A/n- Hello, Berry (or Strawberry as I've been called) here. New story. I'm going to try to keep this one updated regularly. This first part is in a different style than the rest, so I'm going to call it a prologue, it's really just background on all the characters, set out for all of us. Yes, Laxus' is the shortest, and that's just because it's hard to set out his background like the others, but he will also probably get more screen time than most of the other characters, so it'll all work out in the end. Lucy's was honestly the hardest to write, I actually had to put it aside for a few days.

Unfortunately, I doubt that any of the chapters after this will be so long; it's only so long because I didn't want to separate any of these reflections since they're all necessary to the story, but not really part of the story, a prologue of sorts. But I can promise that I'll never post a chapter under 1000 words.

No, I will not be like other authors and give away my plans right off the bat, not even pairings. Why? Because that's half the fun of reading, finding out where it's headed. There are a few pairings I'm still debating on, but there are two definitely set, and no I won't tell you which ones they are.

Yes, this is an AU. One obvious instance is where Lucy's father is concerned; he never went broke, and he never tried to reconnect with her. Other instances include with the timeline, which I might never mention in the story, but is different than what the wikia page says for at least one date. The story takes place less than a week after their return from Edolas. The reflection prologue here ends basically with the Fighting Festival arc.

He loved his gramps. Really, he did. How could he not? Gramps would always take the time for him, care for him, see the best in him when his father did not. Gramps even sat out of the Fantasia parade to watch him instead of taking away the spotlight from his grandson. It wasn't really his fault that he was always viewed as 'Makarov's grandson'. But it was so easy to blame the old man for it.

It was easy to blame to old man for kicking his father out. Gramps did care and he was doing the best for the guild. But as a teen, it was hard to see it that way... Gramps was just following the rules and it was only recently he'd come to realize that Gramps was just as upset as he was about his father being kicked out... but he couldn't make any exceptions. Not even for family.

He himself, deserved to be kicked out for what he did. He could see his faults now. Yes, people did see him as Makarov's grandson, but... he was more than that and as he got older, they saw that, but he didn't notice. Was too caught up in his anger. He was being a typical teen... with an obsession about being strong.

He really should have been angry at his father. For calling him weak. For never being good enough... even once the lacrima was implanted in him. The agony of sudden power rushing through his veins, of suddenly knowing spells he had no idea of before... It hurt, and it still stung that his father felt he had to stoop to such lengths to get a 'strong' son. And it still wasn't enough. It was never enough. His father wanted power, and he didn't care what he had to do to get it.

As an angry teen, he never saw it... Never realized that his father was really never a father to him. More of a demanding coach... or maybe even owner... he was treated like a possession sometimes after all. Never realized that his father was only making him obsessed with strength because that was the only thing that made him good enough. But he was his father. And he loved him. It made him blind. But love is like that sometimes. But now, now he knows. He's not going to be a puppet of his father, he's not going to let his anger rule him. He's not going to focus on strength as the only thing people need. He's going to learn how to be a good leader, one worthy of leading Fairy Tail.

And he would make himself worthy of the admiration of the Raijin Tribe. He treated them so horribly by the time the plans came about. He was a terrible friend. He had to make it up to them someday.

It would take lots of training, introspection, and socializing, but he would do it. He would become someone his gramps can be proud of. He would be his own person. Laxus Dreyar just needed to make his own way.

...and get rid of that damn dragon lacrima.

As a young child, he'd always been weird. Liked to play by himself, make friends out of various types of dolls, acting as if they were real. His parents tried to make him be normal, but he just couldn't let go of his friends, as that was what they were back then. He'd always go back to them in his room, after trying to be good for his parents when company was over.

Then one day his friends were burned. He cried, at the age of 6 he cried, when his friends were all burned, anything resembling a doll was burned. He lost his friends. They were gone; he couldn't talk to them. At the age when boys feared crying, he did so freely. Of course he did. Who wouldn't?

His parents requested that no one in their town give him any toys. They claimed that he had plenty and that anything he said was a lie. So even in the face of his tears, they refused to give him even a sock doll to play with. Kids his age made fun of him and his odd habits. He withdrew, soon to only stick to his house, but he hated his family... there was no escaping.

