Taste my Pain

Come and Join Again

Taste my Pain

Chapter 17

Months had passed and nothing out of the ordinary has occurred within or outside of the guild ever since the day that Lucy had returned and challenged Natsu into a sparring match. Well, that's what everyone had thought when the mentioned blonde returned from her long journey of becoming stronger to prove herself worthy.

Remember how it was always Natsu and Gray being the ones that fought against each other all the time? Cross out Gray's name and put in Lucy's, and then congrats, your new entertainment of daily fighters was Lucy and Natsu who couldn't stop bickering each time they were to get involved in a conversation together.

Not only that but bring Lisanna into the image. They, Lisanna and Lucy, don't really talk to each other, but if they happen to stand close to each other, they wouldn't stop glaring at each other.

The blonde hated Lisanna's new but arrogant attitude whereas Lisanna hated Lucy for returning back to the guild where everyone would be paying more attention to the blonde rather than herself.

"Come on Luce! Please come back to Team Natsu!" Natsu cried out as he threw his arms into the air.  And this was the main reason why the guild was no longer silent.

Without looking back, the blonde huffed. "No," she bluntly answered as she faced her back to him where she sat in her usual spot at the bar.

"But why?!" Natsu questioned for the thirtieth time.

Balling her fists, she nodded her head to Mirajane in appreciation who placed her glass of orange juice in front of her. "Just go and call for your Lisanna instead of me to do whatever you have in mind... I'm weak remember, I'm sure that I'll be dragging and slowing you down if I were to join?"

The entire guild all stopped what they were doing once they heard her reason. Silently, the guild all swallowed in their dosage of guilt pills. 

Ever since she returned, the guild would swallow the invisible guilt pills that were made out of their regret and sorrow whenever she was to reference their treatment to her in the past. Each jab would be a guilt pill, and when she was annoyed about it, they would swallow a handful to remind themselves of the mistreatment that they've done.

"I'm sorry for calling you that you're weak when really you're not! It wasn't on purpose but why not join Team Natsu again? I'm sure the old man would say yes to an extra person!" he pleaded, wanting to somewhat make Happy energetic and happy again but also to have the original members back on the team.

Natsu being desperate to have the blonde back, he continued to pester her. Hearing her sigh, he knew that was he on the losing side as usual since she would always repeat her replies to him like a broken record. "No can do, Flame Brain. I think you should seriously stop bugging me now... You know, before I get annoyed and seriously show you the true potential of what I can do to shut you up," Lucy scowled as her patience was running low. Her voice low, she tensed up her body.

The pink-haired mage taking a step back in caution, he saw stars slowly glowing around her in which he had no other choice but to do it. "But Luce!" he whined as he pulled out his cutest puppy eyes that he could ever do.

Quietly, Lucy turned back to see if the boy had given up, but unfortunately, he was still here. Staring at him with a blank expression, she blinked then blinked a few more times to reassure herself that he wasn't doing what she thought he was doing. Her brows raised, she c****d her head to the right and crossed her arms as she was still unamused by his attempts to sway her firm answer of no.

"What the heck do you think you're doing?" she asked. A bright light appeared beside her and there Loke stood while adjusting his suit with a grin on his face. His eyes excited to meet his princess, when he looked up, he saw how disturbed his princess looked and furrowed his brows until he watched Lucy raise her finger to point at something behind him.

Slowly turning, he widened his eyes and saw how Natsu had his hands tightly holding each other and placed in front of his chest where he had large puppy eyes on his face. A pout evident, Loke didn't know what to do until he began to laugh out loud from the sight that he was seeing with his own eyes. "Holy!" he laughed.

Laughing out loud with tears rolling from his eyes, he tried to say something to the salmon-haired boy who was trying to act cute. "Sorry, Natsu – Pffft – But we're going on a job with Wendy, Cana and Charles/Carla/Charle," Loke stated before clutching onto his stomach and wheezing.

Natsu still holding on with his puppy eyes, he watched Lucy roll off the chair and place her feet elegantly onto the floor. Her face of no amusement evident on her face, of course, she rolled her eyes and no other choice but to give up before her spirit fainted from laughter, "Fine, I won't join the team, but I will go on a job with you. Now stop using that face before Loke passes out from lacking air in his lungs," she said firmly, grabbing Loke by the back of his collar to prevent him from falling onto the floor and embarrassing himself by rolling on it as well.

"Hey Lucy-san, what is Loke laughing abo-" Wendy stopped what she was saying to stare at Natsu in disbelief before laughing and joining in with Loke. 

One by one, more people began to join the laughing crew where Natsu gave up and got rid of his little pouting face in which caused his cheeks to wobble.

A few moments later Loke caught his breath and looked up to Lucy with tear-stained cheeks. Getting up, he took a few moments of proper breathing before standing up straight and thanking his master for not letting him roll on the floor. Dusting his clothes, he waited for Lucy to call out to her friends that were going to be joining them on a quest. 

"- Not you, Flame Brain," Lucy waved off as she walked out of the door.

"She called you a Flame Brain – Again!" Gray mocked as he laughed at Natsu. "Bring it on Ice Princess, go get your tutu and dance on stage!" Natsu argued back where Gray slammed his forehead against Natsu's. "Oh, yea? Flame – Brain!"

"Can the both of you shut up?" Erza snapped as she slammed her palms onto the table. The two boys stopping immediately, they linked each other's arms and stood next to each other with Happy faces. "Aye sir!" they cried out in unison.

The scarlet getting up, Natsu and Gray watched but stiffened to the sound of her armour clicking and rattling against each other. "We have a job to do," she stated where the two looked at each other before back to her.

"What job?" they asked in sync before glaring at each other. They quickly broke their little glaring war to watch Erza lead the way. 

