Replaced

Lisanna's back and Lucy feels left out. Natsu wants Lisanna back on his team. What about Lucy?

This story is replacing my previous Fairy Tail story. I hope that you like it a whole lot better. ^/ . \^

Chapter 1- Going Solo

Lucy Heartfilia lay her head down on the bar and groaned, though the groan was inaudible over the blare of the music that was playing. This party had been going on for three days now and it didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon. Lisanna was 'back from the dead', or so Natsu had said. Still, was it necessary to have a party this long? Somebody turned the music up to its max and Lucy's headache only worsened. She'd had enough of this. Grabbing her jacket and Plue, who was dancing with Visitor, she left the loud guild building. No one seemed to notice her departure.

"Plue, is it really necessary to have that big of a party?" she asked as they walked home. It was dark out and the only light was what the street lamps gave off.

"Puuun."

Lucy sighed, knowing that Plue wasn't going to be much help. "Never mind." She sighed again. "You can go home now if you want."

"Puun." Plue saluted her and disappeared.

"Even you don't want to hang out with me. You'd rather be at the party." She sulked. When Lucy arrived home, she plopped down on her bed, completely spent. She never knew Lisanna, so she felt very alien in the guild now. Juvia seemed to just care about Gray, not the party and Gazille had left for a job the day the party had started. Lucy suspected he didn't want to bother with the loud noise. Wendy was a child, so she got along with Lisanna from day one. Lucy, on the other hand, had just stayed at the bar drinking her tea every day. It was getting kind of tiresome and she wanted to do a job. Changing out of her clothes and into some pajamas, she decided to ask Natsu tomorrow if they could go on a job.

The next day, Lucy woke up to the sound of rain on the roof. It was a light drizzle, nothing to be worried about. Stretching, Lucy got out of bed and took a quick shower. The water felt pleasant on her icy skin as she washed her body. Lucy had always had a low body temperature in the mornings, so she never really had a problem waking up cold because her body already was. Today, she would be going on a job with Natsu. She smiled at the thought.

She pulled on a pair of black skinny jeans and then put a blue skirt over it. On top, she wore a dark blue T-shirt and a black zip up hoodie to keep her dry. As she brushed her hair, she thought about what kind of job they might go on. An escort job? No, Natsu almost burned down an entire forest last time they tried that. A long term mission? Natsu might complain about how long it's taking. She sighed as she finished with her hair. The last thing she did was attach her key pouch to her belt and pull on her black combat boots.

Lucy locked the door behind her and headed for the guild. When she got there, the party had finally ended. It was a mess. There were tankards everywhere some were partially filled others were either empty or tipped over. Piles of vomit were in various places and there was food on the floor to join the rest of the mess. Lucy was surprised she didn't throw up herself.

"Lucy!" She heard a familiar voice call. Lucy turned to the voice and found Natsu sitting next to Lisanna. Gray was passed out on the other side of the table and Erza was sitting next to him, talking with Lisanna.

"Natsu, I need to talk to you." Lucy called, jogging over to the table.

"Hold on. We need to ask you something." Erza said. She looked very happy.

"Alright, what is it?" Lucy stood in front of their table now.

"We want to have Lisanna in our group again." Natsu said. Lucy went cold. "Before she, uh, left, we all used to be a really good team." He explained.

"Yeah. And if you go solo, you can get stronger. So. . ." Erza trailed off, having nothing else to add to her comment.

Lucy forced a smile on her face. "It's fine. You guys were probably a great team." She was trying not to cry.

"Now what did you need to talk to me about?" Natsu asked, leaning forward.

"Oh, never mind. It's nothing important. I need to find a job so that I can pay my rent. See you guys later then." She waved and kept smiling, then turned and went to the job board. At random, she picked one and headed up to the Master's office.

Quietly, she knocked on the door, hoping that he was in.

"Come in Lucy." She dropped her fake smile and went in.

"Can I ask a favor of you Master?" She asked, hanging her head down.

"What's wrong Lucy? You look sad." The Master said. Lucy looked up and smiled a little. The Master was in his pajamas and was drinking coffee.

"I'm now a soloist. Natsu has his old team back and I'm no longer needed. I feel that I was just a replacement for Lisanna." Tears forced their way to her eyes.

"Oh Lucy, I doubt that you were meant as a replacement." Makarov came over and patted her on the back. "What was the favor you were talking about?"

Lucy cleared her face as best she could before turning to him. "I was wondering if I could leave the guild for a while." When the guild Master's eyes went wide, she shook her head quickly. "Not permanently, just until I get strong enough to be able to do things by myself. Right now, I'm too weak to do anything by myself."

It was silent for a long time before Makarov finally heaved a big sigh. "When are you leaving and how long do you plan on being gone from the guild?"

Lucy finally smiled a real smile and hugged him. "I'm planning on leaving when Natsu and them leave on a job so that they don't find out. If they find out, then I might be killed before I can leave the building." She shivered at the thought. "It'll probably be at least a year. If I need more time I can contact you, but other than that, I won't be talking to anyone from the guild."

"Alright. Come see me when they leave and I'll temporarily remove the Fairy Tail mark." Makarov felt Lucy stiffen and he squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry, it's not permanent. It'll come back when you're done with your, uh, training?" He wasn't sure if 'training' was the right word.

