Stronger Than You Think (Fairytail)

Alone and Broken

Alone. Abandoned. That's how Lucy felt. She was very familiar with the feeling. As a child, she spent most of her time alone. But this was different. Fairy Tail promised. They promised not to leave her, that they would always be there for her, that they would treat her like family. But they broke those promises.

It all started the moment they returned from Edolas. When Lisanna Strauss returned. At first, Lucy was beyond ecstatic for Lisanna's siblings. Mira and Elfman were elated to have their little family whole again. Not to mention the guild, who partied for almost a month once they all discovered she was still alive.

But that was eight months ago. Lucy was forgotten, tossed away like a crumpled piece of paper. At first, she cried. A lot. She never understood what she did wrong. She knew it all started when Lisanna returned, but she didn't blame her. Lisanna was an amazing person, always smiling and laughing like her older sister, Mirajane. But Lucy only watched from a distance. Never being able to speak with youngest Strauss, due to her always being busy talking to somebody else.

Lucy remembered how Natsu slowly stopped talking to her. And when they did talk he was always distracted.

~Flashback~

"Hey, Natsu! I really need to pay my rent, so do you want to go on a job?" Lucy said, slapping a job request on the table Natsu was sitting at. It had been a few weeks since she had been on a job with Team Natsu. Natsu was currently sitting with Lisanna, listening to funny stories from Edolas.

"Oh...Hi, Lucy! I'm sorta.... busy right now, but maybe tomorrow?" Natsu said, already turning his head back to Lisanna.

"...Ok! I'll just go home!" Lucy said, faking a smile, before running out of the guild, hating the way Natsu looked at Lisanna, and how he forgot to call her Luce. But the worst blow was when she found out that Team Natsu, took a job the next day with Lisanna. And without her.

~End Flashback~

That was just the beginning. Natsu seemed to totally forget her existence. Which hurt Lucy a lot, considering the fact she had a slight crush on him. Of course, she did, he was her best friend and everything she wanted in a guy. Strong, fearless, and full of life. But he had his eyes on Lisanna.

Gray and Lucy were never the best of friends but were always there for each other. She always thought of him as a close friend, but she found out that Gray didn't feel the same. He stopped talking to her, only offering a hello, or wave once in a while.

Erza was the only one of Team Natsu who still talked to her occasionally. Erza had strength, intelligence, and beauty. Lucy admired Erza, and sort of saw her as a role model. Erza would sometimes sit with her and Wendy after one of her missions and eat her strawberry cake. But other than that, she seemed to replace Lucy with Lisanna.

Master, Wendy, Romeo, Happy, Charla, Levy, The Thunder God Tribe, Pantherlily and sometimes Gajeel, were the only people who spoke to Lucy on a daily basis. Whenever Natsu was clinging to Lisanna, which was almost always, Happy would hang out with her. She started getting more fond of the cat and brought him a fish almost every time she saw him. For his birthday, she got him a custom made fish shaped locket, with a picture of himself, Lucy, and Natsu. From the good old days, before Lisanna returned. Happy who never received such a thoughtful gift, loved it.

Lucy was beginning to get over her old friends. She spent almost all her time with Wendy, Romeo, Charla, and Happy. And who wasn't cheerful around the adorable sky dragon slayer? Levy was spending a lot of time with Gajeel lately but would talk with Lucy daily about different books, clothes, and other topics. Lucy was grateful Levy still talked to her, because she had already lost most of her female friends. Mira had been spending most of her time with Lisanna, going shopping, or going on the occasional mission, and working her job at the bar. Juvia and Lisanna became close friends right away because Juvia couldn't accuse Lisanna of being a love rival. Not with the way Natsu and Lisanna looked at each other.

Missions had been tricky at first. Lucy had never gone on a mission without Natsu, so going alone was difficult. But she managed and strengthened her celestial magic in the process. She could now open four zodiac gates at one time and have the energy to keep fighting. But eventually, she started going on missions with people who weren't on her 'team'. She went on a few missions with Levy and even some with Romeo, Laxus, Gajeel and Pantherlily, and the Thunder God Tribe. The most fun missions she took though, were always with Wendy and Romeo. Happy, and Charla would tag on them most of the time, but sometimes Natsu dragged Happy onto a mission with him.

"Lucy-nee?!" Wendy says, waving a hand in front of the distracted Lucy.

"Y-yes Wendy? Sorry, I was spacing out," Lucy says, scratching her neck sheepishly. Wendy giggled and gave her a cheerful grin.

"I was going to get myself a strawberry milkshake, do you want anything," Wendy asks, cocking her head like a cute puppy. Lucy chuckles and ruffles her hair.

"Yes, please. Can you get me a piece of vanilla cake? Here," She says, handing Wendy the money. Wendy pouts cutely, crossing her arms.

"But I wanted to pay for you!" She complains.

"Too bad," Lucy says crossly, sticking her tongue out. Wendy laughs and walks up to to the bar to buy their food. Lucy started reading the book she brought, not even noticing Team Natsu approaching her table.

"Hey....um...Lucy?" Natsu says, nervously shifting from foot to foot. Lucy looked up with surprise and nearly started crying. Were they FINALLY noticing her, were they going to apologize, and say the just got excited over Lisanna's return? Were they going to say they missed her?

"Yes? What is it Natsu? Is everything okay?" Lucy asks sweetly, making Natsu, Gray, and Erza feel guilty.

"Um yeah, but Lucy we all have come to a decision..." Natsu starts, shooting Gray a dirty look for not helping him.

"Ok..." Lucy says, not connecting the dots. But how could she? Who would ever believe that Team Natsu, the very people who spout crap about Nakama all the time, would kick out a teammate?

"We want you to....leave Team Natsu....so Lisanna can join. You're kind of weak..." Natsu finally said, with a grim expression.

To be continued......