By the age of 7, they thought he was possessed or insane because of his babbling about his friends as if they were real people... sometimes with characteristics they didn't think he should be able to even comprehend let alone come up with. They took him to the local asylum. And left him there. Left him to be treated by doctors who didn't care; who never suspected he had been born with a gift, one of the rare mages that didn't need to shape their magic, he was born with a type of magic ingrained with him. It was a blessing... and a curse.

He survived a year in the asylum, but one day... one day, he just snapped, had a total breakdown. He had a tantrum, hyperventilated, cried, screamed, fought. Everything was white. Everything was ordered. Everything was neat and organized... everything was boring. Everything... everything was his life. And he hated it. He remembered other colors than white, like green, and purple... and black. No one tried to talk to him, to help him, they didn't care. They were just keeping the insane people in the building, away from society.

They wouldn't even take him outside. When his break down happened, they reacted like professionals dealing with a criminal. They tried to pin him down and give him a sedative. He fought and bit and kicked. He screamed.

"NOOOOOO! Don't please don't I don't wanna be like the others I wanna go outside!" he wailed as he looked one of the doctors in the eyes. The doctor straightened... and started ordering the others to take him outside. They protested, looking down at the child. He looked up at them and begged again... and they all obeyed. Anyone who met his eyes. He didn't know how to stop it. It scared him.

As soon as he was outside, he ran for it. He ran through the streets and into the woods. He ran. And ran. Until he collapsed, panting for air. He looked around frantically. No one followed him. Good. He needed to be away from people. He really was a danger like his parents said. He could control people. He didn't want to. He didn't want to. So he stayed away from people, living off of scraps and whatever he could find. He made sure to never look anyone in the eye. That was dangerous.

He made new dolls for his friends. Sure they were crude and not well made. But they did the job, and his friends liked them. He liked never being alone. But they weren't the same as real people. He kept moving, kept from getting caught... until one day, a blond boy, a year older, came across him while his friends were floating around his head.

He would never forget the kid asking him how he did such magic; his denials that it was magic, his weak protests that he was just insane, the kid dragging him over to his grandpa.

And then.. he was offered a place at the guild, he'd be taught how to control it. It really was magic. It was a blessing and a curse, a rare magic, it was no surprise his small town thought he was crazy.

At that point, he promised to devote his life to the two people who made his life better, the blond haired kid would become a friend, and his guild master.

Then he was faced with a tough choice, over 10 years later. The kid, now a man, or the guild master. In the end, he chose his friend who'd helped him and his two other friends, also devoted to the same man. They didn't agree with his course of action, but they convinced themselves it was necessary. And it was easy for him.

After all, his guild mates were freaked out by him, so he might as well get back at them for it, it'd be good entertainment... but then it all went wrong. And his friend was kicked out of the guild. And left behind him. Sure he still had the guild master... but it wasn't the same. At least his other two friends stayed. At least he had his babies.

He just needed to make more friends some how... but it was hard, because his year in the asylum left him a little weird. And people don't like weird. But he didn't want to change. And he had people who liked him, even with his weirdness. So Bixslow would just have to try and make friends in his own way.

...If only he knew a different type of magic that wouldn't freak them out.

When he was young, he lived in chaos. He came from money, was practically born with a silver spoon his mouth as the saying goes, but his parents were unusual. They liked traveling. And partying. So though they were rich, he didn't remember staying anywhere for more than a few months. His 'homes' were generally hotels. He learned to read at the age of 2, but his parents didn't take notice.

Oh, he liked seeing the different cultures, even between towns (there was one crazy town dedicated to couples and had the color pink EVERYWHERE, among other romantic things), but... it was chaos. There was no structure. He learned what was needed to get by in each town, and even then, it was rarely used because his parents just were everywhere. He just quietly observed everything when they actually allowed him with, but that was sometimes a rare treat depending on the town.

He never had peace and quiet, not with them around. And he never made friends, for various reasons. He was a rich snob. He was too quiet. His parents were too crazy. He wasn't worth knowing. So, he discovered libraries and bookstores and buried himself in books, reading above his age level as he devoured book after book. None of the shopkeepers or librarians knew what to make of him, but they would help him, watching amazement as he read books at a speed that was rare.

