?" Asked Diane confused.

"About Lucy." Said King in a soft tone. "What should we do with her body?"

No one said anything as King was right. Should they bury her here or try to send her back to her world. And how do they even send her body back and if they do then to who?

"What about her keys?" Asked Ban as he looked at them.

"I'll make contracts with them!" Declared Elizabeth surprising everyone.

"Contracts? What are you talking about?" Asked Veronica confused as this reminded the others she and Grimoire were there.

"To make a long story short, Lucy's magic can be used by anyone as long as they have a contract with the spirt the key summons." Explained Elizabeth as she gave the short version.

Elizabeth walked over to the keys and grabbed Loke's. She was about to start the chant Lucy told her when Loke himself appeared.

"Loke!" Said Elizabeth in shock.

"What are you doing here?" Asked Meliodas curious.

Loke looked at everyone as he spoke. "I'm here because my current contract isn't gone."

Hearing that no one said anything. They saw the wound and the blood, how could anyone survive that?!

"She can't be alive. I'd checked her pulse myself?!" Said Grimoire as he felt nothing from Lucy after Helbram left.

"I know, but I can feel Lucy's life. When I became her sprit, I promised myself I would watch over her. Especially after what happened before." Said Loke as he quietly added the last part as no one heard him.

"But I'll telling you all. Lucy's alive." Finished Loke as everyone looked at Lucy's body hoping he was right.

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Unknown location

Lucy didn't know where she was or even if she was alive. All around her she saw white. She couldn't tell if she was standing, floating, or even laying down. She couldn't even tell up from down. But Lucy felt in peace, even thought the last thing she remembered was Helbram stabbing her through with his sword.

Lucy started to feel her eyes get heavy as they started to close.

"It's not your time yet Lucy." Said a soft gently voice making Lucy's eye go wide.

"Who's there?" Asked Lucy as she tried to look around to find the voice, as she felt she knew it.

"You need to go back and help your friends." Said the voice again as lucy felt herself moving, like she was falling.

Lucy screamed out as she felt herself going faster and faster. But above her she swore she saw what almost looked like her mother, smiling down at her.

She then shot up as she was breathing hard. As she started to clam herself as she saw she was in the Boar Hat. Lucy then saw the others staring at her in shock and disbelief.

"Lucy!" Cried Elizabeth as she rushed over and hugged her.

"She's a zombie!" Cried Hawk as he ran out of the room screaming.

"How?" Said Ban with wide eyes. "How are you alive?"

Hearing that shocked Lucy, as she then remembered what happened.

"I don't know." She told Ban a little spooked.

"Loke, do you know?" Meliodas asked the spirt hoping he knew.

"I don't know how to explain it, but I could feel Lucy's life fading, but then something happened, and it stabilized." Explained Loke as this confused everyone, except Meliodas as his eyes went a little wide.

"Do either of you know healing magic or have a healing item?" Asked King looking at Grimoire and Veronica.

"No, we don't." Said Grimoire as he paled as he realized what could have happened if they went after Veronica instead of Lucy.

"Even if we did Eli was holding Lucy so tightly, I don't think we could have done anything." Added Veronica as everyone didn't know what happened.

That's when Lucy spoke up. "Elizabeth what's your magic?" She asked her friend.

Hearing that question everyone realized what Lucy was asking.

"I don't know." Answered Elizabeth honestly as she did tests to find out but never got any results from it.

"Hold on your saying Elizabeth healed you when you were practically dead?!" Said Veronica as she couldn't believe it.

"I've never heard of healing magic that strong." Added Diane as she thought about it.

"The closest I've heard was the Goddess Clan." Said King making Lucy a little worried.

"Well, if you remember my friend Wendy, she brought someone out of a coma. So maybe if it was Elizabeth, she got lucky." Lucy reminded the others as that made sense, while Meliodas nodded at her.

"Then if I can use healing magic, how do I train in it?" Asked Elizabeth as no one had anything to say.

"I'm sure once we get the situation back in the Kingdom fixed, we'll find you a teacher." Said Veronica as it was easier said then done.

That was when Lucy realized that both Veronica and Grimoire were there. This caused her to jump to her feet breaking the hug Elizabeth had on her.

"What are they doing here!?" Asked Lucy as she went for her keys only to find them not there.

"It's ok Lucy." Said Meliodas as he put a hand on her shoulder. "They have no where to go right now."

