Taste my Pain

The Return of Lucy

Taste my Pain

Chapter 14

Lucy running through the portal, she saw the opening of the swirling doorway slowly doing its thing in front of her. Finding herself somewhat smiling, with one last push of her feet, she finally got out and found herself standing in the middle of an alleyway where she looked around to see where she was at. 

A brow raised as she caught the promoting yell of the local baker that she would often pass in the past, she smiled to herself once more before adjusting her clothes. Not trying to make it too obvious or too weird for herself, she casually began to walk out of the long alley where it's surrounding buildings towered over her height. Making a turn, she began to walk towards her new home which was roughly around a fifteen-minute walk from what Virgo had told her before they left the Dragon World.

As time passed, she halted when she caught a familiar scent, Wendy's. Not only that, but she was nearby her home!

Quickly, Lucy dashed towards her house and opened the door, slamming it shut just in time as the clueless Dragon Slayer walked past. She was lucky that Wendy had to make a turn into her street before she could see her.

Thanks to her enhanced hearing after her awakening in which unlocked the heightened senses that all Dragon Slayers and dragons had, she rested her back against the door and listened into Wendy's conversation with her company, Levy.

"Huh?" Wendy abruptly said. "What's wrong, Wendy?" Levy questioned, making tears well up in Lucy's eyes as she dropped her head. She never really noticed how much she had missed the two of them until hearing them speak now.

They were so close, but so far. In her heart, they stood further away from her heart compared to her dragons that stood close. As much as she wanted them to stand alongside the dragons, she still couldn't bring herself to trust much when it came to Fairy Tail.

"I swear I just picked up Lucy-san's scent," Wendy answered they got further away from her house. "Really?! Where is she? Is she nearby?!" Levy exclaimed where Lucy's breathing hitched.

Not wanting to get caught, Lucy immediately covered her scent. Placing a hand over her mouth, tears began to well up in her eyes since she was battling against herself in her mind and body. 

She wanted to talk to them and catch up like the old days, but she knew better than to reveal herself now.

"Huh? Her scent just suddenly vanished. It's more distant now... How strange," Wendy then said where they went out of Lucy's hearing range.

Looking up, she heard footsteps coming from the stairs. "Ah, you're here my princess," Loke exclaimed as he walked towards the blonde.

Wiping away her lingering tears, she happily waved to the prideful spirit with a saddened smile. "I couldn't leave you guys finishing up on all of the unpacking. I need to know where things are kept too," she said as she walked up to him. 

Asking if they've finished unpacking her stuff. Loke nodded his head and told her that Virgo had finished and returned to their world which made her coming back earlier than somewhat planned, a waste of time. "You could've told me though," she said with a small pout.

Loke laughing, he shook his head. "I can always show you the things that you're looking for so don't worry too much," he laughed before patting the back of her shoulder. "You should get used to getting spoiled by us here and there."

Sighing in relief, she shook her head in amusement before placing down her backpack near the staircase. Thanking him, she turned to him with an insecure smile. "Shall we go back to Fairy Tail?" she asked.

"You don't have to force yourself straight away Lucy. We have plenty of time to head over to the guild." She shook her head to which Loke merely shrugged with a sigh. Well, he tried. Turning on his heel, he began to walk to the door where Lucy grabbed the back collar of his suit which made his halter.

"Wait!"

"One thing!" Lucy reminded as she opened her bag to pull out two long cloaks. As Loke turned around to face her, she threw over the cloak, hitting his face to his surprise. "Wear this for now, I want this to be a wakeup call for them," she stated as Loke pulled away his cloak to only roll his eyes. 

Shaking his head, his lips pulled up to a smirk. He knew what his master was planning, so without further ado, he did what she had asked him to do and stretched.

When they wore their cloaks, they both looked at each other and nodded. Play some badass music now because when they pulled up their hoods, their identities were completely hidden from sight. Taking a step forward where they threw out an arm where one side of the cloak fluttered into the air, they then headed out of the house to head straight to their old guild – Fairy Tail, which was only ten minutes away by foot.