His parents would hold parties in the rooms sometimes, wild ones full of drunk people and violence. Or they'd come back, talking loudly about something that'd happened, forgetting about the small boy with them who craved attention. When they did remember, all they did was snap at him for one thing or another, but never really paid enough attention to do something about whatever he'd supposedly done wrong that time. Or they'd tell him to get out of the way, that was also common, and it hurt the poor boy.

By the time he was 6, his parents were forgetting about him and leaving him behind in the hotel room. He didn't mind. It gave him a chance to practice the enchantment magic he found in a book he bought after sneaking some money from them. The first month, nothing happened. Then he was able to write a simple enchantment to prevent them from entering the bathroom.

It had been amusing until his father, normally totally lax on rules, grabbed him. Neither his father nor his mother had ever punished him. He started crying, not sure what was going on as he was beaten up for what he did until his father forced him to take down the enchantment. Then since he could use magic, they decided that he could live on his own, surely he was old enough. They dropped him out of the window.

He laid in the dumpster in the alley next to the hotel, totally shocked and hurting badly. It took a while, what with getting out of the dumpster and then having to walk painfully, but finally, he'd been able to get himself somewhere safe, where he could recover. He went hungry for the first time ever, but he could barely move to find something to eat.

He knew he had to find something though. But he didn't know what to do. He was so sore and everything hurt. Finally, he was able to crawl to the lower trash cans, easier access for a small boy than a dumpster, and eat something. Then he slept. Then he woke up again several hours later and ate some more.

It was about a month before he felt well enough to leave the alley that had become his home. He'd practiced his enchantments and gotten even better. But he had no way to get new books. Not even from the library. He was too dirty. He looked like a common street rat.

Finally, months later, his 8th birthday came and went, though he hadn't noticed. He had been too busy setting up enchantments around his little nest so no one could come in and steal his stuff. He liked being able to set his own rules, and it was fun to follow them.

Finally he was able to clean himself up enough to be able to go into the library without suspicion. It was heaven.

He read about eye magics, and the different types. How one could give someone an eye magic through applying runes to the eyes, normally done with a store bought applicator... but he could use runes... all he needed was a mirror and he was sure to be able to do it for himself. It would be sure to make things easier for him.

And he did so, though it hurt a lot. Then he practiced until he perfected the magic he chose. It was thrilling when he succeeded. But it didn't change anything. He was still a street rat, yelled at for trespassing and for stealing, when he tried not to do either unless he was desperate for food.

By the age of 10, he trusted no one. He only trusted his rules, and the fact that people had no choice but to follow them if they got caught. He always won fights because of that, despite how scrawny and physically weak he was.

Then he heard of a guild in the town he lived in. It was full of mages doing jobs. Many people scoffed at the fact that the guild had children who joined, thinking those under the age of 13 had no business being there. Even if the master's grandson had been a member for a few years already, and was now 13.

He became excited, maybe this was his chance to get off of the streets. He eagerly packed all of his things and went to the guild. He was ecstatic when he was allowed to join and was offered help until he could earn money by doing jobs.

Then he found out that he was too serious, too quiet to really make any friends. So he retreated back to books once again when he didn't have jobs to do. Eventually, he made friends with the master's grandson, who had the first offer of friendship. Then he made friends with a weird boy two years older who had dolls flying around him at all times.

Eventually, he developed a sort of friendship with everyone in the guild. Everyone is accepted without question, after all. But it was still hard for the socially awkward boy, and he kept to his closest friends the most, even forming a team to be bodyguards to his first friend.

Years passed, the guild changed slightly. His friend grew more moody, more upset with the state he claimed the guild was in. Plans were jokingly made to change it. Soon that stopped being a joke and became a serious topic of discussion. It was all finalized in the end.

He wasn't too sure with the course of action, forcing people to hurt each other sounded like a bad idea, but he went with it. He didn't want to lose his first friend or to leave that friend without any support. Once the plan was in motion, there was no going back. Admittedly, it was fun to see who he could beat, but part of him said it wasn't fair to his opponents that they couldn't win; he'd had the advantage of time and knowing what was going to happen.