"That and Elizabeth practically begged us to let them come with us." Added Ban as he poured himself a drink.

"I see." Said Lucy as she had no problem with that. That's when she looked down at her shirt and saw the large blood stain on it.

"I'm going to change." She told the others as she left the room.

As she did the other Sins got up and headed out.

"Where are you going?" Asked Grimoire curious.

"To train." Was all Meliodas said as they left the bar as Grimoire knew he needed to do the same.

Elizabeth just looked at where Lucy went as she clutched her fist and closed her eyes.

Upstairs in her and Elizabeth's room Lucy stood there wearing new shorts and a sports bra. Lucy just stood there as she looked at the scar on her stomach. Lucy sighed as she hated the scar, she felt like it decreased her natural beauty. Though she bet Erza would say she should wear it with pride.

Lucy was taken out of her thoughts when she heard a knock on the door. She then put on a new plain white t-shirt as she then went and opened the door. Standing there was Elizabeth who looked upset.

"Elizabeth what's wrong?" Asked Lucy as she recognized that look.

"It's all my fault." Said Elizabeth as she was close to tears.

"What do you mean?" Asked Lucy as she was confused.

"If me and Diane didn't shrink, then both of us could have fought at our best. But instead, you had to focus on getting me out of there and got into a fight with Grimoire. And if that didn't happen, then Helbram wouldn't have found us so easily." Said Elizabeth as she started to cry as she couldn't finish her train of thought.

"Elizabeth." Said Lucy softly as Elizabeth stopped crying as she looked at Lucy.

"Even if you and Diane weren't affected by the king Trumpid, I don't think it would have made any difference. They set a nearly perfect trap for us. We're lucky we got out alive and with Diane's Sacred treasure. They were more then ready for us." Explained Lucy as the whole thing made her furious.

While she was able to beat Guila, Lucy knew she got lucky. She had to use her strongest spell Urano Metria to do it and because of that she revealed it to the Holy Knights and its weakness, the chant. If she can't do the chant, she can't cast the spell and the problem is it's a long chant for the battlefield.

"I know." Said Elizabeth sadly. "But I hate being so useless right now."

"I know how you feel." Said Lucy as she hugged Elizabeth as she felt that many times with team Natsu in the past.

Little did either girl knew Veronica was listening in on them. She was honestly shocked by how open Elizabeth was being with Lucy. Elizabeth was never that open with her or Margaret in the past. To be honest she was jealous of Lucy right now.

"Then will you help me train?" Asked Elizabeth as she knew she had to get better with a whip. But the look Lucy had on her face made her worry.

"I want to Elizabeth, I really do. But I need to train too." Said Lucy as she turned her head in shame. "I need to get stronger."

Elizabeth nodded as she understood how Lucy felt. Elizabeth guessed she would have to train by herself.

"I can train with you." Said Veronica as she stepped into the doorframe.

"Really." Said Elizabeth happy and surprised.

"Yes." Said Veronica as she did want to see how Elizabeth has grown. As none of them knew their skills could be needed soon.

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Forest near the boar hat

In a clearing in the woods on the other side of where the Sins were hiding, a light shone in the area. When it died Tiffany and three others stood there.

The first one was a woman around 27 with light skin and long blond hair in two pigtails. She has black eyes. She wore standard Holy knight amour for female knights along with a spiked choker around her neck. On her back was a spiked flail. This was the Holy knight, Roxy.

Next was an older man around 40. He is tall and muscular. He was bald but had a long fiery bread. He wears a full plated amour with priestly robes over it. In his right hand he holds an ornate sceptre-maul. This was the Holy knight, Asher.

Lastly was another man around 26. He a lean toned young man with pale skin and short white hair and black bangs. Like Asher he wore full plated amour but wore a long coat with armoured gauntlets on them. This was the Holy knight, Vladimir.

"Lady Tiffany why are we here?" Asked Asher as he looked around.

"To find a lost comrade." Answered Tiffany as she checked the area.

"A lost comrade?" Asked Roxy confused and annoyed, that's when they all realized what she meant.

"You don't mean Dale?" Asked Roxy as they all heard of him.

Dale was one of the first to drink demon blood. But he was a one-of-a-kind case. He gained the power of the blood, but it made him go crazy and fled the kingdom. And due to what happened and the secrecy of the blood, he was labeled a traitor to the kingdom and his children suffered for it.

