Realization

"I feel sorry for the people that were in an arranged marriage with her!" Natsu bellowed, waving his arms in the air, trying to emphasize his point. He had no idea...

"Hm, what about the savages that would be willing to go out with her?" Gray yelled, nodding in, for once, agreement. Neither did he...

"I can't believe that she was the Heartfilia heiress! One should not be like that! She should be more like Levy or Mira!" Erza shouted, standing on top of many unconscious guild members. Nor did she...

As others began to voice their views, Warren's eyes widened and he turned towards the boisterous guild, yelling out, "She heard you! Lucy heard us! She's...She's trying to die!" Everyone's eyes flew to the Telepathy mage as soon as the first words were spoken.

"Where is she?!" They all cried out, receiving a grim response.

"She's going to the Crimson Waterfalls, and we better hurry...she's nearly there..." Warren had barely finished his first sentence before the guild had run off, Laxus teleporting himself and his team with his lightening.

No one knew what was going to happen until too late...

"I feel sorry for the people that were in an arranged marriage with her!" She heard her best friend.

"Hm, what about the savages that would be willing to go out with her?" She heard her brother.

"I can't believe that she was the Heartfilia heiress! One should not be like that! She should be more like Levy!" She heard her sister.

Lucy couldn't believe it. The moment that she had left the guild, she had heard their complaints about how she lived. She had heard they way they had talked about her, and it had gone on for weeks. She couldn't believe it! After everything, after all of the time she had spent them, after all of the time she had spent making sure she had everything they needed, they did this. She had hoped they were just joking, so all the while Lucy had been preparing presents for a surprise party she had arranged with Master, but they betrayed her with such cruel words. She could tell that they meant it, that their words had been spoken with the true beliefs of her family. Sure, Lucy could live with the occasional teasing from Natsu and Happy, even with the verbal abuse her father had put her through, but this? Being betrayed by your family so harshly?

No...She'd had enough of the abuse, the torture.

She'd had enough of being prim and proper, being a doll for others to manipulate.

She'd had enough of being a well-mannered, gentle girl that had been made to be someone else.

She'd had enough of being told to be someone else when she just wanted to be herself. Was it really that bad?

Those were the only thoughts in her mind as she ran towards the cliff, ignoring everything else as she neared the edge, stepping closer to what she thought to be the end of her misery, the end of her abuse.

"Goodbye, Fairy Tail..."

And she stepped off...

"Luce..." Natsu and Gray whispered, stepping forward shakily before falling down on their knees. "Did...Did she do this?" Everyone's eyes widened as they saw what made Natsu and Gray stop instead of running off to find their angel. It brought all of them to their knees, all crying. It wasn't just that that brought them to their knees, no. It was the fact that, in front of it was a large banner with five words painted across: I love you, Fairy Tail!

"Lucy!" The girl's arm had been caught right before she had fallen off, a great force dragging her back up. Looking up to see who had caught her, Lucy saw the one face she knew she would miss the most. Surprised when he had held her close and buried his face in her neck, she let out a strangled gasp as his tears flowed down her neck and he began strengthening his grip. When she looked up, she was met with the crying faces of her guild, all sobbing and begging for forgiveness.

Natsu, Gray, Erza, Mira and Levy were all on their knees, crying out in emotional pain. They had been some of the closest to Lucy, but they were also the ones who spoke the worst about her.

Gajeel and Juvia were shaking their heads in disbelief, both thinking about how closely the girl had been with death.

Wendy and the Exceeds were emotional wrecks, being the only ones who had never badmouthed the girl; they had loved her.

Laxus, Evergreen and Bickslow were all staring on in shock, not believing what their little sister had tried to do.

None of them had known that she lingered around the guild after she had left long enough to hear them talk about her.

They hadn't known how badly the verbal attacks had hurt her. They hadn't realised that she had known for so long.

They hadn't realised until after they had left the guild to chase after her, all of them except Laxus and his team mates stopped by a huge mound of presents halfway in front of their guild doors.

They hadn't realised anything until they had read the letters she had written for each of them.

Fairy Tail hadn't realised how deeply they had hurt their light until her life was almost gone.

"Lucy..." The same voice that had called out to her when she was saved made her look up. "Don't...Don't do that again because if you do, I'll go with you."

His words had brought more tears to her eyes, and she felt herself hugging him back tightly. "Why...? How...?" She whispered, causing everyone to fall to the ground in tears.

"You weren't there, Lucy...You might have been there physically, but every smile and laugh you made was fake; I could tell, so don't ask me why! Just...just don't do it again, because you might as well take me with you if you do." Her eyes met heartbroken ones, and she couldn't bear to stare into them anymore, instead looking down, away from his eyes.

"Your letters...Your diary...Everything...You know how Fairy Tail is, so don't even try to deny anything...Lucy...Why didn't you tell me anything? Why...Why didn't you try to talk to me?" The desperation in his voice made her look up, and the sadness in the eyes she saw made her instantly regret her choice.

"I...I just couldn't if everyone was happy...If they're happy, then my job is done; if Lisanna is happy, then you don't need me anymo-"

"Don't say that, Lucy Heartfilia!" Suddenly, it seemed as if no one else was there as the two began to converse with one another. "Don't...You'll never be useless, because I...I need you Lucy! I need you!

"...Really? Do...Do you really mean that, Freed?"

"I do, so don't ever scare me like that again!"

"I...I won't..." Freed sighed in relief as he let her go.

"I love you, Lucy Heartfilia..."

"I love you too, Freed Justine..."

The cheers of the rowdy guild could be heard for miles around.