BROKEN AND BRUISED

CHAPTER 29

When they first arrived at Crocus:

"Alright, what do you want to do Natsu?" Lucy turned to see that she was talking with herself. She sighed as she looked around her. "Off on his own I see. And the kids are with their uncles and aunts at a restaurant having lunch. I guess I'll just roam around then."

Stretching her arms, she began her walk leisurely, making sure to take her time and appreciate things as if she was seeing them for the first time. Stopping in a park that she knew like the back of her hand, she took a deep breath letting the flowers' scent wash over her before moving to the fountain in the middle.

Her reflection gazed back at her as she came closer to the fountain and she smiled at it. Her hand played with the surface of the water gently to not scare away the fish but stopped when she noticed them all fleeing.

"Oops sorry little ones, I didn't mean to frighten you."

The water surface soon calmed down and it was then that Lucy realized, it wasn't her own reflection that was staring back at her this time.

"WHAT THE-!"

She stumbled back away from the fountain.

Water rose from the fountain and took on the shape of a man. He had a well-built physique, muscles straining from the straps that were on his arms. His long blue hair shimmered with white crystals that were embedded neatly into it. His golden serpentine eyes zeroed in on the blonde who sat on her bum with her mouth open.

Instead of ears, he had two blue gills sprouting from the sides of his face. His chest was exposed, and instead of pants, he had his bottom covered by blue scales that were reflecting the water he was currently standing in. His left arm had a blue tattoo of a dragon head that was only halfway visible, the rest was tucked under a strap that had teeth hanging from it.

Lucy stared, and continued to do so for a while, before the man in front of her cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow.

"I thought the princess of the stars would have manners better than that. It seems that the bird was all talk."

That shook her out of her stupor. 'Princess of the stars?' 'Bird?'

Lucy widened her eyes. "Cetus?"

He gave her a half smirk. "She speaks." Water covered his tail before revealing in its place were two legs that were covered by blue scales. He stepped out of the water and knelt down before her, took her hand in his and kissed it. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Princess of the stars. The name is Cetus, and I am the sea serpent."

He helped her up and let go of her hand.

"But… how?" Lucy asked, puzzled as to why he was here.

"I assume the bird has explained about our world and how we spirits, work?"

Lucy nodded her head.

"It is exactly so. I chose you as my master a long time ago, but you never tried to summon me. At the end I got bored, and decided to just show myself before you." he stood with his arms crossed as he explained.

"I thought-"

"That you weren't strong enough to summon me?" when the blonde nodded her head, he sighed. "While it is true that I am stronger from a certain bird, my magic requirements are not that much higher of his. In truth, you could have summoned me almost two months ago."

Lucy blanched. "And you say your requirements are not too much?"

He quirked his head to the side. "Yes, it isn't. Do you think it is?"

For the fact that she was able to summon Corvus for a while now, she would say that yes, it was too much. She was not going to say that to him though, and Corvus was not kidding when he said that some of them were scary.

This man before her looked terrifying with his massive build, piercing eyes and the way the glare was never swept off his face.

Lucy cleared her throat and apologized. "I apologize for not trying to summon you sooner, but a lot has been going on recently."

"That's understandable. The bird told us about what was happening with you. Actually, the bird would not shut up about you, so I had to come make sure if it was all true."

Lucy fidgeted in her place. "And?"

"How do you address the celestial spirit king?" he asked.

"Stash face," The blonde replied without missing a beat.

He cracked a smile. "That part seems to be truthful."

She put her hands on her hips. "Well then, seems I have a lot of things to prove, huh?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "You could say."

She put her hand forward. "Well then, Cetus the sea serpent, would you like to make a contract where I will prove that it's all the truth?"

He quirked an eyebrow, smirked, and took her hand in a hand shake. "Show me what you got."

After the hand shake was done, Lucy looked at him and asked him the question that was bound to be asked. "Where do you want to leave your mark?"

Cetus thought for a while about it and then hummed. "I am not ostentatious like someone, so I do not wish for my mark to appear. If you do not mind, can I leave my mark on your forehead?"

Lucy nodded her head with a smile. "Of course. May I ask why did you choose that specific location?"