"Yes." Answered Tiffany as she looked at the people before her. "We've were finally able to track him to this area."

"And then what?" Asked Vladimir with a raised eyebrow.

"We bring him home." Answered Tiffany as this made Asher worried.

"I hope you have a way to calm him." He told Tiffany as they were strong, but they had no idea how strong Dale was.

"Yes, after studying what happened. I believe I know what happened and how to fix it." Said Tiffany as she then added one more thing.

"Also, we must be careful." She told them.

"Why?" Asked Vladimir curious.

"For two reasons. Frist someone is helping Dale hide from us and whoever they are, they're strong. And second from the reports from the Byzal operation, we have reason to believe the Seven Deadly Sins could be in the area."

Hearing this both Vladimir and Asher nodded as they didn't need to fight the Sins, right now. But for Roxy she got a grin on her face as she was about to run off, only for Vladimir to grab her by the top of her dress.

"Don't even think of it." He told her as gave her the 'don't' look.

"He's right. Our goal is Dale. Once that is done and he is brought back home then we can deal with the Sins." Agreed Asher.

"And we don't know their states of mind right now." Added Tiffany confusing the others.

"What do you mean?" Asked Asher curious.

"Another part of the report for Helbram was he killed the blond girl." Answered Tiffany as Vladimir spoke up.

"The one talking about the demon clan?" He asked her.

"The very same." Nodded Tiffany as she added. "We know nothing about her. Some guess she's not even from this world. But she was the Sins comrade and ally. So, either their demoralized or pissed off. And I don't want to find out which."

"Agreed." Said Vladimir as he knew how revenge can fuel a person.

"Then how do we avoid them if they're here?" Asked Asher as he gestured to their clothes. "We don't exactly blend in."

"Don't worry." Said Tiffany as she casted a spell and now the four of them looked like hunters.

"Now then let's find Dale." Said Tiffany as she then looked at Roxy. "And if we see the Sins, we will not engage unless they attack us. Understood?"

"Yes, mam." Said Roxy as she knew what happened to those who don't follow Tiffany's orders.

They then set out into the woods looking for their lost comrade.

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Kingdom of Liones, Britannia

While Tiffany and her team started their search back in Liones, Howser was talking with Gilthunder.

"No Way!" Said Howzer in disbelief. "Veronica is… Dead? Tha…that must be… a mistake! No.. now way? And what about… Grimoire then?"

Howzer couldn't believe it. He knew the two were there, but the Holy knights seemed more interested in attacking the Sins, so how?

"It seems that when the Seven Deadly Sins attacked Byzel… She and Griamor met an untimely death." Said Gilthunder as he paused in middle and looked upset.

"What!" Said Howzer as he knew it was a lie. He saw the Holy Knights attacking the town and the Sins defending it.

"How are we supposed to report this to princess Margaret?" Asked Howzer wanting to see Gilthunder's reaction.

"I was told no one was to see her as her heart is already broken from Elizabeth's disappearance." Gilthunder told Howzer, but Howzer knew Gilthunder well enough to see the pain in his eyes. That told him that Gilthunder was in pain, probably about not being able to see Margaret for whatever reason.

"And where's Great Holy Kinght Dreyfus?" Asked Howzer as he trusted him more then Hendrickson.

"He locked himself up in his private room." Said Gilthunder as that confused both men.

But they then heard training in the courtyard near them. Looking over the two saw the townsfolk that were drafted against their will being forced train. The two could easily tell that these people wouldn't last long in a fight. Not because of their skills, but rather how they were being trained without rest. Their bodies just couldn't keep up.

That's when they saw one man complaining about the training. The knight in charge wasn't having any of it when a new generation Holy Knight showed up. He helped the man up, only to knee him in the gut so hard the two could have sworn they heard the breaking of bones.

As the man fell to the ground unmoving both Gilthunder and Howzer were concerned about the new generation. Their numbers were growing fast, so fast many of the older generation were getting worried. Nearly everyone agreed that this new generation was savage and uncaring. To Gilthunder and Howzer they were everything a Holy Knight shouldn't be.

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Boar hat

At and around the Boar hat everyone was training in some form or another. King and Ban were training together. The two had started to bond a little bit over their love for Elaine. As they spared Ban told King he wanted to free the kingdom for the Horn of Cernunnos. A giant horn that is said to have the ability to communicate with the Goddess clan. It was his hope to use their power to bring back Elaine.

