March Like A Soldier [NaLu] {Fairy Tail AU} (ON HOLD)

Chapter 12 - When She Fights

March Like a Soldier
Chapter 12 - When She Fights
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"How could you not tell me this?!" Lucy whispered angrily, watching her General's form flicker above the small lacrima she was holding up.

"Well, you know now, right? I didn't think it was all that neceー"

"Bullshit!" she cut off. "I almost looked like a total idiot out there. What if I had never found out, and these kids magic just stayed as it was?"

He stayed silent, and she knew he realized what he had done. They may go back, but that was no excuse for not informing her of such a thing. A long time ago, he trained her. But they were equals now, comrades in battle. He had picked her up when she had fallen down, and she had killed for him, saved his life several times to repay the favor. And this is how he treats her? It was absurd, and disrespectful. It let her know exactly what he thought of her.

"I apologize, Ashley," he said roughly. "But you know now what to do, right?"

She seethed, "I know I've wasted weeks of everybody's time on things that don't help with their talents at all."

She turned it off, and his image disappeared. He was gone.

Lucy knew what it was like to be born with magic, to have pride in it, to want to make it grow more powerful. She was her own obstacle. She'd promised they'd be ready in three months.

She inhaled a ragged breath, knowing that she couldn't think like this. She looked towards the couch in her office like it was her worst enemy, and could've sworn it smirked at her. She smacked her palm against her head to disperse the illusion, and sighed.

Her boots and jacket removed, she laid on it like it was bound to explode at any moment. For a few moments she was tense, but eventually exhaustion caught up with her and she sleptーdeeply.

* * *

In the morning, she felt even more tired than before. She tried not to show it, and dunked her head in a bucket of cold water to feel more awake. Her fingers combed through her hair afterwards, feeling the jagged ends of the blonde locks. It was getting longer, and Lucy wondered what Cancer would say if he saw it.

Pushing that thought aside, she prepared for the day. She couldn't really train their magic unless she knew what it was.

"Maker Magic," Fullbuster said, hitting his fist against the palm of his hand. Automatically, a curved wall of ice appeared in front of him like a shield. Lucy tried not to look as excited as she was. As a child, she'd read magazines about these sorts of things.

She moved onto the next person by simply gave Gray a thumbs-up and a small smile as thanks. Next, Cana Alberona.

"I use card magic"ーshe held up a deck of cardsー"although I can also use a spell called Fairy Glitter."

Then she smiled and winked at the empty space next to her. Lucy decided to ignore itーmaybe she was still drunk.

* * *

Lucy saved Natsu Dragneel for last. She scribbled excitedly on a clipboard, about Erza Scarlet and Gray Fullbuster and Wendy Marvell and Laxus Dreyar and Gajeel Redfox and Mirajane Strauss and really all of the members of Fairy Tail. It was amazing, they were all so impressiveー

Someone cleared their throat. "Um, can I go now?"

She snapped her eyes in his direction, pretending as though she had forgotten he was there. In all honesty, she couldn't wait for his magic. A dragon slayer. Wendy, Gajeel and Laxus were already so amazing. What sort of tricks did Dragneel have up his sleeve?

"Go on," she said, and stepped aside to give him room for whatever he was going to do.

He grinned, and she glared at him. Stupid idiot with his stupid smile and his stupid clothes about to show her his stupid magicー

"Fire Dragon; Roar!"

She did a double handspring back in surprise, her instincts kicking into overdrive. Her eyes widened in surprise as a wave of pure, unfiltered heat hit her. There was a wall of flames just where she used to be standing, burning and turning everything it hit to ash. She shuddered. One second later, and she would be dead.

His spell ended, and she looked at the aftermath. The ground was scorched and black, spreading all the way to her feet. She kept her expression neutral and scribbled something else on her clipboard, not even sparing Dragneel a glance when she pivoted on her heel and walked towards her tent to drop off her clipboard.

The moment she returned, Lucy noticed Dragneel looked anything if not slightly peeved. "So? How did I do?"

She waved her hand dismissively and thought about what would annoy him the most. "It was okay, sure. Not nearly as impressive as Gray's maker magic."

Fullbuster burst into mocking laughter, pointing his finger at Dragneel's face, which was getting more and more red with anger. He opened his mouth to say something, but Scarlet hit the back of his head with her iron glove before he could get the words out.

"I think she hates you, man." Fullbuster guffawed.

Lucy pretended not to hear that and struggled to think of how to train their magic. She knew how to make their bodies strongerーrepeated exercise. But magic? How in the worldー

A thought coming to her on the spot, she spoke to the Fairy Tail guild, "All right, for your training, pick one spell that you can do."

"Requip."

"Lightning Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame."

Lucy rolled her eyes. What kind of spell needs such an egocentric name?

"Ice Make Geyser."

"High Speed."

"Animal Takeover."

"Iron Dragon Sword."

"Solid Script; iron." Levy Mcgarden glanced at Gajeel Redfox, who was already staring at her.

"Demon Takeover."

"Okay," Lucy stopped them. "You have your spell? Now, I want you to do them over and over again, repeatedly."

There was a respective groan from everybody there except maybe Scarlet, and Lucy gave them a sharp stare to make them shut up. "Your magic is the same as any muscle in your body, and it needs to be trained slowly with repeated exercise. If you don't understand that, then you shouldn't even have magic to begin with."

She glanced at Natsu Dragneel for a split second, then resumed her instructions. "Your goal will be to make each spell more powerful than the last, but for spells like Takeover and Requip, your goal will be to see how fast you can change from one form into another.

"Begin."