Lucy found herself lagging behind her friends slightly as they walked, becoming lost in thought with a soft smile on her face. This last year in the guild had been all about recovering and spending as much time together as possible as a family. The battle with Alverez left them all with multiple scars, physical and psychological for everyone involved. Lucy would watch as Juvia would flinch if something got too close to her neck, Lisanna had barely been away from Mira-sans side for more than a few moments, constantly giving her sideways looks of worry. Even Bisca had changed slightly, spending all of her free time practicing with all of her guns and taking down targets that were impossibly far away. As for Lucy herself... It had been the same reoccurring nightmare. She had just finished re-writing the book of E.N.D. and Natsu had just caught up with her, Happy and Gray. Only a few moments later would he start to fade away, his skin glowing a soft gold before slowly being blown away as if by the wind. He would give her a wide-eyed look of panic, reaching out his hand as his lips formed her name, calling out to her for help. She would scream and try try to run to him, but no matter what he would be gone by the time she got there. That's when the voices would start, taking on the voices of her friends and telling her how she killed him, how she was too weak and that weakness failed everyone in the end. It was all her fault Natsu was dead, and there was no way to get him back. Lucy would wake up screaming sometimes, even once or twice running to the bathroom to be violently sick. There were days that she could no longer tell what was real or not, so in her pajamas she would run to the guild as fast as she could just to make sure that he was still alive, that she didn't actually kill him. It was one day that changed things though, it didn't make the nightmares go away but it made waking up a lot easier for her. Natsu started staying at her place more often. Sometimes he would just sleep on the couch or in the bed with her until she woke up, but there were other times when he woke her up himself, accidentally falling through the window or claiming to be bored. She would yell at him and demand how it was possible to be bored at two in the morning, but he would just smile sheepishly and suggest that they both go back to sleep.
Lucy looked up to see him now, a feeling of warmth and relief instantly coursing through her system. She watched as he spoke animatedly to Happy, his smile wide and bright as he spoke of the quest they were just starting. It didn't take long for her mind to drift back to what had transpired between them this morning, her cheeks slowly starting to burn as she remembered. The intense way he had looked at her, the feeling that shot through her when he had tightly grabbed her arms and leaned closer to her. Lucy was completely convinced that he was going to kiss her in that moment, but she couldn't decide if that made her happy or not. She had tried to tell him to stop, but the words died on her lips as he neared her even more. A small part of her really wanted to know if he would do it, even if the rest of her was internally flailing and panicking at the proximity of his lips from hers. Lucy's cheeks became warmer now and she dropped her gaze to her feet as she walked. She didn't even know if she was ready to be kissed, but she was definitely positive she wasn't ready for anything after that, but... If it was Natsu, if he were to actually take that chance and kiss her, would she like it? She quickly shook her head at the though, trying to clear her head of those indecent thoughts. She was probably just reading too much into the situation like she always did, wouldn't be the first time she had vivid imaginations about Natsus intentions. He was probably just trying to find a way to make her stop crying, even if they were happy tears she knows how much Natsu hates to see her cry. Lucys smile came back and she nodded to herself. That had to be the reason, there was no way Natsu would try and kiss her anyways, he didn't have those types of feelings for her. Natsu had told her that they would be together forever from now on, and honestly that's what she needed to hear more than anything at that moment. She looked back at all of her friends, feeling a little better now. Here they all were once again, her family, ready to embark on another mission together. Though this wasn't any regular old mission, this is one that even Gildarts himself couldn't complete. Granted, his quest was halted by Acnologia himself and he was terribly wounded, but the point still stands. Lucy felt a fondness fill her chest. Over the past year, Natsu and Gray had officially been named S-Class wizards. If anyone deserved it, it was those two. Of course Lucy hadn't been, but she holds no bitter feelings towards Master for that, it was just something she would strive for and become stronger to accomplish. It was just a few weeks ago that Master had approached Erza once again about accepting the 100 year quest. The first time, Lucy remembered, was back even before the group discovered the existence of Edolas, the day that the guild and all of Magnolia were sucked into the Anima. After that it would have been impossible to accept such a quest because everything happened non-stop from then on. Now that everything had settled down Erza had officially accepted the quest, but on one condition.
"But why would you want me on such an impossible quest?!" Lucy had exclaimed, facing Erza with wide eyes.