But both men weren't sure. Lucy told them about the tower of heaven that could bring back the dead. But to do it, it need a huge amount of magical power, enough to destroy a continent. And even then, it needed more, a human sacrifice. And this person needed a huge amount of magic themselves. And to top it all off, Lucy told them it never finished the job. She and her friends destroyed to tower before it finished the second part, so they never knew if it worked or not. So, knowing that Ban was curious to what the Goddess clan could want in return.

Elsewhere Diane was training with Gideon as her movements were sloppy. She knew that she had to get better and fast. Once she felt her movements with Gideon were back to normal, she was going to start mixing in her magic with her attacks.

With Elizabeth and Veronica to two were sparing. Veronica found one of their training swords as she attacked Elizabeth who rolled out of the way. As they trained Veronica was shocked by how well Elizabeth was doing. The way she acted it was almost like she used a whip for years, instead of weeks. But in Veronica's eyes that just meant Lucy was a really good teacher.

Meliodas sat on a rock far away from the others. He was deep in thought with questions and worry. He was worried because he lost the dragon handle and his piece of the coffin of eternal darkness. He didn't know how many pieces the Holy Knights had, but it didn't matter to him. Them having any pieces was worrisome. There was the failsafe to keep the demon clan sealed, but Meliodas felt they knew about that as well.

The questions Meliodas was asking himself now was how far he was willing to go to stop them? And should he tell the others what he is? He knew Ban and Diane wouldn't care, King might make a fuss, and Merlin already knew. But if Elizabeth knew would that cause her memoires to come back? He never once in the past told her, so he didn't know. But he did know he had to get more serious now. He had held back for so long his body was starting to do it automatically on him. He had to break that and regain his full power. He had to prevent another holy war.

And with that Meliodas got up as he picked up a stick near him. He then swung it downwards towards a large hill. The force from the swing cut the hill in two as Meliodas stood there with a determined look on his face.

Lastly Lucy and Grimoire were training near each other. Lucy sat on the ground cross legged as her breathing was heavy as sweat poured down her face.

"Keep breathing Lucy-sama." Said Capricorn as was helping Lucy with her magical power.

Lucy felt that was her weakness at the moment and was training to increase it. She felt she was close to being able to properly summon two spirts at the same time. Which was true as near them was Grimoire as he was sparing with Taurus.

Taurus slammed his axe against Grimoire's shield. Taurus grunted as he did, as he wasn't at full power. When Lucy summoned both him and Capricorn her magic split between the two of them. Thought since Capricorn was teaching, he allowed Taurus to have more magic.

"Grimoire-sama, your shields are like nothing I've seen before. But you always react to your opponents. If you use your shield to control where your opponent can go you can control the battle." Said Capricorn as Grimoire nodded as Taurus charged him again.

Grimoire then made a small shield that tripped Taurus. Taurus wasn't expecting this as his foot hit the shield and he hit the ground head first. When Taurus lifted his head, he saw Grimoire's sword at his face.

"Very good." Praised Capricorn as Grimoire helped Taurus up.

"Thank you for this training." Said Grimoire as he never thought of using his shield like this before.

Then out of nowhere everyone in the area heard a loud roar. Hearing this everyone stopped what they were doing and looked around worried that whatever made that roar was near them.

Grimoire wasted no time and rushed over to where Elizabeth and Veronica were, worried they were in danger. As Lucy got up slowly and weakly, she saw the looks on her spirits faces. They looked scared and worried.

"Capricorn, Taurus what's wrong?" She asked them concerned.

"That roar Lucy-sama, it wasn't made by a human." Said Capricorn as sweat started to form on his head.

"What do you mean?" Asked Lucy getting a little scared.

"It had a weird magic with it like a humans mixed with something else." Said Taurus worried.

Hearing that Lucy got a little scared, wondering what the creature could be.

At the same time a green haired man wearing a yellow shirt with a bag over his shoulder heard the roar as well.

"Oh dear, he's getting worse." Said the man as he walked into the forest, like it was normal for him.

Ok, first off I want to say sorry to those of you who were waiting for this chapter. I just moved out of my parent's place and all my thoughts were about the move and getting everything set up.

And I know his wasn't a very action-packed chapter. But after losing like that I just couldn't see them not training and getting better.

And thanks to Warmachine375 for the new holy knights. You'll get to see them in action next chapter.

Until next time.