Taste my Pain

Taste my Pain Chapter 1   The chapter of Edolas had finally called its end, and the guild was still partying hardcore for the third time as they all welcomed an old family member home, Lisanna Strauss. Our main protagonist, Lucy Heartfilia, sat there and watched the party continue from her usual seat at the bar. Even though she's been a member of the guild for a very long time, she really didn't understand why they were creating such a big deal out of it, but then again, guessing that Lisanna's really an important nakama of Fairy Tail, it's explainable. Partying wasn't her kind of thing though. She preferred to sit in one place and watch as they all party it out with their friends and family where she got the joy of seeing them all having fun from where she watched. While the celebratory mood of the party was still ongoing, it somehow hurt the blonde to see the short white-haired and pink-haired boy being so close together. Well, from what she's been hearing all the time, the tales of the two mentioned for almost all her times spent here in Fairy Tail were mostly about them being together with bright smiles on their faces. From the looks of it, Lisanna was seriously someone that they had cherished and had wished to return for a long time. From her point of view, Lisanna was like a little sister to her. A very close one she should mention, like a sibling that she's been together since childhood. They were quite close to each other but sometimes, Lucy felt different since sometimes, there were times that she couldn't join the guild with their recollections of the old times as she wasn't there as they grew old together. Being one of the few that was unable to reminisce the memories with the guild, she sometimes felt like an outsider. There were times that she felt like she was the one standing outside of the window and watching the others laugh and enjoy their time together inside their own space that she couldn't penetrate into. Yeah, Lisanna's definitely worth keeping in the guild though. She was caring, social, and an angel to everyone in the guild since she was the type to never judge someone by the cover of their book. Ever since she came home, her original home, she's been clinging onto Lucy as she thanked her dear life for being there by her side here and over at Edolas. No one could ever find such a reason to hate such a pure beauty like her. Even though she didn't do a lot to help Lisanna and bring her back, she was still thankful for her for just being there. This time, Lucy decided to not become green in envy about the futile matter, even though she didn't like what she was seeing. She promised herself to protect Lisanna whenever they're fighting against enemies when they're on a mission with Team Natsu. That was indeed the responsibility of being an older sister. Responsibility... She liked the sound of that. Lucy really didn't mean bad when she promised herself that. As much as she fought alongside her friends, she thought that she should also get used to fighting while looking after someone. Lisanna was in a world with limited to no magic, and she wanted to be there next to her to help aid her into getting used to the magic within her again. "Lucy!" Lisanna called out, waving her arms over to the certain blonde who snapped out from her thoughts to smile back. Waving, before the blonde could merely finish her greeting back to the white-haired girl, Lisanna came tripping over a stray glass bottle of beer that way lying on the floor. She fell with her face plummeting down to the wooden flooring first, which seemed awfully painful to the witnessing Lucy. Quickly, feeling the guilt of not being able to catch her on time, Lucy ran over to the carefree girl up whose face was red. "Are you okay, Lisanna?" Lucy asked worriedly as she went on her knees.  Placing her hand on Lisanna's shoulder, she looked down to the girl who sat up with pained tears brimming up in her eyes. Watching her force a reassuring smile up at her, she watched her rub her nose carefully with a small pout on her face. "I-I'm fine..." Her smile made Lucy somewhat relieved. Being the scolding girl Lucy had always been when it came to handling things at the guild, she began to scold the girl in front of her. "You should always be careful when partying in the guild, it's been the third party and you should know this by now. Especially when there are home destroyers and exhibitionists present in the building," Lucy stated in a motherly tone, almost like Erza's where she looked over her shoulder to glare at Natsu and Gray who were yelling at each other. Lisanna nodding, she brushed away a bit of dust lingering on her clothes before pulling herself up from the floor which Lucy supported with an outstretched hand. Remembering that the white-haired mage came over to the blonde to talk, Lucy watched the girl look at her uncertainly. "Was there something that you wanted to ask?" she questioned. She smiled before pointing over to the doors, signalling Lucy that she wanted to speak in private. Confused at first, Lucy nodded since she wouldn't say anything and followed where Lisanna happily grabbed her hand to run outside together in quick haste. "So?" Lucy asked, questioning the reason why Lisanna wanted to speak to her in private rather than having a conversation normally inside of the building. With them being a part of the family, it wasn't unusual for everyone to have their private conversations within the building. The girl standing there for a moment, her lips frowned suddenly. "Lucy-san, somehow you seemed quite lonely since I've arrived here. Is