The original Team Natsu following Erza to the door, Gray asked her what the job was once again. "Following Lucy and her temporary team," she answered as they sneaked behind Lucy's group but was not too far away to lose them.

The guys looking at each other and then back to Erza, they liked the sound of the job that Erza had staked a claim upon and happily followed. As the four (with Happy) walked out of the guild doors, the guild watched them. 

Why? 

They were all somewhat relieved that Lucy had returned to the guild after what they've done, but her coldness to them was actually quite menacing. None dares to hit her, nor do they have the guts to allow a flying object to hit her when fighting like the old days.

Her expressions cold to practically everyone, they were quite jealous that the coldness that they experience daily melts away when she's around a small group of people who never gave up on her and believed in her strength and power from the very beginning.

The guild knew her capabilities all too well. She was not the little Lucky Lucy who everyone had once placed their doubts upon. Now, the present Lucy Heartfilia was no Celestial Summoner, but pretty much an almost elemental Dragon Slayer.

And as they fought in hopes of completing their job soon, Lucy snapped her head over to Loke as she landed on the branch nearby the lion spirit. They were ambushed and they were annoyed that they were outnumbered.

"Are you alright, Loke?!" Lucy yelled out as she saw her spirit fall on his shoulder, holding onto his deeply cut injury with his other arm. Her face showing concern, she jumped down and swiped her arm across the air to knock out a man that had tried to grab her around the neck.

Loke looking up to her where he winced at the pain searing up his arm, he forced himself to smile. "I'm fine princess, don't worry about me," he whispered before forcing himself to stand up where the blonde supported him with his arm over her shoulders. "No more fighting Loke. I'd like you to rest up in the Spirit World. I'll handle it from here," Lucy instructed as she looked around in alert. 

Seeing that his beloved master wasn't going to budge and let him fight alongside with her, he sighed as he noticed that there was no time for any arguments about him being alright. Nodding his head to her words, he closed his eyes and returned, not forgetting to say goodbye.

"Celestial Dragon's Roar!"

Wendy and Cana running up to her, the Sky Maiden turned on her heel and took in a deep inhale. "Sky Dragon's Roar!" she cried out, knocking down a large tree in the distance in hopes of slowing down the incoming wave of enemies that wanted to chain them down and abuse them.

The three of them regrouping, they stood to face their backs towards each other. "Just how many are there anyway?" Cana complained. Lucy looking over her shoulder, she rolled her eyes. "Why are you even complaining? You wanted the jewels didn't you, for your booze?"

"Hey, I just miss my beautiful booze!" Cana whined, taking a swig from her last remaining alcohol. Agitated, she threw away the bottle and took out a card from her pouch. "The Prayer's Fountain!"

As soon as the waves of water came shooting out of Cana's card and towards the enemy, Lucy took out Aquarius's key and placed it into the water. "Open, Gate of the Water Bearer! Aquarius!" Lucy summoned.

The summoned spirit, Aquarius, appeared by her side in no time as she scowled over to her master. "You called blondie?" she questioned coldly, narrowing her eyes over to the blonde who looked away shyly. "I didn't happen to disturb you on your date, did I?" Lucy questioned as she took a few steps back in caution. 

The mermaid shook her head and clicked her tongue. "Don't you even dare to use magic water to summon me!" she scolded before casually bending her back backwards where she went back up again as her urn released a powerful giant wave to the bad guys. 

Looking up to her spirit, Lucy gave her a thumbs up. "Thank you, Aquarius." The blue-haired mermaid nodded her head. "You're welcome Lucy," she replied stiffly just as Wendy notified them that there was still a lot coming their way with a yell.

 "Aquarius, do you mind one more wave?" Lucy then asked as she pushed back another wave of enemies with pillars of fire. The spirit nodding her head after rolling her eyes and sighing out of annoyance out loud, she released another wave which washed off more much to everyone's relief. 

"Thank you, we'll handle it from here," Lucy said and quietly. "Don't interrupt my date," she grumbled before she nodded before returning to her own world where the blonde slid her key back to its rightful place with a soft smile.

"Since when have you two been so close?" Cana asked with a smirk. "Just recently," she shrugged with a smile.

"No time for chit-chat you guys, there's still more coming!" Charles/Carla/Charle panicked as she saw more people coming their way, her wings outstretched, she picked up Wendy and flew her higher to assist with her partner's attack range.

Cana stretching her body, she held her cards close to her chest as she growled in annoyance to the constant waves of people wanting to subdue them. Her hair madly swaying to her head movements, she narrowed her eyes to the three men that surrounded her. "What do you expect when we're fighting against a whole bunch of united idiots and criminals?"

"This is taking too long, our powers won't even last if we continue!" Wendy cried out in desperation. "I don't think I'll be able to hold them back for too long!"

Her head looking up to the panicking Wendy, Lucy clicked her tongue before looking down to the group that also surrounded her like Cana. "Well, while we're fighting here, another group is fighting somewhere close," Lucy said as she held her new whip above her head and whipped those around her. 

"Who's that?!" Cana asked.

Lucy looked over to her right where she caught the scents of very familiar people in distance. "I can sense Team Natsu not too far away from here," she answered where a man walked up to them with opened arms.

The four girls got into a protective stance as he stopped a few feet away from them. "Hey Blondie, why won't you join our side? You look quite the –" Scowling, Lucy walked up and punched the man square in the jaw where a satisfying crunch echoed through the short duration of silence. Watching the man fall down, she kicked him in the gut where she watched him fall into his men that tried to catch his fall.

"I'm no resource, let's continue girls! Treat this as a battlefield with no return!" she spat before the girls all continued on fighting.