Then things started to go downhill, and he started to question his devotion to his friend... until he was told that if he went against said friend, he would no longer have a place in Fairy Tail. Reluctantly, he went back out there.

He hurt his guildmates to keep himself from losing and getting the wrath of his friend upon him instead of other people. He was so desperate he went to means he'd promised himself never to use on anyone who wasn't an enemy. He hurt his friends. And then the She-devil went after him. While he did do his best, he was grateful that she was going to beat him. Then she stopped before the final blow and talked about friendship. About the guild. And being connected to other people. And being lonely.

And he cried. There was nothing else left for him to do. He knew after all he could consider everyone in the guild friends if not family, but, he was still untrusting, leftovers from his life on the streets and fending for himself. He resolved to try to connect better with others. To be kind, to... trust.

Once they were all recovered, they set off back to the city. Even though he now knew that he had other comrades to fall back on, he still had to check on his first friend. Even if the friendship wasn't a healthy one now, that didn't stop him from caring.

Then a golden light covered the city. It cleared. No one was injured, mostly just surprised by the random event. But he knew. His friend had dared to try to use Fairy Law. And the magic read his heart... refused to hurt those who are not truly his enemies, no matter how much he'd deluded himself.

He reported this to his friend, and was glad there were two others between them at the rage his friend displayed. He prayed that those two would be able to stop him. His friend was better than this, he scarcely recognized the man in front of him.

Finally, the whole fiasco was resolved, with his friend getting kicked out of the guild. It was expected. As was him and the other accomplices not getting kicked out. They were being given a second chance to connect to the other guild members while his friend was essentially sent on a journey of self discovery.

He didn't know about his friend, but Freed Justine knew he would take this chance to walk his own path. To learn to trust again, to make friends, and to be his own person. He would do it his own way.

...if only he could forget his past.

She was a vain, girly, girl. Even if her family wasn't well off, they loved spoiling her with new toys or dresses. Things to make her look pretty. Her favorites were the fairy toys and the dresses that made her look like a fairy. They were the prettiest.

Then they started socializing her with other kids her age when she was about 5. And was immediately teased for being fat and ugly. She ran home crying. Her parents didn't believe her that the nice kids their friends had told them about could be so mean. She must've been lying.

They sent her back out there, back into ridicule. They were all maybe 4-7 years old, but even then kids can be cruel. And words can hurt. They called her a tattletale, a crybaby. Asked her why she dressed like a fairy when she clearly was too ugly to be one, maybe she was an ogre instead.

None of the adults in her life understood the trauma that the cruel teasing caused; it was just kids being kids they claimed. It was all jokes, and they probably didn't really call her an ogre, she just misheard.

She withdrew into herself, didn't play with them, let them tease her. She started tuning them out. Then one day her parents realized she needed glasses. She pleaded that she didn't need them; she was fine without them... but her parents insisted, and the bullies were given new fuel.

At home, she took solace in her fairy toys, but her fairy dresses started to get disused. She was too fat to be a fairy, she decided. She didn't deserve to even look like a fairy. But she kept dreaming, even if she stopped pretending to be a fairy.

Really, that should have been a warning sign to her parents that all wasn't well when one day she refused to dress up as a fairy for the first time in her life. But no, they decided she had grown out of her fairy phase, even as she kept playing with the toys.

When she was 9, they wondered where they went wrong that they had such a sullen child. She rarely spoke unless spoken to, and usually got in trouble for her tone of voice. She pushed around her food, barely ate. She became thinner. Paler. Bags grew under her eyes as the year went on.

They finally decided to sit down and talk with her. So she told them again all about the bullies that had been bothering her since she was 5. They told her to let it run off, it'll blow over. She really was pretty, she wasn't fat anymore, and she was pretty even then. They still seemed to think though that she was lying. They talked to the parents of the kids... who talked to their kids.

The next time she was at the park... They cornered her. She'd decided to wear one of her pretty dresses for the first time outside of special occasions. They laughed at her. One of the boys pulled her hair. They teased her, cruel as always. Then it escalated.

