Reborn

-Lucy's POV-

After walking in the forest, I started to have second thoughts. I know that I shouldn't waver after everything that they did to me, but it is just scary to think about leaving somewhere where you are used to being. I know, though, that it is the only way to grow. Leaving my comfort zone will help me grow as a mage and a person. We walked for an eternity that my feet were starting to get blisters.

"Let's take a break," Loke stopped in front of a waterfall. It was a rather mesmerizing sight. The sun reflected its rays of the free-falling droplets before they hit a lake at the foot of the waterfall. Tall trees stood tall and hid the waterfall from being seen anywhere else that wasn't here. Though the trees were tall, the sky still smiled down on this location.

"Where is your friend supposed to meet up with us Loke. I'm starting to get really tired," I asked as I sat on a boulder resting next to a tree. He just decided to look at the waterfall and – for some reason – smirk. It was all quite suspicious. A Loke smirk is never good. Wait, maybe this isn't the real Loke, but an imposter trying to rid of me!! Oh no, this could be bad. Then again, Loke just smirks a lot and is random.

It all became clear when he disappeared. He just smirked and poofed out. I stood up rapidly and reached for the puff of smoke like it was going to do something. Stupid me. Oh wait. I know what Loke is doing; he is putting me to the test for survival in the middle of this forest. He made it easy for me to find the water source though. Well, I can do this. As the sun began to set, I decided to start a small fire close to the edge of the lake.

The sky was painting itself purple and orange while the fire crackled quietly. There weren't any animal noises around here which made it a little suspicious but a jump scare could come up at any given time. I'm ready for it. I didn't pack any sort of food which was dumb of me, but, in my defense, I thought I would be with Loke's friend already. Didn't think much of it. My stomach, though, didn't seem like it wanted anything. Normally around this time I would have eaten dinner. Now that I think about it, the last thing I consumed was the milkshake from yesterday. That cannot be good for me. I'll make it a task to find something to eat tomorrow but with no traces of animals, I don't know how that will go.

The only thing I guess I can do right now is sleep I guess, but – for some reason, sleep was far from reach. No matter how much I wanted to sleep, it wasn't getting to me. The moon got higher and higher into the sky and I watched it on its journey as many thoughts crossed my mind. Most of them trying to justify the way everyone was acting. There is seriously no way how one person could unbalance the atmosphere that much. If so, they are all weak for being influenced, for being broken. Not the type of broken they did to me. No, not that one; the one that poisoned their brain to change to a certain point that they would betray one of their nakama. It might not be fair for me to say this because I, just like everyone else, could have been tainted by whatever came across to them.

Finally, as my brain began to transition to a sleeping state, it was interrupted and ran away once again. The interruption fell from the top of the waterfall and hit the lake. The speed at which I shot up was almost record time in my opinion. The suddenness of this made it way too startling for me to process what was going on. All I knew was that, unless I wanted to become somebody's test dummy like at the guild, I needed to act. When approaching the thing in the water that seemed like a log, I noticed it wasn't a beast of any kind or a log. It was a person!

I didn't care that the water was freezing; I dove in and swam towards the little body floating head down as quickly as I possibly could. I began dragging the motionless body back to the land. As we finally reached the point at which I could reach the ground, something stabbed into my left foot. The sharp pain causing red to come up to the surface did not stop me from carrying on getting to the fire. Limping with the excruciating pain and carrying a still little person in my arms, I made it to the boulder. I set the little girl down and took a good look at her for the first time. She looked around the age of ten or eleven. What in the world is she doing out here?

I took clothes from my pack and changed the little girl with the most careful actions. While doing this, I was scared that she would wake up and think I was trying to do something inappropriate to her. Luckily, it didn't happen and I did it without her waking up. Then, when I tried standing to go get water, a sharp pain ran up all the way to my spine and I fell to the ground. My foot, I almost totally forgot it got impaled and was severely bleeding.

Again, I went into my pack, but this time I grabbed a shirt and ripped it into strips. I looked back at my foot and sat the strips next to me. I must've stepped on a piece of glass. There were still shards of it pierced into my foot. They were sunk in very deep and something strange was happening. The shards were being absorbed into my foot. I pinched at them and they did not stop sinking deep into my paling foot. A white hue began traveling up my foot with reflective blue scales. The bleeding had stopped and the openings, where the pieces of glass were, closed.

