Taste my Pain

Finding Spirits Within Stars

Taste my Pain

Chapter 8

The girls managed to get to the castle without any issues. As they flew, Lucy could sense a lot of eyes looking up to her, where, before they arrived, Cherita told her that they were merely curious to see who their new visitor was since it's been a long time since a human had step foot onto their land.  

The air clean where Lucy felt like her body was being purified, she was amazed when they arrived at the castle which was far more beautiful than she had ever seen. With pillars made from precious gemstones and minerals where its walls were cream white, the double doors that stood before her were large and dominating.

Everything was bigger, and from where she stood, she felt like a small ant looking up to the Human World. "How beautiful..." she whispered. 

Cherita smiled as she looked down at her princess who was much smaller than she was compared to the door. She was one of the medium-sized dragons here, so she stood a little bit taller than half the height of the white entrance doors. "Indeed, this castle has been well-maintained since its establishment. I was quite a young dragon when I first took my step into the castle and walking into it as a human, I can understand how big things can be. This is why I wanted you to learn how to sprout out your wings so moving around within the castle would be easier," she explained.

The blonde nodded her head as Cherita used her head to push the doors open. Her eyes widening to the large interior of the castle, she was amazed at how the materials were able to withstand the weight of the dragons. 

High ceilings, large spiralling staircases that were accessible for both humans and dragons and variously sized decorations, she took her first step into the castle where she felt like it contained the feeling of home within it.

"The atmosphere..." she noted where the dragon looked down to her. "This place is treated like a home to us all. If anything were to happen in a dragon's domain, then they're free to come here to stay until the problem has been fixed. Usually, dragons come here to socialize with others, and often we hold parties and meetings here too," Cherita explained.

The dragon taking a step inside the castle, she noticed how Lucy was stunned by the view but as time goes on, she needed her princess settling into the castle before nightfall. "How about you use your wings to make things easier for yourself? The humans that once visited our world would usually go about on dragons, but since you still have some time left with your wings, we can go into the living room."

Lucy nodded to Cherita words as she began to levitate. The dragon shifting into her human form, Lucy gave her a confused look to which she held in a giggle. "You will understand when we enter the living room space," she explained before leading the way with her wings on her back.

The two of them entering the living room, Lucy could understand why and looked at Cherita for an explanation. The living room was to human-scale and was much smaller compared to the hallway and entrance of the castle.

"Other than the hallways and the main entrance hall, all the rooms are to human-scale. If we were to remain in our dragon forms, then we may need to find larger resources in which we can turn them into suitable furniture... It would be quite rude if we cannot talk on the same level," Cherita stated where they both landed on their feet.

Getting a better understanding of how the castle was built and its structural integrity, Lucy nodded before taking a seat on the couch where Cherita sat on the opposite side with one leg over the other. Looking around where she found the space quite normal but had portraits of various paintings and her mother scattered around on the wall, she noticed how empty the castle was. "Uhm, where are the other dragons?"

Cherita looked over to the largest painting on the wall which filled up the entire wall space. There was a family painting of all the dragons present with their queen standing in front of them with a smile.

"They're currently either on patrol or just lazing around under the sun," she replied as she preferred using those two answers rather than the other that's at the back of her mind. "You'll meet them sooner or later princess but I must remind you that -" Before she could even remind Lucy that she's required to balance her emotions, she paled when she watched Lucy's eyes zone out before collapsing onto the couch where she quickly stood up in a panic. 

"Lucy?!" she cried out, shaking the girl to only hear her mutter sentences under her breath where she lifted her hand away and slowly took a few steps back. "The future?"

Lucy slowly opened her eyes to see herself standing in the crowd of Fairy Tail. Everyone laughing away until slowly their surroundings grew dark and black. Slowly, one by one, each head turned their attention to her where they began to laugh at her in sync and called her weak.

Then they all splattered onto the ground like water dropping where she looked up to the air to see an apparition of her mother smiling at her before walking away and fading into the darkness. "Mother? Mother!" she cried out before the same thing happened again but this time with her father.