there something the matter? Did I attract too much attention to make everyone ignore you? Did I do something wrong to make people isolate you?" she asked as she shot her a lot of questions in which her voice sounded concerned like a little sister finding out that she had caused trouble for her older sibling. Forcing a smile, Lucy shook her head in reply. "There's nothing wrong Lisanna, why do you ask?" That had to be one of her biggest lies that she had ever told to a guild member. Before she could say anything worse, she bit her tongue to hold it down. She wanted to say more but she knew that that'll step over the line and make the poor concerned child even more worried than how she is now. Lisanna sighing, she slumped her shoulders. "Please don't lie to me... Somehow, whenever I'm with Natsu, you seemed depressed, high-alert, and distant around us. The rumours are true, I do love him, but your emotions prove that your love for him is stronger than mine. Why Lucy-san? I don't want you to be sad," Lisanna stated as she looked into her eyes with much hurt. Lucy pulled the girl into a warm embrace which seemed to surprise her. "Lisanna, you're like my little sister. If you love Natsu, and Natsu loves you, then I'll be rooting for your happiness together. You're right about me loving him, but I'm not too sure about my emotions for him, but you seemed to have loved him for such a long time. Don't worry about me Lisanna, it's not my business to interfere with who and what you love most. Besides, you both look so happy together," Lucy replied in a calm voice as she forced herself to smile. Somehow, lying about her love for Natsu pained her deep inside. She really did love the naive boy with all her heart, but she just couldn't take the boy away from the girl in front of her. Everyone's been talking about them since she had returned from Edolas. They were like two jigsaw pieces that simply click together to finish a huge puzzle. Lisanna shined the brightest when with Natsu, and she knew better than to trample over such a long and sincere love for her own benefit. "Lucy, please... If there's something wrong, I'll be there by your side, with Levy and everyone else," Lisanna whispered with tears in her eyes. She knew how complicated this was going to be, so she wanted to talk to Lucy just this once just in case her future actions would hurt her even more than now. Slowly, Lucy wiped away the tears before giving her a warm smile. She had to act strong so the girl in front of her wouldn't catch and notice her wavering heart. Forcing her smile to remain on her stiff face, she patted the girl on the shoulder. "Alright, now off you go, I can't have the main person here and not there at the party," Lucy cheered as she softly pushed the girl back into the guild. Looking back, Lisanna sheepishly smiled to her in a silent apology before opening the guild door with Lucy trailing behind. "Yeah, you're right. The guild may even go on a scavenger hunt to look for me," Lisanna giggled as she opened the door with her head looking over her shoulder. As they both entered, Lisanna got instantly surrounded by the guild where Lucy went back to her spot where she remained there for another hour or two before leaving. She was happy to have a new little sister in the guild, but somehow, lying was awfully painful, especially to her heart.   Within the next morning, Lucy woke up late where she went running in and out of her bedroom and bathroom. "I'm off!" Saying that to no one in the apartment, she dashed straight off to her guild to meet up with her friends. "Good morning!" Lucy cheered as she opened the guild doors. She immediately sweat-dropped when she saw many of the guys snoring on the tables and floor while the girls were upstairs, ranting to the semi-sobered master. Guess the party finished late. Mirajane looked down to the main floor to see Lucy standing there awkwardly. "Good morning Lucy!" Mirajane greeted with her cheery smile. "I guess that they've been at it till early morning again, am I right?" Lucy mumbled as she tried to walk around the sleeping guys without stepping on them. The bartender walked downstairs with a forced smile. "Lucy-san, sorry that you just arrived here but can you please help me sweep the floor and clean the mess?" Mira asked as she pulled out a broom from out of nowhere. "Sure thing, no worries at all, Mira," Lucy answered as she collected the broom from the S-Class mage where she jumped over the sleeping Macao who was snoring away. As they began cleaning, two hours unexpectedly brushed by fast, and magically, the two were able to bring the guild back to its original state which was surprising. With thanks to Loke, all the guys were still sleeping, but this time not on the floor but properly leaning over or on something such as a table. "Okay, we're finally done!" Lucy cheered as she wiped away her sweat using the towel that she had received from Mira. After cleaning for what seemed days, she felt proud of her housework. The floor, from what seemed like a ground filled with unknown junk was now a spotless floor. Moments later, Lisanna came running in with tears welling up in her eyes. "Lucy-san!" Glomping onto Lucy, they both fell onto the floor with Lisanna still crying. "What's wrong, Lisanna?" the blonde asked as she looked over her shoulder to the girl's older sister who merely shrugged her shoulders unknowingly. With sniffled breaths, Lisanna began to speak. "T-Team Nat-su wants you t-to be replaced by m-me..." Tensing up for a moment as she didn't understand the girl, Lucy awkwardly rubbed Lisanna's back before helping her take a seat on a bar stool. "Calm down Lisanna, now tell me properly, and slower this time, what's going on." Taking in a deep inhale, Lisanna slowly exhaled before explaining the situation to Lucy. "Okay..." she replied with a small nod of her white head. After Lisanna's explanation, Lucy's world felt completely shattered as she processed the information in her mind. Her heart aching as she listened to Lisanna's sniffle, she just sat there with wide eyes as she was unable to provide a proper reply to the girl in tears. When she was about to say something to cheer Lisanna up though, the guild doors suddenly opened. Both turning to look at the doors, Team Natsu came walking in with concerned faces evident on their faces. "Lisanna, so this is where you went!" Natsu called out as he and the gang came walking towards them.  "I'm sorry, I just couldn't hold in the news..." Lisanna apologised. Standing up from her spot, Lucy stood her ground. "Why are you yelling at her?" she questioned them, looking at them with fake confusion written in her eyes. She didn't want them to know that she knew what they've been talking about. "We were discussing something really important until she ran off crying somewhere..." Erza explained with an annoyed expression. Strange. Before Lucy could even say something else, Natsu beat her to it. "So, Lucy... We were talking about a few things together with Team Natsu –" "And I wasn't involved nor told?" Lucy questioned where Natsu completely ignored her. "- And we all decided on something very important," he finished with a forced smile. "What was it something that made Lisanna cry? To think you all discussed something relating to the team without me..." Lucy asked as she felt ignored and pushed aside into the dark. Forget it. She already knew the answers, but she needed confirmation. Natsu scratching his scalp awkwardly, he dropped his arm to stubbornly grin to her direction. "Well... We decided that we're kicking you out of the team so Lisanna could join." Lucy stood there in utter humiliation as tears slowly filled up in her eyes. Looking over to Gray and Erza, they both silently stood there before looking away from her, not bothering to ease the pain that she was feeling inside of her chest. She thought that they were best friends... Standing there, she looked down to her feet with her hair shadowing her face. He didn't even say that in a nice way as well. No asking? Just kicking out. "And does Wendy know about this?" Lucy muttered. "She doesn't yet, but she'll understand since she really isn't an official part of the team," he replied as if he knew all the answers. Not saying anything for a few seconds, Lucy began to speak again. "And can I ask for a reason why you've made this decision?" Natsu stood there in shock. So many questions were being thrown at him!  "Geez, you're making it hard for me Luce. I'll make it straight. Well, you're weak and hesitant when you're on a job quest. All you do is hide behind your spirits, and then wait for us to come and help. You also make us get involved with these stupid problems such as rent –" "That's enough! How could you say all of this Nat-" Mirajane, who was watching from the sidelines interrupted.  "It's fine, Mira..." Lucy interrupted, her voice louder than what she'd expected. Looking over to Lisanna, she saw her tears running again. Ah, so this was indeed the reason for her tears... As Lucy turned her attention back to her team, she directly stared at Erza and Gray. "Are you guys actually agreeing to this? To this sudden decision in which you guys couldn't even bother calling me to discuss with? We could always ask the Master for an extra team member..." Gray just shrugged his shoulders. "Well, a part of it is true, I guess," he answered as he was unable to look at her directly in the eyes. "We still want to have a somewhat small team too, you know?" Erza, who just remained silent throughout the entire conversation, looked away. She was unable to say anything as she stood there in conflict. Sighing, the blonde balled her fists. "And I thought that we were the original three with Happy," Lucy muttered to herself where Natsu pulled Lisanna into his arms. "Then that settles it, welcome to Team Natsu, Lisanna!" he cheered, oblivious to Lucy's pain and rejection for kicking her off the team like that. Like words being used as a torturous plaything; Each word stabbed her like blades summoned by the scarlet in front of her. Lowering her head, she sighed as she forced herself not to cry in front of them. "I'm going to Master to tell him that I'm leaving Team Natsu," she whispered under her breath before walking off to Makarov's office. "To think I thought that our team would remain the same..." Mirajane came running out from the bar to grab her wrist, stopping her from walking further. "Are you sure about this Lucy? You could always settle things by talking to them. They would never do such a thing to you," Mirajane asked, trying to find a better way to solve things.  She forced herself to give out a laugh. "Well, you've just seen the outcome of the whole discussing through things. Anyways, I should just leave the team. They're right..." With a yank of her arm, she began walking up the staircase. With every step taken, she could feel that her footsteps were getting heavier to each rise of a step. Walking up higher and higher, she could hear Lisanna's cry echoing into her mind and vibrating through her body like a cursed ghostly cry. "No, Lucy-san!" Closing her eyes, she continued on walking up to the Master's office in silence. Her leaving the team... How cliché.