I never needed you [ON HOLD]

Chapter 5

"Ahem!" she coughed, clearly not pleased that her seat was currently occupied by the three people she was least excited to see.

"Hello, Lucy" Erza greeted. "Welcome back. We were not aware that you had gone on a mission. And for so long"

"Yeah...thanks" she frowned when they didn't seem to make a move to get off her stool. But she remained calm. She's just got back, and she doesn't want to seem petty.

"So, what was the mission for?" Natsu asked, leaning forward on the stool.

"Just a few bad guys to take care of here and there. It was no big deal. It's done anyway" she quickly responded.

The fire dragon slayer looked a bit taken back by her response. he thought he'd be excited to tell them the details.

"How have you been?" Lucy asked. "I see you've made quite the name for yourself now"

"Yes. The team is doing well Lucy." Erza eyed the blonde mainly to see her reaction. She could sense that Lucy was being a little bitter about the subject. Even with the small smile on her face. She thought that she would be over it by the time she came back.

"Well, you did get rid of the week link after all. it makes sense that you'd get better. Though the destruction rate hasn't dropped" she giggled. Juvia chuckled lightly behind her hand at Lucy's comment.

"I'm joking, I'm joking!" Lucy laughed when she saw the three purse their lips. They definitely thought she was still upset about being kicked off the term. Which, yeah she kinda was, but not to a point where it would bother her the way they were probably thinking.

Though she does want revenge of some sort.

Not one where she hurts them physically.

But to hurt the ego in not being the best anymore? Hell yeah! She'd been devising this plan for quite a while.

Excel in power, come back, create an image for herself anonymously, and then reveal herself at the GMG this year. She had three months to do it all but it would be easy.

"Say, Lucy, what's in the bag?" Gray asked out of curiosity when he saw the bump in it. He then side-eyed Juvia for a second, surprised that the water mage hadn't tried to jump him yet.

"A gift" she replied. Mira had finally come back with her milkshake and she took it with thanks to the barmaid. She took a long sip. "For me"

"You bought yourself a gift?" The ice mage asked.

But Lucy ignored him. She gave Mira some money from the milkshake, hopped off her stool and strolled away.

For the rest of the day, she went around the guild, chatting to her friends and the other guild members. they would ask about the mission she took but she just had to make up a story or try and dodge the question lest her plan gets messed up already.

"You look happier than usual Lucy" Wendy could feel the brighter than usual aura coming off of her sister figure and she was rather interested to know what has brightened her mood today.

"Well, I'm just happy to see you guys again after being gone for quite a while" Lucy replied with her usual smile

Wendy nodded, oblivious to the fact that Lucy wasn't telling her the real reason for seeming so happy.

Meanwhile with the Team Natsu...

"I really wanna know what Lucy's mission was. I can't believe Master would send her out to fight a bunch of bad guys on her own. What was he thinking!?" Nats said sounding pretty frustrated.

"But she came back alright though Natsu," Happy said with a frown.

"Still, it was quite a reckless decision. She could have been hurt" said Erza.

"But she's fine. Can't you see that? Maybe the bad guys didn't have magic and we're basic thugs that even I could defeat" Happy defended.

"Well, if I were to rank everyone in the guild, I would say that you're probably stronger than Luce," Natsu said bluntly

Happy looked taken back, "seriously Natsu?"

"Yeah," Natsu grinned. "I mean, why wouldn't you be? You're my partner as well so of course, you'd be stronger"

"You are aware that my best quality of flying around and having the strength to hold at least two people now right?" Happy asked, not accepting what Natsu said.

Natsu just shrugged and took a bite of his burger, "my opinion still stands"

"But-but Lucy-"

"Is weak Happy," Gray sighed, "it's why we couldn't have her in the team anymore. We couldn't take more challenging and more dangerous jobs because she is more prone to getting kidnapped or hurt way more than any of us. She has to rely on her spirits and if her keys or whip gets stolen, she's useless. I care about Lucy Happy, but that's the truth. We can't baby her just because she's a friend"

Happy looked down at his half-eaten fish, hiding the sadness and anger in his eyes. How could they sound so mean and say such things about Lucy? Sure he made fun and teased the girl from time to time but Happy doesn't think Lucy is weak. And he certainly isn't stronger than her.

Unknown to then, Lucy could hear their conversion from the table she was sitting at with some of the other girls. She only began to listen when she heard her name and focused her enhanced hearing on them.

She clenched her fists under the table the more they spoke about her.

'Weaker than Happy? Is he serious? I cannot believe those assholes! They have no idea how strong I am. Even before I joined their damned team. Before I joined Fairy Tail! Oh, they are so going to regret every single word that they have said about me. Mark my words Team Natsu. I will take the number one spot. That's a promise.'