A/N

Hey, everybody. This is my first Fairy Tail multi-chapter story and yes it is one of the many Lucy leaves Fairy Tail fanfics, only it will be a bit different as it will have quite a few plot twist and it has nothing to do with Lucy getting replaced by Lisanna. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the first chapter and if you like it give me a review to tell me that you want more.

Celestial Lightning

Chapter 1

"Better to be strong than pretty and useless."

-Lilith Saintcrow, Strange Angels

Lucy tiptoed into her house cautiously, glancing around nervously to make sure that none of her teammates had decided to invade her home because to be frank she really was not in the mood to face any of them at the moment. Once the blonde had prowled through her entire apartment and had found no trace of Natsu, Gray, or Erza she went back to her kitchen and made herself a quick cup of tea before retreating to her bedroom. She set the cup on a small side table next to her bed before diving under the covers with the book. The celestial mage tried for quite some time to read, but after spending five minutes on the same page tossed the book aside and rolled onto her stomach, finally letting herself think about the doubts that had been plaguing her since the Grand Magic Games.

Lucy had always been well aware that she was not as strong as most of the other mages on the team, but the blonde had been fairly confident that she would at least be able to hold her own against many of the other mages on the opposing teams during the Grand Magic Games. This belief however, was shattered to pieces almost immediately after she stepped into the arena for the first time and was dealt a crushing defeat by Flare (with the help of her teammates). The blonde mage had hoped to redeem herself during the Naval Game, but instead became victim to Minerva's brutal attacks, once again showing the world how utterly useless she was without her keys.

The fact that she was vulnerable without her keys was something that Lucy had been aware of from the moment she summoned her first celestial spirit. It was something she had grown to accept over the years as she knew that every type of magic had a weakness and that hers was something that she could not change. She had always countered her lack of brute strength with her brains, as she was a firm believer of brains over brawn. However, after having been defeated so often in battle she had come to hate that particular weakness and was determined to change it no matter how difficult the cost. That was why after locking herself in her apartment for a full two days after coming back from the Grand Magic Games she had finally made the decision to go off on her own to train for a bit. It had been a difficult decision to make, but Lucy knew that it was for the best. She had put off doing any legitimate training for too long and she had to stop before it became more of a liability than it already was. Lucy sighed and rolled onto her side as she reached over and flicked off her lamp, sending her room into complete darkness as she snuggled into her bed and fell asleep within minutes.

The next morning Lucy woke up with an abnormally strong sense of determination as she knew that this day was not going to be an easy. However, the usually perky blonde girl had firmly made up her mind about going on this training mission and she was going follow through with it at any cost. Lucy took a quick shower before pulling on a dark blue mid-thigh length skirt with a light grey band around the top with a white mid-riff top with gold trim around the top and bottom and a blue heart design in the center. She accented the outfit with a blue vest that was also trimmed in gold along with blue non attached sleeves that were tied with a gold ribbon at the top and ended white. To anybody else it would have seemed a little too over the top for a training trip, but Lucy was a firm believer in the principle of dressing for success and knew that she would feel much better about what she about to do if she looked good while doing it. Lucy grabbed a quick bowl of cereal before grabbing the travel case she had packed and quickly pulled on a pair of thigh high dark blue tights and her usual brown boots. Satisfied in her preparation and deciding that she was ready to go she headed out of her apartment, securely locking the door behind her. As she strolled down the path to Fairy Tail she began mentally planning out her journey, making the first stop on her journey the forest near Hargeon since one of her main goals was to find the long lost Chinese Zodiac Keys and they were last seen in the aforementioned forest.

Soon enough Lucy found herself approaching the door to Fairy Tail and gulped nervously in apprehension as she made her way to the door. Pushing it open slightly, she slipped in through a tiny crack, trying to get into the building unnoticed. She sneaked through the guild quietly, finding it surprisingly easy not to draw attention to herself in the midst of the craziness that is Fairy Tail. She quickly ducked behind the bar once she had reached it and knocked on Master Makarov's door as she intended to tell him about her plans first.
The door opened slightly and Makarov's head poked out and gleefully took in the sight of Lucy.

"Lucy!" he exclaimed joyfully. "How rare to see you at my office. Come in, Come in."Lucy followed Master into the office and took a seat on one of the chairs across from his desk, fidgeting nervously and looking everywhere but Master's face.

"Is everything alright Lucy?" Makarov asked, noting the girl's unusual behavior.

"Well Master, it's just that I was thinking of leaving Fairy Tail for a bit?"

"What?!" Master exclaimed nearly falling out of his chair. "Lucy, why would you want to leave? Is something wrong? Has someone done something?"

"No, no it's nothing like that," Lucy soothed trying to calm the older mage down. "I don't want to quit the guild. I just want to go and travel for a bit to do some training. I'll be back as soon as I can and it's not going to be a permanent thing."

Makarov let out a sigh of relief at her words, glad the celestial mage was not leaving the guild. He knew that something would feel off if Lucy was no longer a part of Fairy Tail. Although she was rather new she had quickly become one of the central members of Fairy Tail , and nothing would feel the same if she was gone.