It was the first time in their interaction that he gave her a genuine smile. "Water is very similar to the mind, it can be calm and tranquil, and it can be a raging sea that is set to destroy anything on its path. This is why, I usually prefer to leave my mark on the forehead, so if there was any a time where you felt like drowning in your emotions and thoughts, I would be able to help you calm your mind."

Lucy was stunned that this spirit was able to do such a thing. It truly baffled her how vast these spirits from another world's capabilities are.

"I see," she said. "Well then, shall we begin with the contract?"

His genuine smile was still present when he approached her and kissed her gently on her forehead. Lucy expected something like what happened with Corvus. She expected to be in pain from all the power that was surging inside her veins. Yet it was nothing alike.

It was like water started flowing gently and caressing her body soothingly, healing all the tiny scars on its path until it reached her forehead, where it dissipated in a gentle manner. She hummed and closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of being protected by this strange power.

When he was done, she slowly opened her eyes and took a whiff of the air. It smelled like the sea.

"This was…" she looked around her and noticed that he was gone.

She took a few steps closer to the fountain and looked at her reflection. There was nothing on her forehead, yet when she touched it she felt a hum of power answering her call.

The mark glowed faintly. It was of a light blue serpent wrapped around itself with the head facing forward. Its eyes were hollow and she wondered why that was.

"You will find out when you call me next."

Lucy was not surprised that he could talk to her through the telepathic links.

"I see. Though I must comment on something, that it is quite rude to leave a lady like that without a proper goodbye," she said.

She heard him chuckle.

"Apologies. For someone who speaks so highly of manners, I seem to have failed myself in that. It is just, usually, that would be something that one would wish to experience alone," He explained.

"Why would I not want to experience something like that with you? It is because of you that I was able to," She reasoned.

He only hummed in response. It was quiet for a few seconds before he told her that she can call on him whenever she wanted and that water was needed for him to be called, much like Aquarius, and that if he deemed it necessary, he would come out on his own.

She thanked him and the link was cut.

She continued looking at her reflection before she went to search for Natsu.

Back to the present:

"Open! Gate of the sea serpent, Cetus!"

Then Lucy started glowing, a mark on her forehead appeared and started shining a blue hue as she recited those words. "And star dress, Cetus form!"

The mark on her forehead glowed brighter, the eyes in the snake's head started glowing gold and the snake hissed with its tongue out as Lucy was engulfed completely in a golden light.

The light dimmed, and there Lucy was, donning her Cetus stardress, with Cetus in his snake form wrapped around her protectively. His head rested near hers and his golden eyes pierced Minerva with the meanest glare that the Sabertooth mage had ever received.

As for Lucy, she was completely covered in light blue scales. It started from her shoulders down to her body and ended just above her toes. Her nails were a darker shade of blue. Her golden hair fell loosely around her. She had similar gills to Cetus in his human form instead of ears. Seashells decorated her hair into a tiara. Her eyes were closed, but when she opened them, the crowd gasped.

She had serpentine eyes, just like Cetus, and hers were locked on Minerva as well. Lucy extended her right arm in front of her body and opened the palm of her hand. Water droplets started to form in a long spear before it solidified into a dark blue trident.

"Defy you? Defy Sabertooth? Hmph." Lucy scoffed. "As if a guild like yours could ever hold power over me."

The trident in her hand glowed brightly as Lucy recited. "Heed your master's beckoning, and burn the evil right from its roots."

The water's degree around Minerva started rising causing Minerva to hiss. "Wha- what is this?"

"It's not a pleasant feeling, is it?" Lucy asked as she swung her trident and the water around them both started moving pretty fast.

"What is this? We can't see anything happening in the sphere!" the judge exclaimed.

With Minerva, she was taking hits left and right from Lucy from angles that were impossible to catch. The attacks were ferocious and non-stopping, and worst of all, she couldn't even see where the blonde might attack.

Sensing her from behind, Minerva readied an attack and flung it to her side. A shriek was heard, causing Minerva to laugh in victory.

The water calmed, showing Lucy hunched over in pain.

