Chapter 9
Battle's of Minds

Lucy's P.O.V

I don't believe in fate or destiny, no, I don't believe in that. I believe that people have conditions they are given, and then what you do leads to more conditions. I don't think what's meant to happen just does happen, I think you can make it happen.

If someone were to ask me, right now, why I just can't believe? I would tell them it's because I've learned from experiences. In Fairy Tail, in Shock Wave, from all the guilds and people and encounters- that happened because of choices. My choices.

So, when someone says to just believe, my response is simple, easy really.

Fate and destiny? Oh no, I make my own destiny, and fate's given up on me.

So, standing before my opponent, I'll believe, but not in that fate and destiny that people desire to work in their favor. Not that magic that only works in fairy tales, only works for those young damsels in distress. Because I'm not a damsel in distress, nope, never.

I'm a badass Shock Wave force of destruction.

So no, I won't be needing any help from unknown forces and fate and destiny and fairy tale magic, I'm going to do this. I'll do it my way.

-

Third Person P.O.V

The announcers of the games switched the times, the battle would come first (to conserve magical energy for more exciting battles) while the group events would come last. The first battle was Erza Scarlet vs Minerva. A very exciting battle indeed, holding constant advantage switching and unbelievable injuries. The battle ended in a tie, awarding both Sabertooth and Fairy Tail five points.

22 - Sabertooth - 1st
20 - Infinity Soul - 2nd
16 - Shock Wave - 3rd
13 - Fairy Tail - 4th
9 - Death's Maiden's - 5th
5 - Lamia Scale - 6th
1 - Dream Knife - 7th
0 - Blue Pegasus - 8th

The second battle, however, was an extremely unexpected matchup: Lucy Heartfilia vs Elizandra Platinum.

Lucy walked into the arena, head held high, hair flying back and catching in the sunlight. It was a burning gold, shimmering brightly like a candle in the dark. She was smiling brightly, confident and strong. It wasn't the obnoxious confidence that said 'I'm always going to win', it was the confidence that said 'Don't worry, I'll try my best'. It lifted everyone's spirits.

Elizandra fiddled with her fingers and glanced nervously around the arena as she walked up. She was beautiful, an eery beauty of mystery and...something else, no one could figure it out. She had short, choppy red hair, the palest of skin and...her eyes. White, pale, unseeing. She wasn't blind, no, she met the eyes of strangers and smiled nervously at the them, but her eyes. Ghostly, pale, glossy eyes. Milky, stormy and deathly eyes of phantoms.

And that's what she was- a phantom. Or more precisely, a phantom slayer.

The two took their stances, and suddenly Elizandra was calm. It was like she was at ease on the battle field, but no, that wasn't it. Her head was tilted to the side, she was listening to someone, and the arena was dead silent.

"Begin I'm 10-"

Lucy jiggled her keys, ready to whip them out.

"9-"

She brushed her hair back, the nervous energy getting to her.

"8-"

Fairy Tail was staring at Lucy, trying not to call her name- even though they were worried about her.

"7-"

Shock Wave and Infinity Soul were freely cheering, Death's Maiden's were silent.

"6-"

Elizandra was blinking rapidly, a hand grasping a fistful of her dark red hair.

"5-"

Her hair, it looked like blood. Living, flowing, burning. It looked like blood dripping around her, covering her head and then her eyes.

"4-"

Her pale skin was sucking the sunlight out of the air, that's what it felt like. The area around her was dark, shadowed, haunting.

"3-"

Her eyes were flickering. Blood red to ghostly white, the effect was something out of a horror movie.

"2-"

And then she grinned, a sick, sadistic grin that put a look of absolute terror on all of the strongest warriors.

"1..BEGIN!"

But it had already begun, because Lucy was staring in horror at Elizandra. No one saw anything wrong, but Lucy did. She was trembling, clutching her head, and then she screamed. High pitched and terrible as the death of a loved one.

Elizandra was crying. "I didn't do anything, I-I didn't mean t-to...d-don't...what...she shouldn't have looked at me! D-don't look at me!" Don't look at me. That phrase was repeated millions of times as Lucy rolled around on the ground.

Fairy Tail's and Shock Wave's members were over the balcony and in the arena in a second. They tried to calm Lucy down, but nothing worked. Infinity Soul was over two seconds later, and the crowd continued to grow. It would have been a wonderful sight for Lucy, seeing so many people cared for her, except for the fact that she was curled up and crying. She was trembling, and still screaming.

"What did she do?!!" Natsu yelled, looking ready to punch Elizandra.

"She's the embodiment of fear. A Fear Phantom Slayer. She takes the form of people's worst fears, sometimes causing temporary insanity. She does it unintentionally, she has no control, or self restraint...she's rather insane herself." Lily mutters, while Elizandra was actually giggling and rolling around on the floor.

"Get her to the infirmary." Lucy was taken to the infirmary, while Sierra was actually trembling with rage. Her eyes were covered, hiding a glare of hatred that would have stopped anyone in their tracks. She was going to explode. Rin put a hand on her shoulder, "Sierra, it's okay. She'll recover, I know it." He smiled comfortingly, a rare smile, and Sierra visibly relaxed.

The wizard guilds, new and old, all tried to follow Shock Wave's master and relax, but it wasn't working. The more they tried to calm down, the more they wanted to punch someone.

The rest of the day was postponed, with so many guilds distracted it could only be natural. Although, it was nice for Shock Wave to see that Fairy Tail still cared so deeply for its former members.

As Fairy Tail walked away, Shock Wave looked after them. A thought was in each of the members heads. Is it really alright to break up a family?

-

There's about a million ways to be happy. Millions of combinations, millions of chances and people and places. Fate and destiny? Oh no, We make our own destiny, and fate's given up on us. So, I don't agree that we always have a choice, it's also part of the conditions we're given. It's not like you can always choose one thing or the other, but you will get a choice. When you get a choice, remember your basic rules.

Never be afraid to be happy.
Never be afraid to try.
Never give up on a dream.

We'll be fine.

-

{1174 words! Sorry if it seems a bit rushed...}