"If you want to go off for a little while to do some training I won't say anything to stop you. I'm glad that your taking greater interest in increasing your abilities," Makarov grinned, hopping up to perch on his desk.

"I'm sure when you come back you'll be stronger then ever. Strong enough for S-class perhaps?" he suggested slyly, dancing inwardly at the possibility of having yet another attractive female S-class Mage.

Lucy widened his eyes at the suggestion as she had not even thought of progressing that far as she knew it was a long way off.

"Erm...let's not get hopes up to high Master," she said anxiously as she got out of the chair. "Well, I'm be off right after I talk to the rest of Team Natsu, so I'll see you later then?"

"Of course. And make Fairy Tail proud on your trip!" Makarov yelled, holding his hand up in the Fairy Tail sign. Lucy grinned happily at the familiar sight and returned it enthusiastically before venturing back out into the main hall to find her team.

She had to look around for a bit before she saw Erza sitting at a table near the middle of the hall eating cake with Happy sitting next to her, while Natsu and Gray fought behind her. Lucy carefully began navigating her way towards the table, dodging stray punches, beer bottles, and stray spells as she passed by the multiple brawls going on by the bar. Once she finally made it safely to where Erza was she plopped down opposite her and groaned, wondering why Fairy Tail mages insisted on fighting twenty four/seven

"It really shouldn't have to be such a process to get to a table," she griped bitterly to Erza who had watched the blondes antics as she made her way across Fairy Tail, amused at the celestial mages rather unique dodging style.

"It's improving your dodging abilities," though she commented before spooning a piece of strawberry cake into her mouth. "That will be pretty useful in battle."

"I'd rather learn a more conventional way," Lucy muttered. "Anyways, there was something I wanted to talk to you and the rest of Team Natsu about."

"We're all ears," Erza replied before noting the two brawling mages behind her. In a flash she reached back and pulled them apart, setting them on each side of the table. The ice mage and fire mage started to protest, but Erza shut them up easily with a menacing glare before turning back to Lucy.
"We are now anyway."

"I'm going to be going solo for a bit," Lucy said quietly affixing her three teammates with a serious glare.

"EHHHH!" Natsu and Gray shouted simultaneously as they both leaned over the table to look at Lucy. Erza managed to keep her composure at the sudden announcement although her eyes widened considerably and she found herself holding back an "eh" of her own. She quickly pulled herself together and pushed the still in shock Natsu and Gray back into their seats.

"What brought this on?" Erza inquired solemnly looking across the table at Lucy who had finally decided to take a seat.

"Well, it's just that I did practically nothing during the Grand Magic Games. I couldn't defeat Flare, Minerva nearly killed me, and I got kidnapped...again," Lucy explained quietly, keeping her gaze locked on the table. "I need to get stronger...and I can't do that if I always have you guys around to bail me out of my problems. I actually won't be going on that many jobs though. I'll mainly be traveling around to do some training."

"Look Luce, you're not giving yourself enough credit. You would have defeated Flare if that guy hadn't interfered," Natsu protested while Happy agreed with an enthusiastic "AYE!"

And Minerva was an insanely strong opponent, I mean even Erza had a hard time defeating her. Besides you still came in second place which is good," Gray remarked.

"Where is this even coming from anyway? You're one of our strongest members!"

"You're contracted to all, but two zodiac keys. That's better than most celestial mages."

"Not to mention celestial magic is rare in the first place so-"

"SHUT UP!" Erza yelled randomly, shocking the ice mage and the fire mage into silence as she turned to address Lucy."I personally think that these two idiot are right, but if really think this training trip is necessary we're not going to stop you. However, you will be expected to return to Team Natsu upon your return."

"Thanks, Erza," Lucy smiled leaning across the table to hug the red headed mage.

"Go then if you feel like you have to," Natsu grumbled as he sunk lower into his seat with a pouty face.

"Just make sure you come back with enough strength to take out flame brain over here."

"Aye!" Happy said in a quivery voice as he tried to put on a smiling face, despite his sadness at Lucy leaving.

"Thanks guys!" Lucy exclaimed gathering the two into a big hug, before turning to Happy and hugging him as well, telling him to take care of Natsu for her while she was gone. She then swung her legs over the bench she was sitting on and stood up from the table, collecting her suitcase somewhere in the process.

"Well I already told Master that I'll be leaving," Lucy said nervously as she shuffled awkwardly in place. "And umm a goodbye would make this seem like this was a permanent thing and it's not, so how about I just say see you later."

"See you later," the three chorused softly in response as Lucy waved to them before turning to leave the building leaving the group of three mages to watch sadly as the celestial mage walked out of Fairy Tail, dragging her suitcase behind her.

Lucy found herself holding back a couple of tears as she left the Fairy Tail building and started to walk down the pathway to the train station. She was not exactly sure why she was on the verge of tears, though she suspected it had a lot to do with how different heading to the train station was this time. There was no over excited Natsu and Happy dragging her around, there was no walking calmly down the path alongside Erza, who was always pulling a cartload of luggage behind her, and there was no Team Natsu waiting for her at the train station. She was totally alone this time. And something about it made her want to burst into tears and run back to Fairy Tail, leaving behind all thoughts of training and getting and getting stronger.