She must pay for tattling on them and the talk they had with their parents. She tried to run, only to trip over a tree root. She turned over, quivering as they approached. They laughed at her. The girls pulled at her dress until she was nearly all the exposed, they all took turns kicking her.

A boy spit on her. They got rougher, their voices taunting her. She broke and started crying. They sensed blood and closed in like sharks, teasing her for being a crybaby. One of the boys took her glasses and dangled them above her, watching her try to grab at them while others beat her down. They laughed.

Then he dropped them with a smirk and an 'oops'. They broke. She started pleading with them to stop, that she wouldn't tattle anymore. They were too into their fun to listen. She kept begging, but it only seemed to egg them on.

"NO MORE!" she wailed suddenly, looking a boy in the eye. He turned to stone. The other kids turned and stared at her in shock. She looked at them each in turn. They all turned to stone. She started panicking. She ran for home, for safety. Her parents weren't there yet.

That was fine, she could take care of her bruises and cuts herself. She did so. She then changed into different clothes and hid in a closet, crying about what happened. For all the teasing and bullying she'd endured, it'd never gone further than a tug on her hair or a shove...

Her parents arrived, and were mad at her for turning the kids to stone, luckily apparently they'd gone back to normal after an hour, but they all blamed her, said they were doing nothing when it happened. She protested, more than ever before, but not even the cuts and bruises convinced her parents that she was telling the truth. Something in her broke.

She started shouting about how unfair they were being how much she hated them. About how much she suffered and they did nothing. She even brought out her torn up dress.

Her mother slapped her and scolded her for telling such wild tales and decided it was time to get rid of all the fantasy stuff she had so her imagination wouldn't go so wild ever again. She started crying begging them not to throw away her fairies, anything but her fairies. But they refused.

She looked them in the eyes again, and they turned to stone. She gasped, because she'd looked them in the eyes earlier, but... her glasses were on, she took them off when she started crying and then she looked at them and they turned to stone! She put her glasses on hurriedly. She decided right then to run away while she had the chance.

Her life sucked anyways. Living on her own couldn't be any worse, plus she was dangerous anyways. She could turn people to stone, what if that stone cracked and they died because of it. She shuddered and packed her fairies, her dresses, her other clothes and then ran off. She snuck on the first train she could.

She was happy she had magic, but was sad that it was something like turning people into stone. Only evil people did that in stories. She wanted to be good. But she could only do that. She resolved to do her best not to turn people to stone ever again.

She had to learn other magic, she just had to... she wandered around for a long time, getting lost and having only her fairy toys for comfort. She regretted running away when it made her hungry and dirty. But she didn't want to go back... She just had no clue how to survive.

She would try to do magic in any way that didn't involve stones. She grew frustrated as nothing would happen. She just wanted to be a fairy! Fairies spread fairy dust, right? Suddenly one day, fairy dust exploded in the air in front of her. She was sitting on the street, the picture of a typical street kid. There were oohs and ahs... and suddenly money was dropped in front of her! It was enough for three whole meals! She thanked them, they smiled and moved on.

She practiced every day until her displays would attract all sorts of people. At the age of 12, she was more confident than she had ever been, her past locked behind a rock wall in her heart. One day, one of the people watching her street performance suggested she join Fairy Tail, a perfect place for someone who uses magic that looks like fairies used it. She embraced the idea and took her saved up money to head for that guild.

She didn't know what to expect. She was welcomed with open arms. Her only problem was her magic was self taught and not suited for fighting. But that was fine. She would learn. She watched people in the guild. She avoided most of the kids her age, and found herself drawn to a bookworm, a crazy boy with dolls, and a slightly moody lightning mage.

She found herself true friends. They helped her with magic, and eventually formed a team. She developed an arrogant mask and called herself the queen of fairies, since that had been a dream when she was little before the bullies took hold of her mind. She kept herself skinny and fit and wore dresses that would remind people of fairies. It was like living a dream, though her insecure self would take hold of her inner thoughts and remind her of her past and the bullying she endured; it whispered that she deserved it. She always tried to ignore it.