Sinking to the floor with tears rolling down her face, she kept her head and eyes staring up into the air. An annoying buzzing sound echoing in her eyes, she stared at the screen that had tv static. "What's going on?" she whispered before blood splattered onto the screen where the echoes of mocking laughter resounded through the unknown space again.

Covering her eyes, she squeezed her eyes shut as images flashed through her mind where she couldn't handle it all. Her body glowing brighter and brighter, she let out a frustrating scream where everything around her shattered like glass.

With heavy pants, she slowly opened her eyes to see herself kneeling in the darkness with her friends on the floor and passed out. Feeling something wet on her palms, she slowly looked down to her palms to see them covered in blood. "W-What is this?" she asked shakily before she heard bell chimes.

"The path... is a gruesome one where one cannot control their emotions," a voice whispered where she looked up to see a young girl standing in front of her with a saddened smile. "All worlds are unbiased and -" before the girl could even finish her words, she vanished and that's when Lucy woke up from that dark world.

"Lucy!" Cherita cried out as she rushed forward to her as she sat up from where she was laying. A hand to her head, she shook her head with a groan before slowly raising to look up at the dragon. "Let's get you up to your room to rest," Cherita whispered before leading her out to the large hallway.

The silence between them heavy, Cherita kept on looking over to her worriedly. "Princess, I'm guessing that you've seen your future, am I right?" Cherita asked in a concerned voice as they walked up to the stairs.

"Please call me Lucy and not back to forth with the whole Lucy and Princess thing, but I'm not complete one hundred percent sure about what you mean..." Lucy replied. She was obviously confused about what Cherita was talking to her about.

 "I can feel your hesitation..." Cherita said quietly. "You must have seen a vision of your future – Filled with bloodshed and hardships. Unable to handle the magical pressure, you collapsed," Cherita continued.

Lucy hummed in response, "Are you saying that I might be able to see the future? But it doesn't seem like it. It felt different." 

The older woman nodded. "Yes, that's right Lucy but then again, one's magic is different from others. Everything is possible for you." Cherita answered as she stopped in front of a huge door. "And this is your room... Please feel like home and treat this place as one as well."

Lucy nodded and reached out to the doorknob where she slowly opened the door. Her eyes on the ground where she lifted her gaze, she was completely shocked to see her room.

The room that she was given was about 3 times bigger than her very apartment! Covered in shades of pink and white, it was just drop-dead gorgeous but not too bright in which would kill or strain her eyes. Her bed was a size king and was covered by this mesh veil just in case of mosquitoes (which there weren't any but were there to fit the princess style theme). And in the corner of the room, there was a huge drawer with brand new clothes, and her closet which was right next to the drawers was filled with many dresses and gowns for almost everyday life. On the bottom of the closet, there was a whole storage of shoes that was ranging from heels to boots.

The floor was marble, and she had her own bathroom inside. The walls were decorated with her photos and resting on her bed was a plush doll like her childhood one.

"Woah... It's so pretty," Lucy critiqued in awe. She ran around the room with glee as she checked out her room from top to bottom and in around 20 minutes of exploring her huge room, she decided to have a shower to ease the tension in her body.

Sooner or later, Lucy walked out of the bathroom feeling refreshed and new. Not thinking about the past, she sat down on the bed, thinking about all the possible new spells that she'll be learning in the future. "Hmmm, I wonder if I might see Igneel and the others while I'm here..." Lucy questioned herself as she hugged the plush doll that was on her bed.

Curious about her new surroundings, she opened the glass doors and walked onto the balcony, where everything was in view. "It's so beautiful. It feels like a dream that I just don't want to wake up from," she said as a cool gust of air flew against her hair. "If only Wendy, Levy, Mira and Lisanna could see all of this," she thought to herself with her eyes closed as the wind brushed passed her. 

