A/N: The new chapter truly enrages me. So much wasted potential and hated the fact how Mashima wrote the plot of the battle between Erza and the mother. Truly disappointing and I hated this.

This book will be better. The fight between Erza and her mother will have more meaning and more have drama suspense, especially when Lucy is involved. You will know what I'm talking about once you read this chapter.

Again, I'm started to hate the manga's plot. But I will forever love Fairy Tail because of erlu. So yeah...I'm pretty stubborn.

Please enjoy? 😢

Lucy knelt in front of her fake grave that she set up solely to make Erza and the rest of the Fairy Tail members discouraged to fight her battle. Right now, as far as Lucy knows, Erza still believes that she is still dead. Now she questioned if it was the right method to use. Everything was not going according to plan, and everything was failing. And Lucy was becoming desperate.

She wanted them to stay away from her troubles, and she knew that this battle was meant to be fought with others. But she continued to deny it, and she will deny it with all her might. She will not lose them again. Not this time, and she'll make sure that it won't happen.

"Lucy."

Lucy looked over her shoulder to see Hisui behind her. She stood up and faced her with a silent scowl of being interrupted, having a slight idea of what she wanted to talk about.

"I need to talk to you."

Lucy sighed deeply and turned her back on her, and faced the grave once again. "Can it wait?"

"To be honest? No. Lives are at stake here. And you're too busy trying to not get help, which we clearly need." Hisui said, getting closer to the blonde.

"I was alone when I started this quest more than 10 years ago. Then I got help, and you're one of them."

"Maybe you need more people to help you."

Lucy sighed and turned back to Hisui. "Maybe, if I could trust them. But how can I expect trust from my allies if I can't trust them completely?"

"Huh?" Hisui crooked her eyebrows as she stared at the blonde questioningly.

"I didn't say anything because at first I'm already too frustrated with my own problems to deal with you people who decided to go behind my back and disobey me." Lucy silently glared at Hisui.

Hisui silently looked at Lucy, letting her words sink in. "What?"

"You heard me." Lucy frowned at Hisui.

"I...We would never go behind your back."

Lucy sighed and turned to face the grave again, and contemplated on how her efforts are being laid to waste thanks to the help of Minerva and the others. "I had relied on you and the others, relied on you to gather the Intel of each mission that the members of the alliance had been on. I relied on Minerva to keep the Dragon slayers and Jellal in check. I relied on Jellal to keep the criminals in check, and I relied on the rest of the members to do their jobs accordingly to my orders. And this is what I get?"

Hisui frowned, slowly understanding what she was talking about. "We only did what we thought was right."

Lucy clenched her fists and turned to face Hisui with a glare. "So dragging people in our problems is the right thing to do?"

"Fairy Tail was already involved in this since the day you joined the guild. And you're still part of the guild!"

"That was 7 years ago. Fairy Tail may had been involved back then, but now? It's best if they kept their distance."

Hisui frowned. "Is there a reason for that?"

"Plenty. But you don't need to know them." Lucy spat before walking past Hisui and back into the palace.

"W-Wait!" Hisui called out after Lucy, but the blonde was already gone, assumingly inside of the palace.

Lucy was still enraged after learning of their 'plans' when reading Jellal's mind before the bloodied incident of the councilmen.

She didn't say anything at that moment because the weapon that the council possessed was far more important than what Jellal and the others had been planning. And she opted on dealing with them after talking to the councilmen.

But what she hadn't planned on was dealing with the murder of the councilmen and dealing with one of the members of Tartaros. Yes, she was caught off guard, and yes, she was lost because she was worried about the safety of a certain someone that wouldn't leave.

Walking back into the palace, where the other members stood, still questioning about what they should do next, Lucy walked toward them with an expressionless look on her face, while internally, she was angry. But she didn't let it show as she approached the group of members.

Jellal was the first to notice Lucy and stopped talking to Minerva and cautiously watched as the blonde walked closer.

It wasn't long till silence filled the room as Lucy stopped in front of them, giving them a deadly silence glare.

"I want to hear your reasons, and I dare you to try and reason with me. Why did you do it?" Lucy glared.

Jellal then eyed Hisui as she ran into the room, and quickly knew what happened, or thought what might've happened. Minerva gladly stared back at Lucy, always loving a little staring contest. Sting and Rouge  just stood there, not sure if they should leave or not.

"I told you already, we did it because we knew it was the right thing to do." Hisui added as she walked deeper into the room, stopping just behind Lucy.

"Then try and reason with me." Lucy asked, not even turning her head to look at Hisui in the eyes.

"It's already evident when you came back injured that one time. You almost died.  And this was because you were on your own." Minerva said as she stepped closer toward Lucy.

"It won't happen again." Lucy spat.