Years later, she turned her own guildmates to stone. She had taken the most convincing to go along with the original plan because of that fact. She was okay with turning enemies to stone... Non enemies, and even 'better' her own guild mates? Not so much. But she was basically threatened with the loss of friendship, so she donned her mask and did it. The reaction of the guild master nearly made her falter, but she acted as normal.

She kept acting arrogant and self assured, even when she was sure she was going to lose, she was no match for Titania, even if she wanted that title for herself. She even bluffed when she could do no such thing. The only control she had over the stone statues were when they would turn back to normal; after 24 hours or when she wanted them to. Or when she was beaten. And she was. She couldn't face her friends after that.

Then it was all over, and two of her friends stayed friends, they'd lost too after all. And the final friend was kicked out of the guild. She felt so guilty about turning her guild mates to stone, she wanted to go with, but he refused, so they switched tactics to trying to get him to ask the guild master to allow him to stay... but in the end he left. And she was left... feeling empty... and knowing people were afraid of her, hated her attitude... but she didn't know what to do.

She was still partially that scared little girl who was bullied with parents who didn't care. She was still insecure. Still sometimes believed she was fat upon looking in the mirror. She resolved, in the aftermath of that whole debacle, that she would try to be a better person... try to act like a better person. She would do it for herself. Evergreen would make friends and she would do it her own way.

...if only she knew how to take her mask off.

Being a rich person; pampered by servants, never wanting for anything... practically every girl's dream when they don't understand what it means. For her, it meant only having her mom for good company and her mom's spirits. Then... when she was barely 7 years old, her mom died. And she was left with no one, though she was determined to learn magic so she could have someone... at least Cancer, Aquarius had never liked her.

But what about her father? Wasn't he around? Oh he was. And he was probably a good person. She just had yet to see that part of him. He was never around when her mom was alive, always doing business. Afterwards, he kept doing business and never had time for her, even when she tried to do nice things for him.

He yelled at her for interrupting him. For not being ladylike, for trying to learn 'useless' magic. He made it hard for her. So she turned to reading fiction mostly. She wrote out her feelings and started planning a novel, even if it was childish because of her age, but she knew she would improve in time. It gave her a goal, something to look forward to in her otherwise dreary life.

When she was 13, she finally received Aquarius and Cancer for good, though Capricorn's key had disappeared. Aquarius still didn't like her and made fun of her, so she tried not to use her unless necessary. Cancer though was great at listening to her. He was the one who finally convinced her that it would be best for her to run.

So shortly after her 16th birthday, that's what she did. She left the home of neglect she'd endured and started off anew. After two months, she found a golden key, Taurus. She collected a few silver keys as well. Eventually, about a year after running away, she made it to Hargeon and found the silver gate key for Canis Minor.

Then everything turned upside down as she finally got to join a guild. One of the most well known (and destructive) guilds in Fiore. Fairy Tail. It was a dream come true. She helped a son connect with his father through a book. She went on a mission to prevent a dark guild from using an item to summon a demon, and felt mostly useless when next two her three guild mates who did most of the work, though it was nice when the exceed finally gave her the golden key that summoned a spirit able to help them escape.

Then she went on an S Class mission. She knew she shouldn't have done that, but it had a golden gate key as a reward, and she really didn't like the idea of her sometimes idiotic partner and his exceed going on it by themselves. So she went. And surprised herself a little at the fact that she was able hold her own against a mage with a very difficult power to fight when one has spirits.

After a few small missions, they returned home... and found out the guild was a target of Phantom Lord, a legitimate guild that had darker leanings. And then she found out that it was because her father finally decided to bring her home. And she knew why too. He probably finalized the betrothal contract he'd tried to talk to her about before she ran away.

That made her feel bitter, but she hated to see her guild at war and hurt because of wanting to be free. She tried to go, but they wouldn't let her, even though she felt more useless than over half the guild, especially with her keys missing. She couldn't fight, but they were fighting for her anyways, because they wanted to keep her around. It was hard to believe.