Slowly opening her eyes, she had a small saddened smile on her face. As much as she would like her friends to see it, it was going to be a long time before she could see them again. 

With a sigh, she forced herself to turn away where she walked back into the room to see Cherita standing in front of her. "Lucy, it's time for you to have your dinner," Cherita said before walking out. She nodded before following Cherita down the staircase.

"I would like to know more about my future Cherita, and more about the dragons," Lucy said as she walked down the stairs and after the dragon that was walking so gracefully compared to herself. "I'll tell you more about your future once you finish your training. I understand that I told you that I'll tell you once you arrive here, but I think it's not the right time..." Cherita replied politely as she walked into the dining room.

The dining room was humongous, and Lucy would bet almost a thousand jewels to say that they've held a few ceremonies here instead of dining. A chandelier hung high above the ceiling, she could see speckles of rainbow scattered on the tiled floor where large arc windows lined one of the walls to reveal the night sky and the Dragon World.

Walking down to the long table with an estimate of twenty seats, Lucy took the privilege to take her place at the further end of the table where she quickly prepared herself there. 

Placing a napkin on her lap, and the other neatly tucked within reach on the table. She smiled to herself for being able to remember her table manners and looked up to Cherita and grinned. 

As Cherita looked down to her and smiled, the dining door opened to reveal two maids bringing in her food in which she noticed that only one meal was evident on the trolley that was being pushed towards them.

Turning back, Lucy looked up to the dragon that she had spent her day with, in confusion. "Aren't you going to eat, Cherita?" she questioned. Cherita shook her head and told the blonde that she had eaten while she was upstairs. 

Nodding to the dragon's reply, she turned back to see the plate in front of her with various side dishes to add more to her platter.

"It's nice to meet you, princess," the maid with short pink hair greeted as she bowed in front of Lucy from the other side.

The other maid, who had long jet-black hair, followed her partner's actions. "We're two of the few maids here who look after the palace. Our names are Berry and Cheryl," she introduced before the two stood up straight. "Today's meal consists of well-done steak with mushroom sauce. On the side, we have a fresh salad and to your pleasing, some homemade chips and freshly squeezed orange juice," Berry stated.

"Princess, please enjoy your meal that we've poured our hearts into making." The two of them bowing their heads again, they then excused themselves.

Lucy sighed and looked down at her meal. Of course, she's loving the food that's in front of her but, she looked up then scanned the table finding it unoccupied other than her...

It's lonely eating by yourself.

"Cherita, are we the only people here in the castle?" Lucy asked once again as she picked up her knife and fork and began dining.

The dragon nodded but noted the empty table which was once filled with many human-form dragons. Quietly, Cherita walked to the seat on the left of Lucy and took a seat. "We haven't used this dining table for such a long time. I know it's lonely Lucy. I know your past well enough to know your pain. Don't worry, everyone will dine with us once they find the time."

The blonde looked at Cherita with shining and hopeful eyes. "They will?" Cherita nodded and used magic to play with the decorated flowers in crystal glass vases. "They will but right now, we're all worried about our children. It's been long since we've seen them," she stated in reason in hopes that Lucy would understand their insecurities.

Eating silently, Lucy couldn't help but now feel comfortable with Cherita seated with her at the large dining table. Once she finished, Berry and Cheryl cleaned up the table where Cherita then gave the blonde permission to use magic in the palace.

"Remember Lucy, don't use magic recklessly. We already have enough troublesome men doing so here," Cherita said. Lucy happily nodded and was literally jumping up and down in excitement.

Hearing Cherita say that she's now excused, she immediately summoned her wings and quickly flew to her room. Getting ready for bed, she soon fell asleep after a long and tiring day.

After a peaceful rest, a new day meant something new for Lucy as she quickly got ready for breakfast. "Good morning!" she chimed as she flew into the dining room where she saw Cherita sipping some tea at the table.

