interstitium
chapter one: fairy wings, tiger fangs

The warm rays of the setting sun pass through the windows of the train, painting the interior in deep orange. They shift and move, the shadows of passing trees and hills turning the rays into brief, flashes of color. In a compartment at the rear of the train, the shifting of light and color plays oddly across Lucy Heartfilia's face.

"You don't have to do this, you know."

Lucy sighs, tips her head out the window to watch the scenery pass by. They've long left Magnolia, the dense forests and high mountain ranges left behind hours earlier. She'll be there soon. She's considered, probably more times than her companion realizes, doing exactly what he suggests—getting off the train, turning back, going back to her empty home and empty guild.

"I know," she says, and the smile she paints on is not a true one. "But what else can I do? Everybody else has…moved on. You said it yourself, it's time for me to find what makes me happy."

"Will it?"

"What?"

"Make you happy?" Loke's eyes narrow behind his glasses. "After everything that happened, after what they did to you…"

Lucy crosses her arms, takes a deep, slow breath. "They're different, Loke. They've changed. They're not like you think."

His expression tightens. "They hurt you, Lucy—they tortured you! Say what you want, that's something I just can't forgive."

"I forgave them a long time ago. You should too," Lucy appreciates the sentiment, she truly does, but it isn't his place to get angry or defensive over injuries long passed—if she held a grudge over every time a friend injured her, she would have far fewer friends. "I'm going to join them, Loke. I…there's nothing else for me."

"You could become a freelance mage! Or do that writing thing you've always wanted! Or you could go on a training trip, like Natsu did! We could help you! You don't have to join them! There's so many other guilds to join, and you have to join that one…"

It's a well-worn argument between them, one they've had too many times since she'd set her mind on this a week ago. When the letter came, penned in her friend's hand, a place and a home offered, what other choice did she have? Lucy needed the companionship, the friend. Since everything fell apart, she'd been drowning in a mire of her own dark thoughts, her loneliness and despair, and her choice would hopefully change that.

"I'm sorry, Loke," she shakes her head, once, tone solemn—she's been quieter, less upbeat, since her world fell apart, and she doesn't have the strength to argue with one of her few remaining friends. "But I need to do this. For me."

He sighs, once, a shadow slipping across his face. Then he smiles, sad and wry. "I suppose that's something I will just have to accept, then. Forgive me, Lucy. I just…want the best for you. I guess I'm biased, I was a Fairy Tail member too, after all. It feels wrong, to watch you walk into another guild."

Lucy leans forward, gently untangles his hands from their tight grip on his pants. She knows it must hurt him, for her to join another guild. He's sworn to Fairy Tail, just like her, but he'll be sworn to serve whatever guild or cause she joins. "I will always be a member of Fairy Tail, that will never change. As long as they're in my heart, as long as this mark is on my hand," she held up their shared guild mark, the bright pink symbol of hope, the only lingering piece of her family she had, "I will wait for them. But you were right, it's time to carry on. Until Fairy Tail returns, it's time for us to go our own way."

Loke bows his head, his hands closing over hers; his palms are warm, his rings hot against her skin. "You're right…this isn't goodbye, this is just 'until next time'."

"Exactly," she nods. "It's just another adventure, right?"

He smiles, then. "Of course, Princess. And we'll be at your side for all of it, always. No matter what."

Lucy returns his expression, the sun beams playing across her face making her look almost ethereal in the light. The dark bags, lines of weariness, the scars she's been left with from recent weeks, all seem to ease. She looks light, happy, for the first time in a long time.

Loke doesn't have to like her decision, doesn't have to agree with it, but—in the face of her happiness, the shades of peace he hasn't seen her wear for weeks, he knows he can only do one thing. He has to support her, believe in her. She's never led them wrong before. Her heart is lighter than anyone he knows; he trusts that bright, caring spirit of hers to lead the way.

"I'm glad," she links her fingers through his, squeezes them tightly. "Thanks, Loke. For everything."

"Of course," he grins at her, all playful and flirtatious charm. "I'm always at your service."