Minerva laughed as she opened her arms facing the crowd. "This is the power of Fairy Tail. They are just good in talking a big game but never once had they followed through with their words."

"Is this what the strongest mage in Sabertooth has to offer?"

Minerva turned around to see Lucy, with her trident pointing towards Minerva and a huge amount of water accumulating in front of it, with the biggest smile on her face.

"What? But you were…?" she turned towards the hunched Lucy only for it to merge back into the water.

"Has your greatness got that much into your head, that you couldn't differentiate a water clone from the real deal? Well I'll tell you how you can do that."

She released the accumulated power from her trident, creating a huge torrent of water that was impossible to escape from.

"Territory Dr-" Minerva tried to dispel the incoming attack, but it was too fast and too powerful, that it pushed her out of the water completely and down onto the arena ground.

"I never once let out a squeak when you attacked me. Did you really think I would now?" asked Lucy as she rode Cetus on his back and he got of the sphere, flying down towards the arena where he let Lucy down on the ground gently.

Minerva laid unconscious, surrounded by her Sabertooth members who were shaking her awake. Rogue and Sting looked at Lucy with the widest eyes, unbelieving that their Lady was completely demolished by someone from Fairy Tail.

"You will pay for this!" Rufus exclaimed with his fists clenched.

"Oyah? Is that another brat I see that needs to be taught a lesson?" Lucy asked with a raised brow as she looked at Rufus.

"You little-" Rufus was going to say something, but Mato intervened and dissipated the fight from even happening.

Minerva was taken to the infirmary, and Lucy changed back from her Cetus form. Cetus bid her farewell and took his leave.

After overcoming their initial shock, the commentators announced Lucy as the victor of the naval battle. She stood there in the arena, with her hand raised in a fist, as the entire crowd chanted Fairy Tail's name.

Erza stood there with tears in her eyes as she watched Lucy, this girl who she missed seven years with, who grew so much in terms of power and personality, taking a stand and fight to defend Fairy Tail's honor.

Cobra and Gajeel let out the loudest laughs at the trash talk that went down between these two women, and how Lucy completely obliterated her in all terms.

Fairy Tail cheered for their resident Celestial spirit mage with everything they got, for the amazing win she scored for them.

Her kids yelled in glee as her family all wore the brightest smiles on their faces. Laxus couldn't believe his eyes and he still had on his face a dumbfounded look. The amount of power that was exerted in that single attach was not a joke, and for the blonde to be able to put on such a display after all the beat down she took. He found his respect for her go even higher. Yes, what she did against Flare was amazing, but this was on another level.

There was only one malicious intent that was beaming. Arcadios watched, with a twisted smile on his face, the blonde as she left the arena.

"This is it! This is it! This is the thing that's going to ensure our future. Lucy Heartfilia, your sacrifice will pave the way for our survival."

Behind the pillar of the room Arcadios was in, Yukino tried her best to hold down her gasp. She didn't understand what he meant, but she didn't like what his tone suggested. She should tell Lucy of the upcoming danger immediately.

She walked down the stairs to where the Fairy Tail team is, only to find that the balcony is empty. When she asked about their whereabouts to a nearby worker, he had informed her that they all escorted the blonde woman to the infirmary so she can get patched.

Thanking the worker, Yukino was about to head towards the infirmary when she was stopped by her fellow guard.

"Arcadios-sama has called for us. We need to go there immediately."

Yukino looked distraught, and the guard caught on to that.

"Something the matter, Yukino-san?" he asked.

She shook her head and followed behind him quietly. She didn't know who to trust, and to disobey a direct order from Arcadios-sama was not an option. She wanted to ask this guard of his thoughts on their superior, but she refrained from doing so. She had no idea if this man was in cahoots with Arcadios in whatever he was planning to do. Her only option left, was to wait till she was done to inform Lucy, and hope that by then, she wouldn't be too late.

Back in the infirmary with the blonde, when she was done getting healed by Wendy and Porlyusica, she was quiet.

In truth, she felt guilty about how all of this went down. She didn't like the looks she received from the twin dragon slayers. Whenever she looked at them, she would feel the same thing she felt when she first met Gajeel, Cobra and Natsu. Some sense of familiarity and peace. It was weird, and she sort of knew what this meant. However, she had not discussed this with anyone yet.