"The first time, understandable. The second time, you haven't learned your lesson. The third time, you're an idiot. And the fourth time? You're going to be dead before we defeat Zeref." Minerva droned on as she scowled at Lucy.

"I don't care what happens to me. I will fall as many times as I need to, I will bleed as many times as I need to, in order to accomplish what I need."

"You almost died one time, couple years ago. You wouldn't even be here if Zeref had not decided to intervene." Minerva added.

Jellal, Hisui, Sting, and Rouge decided to keep their distance, hoping that they wouldn't be caught in the anger of the blonde. Minerva, however, was no affected and continued to give the blonde the dead scowl and taunted her.

Lucy narrowed her eyes at Minerva and clenched her fists. She hated that memory. She gets nightmares involving the incident of fighting one of Zeref's pawns, and to be saved by Zeref in the end. She hated the fact so much.

~Flashback~

Lucy stood her ground as she faced her opponent that she had sadly came across. And the person that she faced looked so much liked her. And it scared her to no end to think that this was actually the girl that she knew. The girl that she had fought with.

Despite the flowing red locks, that smirk and those deadly eyes was not something Lucy was familiar with, and knew that this woman was related to someone else.

Lucy knew that this woman was somehow related to her late friend, and she remembered that she told her that she had no living relatives alive. So, Lucy wanted to know the truth.

The first couple blows from the redheaded woman had given the blond a hard time, as she had to focus 100% on her defense powers.

After throwing couple more attacks toward the blonde, the redheaded woman smirked  before scowling as she started to walk forward toward the blonde who was struggling to get back up on her feet.

Lucy panted heavily as she got up to her feet and readied her defensive, and tried to think of a tactic to use against this woman.

"To think you are still alive. Hmm...it will be a great pleasure in killing you, Heartfilia." The redhead woman intoned with a tone that Lucy knew all too well: Hatred.

Lucy narrowed her eyes as she tried to study her motive, but failed to find one. "What? What are you talking about? How do you know me?"

The redhead woman continue to glare at the blonde with looks of hatred and anger. "Your mother betrayed me, left me behind to be tortured. I swore to her that I will make her suffer, along with you."

Lucy eyes widened as she was still processing what the woman had just said. "Y-You knew my mother?"

"Unfortunately, yes. It was an incident of betrayal that enraged me to no end, especially when she knew I was pregnant."

She was silent for a moment or two before she pieced in the details. "Pregnant? A-Are you in any chance...Erza's mother?" Lucy asked.

"Oh? So you know that pathetic child?"

Lucy's teeth gritted in anger at the tone and words that the woman had just spoken.

"I've heard she's dead. Good riddance, wouldn't you say?" The woman smirked, already knowing the state of her child, and the rest of the Fairy Tail members, thanks to the Intel of Zeref's.

Lucy clenched her fist and bit her lips, making it bleed. "No..."

"Hmmm?" The redheaded woman smirked.

Lucy's brown eyes started to shimmer, a sign of a magic of using all 12 zodiacs are being used at the same time. "Don't you dare talk about her like that." She glared at the redhead woman.

The woman merely smirked. "Oh? She is just trash, and has no use for me."

Lucy alighted her fist in a powerful mist of golden magic, wrapped around her arms, slowly spreading to the rest of her body. "Erza was my friend, and I will not let you bad mouth her, even if she is dead. I will not let anyone, even her mother, to bad mouth her."

"Dead?" The redhead mused. "I see. Interesting."

Lucy clenched her fist and jumped forward, intent on landing a hit on the redhead. But the woman merely moved her hand, followed by an explosion of where Lucy was currently running into.

The explosion had caught the blonde off guard, sending Lucy across the ground, skidding, scraping every inch of her clothing as she rolled across the ground. Once she skidded to a halt, she laid on the ground for a moment, not really expecting this much power from Erza's mother.

She slowly got up and collected her breath as she stared at the redhead woman.

"Can you withstand more than that? I want to make you suffer." The woman smirked.

Lucy narrowed her eyes and raised her fist, ready to fight again. She lurched forward and expanded her magic that surrounded her right arm and created a massive arm, made of magic and it mirrored Lucy's own movement. And when Lucy shot her arm forward toward the redheaded woman, the massive magic arm did the same thing and aimed toward the woman, close to landing an impact.

However, as soon, or before it could land on the redheaded woman, the massive magic arm was merely repelled and it acted as it had hit an imaginary wall, making the massive magic arm go around the redheaded woman.

Lucy grimaced and pulled back her arm, where the massive arm mirrored her movements, pulling away from the redheaded woman.

"What magic do you use?" Lucy asked.

The woman only smirked. "I like to call it enhancing magic."