Cherita placing her cup onto the plate, she smiled at her princess. "Good morning to you too, Lucy. Now come on, we have an exciting day for you after breakfast," she said in which Lucy hurriedly took her seat where the maids came out with her food.

After the delicious breakfast made by Berry, Lucy and Cherita were off flying to the Shimmering Nights to meet Lucy's first trainer, a celestial dragon.

"How come you're not teaching me first?" Lucy asked as they both flapped their wings at the same time in the sky.

Cherita smiled and looked straight ahead. "Well, Celestial Dragon Slaying isn't something I'm fully used or acquainted well, and since you're a Celestial Spirit mage, it's best to let you learn under the wing of a true celestial dragon and not some elemental who knows bits."

With a chuckle, Lucy understood Cherita's explanation. Cherita was an Elemental Dragon Slayer who only knew the basics of other types of Dragon Slaying elements. To teach Lucy would only mean baby steps – And they both didn't want that.

As they both headed closer to the location of the Shimmering Nights, Lucy noticed the fading of sunlight into the night where the stars up above greeted their arrival. Confused as they both landed in a clearing, she turned to Cherita in question to her observation. "Say, it's currently morning right now, but why is the night still visible here?"

Before Cherita could even answer Lucy's question, another voice answered it for her. "My dear, it's because this is the power of the Celestial Dragon. We only exist within the night, and instead of us being nocturnal, we rely on this power to make this environment more suitable to normal-dragon life."

Lucy looked around again, this time her eyes spinning from the confusion that she's currently going through. "Who said that?" she asked.

Cherita shook her head and looked up the night sky where she was looking at one shining star that had the greatest radiance compared to the others, "Stop being a star and come to greet the princess. It’s rude to do that and I hope that you haven’t forgotten your manners and respect to those above your status."

The star chuckled from the blunt response and slowly flew down in front of Lucy. She didn't know what was happening, but she was sure that the star would transform into a dragon within any minute. So, for safety measures, Lucy took several steps back and looked at the shining star which started to glow brightly which then happened to transform into a dragon.

The blonde smirked before being surprised to see a beautiful night dragon standing proudly in front of her. The dragon dark-dark-blue, which was almost the colour black, her eyes were blue with tiny stars on her last eyelashes. And if someone were to shine a bright light into her eyes during the night, you'll see them glowing in a yellow colour around the irises.

The dragon didn't have any horns but had spikes growing from biggest to smallest on her back down to her spine. Moving under the night, you could see the faint shimmer of the stars on her scales. It was just too beautiful to be described in words.

With a bow of a head, the dragon looked at Lucy with bright eyes. "I see that she knows when to take a few steps back when a dragon is going to shift. It's a pleasure to meet you, princess. My name is Starisha. I am what others call the Dragon of the stars, a celestial dragon."

Lucy nodded and smiled. "It's nice to meet you Starisha. I'm Lucy Heartfilia."

Starisha couldn't help herself to grin back to her princess and watched Cherita head towards her cave to rest and watch their training.  Nodding to the elemental dragon, she averted her attention back to the blonde in the front. "I'll be training you, princess. I'll teach you what I haven't taught the others... Now Lucy-sama, you must remember the trust that your spirits are giving you. Even if they're weak or strong, they're still depending on you, their master, to take care of them as you age slowly," Starisha stated with a soothing voice.

"Each spirit has their own star and constellation in the sky, and if you really focus, you can call them for help when you're in a fight during the night, or even the day if you’re able to find them. So, for your first training, it is going to be you finding your spirits within the night sky."

Lucy looked up to the sky in worry. As much as she knew many of her friends' constellations, there were a lot of stars within Starisha's domain. She was trying to locate them but whenever she found one, it turned out to be an imitation with either a missing star or an extra in the constellation.

"Please do note that even though it's training, I'm not going to be making it easy. If you choose the wrong star or constellation, a shower of stars will go flying directly towards you. Princess, you can either defend yourself or accept the pain for failing. Now take a step forward and if you can or is ready to start, please choose your stars," Starisha warned before cheering in hopes to ease her princess's worry about getting it wrong.

