Fighting Oblivion

Author's Note: Hey all! This is my first fairy tail fic, well my first anime fic ever, so please go gentle on me! I don't have a beta so any grammar, spelling errors are completely on me. I tried to make the story fully canon compliant as of the end of Tartaros, but I watch the anime as well as read the manga so there may be a mix of manga/anime compliance. I want to say, I am a full on NaLu shipper. I need Mashima to make that canon compliant ASAP! However, I fell into a rabbit hole of Lucy crack ships and completely fell in love with StiCy with this one fic I read (When I remember the name I'll add it to a chapter note). After I finished it I scoured the internet for more Sting/Lucy pairings to satisfy my little shipper heart and was honestly a little disappointed. There aren't very many! There's a lot of incredibly talented writers that are part of this Fairy Tail community! It's just, most of them aren't writing StiCy (it's a little niche I've discovered). There was also a lot of Lucy being helpless, abused, kicked out Fairy Tail, replaced with Lisanna, beaten by Natsu, and I just couldn't jive with the damsel in distress, trauma bonding, character assassination any more. Don't get me wrong, I love a controversial fic as much as the next girl, but I wanted something a little more grounded in the personality of the characters Mashima has introduced us to, something that portrayed Lucy as the badass I know she is. So I was inspired to write this add this to the limited, yet lovely StiCy fics. The plot bunnies were hoping and I had to get my pen in action. I'm a few chapters deep and will try to update regularly if there is any interest in my little story. Hopefully we can see how it ends together! This is also published under my fanfiction.net account, different user name, uploaded 1/16/24 **I do not own Fairy Tail though I wish I did**

Chapter One

Beep! Beep! Beep! Smack!

I let out a low groan as I smacked my alarm clock right off the nightstand. Another day had to begin. Like it always did. Another day filled with laying copy, picking photos, editing stories...another day without Fairy Tail. I closed my eyes tightly. Come on, Lucy, I tried pumping myself up. You can do it, you always do.

It's been almost six months since Faith Tail was disbanded, almost six months since Natsu and Happy left me with nothing more than a sloppy note. Almost five months since I've seen any of my guildmates...well, former guildmates. I took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh before I forced my eyes to open. That was the first step, of every day, since I've been in Crocus. Just force my eyes open. I laid there for a moment, readying myself for step two, swinging my legs out of bed. I finally stood up and dragged myself to the bathroom.

I threw some water on my face before looking in the mirror. "You are Lucy Heartfilia, daughter of Layla, master of the stars. And you will get through another day." I glared at myself for a moment, my hands on either side of the sink, fingers gripping the porcelain. I stood up, straightening my back and rolling my shoulders. I gave myself one last glare before stomping over to my dresser and pulling out my workout clothes and getting dressed. I stuffed my feet into my running shoes then snatched my keys off my nightstand, pausing for a moment to return that annoying alarm clock to where it belonged. I paused for a moment before leaving my apartment and took one last steadying breath before I made my exit.

Once I was in the courtyard I held one of the keys in front of me. "Open! Gate of the Lion! Leo!"

There was a blinding flash of glimmering golden light that dissipated almost instantly to reveal my personal trainer. Ok...so he was much much more than that. My faithful spirit, one of my closest friends...hell maybe my only friend, and former guildmate, Loke the Lion. Leader of the Zodiac.

"Hello, gorgeous!" He gushed, lowering his sunglasses so he could take a better look at me. His eyes tracked up and down my body before he let out a low humph, crossing his arms with a slight pout on his lips. I rolled my eyes, familiar with the final step of my pre-workout routine.