Lucy readied her magic in defense, not ever having heard of enhancing magic. She wasn't sure if Wendy's magic should be considered enhancing magic or not. Because Wendy's magic seemed to be almost identical in the sense of how the magic are used.

Nonetheless, Lucy has no way of fighting this type of magic, as she had not even sparred against the small Dragon Slayer. But Lucy wasn't planning on giving up anytime soon. And she will fight this opponent one way or another.

"Who are you? What is your connection with my mother? She died almost 100 years ago." Lucy asked as she watched the older woman.

"I am Irene Belserion. And I was the former Queen of the Dragons."

Lucy quickly hid her surprise as she redirected her foot stance. Queen of the Dragons? Why did that sound so familiar? Lucy wondered as she stared at the woman before her. But nothing comes to mind concerning her life before she entered the Celestial Realm to train with her mother. But she could've swore that the title of the Queen of the Dragons sounded familiar...on so many levels. And she wanted to know why.

"Queen of the Dragons?" Lucy repeated.

Irene smirked and walked couple of steps toward the young celestial mage. "Yes. But I was stripped of that title ever since the War of the Dragons had ended. That was when that trash was beginning to grow inside of me" Irene growled at that part.

Lucy narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists in anger. She had never come across a person that had carried a child and hates their very existence once they were born. Mothers should be more loving and protective over their child. This woman, Irene, made Lucy's blood boil with anger.

Lucy knows, that deep inside, that her own mother cared about her and had been plotting a safer way for her to complete this prophecy without losing her life in the process. And Lucy knows that her mother had sacrificed many things to ensure that Lucy does not come across any dangerous consequences. And Lucy respected and loved her mother for everything that she had done for her.

The woman that stood before Lucy, that claimed to be the mother of Erza Scarlet of Fairy Tail, that this woman bears no motherly feelings for the child that she had given birth to. Lucy does not care to how this person, Irene, decided to throw away her feelings for her own child. She will not hear any excuses.

From the time that she had spent with Erza Scarlet of Fairy Tail, the armored girl had suffered many trials ever since she was little. But she did not complain one bit. Because she was not alone. Or so Lucy was told. Erza didn't really tell her much, but Lucy could easily guessed the rest according to her voice, actions, and words. And Lucy didn't question it.

Erza Scarlet became who she is...what she used to be since she disappeared. And Lucy will honor the person that she knew by defeating this woman before her. Irene will not live to see another day. And she does not deserve to see her daughter again.

"Whatever the case with you, Irene, I could care less about them. But I will not let you tarnish my friends." Lucy growled as she readied her magic again.

Irene only smirked. "Regardless, you can't even lay a hand on me."

Lucy's only response to that was raising her arm, her massive magic arm mirroring her, and pumping her first toward the woman, the massive magic arm thrusting forward, intent on hitting the woman again. Atlas, with the same results, the massive magic arm was only repelled, going past the redheaded woman. Irene paid it no mind, and barely lifted a finger as she repelled the magic.

Lucy pulled back her arm, the massive magic arm mirroring her movements as well. She compressed the massive magic arm back into her body and decided to try a different tactic on defeating this opponent. She studied the woman, thinking that a long range attacks may not have much of an effect on her. But what about close range attacks?

Lucy summoned the power of Taurus, Leo, Aquarius, Cancer, Sagittarius, and Libra. Calling forth the 6 of the zodiacs power through Celestial Fusion, and combined them to create a powerful attack that only the zodiacs can muster.

Lucy summoned the light of Regulus, the power to manipulate water, and combined them to create a whirlpool of light and water at the palms of her hands, a special move that she likes to call Bending Wave. She manipulated the growing magic of light and water and increased the size to increase the intended hurt that she wants to inflict on Irene.

She looked at the redheaded woman that only stood with amusement in her eyes. Anger flaring in Lucy's eyes, she used the accuracy of Sagittarius's shots, and used that accuracy and threw the growing ball of light and water

Using the light of Regulus from Leo, and poured the light into the power of the Water Bearer's magic. She directed her Bending Wave attack and threw the balls of magic toward her opponent using Sagittarius's accuracy the strength of Taurus and immediately used Libra's gravity magic to make her attack heavier so it could inflict more damage. While her attack was in midair, Lucy summoned small blades and then threw them toward Irene as a distraction.

Lucy continued to summon more blades from the power of Cancer and threw them toward Irene, and hoped that her Bending Wave attack would inflict the necessary damage that she wanted to see.

Then her magic made contact and a cloud of dust was raised, masking the redheaded woman from the blonde's eyes. Lucy ceased her blade magic and paused in her movements, waiting to see if it had worked or not.

Couple seconds later, the dust slowly resettled back to the ground, and the figure of the redhead could slowly be seen. Once Lucy caught a better sight of her opponent, she immediately tried to think of another tactic that she could use. Because Bending Wave had no effect on Irene. And it seemed that she had repelled it as well.