Lucy splutters, yanks her hands away. "Did you just wiggle your eyebrows?"

"Mm, did I?" he leans closer, invading her personal bubble.

"Ew, gross! Get away from me, you perverted lion!" she shrieks, grasping his face and shoving him roughly away, throwing him clear across the other side of their compartment. Her cheeks are red, flushed, and she's panting lightly, glaring down at him. "Why do I always get the perverted spirits?"

Loke looks up at her, at the life she's exuding, and grins roguishly. "Why Princess, is it perversion to admire your natural beauty?"

"Yes!" she shouts, glares with all the heat she can muster. She extends a hand, a familiar golden key shining in it. "Get out of here, you moron! Force Closure! Gate of The Lion!"

Even as he disintegrates into golden sparkles, nothing can hide Loke's grin or his parting words. "Call me, Princess!"

The moment her spirit disappears completely, gone on the wind, Lucy falls back into her seat with a huff, muttering to herself. "Stupid lion, always inviting himself out," she grumbles, turning her head back out the window. Her reflection smiles back at her, unbidden.

"Thanks, Loke," she whispers.

His key glows brightly, warmly in her palm, and she slips her keys back into their holster.

At the end of the day, she will always be thankful for her spirits. They're all weirdos, creeps and generally just quirky, but she loves them all the same. Words will never be able to express just how much they mean to her. She would never have made it this far, never have survived this long without them.

She spots the town approaching on the horizon, a silhouette against the setting sun. Her heart flutters in her chest, a nervous butterfly beats its wings in her stomach. She's not sure if it's nausea, excitement or fear that's brimming inside of her, perhaps all three.

This is it. This is her future. From today forward, until the day Fairy Tail returns, this will be her home.

"I can do this…" she breathes, squares her shoulders, and stands to find her luggage—she thinks, briefly of the friends she's been abandoned by, that she's now turning her back on, but she steels her heart against it. "It's just another adventure. It's not forever. It's just until we meet again."

"So, you want to join Sabertooth, huh? Trade your fairy wings for tiger fangs?" Sting leans forward, plants his elbows on the desk and rests his chin on his palms. He tilts his head a little, eyes fixated on her. "Man, Natsu's gonna flip. Ha!"

Lucy winces at the casual referral to Natsu; she's still rubbed raw, abandoned from his sudden departure, and thoughts of him lately have not been of the happy kind. "I'd like to, if you'll let me."

"We heard about Fairy Tail, by the way. Sorry, it must suck," Sting adds, watching her carefully.

Her mouth twists into a frown, but she swallows the quiver. "Kind of an understatement."

"Uh, right, sorry," he winces at the flat, dead tone of her voice. His eyes dart from her left side to her right, a little wide.

At her elbow, Yukino gently wraps a hand around Lucy's own. "Please, Master," she bows her head before him. "I would like it very much if you would allow Lucy a place here."

Lucy swallows thickly, but offers Yukino the warmest, brightest smile she can manage.

It had been Yukino's idea for her to come. She'd sent a letter, when things had settled, to ask how Lucy was doing. Her response, and the following exchange over the weeks after, hadn't convinced Yukino she was okay. She'd seen the tear stains on the paper, the crumples from how tightly Lucy gripped it, and had known. In her last letter, a few days ago, she'd made an offer—join Sabertooth, be with friends, a new family, until her old one reformed.

Yukino feels like the only friend she has left in this world. With her guild disbanded, its members scattered across Fiore without a word, she feels alone, abandoned. Yukino, her spirits, they are the only ones left to her now. This is why she's here, with Yukino, with Sabertooth—for a new start, a new home.

Lucy is ready; although her heart is heavy and her regrets a laundry list a mile long, she can't bring herself to regret wanting this, wanting a second chance, wanting to surround herself with a guild again. Fairy Tail changed her life, made it better, fuller than she ever imagined. Now, maybe Sabertooth can fill the void Fairy Tail's absence left.