My foot began to recuperate its original tint and the blue scales disappeared. It was all so strange. When I stood up, I continued to feel a pain on my foot but it was bearable. I walked to the lake and took a good look at the water, more specifically, where I stepped out from. The water was clear and it sparkled under the moon's glow making it even more beautiful. At the bottom of the lake, there was certainly something there. There were blue shining pieces of something. The closer I looked, the more curious I got and the more curious I got, the more my brain wanted me to walk into it again.

"You have to go completely in Lucy Heartfilia." A voice behind me told me. When I turned around, the little girl that was unconscious looked more alive than ever. She stood there staring at me with a serious face as I was just very confused.

"What do you mean go completely in?" I asked her. She stepped up to me until she was at the edge of the lake. "She chose you. Finally, after hundreds of years of waiting, she chose someone. That orange haired person must've helped her choose you. You have no idea for how long I've been waiting for this. Out of all the celestial maidens that has held his key, he chose you. He chose you and told her you were worthy of teaching. You should feel honored. Even I think that you are worthy. You saved me and despite being in pain, you kept on. You put saving me before your own safety. You will do good, but to begin, submerge yourself into the lake and be ready. This will hurt... a lot." The little girl would not take her eyes off the lake as she spoke. I turned to look at it too and the shards at the bottom looked more tempting than ever.

"Don't waver. You will be fine."

I stood and stepped into the lake before collapsing and sinking.

-Third person POV-

The guild was still a huge ruckus but for varied reasons. Many were still arguing with each other about who was responsible for Lucy leaving, many were drunk waving things in the air, and some were just very loudly having a conversation.

The maple doors swung open and Team Natsu with their new addition walked in. They were all looking down tired and disappointed from the quest that they went on except for Lissana. She was skipping all around them as excited as from when she left. "Mira-nee!!" She called out overly happy when she got to the bar. "We had so much fun on the mission." Mira smiled at her sister a little bitter before calling the rest of team Natsu to the bar.

"What's up Mira." Natsu went up to the bar with Erza and Gray trailing behind him. They were all avoiding eye contact with Lissana as they walked up to Mira.

"Natsu, Erza, Gray. I'm not going to make much of it to you all. Lucy has quit the guild. She left a letter for the each of you. Whether you care or not, take them. Burn it, throw it away, read it. Do with it what you want. I don't think you care anyways." Mira handed them the folded papers and turned towards the kitchen.

The three speechless mages didn't say a word and just stood there looking down at the letters. Something about the letters made them all snap out of whatever they were under. Natsu's onyx eyes were restored and suddenly his heart hit the ground. With the orange glow faded, everything he was doing to Lucy and everything he told her slapped him right in the face. His hands began to shake and Lissana looked at them annoyed. She stormed out and no one minded her any attention.

The guild fell under a quiet blanket and were staring at the three motionless.

Erza was the first to unfold her letter.

Hello Titania,

Well, you all got what you wanted. I am out of your life and you can keep Lissana. I'm not mad about you all choosing her over me. I just didn't think that you had to choose. We could all have still been there together, but when I return, which will happen, I will be more powerful. I will have grown into someone that not even you will be able to scare. You were a role model to me, not only as a great wizard, but also as an older sister. You will just have to await the day that I return.

Sincerely,

Lucy H.

The moment she began to read it, she could hear the sadness and hatred she couldn't stop.

'I am not even worth one of her tears. I don't deserve the title of Titania the great and powerful, because I am weak. I could not stand with her when she needed me. I let Natsu drive her out and I stayed quiet. What was I thinking? I wasn't thinking. That is what caused me to lose a girl that always smiled for us when we all couldn't seem to do it. The girl that stood strong for us when our moral was to weak. How could we? How could I? I regret everything of that day.' Erza walked away from the other two. She made her way back to Fairy Hills, stomping the whole time. She was imagining the pain Lucy went through. 'Was it the same pain I felt when Jellal betrayed me at the tower of heaven?' she thought.