Lucy inwardly sighed and relieved the power of most of her spirit, except for Taurus and Leo. Close combat moves will be the only offense that she could rely on.

She needed to finish this. She could sense the enormous power residing inside the redheaded woman. Lucy grabbed the collar of her cloak and removed it. She quickly placed it in her void and faced her opponent again. She now stood, bearing the colors of blue and white. A white shirt, with a blue cross over her right breast, similar to Erza's regular armor. One of the reason why she preferred this shirt. And she wore a blue battle skirt while a long black boots.

Lucy got into her battle stance and used Leo's regulus light and encased her fists, and allowed the power of the cow to settle in. Once the power of Leo and Taurus settled, Lucy lurched forward toward the redhead woman.

Within seconds, Lucy was now in front of Irene, and immediately aimed her fist toward her face.

In a split second, Irene couldn't see Lucy anymore, but she soon realized why. She soon saw the fist of the blonde heading toward her face. She made no such move to dodge it. She only used her hand and quickly clenched her fingers, letting the ground below her to explode.

Irene herself was perfectly fine, as the explosions has no effect on her. But the blonde was sent backwards, skidding across the ground.

The redheaded woman smirked and watched as Lucy got back up, struggling with a new wound on her leg. But she paid no mind to it as she healed it with her celestial powers. Lucy's eyes were primarily focused on the redhead, filled with hate and anger.

"You're predictable. Just like your mother." Irene smirked.

Lucy clenched her teeth and stepped forward. "What was your connection with my mother?"

Irene didn't answer right away. She only stared at the young blonde. "Despite her betraying me. She was my best friend. We grew up together. She taught me many things, as I had taught her many things. But there were...more to than just friendship. But it didn't last forever as the war came."

Lucy panted lightly as she continued to listen to the redheaded woman, while gathering up the necessary magic that she would need in order to defeat this woman.

"The war came, destroyed many things. The only thing that I could rely on was my dragon friend, Belserion, your mother, and ex-husband. After the war ended, my ex-husband turned his back on me, Belserion died, and your mother betrayed me."

"My mother isn't that type of person to betray someone." Lucy intoned.

"You be surprised, little girl." Irene growled and scowled at the young blonde.

Lucy silently gulped, not wanting to believe that her mother would betray someone else. It had to be a lie. There must had been a reason for this.

"I never got to kill her, so I'll be killing you instead." Irene smirked.

Lucy took a step backward in slight fear, but she wasn't going to run away. "That won't be happening."

Irene's only response was raising her fists and clenching it, and at the same time, the ground below Lucy exploded once again. This time, the blonde was prepared and jumped to the side before she would be inflicted.

Lucy immediately ran toward the redheaded woman and brought her fists back, using the power of Leo's Regulus light surrounding her fists, and used Taurus's strength and compressed the power into her fists.

Lucy thrust her fist forward toward Irene with much force as possible.

This time, Irene used her spear that she held in her other hand and deflected the attack and used her other hand to thrust it in front of Lucy's face. An imaginary force had forcibly pulled Lucy, as if she had been hit by a force of 1000 bulls. The blonde found herself skidding across the ground as soon as she realized what had happened.

Skidding to a halt, with her back touching the ground, and watched as the clouds floated by, Lucy struggled to get back on her feet and stared at the redheaded woman.

"What I find amusing is that you talk just like her. And you take after her looks." Irene began. "I'm going to get rid of you, because you remind me too much of her." She scowled.

"My mother has nothing to be hated for. She would never betray anyone!" Lucy knew or believed that her mother would not betray one so easily. She refused to hear this.

Irene smirked some more. "Then you can ask her herself when you see her on the other side." She raised her hand and the rock that rest next to the blonde exploded in a split second, chucks of rocks exploding, hitting Lucy in the process.

Lucy managed to block couple of the flying rocks with her enhanced fists, but failed to stop some of them as they made contact with her face and legs. 

Lucy jumped away and tried to prevent anymore injuries that she had already taken. After jumping away from the inflicting area of damages, the blonde turned back to Irene with a scowl.

She has many other tricks up her sleeves that she could use to defeat this woman. And she will not succumb to the  mercy of the redhead woman that bore no feelings for a life that she had given. 

A/N: So...Yeah that just happened. Lucy encountered Irene 4 years after the Fairy Tail members disappeared. I'm not going to reveal anymore. You'll probably learn more in the next chapter, or the next.

But yeah, Lucy becomes conflicted and stuff. I had to end it on here, as it almost approached 4,000 words, so.......yeah

Please let me know what you thought of this chapter! Please review and comment on your opinions! I don't bite~~

Toodles!~~