The Dragon Heiress

♔1♚

Lucy Hearfilia hid behind a tree as Erza Scarlet, Natsu Dragneel, Lisanna Strauss and Gray Fullbuster battled a dark wizard. Then suddenly, the wizard disappeared into thin air.
"How dare you abandon battle, you coward!" Erza snarled.
"Where'd the guy do? I'm all ready to kick his ass!" Natsu shouted.
Lucy felt her heart beat race.
How long until the mage finds me? Lucy thought and was answered by wind rustling in her ear.
Then, out of nowhere, the mage appeared in front of Lucy.
"Kyaa!" She shrieked and reached for her keys.
The wizard was faster.
He swiped Lucy's key holder and tossed it to the ground. Lucy opened her mouth to scream, but she couldn't get the words out. Luckily for her, a fist came out and punched the mage.
"L-Loke!" Lucy exclaimed.
"I'm guessing you want me to beat this guy?" The Celestial Spirit flashed a dazzling smile as Lucy gave a small nod.
"Hey, we're not done yet!" Natsu shouted as the rest of Team Natsu charged in and began fighting.
"Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armor!"
"Roar of the Fire Dragon!"
"Ice Make: Sword!"
"Take Over: Cat Soul!"

♠♤♠

When the battle was over, the Team went straight to Fairy Tail. As Lucy sipped her drink, she noticed the team watching her warily.
"What?" Lucy asked nervously.
Natsu, Erza, Gray, Happy, and Lisanna looked down at the table guilty.
"What?" Lucy repeated, her voice cracking.
"We've been thinking of something ever since Lisanna returned from Edolas...we've been trying to do it, but we weren't able to...what I'm trying to say is--" Gray said, but was interuppted by Erza.
"What we're trying to say is you're kicked off the team." Erza stated bluntly.
"Why?" Lucy blurted.
"You're too weak. On jobs, we have to use most of our magic power to protect you, and we always give you all the reward money for your stupid rent...and, it's better if you leave." Natsu said.
"I-I understand." Lucy held back tears and pulled up the best poker face she could manage.
"I'm really sorry, Lucy." Lisanna whispered, frowning slightly.
"It's okay. It's the truth, isn't it? No problem, I'll leave if you really think it's best for the team." Lucy gave her friend a sad smile, feeling escaped tears race down her cheeks.
"Well, I'd better get going and find a new team," Lucy paused when Gray opened his mouth to say something, but closed it. "You know, I have to do jobs to pay my rent...and I'll have to join a team because I'm too weak to complete the job." She finished, taking a deep breath, and walking away from the table.
When Lucy tried to ask her guild mates about joining their team, they all glared at her and shot insults about her being weak. Well, everyone except Lisanna, Mirajane, Elfman, Wendy, Romeo, Levy, Cana, Juvia, The Exceeds, Gajeel, Master Makarov, Laxus, and The Raijinshuu. But Lucy was glad that Juvia was being kind to her despite how she considered Lucy as her "Love Rival".
"I-I'm sick of this!" Lucy whisper-screamed as she stared at the table, letting her tears drop onto the hard wood.
"Lucy," Happy whispered as the two exceeds and Wendy came over and sat next to her.
"..." Lucy murmured something barely audible to herself.
"What is is?" Carla asked, her tone regal and mature. Wendy looked up at her with worried eyes.
"I gotta go do something." Lucy got up and walked up the steps to the second floor. When nobody was looking, she swiped one of the S-Class jobs and stuffed it into her pocket.

-<*>+<*>+<*>+<*>+<*>-

Lucy went home and wrote letters to the guild in case she couldn't come back alive from the job. And after she finished, she ran out of the house to complete the job.
"Okay, I just have to defeat an army of thousands. If I do that, Fairy Tail would recognize me as strong...if I fail, I'll die. But at least I'll be with my mom." Lucy murmured to herself.