At the moment, she was just glad that there were infirmaries for each guild and it was not a common room. She wouldn't want to deal with a certain someone now.

"Lucy. Glad to see you are alright." Makarov said as he walked into the room with the two teams following behind him.

"Gramps! Yeah, I'm feeling better. It was only some minor wounds." It wasn't minor by all means. She had severe burn wounds on her arms caused by Minerva, but she didn't want to worry them more than they already are. However, she could see no one believed her lies.

Makarov just shook his head and muttered 'Stubborn kids'. He cleared his throat and addressed the people in the room. "I was approached by the judges about the situation with the disqualification of team Raven Tail and the fact that the number of teams is no longer balanced. Because of that, they couldn't divide the number of the battles. So they told me that Fairy Tail needs to have only one team so they could continue with the games."

"This is probably done because of last day's event." Said Porlyusica.

"Last day's event? What is it?" asked Gray.

"Throughout the years, it's always been the same thing. A full on battle between all the teams and the members," She explained.

The members started to discuss between each other and settled down on who would be in the new Fairy Tail team.

"So," Gramps started, "It would be Erza, Laxus, Natsu, Gray and Gajeel. I would say that's a pretty solid team."

Everyone nodded their heads, but then Natsu turned towards Lucy who was bandaged here and there.

"You sure you don't want to join in Luce?" he asked her.

The blonde simply smiled and shook her head. She needed rest after that fight. No matter how tough she looked on the outside, everything that Minerva did hurt like hell. And, Lucy thought to herself that if it was for the fate of Fairy Tail's reputation, then there was no one better than this team to carry on with the entirety of the guild's wish.

"I believe you guys will brings us to victory. So, good luck!" she smiled at her family members, and they smiled back.

"We won't let you down!" Gray exclaimed.

"Sit back and watch Luce, I'll burn my way to victory."

"Please don't Natsu…" the blonde giggled at her friend's excitement.

Everyone left the room. Lucy sat on her bed with her keys close to her chest. It wasn't long before she heard the crowd cheer for the newly formed Fairy Tail team. She smiled softly as a single tear rolled down her face, she was happy that Fairy Tail was again being recognized for its glory, and that the former prejudice towards the guild was slowly disappearing.

A knock sounded on her door, and the blonde looked up surprised. She dried her face off before she went to answer the door.

Opening the door, she was face to face with someone she had not seen in a long time.

"Arcadios-san, how have you been?" she asked, unaware of the malicious intent of this visit.

"I have been doing well Lucy-san. I heard that you were left out of the newly formed team, and thought that this was quite… unfortunate." The smile on his face sent shivers down Lucy's spine.

The alarms rang in her head, something was definetly wrong. She tried to curtly move towards her keys in a subtle way. "Yes, however I believe it was for the best that this-"

"And I see that you do not have your keys on you. How unfortunate indeed…" he said as he slowly advanced towards the blonde.

"Arcadios-san…?"

"No hard feelings Lucy-san, but the plan needs you, and another one. The other one was already apprehended, and now it is your turn."

Lucy tried to jump to reach for her keys. He caught her by her hair and pushed her back. He put a rag on her mouth as she tried to scream, and slowly, she lost complete consciousness.

Arcadios sighed as he lifted her off the ground. "Apologies Lucy-san, you have been nothing but kind to her majesty, but the plan needs to go forward. It needs you."

He left the room, not noticing a tiny pink exceed that snuck out of his guild and was on his way to visit his favorite blonde fairy.

"Fairy-san…" Frosch whispered in tears.

Arcadios continued walking in the dark hallway when he stopped and sighed. "No matter what you say, nothing will change."

Darton simply shook his head. "This is too much Arcadios. This girl has done wonders to the royal family and has helped this country so much. Why must we disgrace all the help that she had offered by doing this?"

Instead of answering, Arcadios kept moving forward.

Darton looked at his retreating figure and sighed. He went back to their balcony and looked at the mural that was overshadowed by the huge pillars of the balcony.