"Okay. I'm going to go home now, and, can I do this short job?" Lucy held out the piece of paper. The job was a moving job from an elderly woman.

"Sure. I'll turn it in right away. See you later then Lucy." He waved as Lucy left the room. Natsu and his group were still talking happily to each other and when Lucy came down the stairs, Natsu waved. Lucy waved back, feeling the sting in her chest. At least he didn't hate her.

Lucy walked down Magnolia's street toward the place of her job. It was a 5,000 yen job. Not a whole lot, but it would do for her bank account. It had stopped raining outside and the sun was coming through the clouds. Lucy looked at the sky and sighed.

"I'm glad someone's happy." She muttered to the sky. Lucy walked up to a bright yellow house and knocked on the door. It was opened by a small boy. He had black hair and big brown eyes.

"Grandma, some girl's here." The boy called behind him. A few moments later, the door opened wider and a tall woman was standing behind the child.

"Who are you?" She asked. Even though her hair was silver and used a walking stick, the woman scared her.

"I'm here about the job you posted in on the guild board." Lucy said, trying not to sweat too much.

"Oh, come in." Suddenly, the woman didn't look so scary anymore. She looked kinder. "We've got everything ready to move. I was about to just call the moving company."

"Alright, where are we moving everything to?" Lucy asked.

"Well, first, we're moving all the big things with my carriage and I'll drive from there. You're going to be doing the loading up, that is," The old woman looked at Lucy's skinny body. "if you can move anything."

"Don't worry about me, I'm a mage remember?" Lucy smiled and pulled out her keys.

"A celestial mage?" The elderly woman inquired, raising an elegant eyebrow. Just because she was elderly, didn't mean that she wasn't pretty.

"Yes. Do you know anything about spirits?" Lucy asked as she followed the woman and the small child down a hallway crowded with boxes.

"I used to be a celestial wizard. But then, I had an accident and couldn't use my spirits anymore." The woman looked a little sad.

"I'm sorry to hear that. My name's Lucy and I'm happy to help you with your things." Lucy held out her hand to the woman who took it in a firm hand.

"I'm Uma and this is my grandson Hisoka." She introduced. The little boy shook Lucy's hand as well.

"So are the appliances moving first or the furniture?" Lucy asked, looking around the crowded living room.

"The appliances are staying here. We're only taking the rocking chair, table and beds." Uma put her hands on her hips and looked around. "Everything else will be put in the trailer."

"Alright." Lucy grabbed one of her keys. "Virgo, I summon thee."

"You called princess?" Virgo appeared next to her, body half bent in a bow.

"Virgo, we're helping Uma and Hisoka move. We're starting with the table, beds and that rocking chair." Then she looked at Uma who was examining Virgo critically. "We'll move those outside before we load them into the carriage trunk, then we can see how best they fit so you can have more space for your things." Uma just nodded.

"The carriage is through the back door. It'll be easier to get to from here." Uma explained, then started moving the rocking chair.

"Have Virgo help you with that. It looks old and I'm presuming it's important to you since it's the only chair you're taking with you." Lucy smiled and started picking up parts of the bed that was in several different pieces.

"Thank you Virgo." Uma said as the spirit picked up the chair. Uma directed her out the door.

Lucy turned to Hisoka who was standing awkwardly between boxes. "Hisoka-kun, why don't you help me take out this bed? We'll do one bed at a time so that we don't get the different parts mixed up." Hisoka slowly nodded and waited until Lucy was out the door before grabbing a piece of the bed Lucy had started on and following her outside.

After about two hours of getting everything outside, Lucy decided to venture and ask. "Uma-san, do you mind my asking where you're going?"

Uma stood up straight from setting down a big box. The woman was strong despite her age. "We're going back to where I was raised. Hisoka's parents died in a train accident recently and I want him to get away from the city. Every child should spend at least a small portion of their life in the country."

Lucy smiled at that. "I agree with you."

"Since you asked me a question, I get to ask you one." Uma said as they went back into the house.

"What is it?" Lucy picked up another box. This one was lighter than the last one, but still quite heavy.

"Why would a mage like you want to take up such a job as this? I'm only paying you 5,000 yen and that's not a whole lot for a job like this."

Lucy's smile faltered a little, but stayed on. "I'm useless without a team and mine got their old teammate back, so I'm on my own. I'm leaving the guild for a while so that I could get stronger, but I really have no idea how I'm going to do that. I don't know where my old master is and even if I did, I've learned all that I can from him." Lucy stretched her back after putting the heavy box in the trailer. "This is my last job for a long time." She heaved a big sigh.

Uma seemed very quiet as if contemplating something. Then she shook her head, but the look didn't go away. Lucy just shrugged it off and kept working. It was mid afternoon by the time the packing was all done.

"Thanks Lucy. What are you planning to do the rest of the day?" She asked as she stood in the doorway.

"I'll probably hang out at the guild until dark and then go back home and pack. I'm leaving this week."

"Why not now?"

Lucy blinked. Why was Uma so interested in it? "I'm waiting for my old group to leave on a job so that I can get out of here alive. They're still my friends, but I don't like saying good-bye." Then she turned and said over her shoulder, "Have fun moving."

Well that's it for now. I'll have the next chapter up in about a week. ~Please~ Review. ^/ . \^ Thanks!