Sting laughs, grins—and God, he reminds her so much of Natsu that it aches. "Well, I can't turn that kind of request down, now can I? You want in, blondie? You're in."

She blinks, mouth opening and closing. "T-That's it?"

"What do you mean 'that's it'?" Sting asks, frowning, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms behind his head. "Smile! It's time to show the world your new fangs!"

"So there's no test? No swearing my loyalty?"

He squints at her, eyes narrow. "Why? You thinking of betraying us?"

"No!" she squeaks.

"Great!" he brightens, slipping into a teasing grin.

Lucy breathes a sigh of relief.

"Where would you like your mark?" Rogue quietly asks, a stamp in his hand—he isn't smiling, not exactly, but his expression has warmed.

She considers it, absently rubbing her thumb over the back of her hand, over the back of her Fairy Tail guild mark—she's not so sure what the protocol is for having more than one guild mark, but she figures it's ultimately harmless, considering Fairy Tail isn't around right now.

"On this hand," she says, extending her opposite hand.

There's a brief tingle of unfamiliar magic on her, as he stamps her, but then it's gone. All she's left with is the symbol of a snarling sabertooth tiger in black, mirroring the pink Fairy Tail mark she'd received so long ago—a year, by what she feels, but eight with how long they slumbered on Tenrou Island.

Lucy looks at the mark for a long moment, a literal symbol of her new life, her new home. It's not the mark she always dreamed of as a child, not the one she's grown so used to seeing, but it is hers just the same.

"Welcome to Sabertooth," Rogue inclines his head, steps back.

This is it, she's taken the irreversible step. Better or worse, she is a member of Sabertooth now. She is a part of a guild, a family, once again.

"T-Thank you," she can't help the tears, for all she tries. They build in her eyes, unbidden, and before she can process it they're pouring down her cheeks, streaming, and she's sobbing ugly sobs. "Thank you!"

"Lucy!" Yukino's voice is urgent, and her friend takes her by the forearms, eyes wide. "Are you okay?"

She hears Sting shouting behind her. "Rogue, you idiot! Did you do it wrong! Why is she crying?"

In an uncharacteristic loss of character, Rogue's voice is just as urgent back. "It wasn't me, I swear! I applied the mark perfectly!"

"Apologize! Before Milady comes in here and kills both of us for making her cry!"

"Right!" Rogue nods. "I apologize, was there something I did wrong?"

Lucy shakes her head, swallows past the thick lump in her throat, and laughs. "It's okay…these are happy tears!" she declares, wiping at her face with her sleeves, unable to stem their flow. "Thank you, all of you. I…I didn't think I would be so happy, to join another guild. But…you gave me a new home, so thank you."

When she pulls her sleeves back, she catches sight of the three Saberooth members—her guildmates, she realizes startlingly—looking back at her. They are all smiling, even Rogue. There's a warmth, a welcoming presence in the room that reminds her so much of Fairy Tail, of the way she'd been welcomed that first day, embraced by Mira, Natsu and everyone else.

"That's right," Yukino smiles. "You're home now."

Lucy nods, smiles a watery smile. "I'm home."

So I finished the Tartaros-arc yesterday, and I was disappointed to see that Lucy stagnated while her friends moved on. It was said that she was deeply depressed afterwards, and we know she went to work for Jason. But I want to explore what it would be like if, like Wendy, she joined another guild, namely Sabertooth, the only guild where she has a friend left now that Fairy Tail have dispersed.

As an important note, I haven't read/watched beyond the reunion with Wendy/Juvia and Natsu/Lucy's arrival at Sabertooth. I'll get around to it eventually, but because I'm not up to date with the locations/stories of the other Fairy Tail members, this is definitely AU in that respect, I may inadvertantly have contradicted/overwritten characters locations. I'll try to avoid it as best I can, but it will happen. This is a semi-canonical AU.

It's not going to be a perfect story, and I'm not sure how long it will carry on for. That being said, I'll try my best. This is my first delve into Fairy Tail fic, but I'm rather proud of it. I'm predicting anywhere from one to twenty more chapters.