Erza had given her a kind smile, tilting her head slightly to the side. "Because you are part of this team, and there's no way that we would go on such a quest without you." She crossed her arms, adding in a sterner voice. "You are a lot stronger than you are giving yourself credit for, you need to stop thinking about yourself as someone less than anyone here. If it wasn't for you, Acnologia would have ensured that none of us would be standing here today."
"But still, you're the one who told me that I wasn't ready for a quest like this." Lucy pouted, unable to meet the Requip mages intense stare.
"That was a very long time ago, and you've proven yourself to be ready now." Erza said, a finality in her voice that just dared her to argue further.
"Besides, it wouldn't be the same without you!" Natsu had called, a childish smile on his face as he held Max in a headlock.
"You're part of Fairy Tails strongest team, there's no way we'd be able to do this without you." Gray added on, sitting on top of a giant block of ice.
Lucy sweat-dropped as she realized that Jet was frozen inside of it, and Droy was panting and groaning as he tried to free his leg from the same confines of the ice.
"So it's settled, we leave the morning after the award ceremony!" Erza smiled triumphantly, moving to join Mira-san at the bar for some well deserved cake.
Lucy smiled now at the memory, feeling comforted by the faith that her friends had in her. Her hand unconsciously drifted to the pouch that that contained her treasured keys in it. It's true that she was stronger now, her magic couldn't even compare to what she had a year ago, let alone when she had first joined this guild. She was very confident in her fighting abilities, she just guessed that at this point she was used to comparing herself to the immeasurable power that her friends possessed, always seeing herself has the weakest link. Her smile grew to light up her face as she thought about how strong they were now, especially Natsu. He had spent as many years as she could remember doing everything possible to gain more power, no matter how dangerous and life threatening it always seemed to end up being. The years had inevitably gone by, and many things about him have changed; he seemed more mature, though many people had believed that to be an impossible feat, he was even more confident and comfortable with his magic and in his own skin. Sure he still participated in a lot oof fights, the majority of which he had started himself, but even Lucy could tell that he was fighting for the joy of a tussle, not to prove who was the strongest in the guild (though he still claims it's him). Lucy had watched him go through all of these changes, watched as he grew and matured into the person that he was today. Lucy was beyond proud of him, proud to call him her best friend.
"Igneel would be so proud of you, too..." She murmured to herself, looking wistfully up at the sky as if expecting the mighty red dragon to soar through the clear blue sky.
While she was admiring the beautiful sky though, she was unable to witness the pink hair dragon slayers head whip around, fixing her with a wide eyed look of shock as his cheeks began to turn a dark crimson. Curse that boy and his damned hearing, he wasn't supposed to catch that. By the time that Lucy looked down again, Natsu had almost given himself whiplash with how quickly he looked forward once again to avoid eye contact.
"I've always wondered if Grandeenay would be proud of everything that I've done over the past few years." Wendy pipped up, giving Natsu a coy sort of smile.
Lucy felt her ears start to burn. If Wendy had overheard what she had said about Igneel, then there was no possible way that Natsy had missed it.
"O-Of course she would be!" Natsu barley choked out, his voice higher than he had intended for it to be.
Was Lucy imagining things, or was the back of his neck a light shade of pink?
"You've become so very strong, Wendy, the true pride of our guild." Erza thankfully added, smiling fondly at the Sky Maiden.
"Natsu, you look like a tomato." Happy spoke up with concern, flying leisurely around his head.
"Do not!" Natsu barked indignantly, crossing his arms in an act of stubbornness.
Lucy wanted to see his face for herself but he refused to look back at her, head facing straight to the path they were following.
"Guess you're turning into a real Flame-Brain." Gray mocked, hands up and resting at the back of his head.
Natsu grabbed his shirt collar in a flash, glaring daggers into the ice mages dark eyes. "Do you wanna go, Popsicle?" He growled.
Gray smashed his forhead against Natsus. "Any time, Smokey!"
Before it had a chance to morph into one of their famous fights, Erza had moved forward and completely dropped them with a single movement, too quick for Lucy to follow.
"Good grief." Erza sighed, shaking her head at the two boys.
Both of which were now laying on the ground, grabbing their heads as they moaned in pain. Wendy gave a quiet awkward laugh while Carla just sighed as well. Lucy groaned, looking back up at the sky as if it were now to be blamed for all of her problems she was having and going to have on this journey. The one thing she did know, was that this was going to be one hell of a long quest.