"Fairy Tail, I'm coming back and is about to give you a piece of my mind," Lucy whispered to herself. 

It was now or never, and the blonde was ready to confront her former guild members with her new self. She knew that she was much stronger than before, and that's what's currently encouraging her to face her demons, her old guild.

And while she and Loke were walking towards the guild, ever since the guild opened the letters sent by Lucy, everyone within the guild had lost all of their energy and motivation. With guilt and sadness swallowing them up whole, the weight of their cluelessness weighed them down as time continued to pass by.

Literally, if someone were to open the doors, the sadness would go flying straight at them like a storm. Well, one evil team is flying off again thanks to that.

Everyone sat there in silence until the doors of Fairy Tail opened slowly. There in front of the entrance, blocking the shining sunlight stood two hooded people that remained anonymous even though they were within the building.

"If you're here to join the guild, then I'm very sorry as your request has been declined by Master Makarov," Mirajane called out sadly from the bar as she looked over to the two.

Then, everyone began to look away slowly where the guilt within them made them feel sick. But even though they've turned their heads away, they found an invisible force forcing them to look back to the two unknown people who remained standing there still and eerily quiet.

The guild members were all thinking of the same thing as they stared. "Couldn't they read the mood?" they all thought.

The shorter person nudging the other, the taller person looked at them before they nodded to each other as if they were talking without words being exchanged. The tallest cloaked person walking forward a few steps, they threw away their cloak in a fashionable manner. As if they were stripping, they struck a pose to which the other shook their head. "That was much more extra than required,” the shorter scowled silently.

All eyes widened when they saw the cloak go flying and fluttering to the wooden floorboards. In front of them, all stood a familiar spirit that was dazzling with stars and confidence where they continued to strike some poses as if they were trying to impress someone.

That, someone, wasn't impressed but the others were.

Gasps could be heard from all around, and soon after, laughter erupted from the guild members as relief settled into their tense bodies.

"Bahaha! Why is Loke doing that?!"

"Why is he even here anyway?"

"Wasn't he Lucy's Celestial Spirit?!"

It was till then the laughter began to die down. Everyone's body growing tensed once again, they stared at the spirit as Team Natsu, Wendy and Mirajane all ran through the crowd and stopped in front of Loke who was smirking at them.

"That's right... Loke was Lucy's spirit..." Wendy reminded them all with a saddened voice. She questioned why Loke was standing in front of them, but she couldn't find herself to voice out her question.

All eyes filling up with sadness, they thought about Lucy dying and being dead where Loke was contracted to someone else. As the atmosphere grew heavier, the guild began to grieve for their Celestial Spirit Summoner.

The air within the building thick with grief and sadness, it was broken by the other cloaked person chuckling. After a few lingering seconds where their chuckles echoed through the silent building, the person calmed down before wiping away a fallen tear that was created from the amount of disbelief that they were seeing.

"To think that they would assume that something bad had happened to me," she whispered. With a tug on the hood, the hood dropped to reveal the blonde's face where she slowly opened her eyes with a smirk plastered on her face.

"Lucy?!"

Faking an innocent sob, Lucy forced herself to give out an innocent smile. "To think you all still remember me, even when I've changed so much. Don't I feel loved."

Lucy did change. Her appearance had also changed.

Her hair grew down to her waist and she was much taller than before. She wore a black corset with white lace, and following that, she wore a white mini skirt which made the two combinations look like a dress. With low twin tails, Lucy wore a belt that held her original set of summoning keys and an individual key hanging on the side where it was secured by an embellishment of a dragon's wing. Her whip at the back, she wore black combat boots.

Looking more mature than before, she was considered more stunning than she was in the past. She looked confident and much stronger when it came to her aura and presence.

"I see that everyone has changed a lot, including you Lisanna..." Lucy noted in a cold tone as the mentioned mage stepped forward proudly. Lisanna giggling, she flicked a finger over to Lucy mockingly, "Well, well, well... If it isn't blondie who ran away from her family."