Lucy nodded and paced her breathing. It was something that she had picked up for herself to when it came to training. Taking this seriously, she didn't want to humiliate herself in front of the two dragons by picking the wrong star or constellation for her first selection.

She was now a princess, and it was now her job to prove her worth to the two dragons watching her. If she was the old Lucy Heartfilia, she'd pick any random once and wished for the best since she was in a rush to become stronger and catch up to her so-called friends. 

This time, she was going to fight diligently and efficiently, giving her the best amount of time to fight before running out of energy.

As seconds passed to minutes, Lucy did her best to observe if any of the stars around her were emitting off a sense of emotion or a connection. Closing her eyes, everything around her grew darker where she suddenly felt a warm connection coming from one of them and focused on the connection between them before acting. 

Quickly opening her eyes, she knew who it was from its emotions and its bond to her. "Assemble, Wings of the Dragon!" Flying high up, she then pointed to a star within a familiar constellation in the distance and felt it pulse to her voice of confidence. "I choose thee, come to my aid! Star of Virgo!" she said boldly.

Immediately the star that she had pointed to started to shine and fall towards to the ground at an amazing speed, passing Lucy as it fell. It landed on the ground where it transformed into Virgo who bowed to her direction. "Punishment, princess?"

After the first success of summoning Virgo, Lucy continued to focus on her task of calling all her friends. One by one, she was able to track them down, and when one star was found, her spirit would appear then disappear once she had found another.

Around seven minutes had passed, and Lucy was panting madly from the many summonses she was able to do from the stars without taking a breath. Feeling exhausted as she was unable to levitate as high as she was able to before, she gritted her teeth as she looked around. “I need to finish this without any mistakes,” she motivated herself through her pants.

"One more spirit left, princess! One more and you would've summoned all of them without any mistakes!" Starisha said loudly from the ground.

Lucy looking down, she nodded before spinning around slowly to look back up at the sky once more. Hoping to find the final star without any flunks, she scanned the sky to only see that every star was starting to look the same.

"I chose thee, star of -"

Starisha smirked when she heard Lucy pointing out to one constellation that she knew was the incorrect answer. "Ohime-sama, not every star is fully born into a spirit... Each star has its occupant and they all emit a certain aura..." she whispered.

Before Lucy could finish her sentence, the star that she was pointing began shooting stars down at her. Not wanting to get hurt she quickly used her wings to block them off. Tightly closing her eyes, she winced to the conflict and soon felt a strong connection from the left. Forcing her eyes to open, she turned her head to look through the gap between her wings and in pain, she managed to pull it off.

"I choose thee, come to my aid!... Star of Leo!"

The star levitating close to her, she saw Loke appear and went falling to the ground. "To think my princess was able to find me last..." Loke cried before placing his hand on his ring. "Tornado!" he shouted.

Creating a huge tornado from his ring, he crushed all the stars into fine stardust which relieved Lucy greatly. Tired, exhausted and feeling her magic completely deplete from her body, her wings stopped flapping. Looking at him with droopy eyes, she panted heavily.

Not lasting any longer due to the exhaustion of summoning without any breaks, her wings dispelled, making her fall towards the ground.

Loke landing in ease, he sprinted to her direction and caught her. "Well, it was the only spell that I could think of that didn't involve myself blinding you," he answered while shrugging his shoulders. "Thought you're not used to my radiant smile with wings attached to your back - Which I must say that they're stunning," he then chuckled.

While Loke created a huge fuss of Lucy fainting, Starisha looked over to Cherita with a sheepish smile. "Well, she did manage to find all of her spirits?" she said, unsure of why Loke was being such a drama queen with his master sleeping in his arms.

Cherita, who had a hand under her chin, looked over to Lucy in worry. "I think we should extend her summoning and take off some of the chains restricting her. I mean, there's a lot of spells being used on her," she mumbled.