As soon as Erza left the guild angrily, Gray was hesitant to open his letter, but he did anyways.

Dear Gray,

What happened to you? You always listened to me and I always listened to you. We were together through the thick and the thin. Where were you this time? I really needed you. The awful way Natsu was calling me a useless addition to the group. It really hurt. Out of everyone there, I would have thought that you were going to defend me, like a big brother. I guess I left disappointed in you. For betraying the way, I thought, you cared. When I return, will you mend these scars? Or will I seal them shut and not let you in anymore? We'll just have to wait and see.

Sincerely,

Lucy Heartfilia

'She was certainly like a sister to me. How could I have let this happen? It is just very strange how I could have ever thought this was a clever idea. I am taken back completely. I regret being useless and not helping her advance to get stronger, to make her feel like she belonged with us, but most of all for not being there for her. ' He also stormed out to who knows where, leaving Natsu there with the letter yet unopened. He was scared of what was inside. What kind of hatred was awaiting him and what kind of things will haunt him for now on. He walked to one of the booths and sat himself down. After taking a deep breath, he opened the letter slowly.

Hello my dear dear Natsu,

You are truly lucky. You have been bestowed with what you so dearly wanted. My weak and useless face will no longer pester you when you are in the guild. When you go on missions, you won't have to put up with my endless complaining about my rent or be distracted by protecting me during battle. Only because I am probably far away by now, I will let you know that for some crazy reason, I fell in love with you. I understand you could not really return those feelings though. Your heart was always reserved for someone else and that is just another reason for me to leave. To get stronger. To forget about the love I was suppressing for so long. I really hope that she was really worth it.

The words you told me will be driving me forward to get stronger. No regrets, for when I choose to return, you will see a new face. A brave and fearless face. By then, your words will be engraved on the grave of the old Lucy. The weak, stupid, useless, good for nothing Lucy. She will be long gone. From the ashes of that broken spirit, a new Lucy will rise. Far more fearless than you, Erza or anyone. Mark my words Dragneel, I will be back.

With lots and lots of displeasure,

The old Lucy

Natsu slammed his head down to the table and stayed there. Remembering those past few weeks. Behind all the excitement he felt with his childhood friend, he saw Lucy alone, by herself with no one to hold her as she cried while looking at everyone happy.

'I pushed her around and called her weak. I challenged her strength and broke her down. How is it even possible that I could have been that stupid? She has always been here next to me to support me in anything I did, despite it being a bad idea. What got into me? Being the reason that her smile has faded will certainly haunt me until she returns and forgives me. How I regret that ridiculous decision. '

He thought about going out to look for her, but then he thought again. What good would that do? If they did happen to find her, they still wouldn't be able to fix everything that they did to her. Humiliation actually leaves scares that would be hard to heal. The words he attacked her with will always keep her down. He decided on waiting. Waiting till she returns back to her home. Back to him.

Back at the waterfall, Lucy was completely submerged into the water and the crystals were being engulfed by her body. The unconscious celestial mage now had the outline of glowing blue scales all of over her body. It seemed as if the moon had dimmed and she was the only thing shining in the dark forest. The little girl just stood there looking as Lucy was being prepared for the lesson of her life time.

After some time, Lucy began to float up to the surface and began to lose the glowing scales. There was no more shining crystals at the bottom for Lucy absorbed them all. The moon recovered it's glow and was now the brightest object on that lonely night. Lucy came up to the surface and slowly opened her eyes. She was able to stand up straight but the pain surging all over her body allowed her to only do minimal movement while she walked to the boulder and lay down, finally reaching sleep.

The small child made her way to the lake and began walking over the water; only small ripples being left behind with every step, she made it to the waterfall and entered it.

"She's ready Marina." The little girl was talking to a large figure in the middle of a large meadow whom was meditating with a smaller figure with orange hair. The waterfall was only used as a portal to this place.

"Leo the lion, I hope you are right about this girl." The tall figure spoke to the one and only Leo. "Of course. She is certainly the one to live on with your legacy, Marina the Water Dragon."

"Perfect. Her training starts tomorrow."