Lucy Heartfilia walked around Magnolia, making a small list of things she had to do. At the top of the list was "pay my rent," and that was proving hard to do since Fairy Tail had disbanded.

"Oh man, what am I going to do for rent money?" she moaned.

She lowered her head in defeat. "Fairy Tail is gone, Natsu and Happy are gone, and I'm broke. What am I going to do?"

She sat down in the park and thought over her dilemma. I could always do modeling work for Sorcerer Weekly, but there's no guarantee that it will work.

"Lucy?"

She turned and looked to see who had said her name, and saw Yukino Aguria from the Sabertooth guild. Lucy stood up to greet her.

"Yukino! How have you been?"

"I've been great! I'm just passing through. Everyone at Sabertooth heard about Fairy Tail disbanding. It came as a shock to us all. But I guess it came as a bigger shock to you guys, huh?" she said.

"Yeah. I mean, first Natsu and Happy left to go training, then Fairy Tail too… it's like I lost my family," Lucy admitted.

"I know how you feel."

Lucy sniffled. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to make you feel sorry for me."

"It's okay," Yukino told her. "You know what, I have an idea. Why don't you come and join Sabertooth?"

Lucy looked at her, mouth open. She knew that some of her Fairy Tail guildmates had joined other guilds, but her becoming a member of Sabertooth seemed absurd. But she missed the camaraderie that she had while she was in Fairy Tail. How could she say no?

"Sure!"

"Awesome! I know Sting and Rogue would love having you as a member!"

"I'd love to be a member!" Lucy said. She gave Yukino a small smile.

"Yukino, what are you doing?" someone called out. Lucy looked up and saw Minerva Orland behind Yukino.

"Milady!" Yukino said.

Lucy looked away. Just a few months ago, Minerva had tortured her during the Grand Magic Games. Fairy Tail ended up winning the Games, but Master Makarov chose to disband Fairy Tail after their war with the dark guild Tartaros, the remaining member of the Baram Alliance.

"Lucy!" Minerva said. "What are you doing here?"

"Just thinking," she said.

"Lucy wants to join Sabertooth, Milady!" Yukino said.

"Well, let's just take her back to the guild with us," Minerva smiled.

Lucy stared. "Really?"

"Of course."

Lucy smiled and stood up. "Okay. Let's go."

As the three ladies began walking down the street, Lucy began to feel a sense of companionship. It wasn't quite like what she felt when she was in Fairy Tail, but it was a start.


"We're back!" Minerva announced, walking into the Sabertooth guild hall. "And we found a friend!" Yukino followed her, laughing.

Lucy was in awe at the sprawling guild hall. She looked around and saw many members laughing and talking with each other. Their guild is so different from Fairy Tail.

"Lucy?"

Lucy looked around Yukino and Minerva to see Rogue Cheney. The Shadow Dragon Slayer was busy sorting through new job requests. His Exceed, Frosch, was beside him.

"It is you!" Rogue exclaimed. He jumped up and ran over to her. "Is it true about Fairy Tail?"

"Rogue!" Minerva said, smacking the back of his head. "If it wasn't true, why else would she be here?"

"You mean you've come to join Sabertooth?" Rogue asked.

Lucy nodded. "Everyone's gone their separate ways. Even Natsu and Happy are gone."

Rogue pondered this for a moment. "Well… I'm okay with it, but let's find Sting before we give you your guild mark."

"Find me for what?" a voice said suddenly. Sting Eucliffe came up to them then.

"Oh, hi Sting! I mean, Master," Yukino said.

"Stop calling me Master," he said. "What am I needed for?"

"Lucy here wants to join Sabertooth," Rogue said.

"Fine with me!" Sting said. He looked at Lucy. "So it's true then? Fairy Tail disbanded?"

"Yeah," Lucy said.

"Where's Natsu? Did he come with you?" Sting asked.

"She said he left to go train," Rogue said.

"He doesn't even know the guild has disbanded yet," Lucy said. "The decision came the day after he left."

"So he's going to come back to no guild?" Sting said.

"Yeah."

"Lucy, let's go get your Sabertooth guild mark!" Yukino said. She grabbed Lucy's hand and led her over to the bar. "Where would you like it?"

Lucy held up the hand where her Fairy Tail guild mark was. "Here."

"Are you sure?"

Lucy nodded. "Yeah. I mean, Fairy Tail isn't a guild anymore."

As Yukino put the Sabertooth guild mark on the back of Lucy's hand, Sting came over to her. "So I see you've finally gotten marked up."

"Yeah," Lucy said, looking at the pink Sabertooth mark on the back of her hand. She felt a sense of emptiness.

"Where did Rogue go, Master Sting?" Yukino asked.

"How many times do I have to keep asking you to quit calling me 'Master'?" Sting said. "Anyways, Rogue went to find Minerva. He said he wanted to talk to her about something."

Lucy looked back and forth between Sting and Yukino and could see that there was a silent conversation going on between them. Before she could say anything, Rogue and Minerva came up to them then, with Frosch and Lector in tow.

"Lucy, we've decided to have an eating contest to celebrate your joining Sabertooth!" Minerva announced. "And you are going to compete - no 'ifs,' 'ands,' or 'buts'!"

Lucy gasped. "Really?"

"Alright! Now I get a chance to beat Minerva!" Sting said eagerly.

"She'll wipe the floor with you," Rogue said.

"Why do you have to be so mean?" Sting sat down at the bar. "Anyways, let's have a party to celebrate you joining!"

"Isn't the eating contest celebration enough?" Lucy asked.

"No way! That's just a cause for us to go all out!" Sting said, grinning.

"So it's true. You've come to Sabertooth, after all, Lucy," someone said from behind her. Lucy turned around and saw Rufus Lore. "Welcome to the guild. Orga would come over and welcome you, but he's a bit busy right now."

"That's okay. Thank you all for the warm welcome," Lucy said. She meant it; she missed being around friends.