"Who knew you were this sneaky..." Lucy whispered as she glared at her new rival. Flicking her hair back behind her back, she planted her hand on her hip. "Now that I think about it, I had to do something here before I start a petty girl fight." Ripping her gaze from Lisanna, Lucy was now glaring at a new person.

Laying her cold eyes on Natsu, she dropped her gaze down to her guild insignia slowly reappearing on her right backhand. 

"Lucy. About what I said –" She raised her hand to interrupt his sentence. "Natsu, I meant what I said during that time, and I'm here to take my word. Natsu Dragneel, I challenge you," announced the blonde where she moved her hand to point at him with much hatred in her eyes.

"I'll see you later," Loke said where he went back to his world. As much as he wanted to stay by Lucy's side, the tension was getting too much for a delicate lion like himself. All he wanted to do now was to go into the kitchen, pop some popcorn and enjoy the show within the comfort of his home with the others watching too.

Raising a brow, she smirked. "You will not deny this challenge," she threatened where everyone began making their way to training grounds which was located behind the guild building. They were quiet and shocked when she had challenged one of the strongest wizards within their guild.

Somehow, the guild was much larger than before, meaning everything else got upgraded as well. There were new and improved facilities and Lucy knew that they've done nothing much to deserve such luxuries.

"Luce, I didn't want to fight ya, but since you know that I would never say no to a challenge..." Natsu called out from the other side. Cracking his knuckles, he gave her a toothy grin.

She rolled her eyes and waved him off. She wanted to severely hurt him, and she wasn't challenging him into a friendly fight. She wanted to make him regret his choice of words and actions.

Even though he was under the influence of an old spell, the fact that he had thought of her of being weak annoyed her deep inside. She hated being looked down upon on, and she was beyond over it after knowing her capabilities that were restricted in the past.

Mira, Erza and Makarov making their way to the field, they all stood by the sidelines as emergency help since they knew that this could turn into a dangerous battle. And while the fighters got ready, everyone that was spectating was placing their bets on their chosen winner.

And of course, Natsu was dominating the bets by ninety-five percent with Lucy on five.

Not wanting to fight the blonde in front of him who vanished for such a long time, his fists ignited with flames. Thinking that Lucy would somewhat back down from the challenge, he was surprised to see her staring at him unimpressed where she looked away and looked down to her nails as if they were amusing than him.

Not enjoying the fact that she wasn't backing down, he gritted his teeth in unknown annoyance. She was supposed to get into a fighting stance and not acting as if she wasn't scared of fighting him.

He was a salamander where she was just... Just a summoner. 

"You may begin!" Makarov's voice announced where his head snapped to the old man and then back to the blonde that seemed to be minding her own business.

Grinding his teeth, he immediately began to charge forward towards Lucy. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

To everyone's surprise, Lucy caught his fist without having to look at him. Her hold on him tight and secure, she slowly turned her head to look at him with a smirk before opening her mouth. "Watch where you throw that fist of yours," she muttered before she began to eat his flames which went waltzing to her open mouth.

Afterwards, using her hold on Natsu's fists, she threw him to the other side. Brushing away the invisible dust, she stretched and groaned tiredly where, as he landed on his feet, Natsu weakly fell onto his knees with shock evident on his face.

"Thank you, Parasine," Lucy thanked in her mind as she looked over to the pitiful Natsu trying to force his legs to move.

He thought that he could overpower her, but he thought wrong as she turned her body to face him completely. She was over being called and labelled as a weak person. She was done being mocked.

She hated the fact that those that once stood before her in a challenge had always thought of her as a weak wizard until she finally stood her ground. She was over being underestimated by her opponents. And ever since she accepted the help from her dragons, they had always told her that she was beyond stronger than anyone else. She has been training for this.

She was ready to finally prove them all wrong, and without any further delay, she got into action. "Water Dragon's Roar!"