-<*>+<*>+<*>+<*>+<*>-

"Gate of the Lion, I open thee! Leo!" Lucy shouted as the battle began. But it wasn't Loke who arrived, but Virgo.
"Time for punishment, Princess?" Virgo solemly asked.
"No! Where's Leo?!" Lucy shrieked.
"On a date with Aries." Virgo seemed not to notice the army surrounding the two.
"Ugh!" Lucy pulled up Aquarius's key, and remembered their conversation the day before:
"Next week I'll be on a trip with my boyfriend," Aquarius boasted.
"Could you stop talking about Scorpio for even a minute?" Lucy's sigh earned a murderous glare from Aquarius.
"You tryin' to insult my Scorpio?" The Spirit growled.
Lucy shuddered at the memory and pulled out another key.
"Gate of the Bull, I open thee! Taurus!" She smiled as Taurus arrived.
"Are they trying to hurt you?" He asked and Lucy nodded.
"Okay! I'll be sure to protect you and your hot body!" Taurus declared. Lucy sighed. For one of her strongest spirits, Taurus was a bit perverted. But since he would be protecting her, she put the issue aside. He got through the first fifty with ease. But once he got to the first hundred, the Spirit's moves became a bit sluggish. And by two hundred, he was finished.
"I'm sorry I wasn't much of help!" Taurus apologized before disappearing.
The same thing happened with Cancer and Sagittarius.
Soon, Lucy was sprawled on the ground. She waited, counting her heartbeats until the last one.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Roar of the Fire Dragon!"
A male voice shouted, making Lucy's eyes widen. More than half of the army was defeated in an instant.
"N-Natsu?" She asked.
"No, child," the man looked Lucy up and down. "Would you happen to be Lucy Heartfilia?" He asked.
"Yes...why?" What a random question, she thought.
"You need to come with me." He grinned and turned into a large, crimson scaled dragon.
"Igneel?!" Lucy shrieked.
"Yes, princess. You need to come with me so you can see Queen Layla."
"Layla? You mean my mom?!" Lucy shrieked.
"Yes, princess." He replied.
"What's with the 'Princess' thing? I thought it was only Virgo who called me that." Lucy pursed her lips.
"You didn't know? The queen must have thought you were too young to know." Igneel cocked his head slightly.
"W-what? Whatever, fine. I'll go with you." Lucy began to climb on his back. She chose not to tell him that she trusted Igneel because he was Natsu's father.

-<*>+<*>+<*>+<*>+<*>-

When they entered the Dragon Realm, Lucy found it extremely difficult to close her gaping mouth. But, it was when they reached the inside of a palace filled with dragons that she freaked out. At the center, was Layla Heartfilia.
"Mom!" Lucy screamed and leaped off Igneel, running towards her mother.
"Lucy! I'm so glad to see you!" Layla hugged her daughter.
"M-mom," Lucy choked out. "Is it true that you're the queen of the Dragons?"
"Why else do you think Igneel called you princess?" Layla laughed.
"Are you a dragon like Igneel too? Does that mean I'm a dragon too?" Lucy held her breath until Layla answered.
"I am indeed the Celestial dragon, but you are part dragon and part human from your father," Layla smiled and pulled away from her daughter to look her up and down. "Come, Lucy, you have much to learn about the realm."

-<*>+<*>+<*>+<*>+<*>-

Meanwhile, at Fairy Tail...
"Lucy did what?!"
"It seems that Lucy Heartfilia took an S-Class job to fight an army of thousands." The Master's voice rang through the guild. Everyone stared at Team Natsu and waited for them to say something. After a while of silence, Levy burst into the guild. The Script mage stood still, shaking from head to toe. She held papers in her trembling hands.
"Lu-chan wrote letters f-for us...and from what I read, this is all their fault!" Levy screamed as she pointed to Team Natsu accusingly. Natsu stared down at the table, shaking with anger and disbelief.
"Damn!" He shouted and punched the table. Natsu got up from the table and began heading out the guild. "Happy, c'mon." Happy flew immediately to Natsu's side.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?!" Gray hissed.
"I'm going to find Lucy and bring her back. Since nobody's doing it, I'll get her with Happy." Natsu growled as he ran off along with the Exceed.

-<*>+<*>+<*>+<*>+<*>-

A few days after Natsu left, everything changed. Levy became more aggressive (mainly to Team Natsu), Mira and most of the guild fell into a deep depression, and Juvia stopped fawning over Gray. Cana even stopped drinking. One day, one of the citizens of Magnolia rushed into the guild.
"Lucy Heartfilia...s-she's dead." The citizen choked out.
"No!" Levy, Wendy, and Cana screamed in unison.
"She's not dead! Y-you're lying!" Mirajane sobbed.
"What's going on here?" Makarov asked as he came in.
"Lucy's dead," Levy cried while Gajeel held her, keeping her from falling to the ground. "And it's your fault!" She spat to Team Natsu.
"Let it go, Levy." Cana whispered.
"Fine!" Levy snarled and gripped the edge of the table so tightly that her knuckles turned white.