In the end, she went back home. To confront her father, and to cut her ties with her old life once and for all. It was a surprise when, as she was visiting her mothers grave, her teammates arrived. They were all worried about her and wanted to her to return... apparently she hadn't expressed clearly enough that she was coming back. It was good to know, though, that they cared enough to come after her with the belief she wasn't coming back. It made her feel better about being useless.

The next thing that happened was a bit of a surprise, though it did finally solve the mystery of why that one guy kept running away from her... he was a spirit. And he was never to return to the celestial after inadvertently causing his previous owner's death. She would have none of that, and nearly killed herself trying to open his gate, and later, after the Celestial Spirit King appeared, summoning all of her spirits for almost a minute. She was surprised she had that much power, maybe she wasn't so useless after all... something to ponder later, at that point she still had to save that spirit who happened to be her friend. To her relief, she did, and gained a new powerful spirit in the progress.

The Lion Spirit then gave her and her teammates tickets to a resort. And while there, another whole incident was sparked. Some people kidnapped the other female of the team, along with the exceed. They eventually found where they took her, accompanied by an old member of the now-disbanded Phantom Lord. They then found her... and learned of her past. She was surprised that the requip mage had once been a slave, and all of the other things in the past surprised her as well... it was a day of surprises basically.

Then they split up to look for a missing member of the team. She was with the former member of Phantom Lord, but it wasn't much of a problem, other than being perceived as a love rival by her potential guild mate. Until they came across a member of an assassin guild. The fight that followed was bewildering. At least in the end she had been able to summon Aquarius, though the spirit wasn't happy about the method. Then, with her new friend out of the control of the assassin, they performed a unison raid and defeated their enemy, though they weren't good for anything else afterwards, since it took a lot out of them.

Things went back to normal, or as normal as they ever did for Fairy Tail. She complained about lack of rent money and tried to find jobs as other people laughed at her obsession with money. She pretended to enjoy it and go along with it when it really did bother her; how else did they expect her to live where she did? She didn't own the apartment, and contrary to popular belief she didn't buy much, only enough to get by day to day with the very occasional treat for herself.

Luckily, some did actually take her seriously instead of just thinking she was exaggerating or greedy. The blue exceed told her about a beauty contest, and she decided to try. Her normal way of pumping herself up for trying something of course was taken as egocentric, but it was hard for her to try something without believing she at least had a chance, so she had to convince herself... aloud.

So she entered the contest... and didn't even get to perform her appeal before someone she hadn't really seen before interfered and declared herself the winner. Then the next thing she knew... she was staring at an empty guild and finding out that the guild was at war with itself. And that the master's grandson was the cause of it.

He revealed his newest plan, then the master collapsed. And it turned out that the whole town was in danger. She was all for evacuating the people, but the exceed talked her out of it... just in time for her to be assaulted, by dolls of all things.

An interesting fight later, in which she had help from her Lion spirit and words of advice from the exceed, she had won, surprising herself. It also came as bit of a shock when she was out of magic energy; sure she'd used two zodiac gates, but she'd done so in other situations without much trouble. Maybe it was because the two spirits were stronger spirits? Though she would never tell Aquarius that thought.

Then came the moment when the whole guild was arguing with each other. Over what they'd done to each other, as though they wouldn't have done the same things if they'd won. But that could wait for later, what with the lightning lacrimas that needed to be destroyed. She gave them a pep talk, and they all destroyed the lacrimas together. Of course there was that annoying side effect of getting the same amount of damage done to them as well... but in the end, they'd done it.

The guild did get back to normal after it was all cleared up. It took a while though, and it was interesting seeing the three Raijin tribe members attempt to make friends, though they obviously had some issues keeping them back even after what happened and some pep talks.

She promised herself to work hard, to become a stronger and better mage. She was still nowhere near the ability of any the members of Fairy Tail, in her opinion, even if she did defeat that one guy. She would do her best. Lucy Heartfilia would become one of the best mages in Fairy Tail in her own way.

...if only she could get away from those annoying pests invading her living space and making it hard to practice.

A/n- I hope you enjoyed my adventure into the pasts of the Raijin Tribe, Laxus, and Lucy, I sure had a blast creating the backstories for some of them.