The mural was depicting a dragon fighting a mage, thinking about how much time has changed. The games were once called the Dragon King Festival, and it was a banquet of dragons, humans and demons. It was changed because the last festival ended badly, and now it went by the Grand Magic Games. Darton couldn't help but feel dread settling in his stomach the longer he looked at the mural, fearing that history might repeat itself.

….

Jellal sighed as he watched the fight between the Sabertooth slayers and Fairy Tail's slayers. Natsu had pushed off Gajeel god knows where, and the blue haired man was sure that Gajeel now wanted Natsu's head. He looked over at Sabertooth's booth and was shocked to see only one exceed. It was the red one, the one who followed and screamed about the blond slayer's greatest achievements.

He shook his head and decided to check on his sister when he sensed it, that weird magic again. He looked in the crowd frantically, and there, he saw someone. There was a tear rolling down their face as they watched the fight between the slayers. They were wearing a black cloak so he couldn't see their face well.

He followed them, and as he was maneuvering the crowd, he lost the cloaked figure. He cussed under his breath and was about to turn around when he was blocked by a female he knew very much, and one he didn't want to see at the moment.

"I know who you are. You may try to hide it, but I would never doubt my guts when it comes to you," said Kagura with her hands crossed.

Jellal sighed. He took a deep breath before he looked her in the eyes and said. "Maybe, for your own good, you should let go of the past. Your brother wouldn't have wanted this…" and bypassed her as he continued walking.

Kagura widened her eyes before she turned towards him and shouted. "And what would you know of what my brother wanted?!"

But he was long gone.

She stood there stupefied. She knew who he really was. She heard all about how he was taken into the Heartfilia household and how he was staying there ever since. She didn't know what to do, because she knew Lucy and she knew how she was like. From the fights she watched, she knew Lucy was someone fair and just. So how was she letting this killer be next to her family? It was out of the question that Lucy didn't know what Jellal had done, because she was there when they were taken into the tower.

So she knew what he did, and yet she still let him stay with her? Kagura even heard that he was like family to her.

Had time changed him, in a way that it couldn't do to her?

She breathed out heavily before she relaxed her shoulders and went on her way. She didn't know what to do, and that was scaring her. As all her life, she knew exactly what needed to be done.

Jellal looked back from his hiding place to see that she was gone. He breathed a breath of relief before he continued trying to track down this magic. It was so familiar to him, that magic, and it sent tingles down his spine that something bad was going to happen.

He did not know if he should have said what he did to Kagura. But he was sick of his past still haunting him no matter how much he wished to move on from it. He was a changed man, nowhere in him did he see the man that he was all those years back, and that's how he wished to stay.

He stopped in his tracks to collect his thoughts. He heard the bell ring signaling the end of the match. The announcer announced Fairy Tail as the winner and it brought a small smile on his face.

That smile was wiped off when he sensed the magic again. He quickly set on its trail before he lost it again. He turned to a left and descended some stairs, walked briskly towards the bridge where the figure was standing.

The sun was setting and a gust of wind blew away the cloak. When the cloak shifted, Jellal was able to see this person's legs.

'A woman?' he thought to himself.

"I never thought I would see a sunset like this one ever again…" the figure said with a sad voice.

The second the person before him spoke, Jellal took a step back.

That familiar feel to their magic, the fact that the person was a female, and that soft tone of voice that he has heard so many times in his life and that he knew he would never get tired of. He knew her, and he knew her well.

"…Lu?" he asked, fearful of the answer.

She laughed. "It's been a while since I've been called that." She turned towards him, her blonde hair flowing with the wind as the cap fell off her head, and a small smile on her face as tears ran down her cheeks. "I've missed you, Blueberry."

A/N:

Hello… I know I am late. My apologies. We recently lost a loved member due to sickness, and it was not a well time. Life, has not been good lately, so I took some time off from everything just to focus a bit on myself, and now I am slowly trying to get back into the things I love doing.

I truly am sorry for leaving you hanging like this. I hope you like this chapter, and if you find it lacking then I deeply apologize for that as well.

Till the next chapter,

SIGNING OUT

KAWAIINECKO!