It was apparent that something had happened to their celestial mage when they found her after the battle. Tears continued to roll down her cheeks as she gasped for air in between soft cries, her voice hoarse and pleads desperate. Natsu had immediately pulled her into a hug, assuring her that it was over, that he was there. So many things had transpired. They all had their secrets about the fight. They all had fresh scars and heartaches but they were together and that's all that mattered at that moment. Despite the odds and reality, they had all somehow made it. None of them knew how much that had cost the blonde though.

"It's okay," Natsu whispered, holding Lucy against his chest as tightly as he could without breaking her. "It's over now, Luce. Let's go home."

Everything felt different. There was so much to grieve, so much healing to do. They'd just conquered a war but the scars left behind were almost too hard to bear.

A few days after they arrived back to Magnolia, Natsu left, leaving Lucy a letter full of empty promises for the future. The fact that the one person who had promised to stay by her side forever had been the first person to leave will forever hurt her heart in an unspeakable way. He knew how she was about promises, how scared she was of being alone. They were so dependent on each other and yet when she needed him the most, he disappeared.

She remembers reading the note and her breath catching in her throat, running out of the house after him, hoping and praying and wishing that she could catch up to him before he was gone. She followed his magic trail, the path becoming more and more familiar as she sprinted past the blurred faces and streets.

She was met with an empty home. Nearly everything was still in its place but their absence was so glaringly obvious to her. Lucy was completely silent as she ventured through the house, flipping off the lights as she made her way to his bedroom. The bed wasn't made and his clothes were everywhere but the photograph of them from when she'd first joined was carefully plucked out of the frame hanging over his bed, making his departure even more apparent.

The words in his letter swirled around her mind as she began to sob, curling up in his bed, surrounded by his smell and energy. It helped but she still knew he wasn't there. If he was there, she wouldn't be cold or alone.

She laid there for days, unwilling to move. Her other half had just left her and all she could feel was devastated. Her mother, her father and Aquarius' losses rung louder in her mind as she dove into the swimming pool of depression and despair, wondering why she always seemed to end up alone.

Gajeel was the one who found her. He sat by her, not needing words to understand what had transpired. He would just be there for her in whatever way she needed because he knew if Levy had left him right after what they'd gone through, he would have died inside.

And as soon as things seemed to be getting better, it seemed like the Gods would just laugh and turn their lives upside down again. The day after Lucy started coming back to the guild, Master announced the disbandment of the only place most of the guild members called home. Before they could even process his words, he was gone. Just like Natsu. Just like Aquarius.

The news of Fairy Tail disbanding spread like wildfire. Job offers came flooding in for the better-known mages from all across Earthland and though at first, many refused to go anywhere else. They would give long emotional speeches about how they were going to get Fairy Tail back together and how this was their home and they could never leave. But Lucy knew. Their departure was inevitable. Without the guild, Magnolia no longer felt like home. There was nothing here for them anymore besides false hope and memories and you couldn't build a life off of those two things. So, one by one, everyone left.

The Strauss' were the first to leave. Everything had just fallen in place for them in Hargeon. Sorcerer's Weekly had offered Mira a position as one of their permanent models. There was an amazing gym where Elfman began working as a trainer and Lisanna started interning at a vet clinic. They were careers that fit their interests perfectly and would support them financially for as long as Fairy Tail wasn't an option. They invited the blonde to go with them, knowing her love for Hargeon, but she'd declined. Natsu had asked her to take after the guild after all. This was her home and the rest of her people were here. She couldn't imagine leaving them at a time like this.

Juvia had confided to Lucy about all that had happened with Gray, unsure what to do to help the man heal. Turns out, Gray already had a plan in place. In the next few weeks, he gathered his belongings and decided he had to leave as well. He said stuff about finding himself, the same bullshit every other guildmember had fed the ones who stayed, before leaving. Lucy was thankful that he at least had the courage to say goodbye in person, the sting of Natsu's departure still fresh. Being around everyone helped her forget, though. It was nice to talk about strawberry cake and hypothetical plans for the future, no matter how insignificant and improbable, because it helped her forget about the horrors of the war.

Then, there was Erza. She'd been whisked away by the magic council as a freelance mage. They needed someone to complete the missions that would have been directed towards her and Fairy Tail and so, after apologizing to everyone profusely, she'd left as well. Lucy suspected that the redhead had a bigger reason for leaving (Jellal), but before she could confirm it, Erza was hugging her goodbye and climbing aboard the next train to the capital.

"I'll see you soon," Erza had promised. "I'll visit often."

Lucy smiled and nodded, a small part of her knowing that that would be the last time she saw the redhead for a very long time. A small part of her knowing that when she returned, nothing would be the same. Too many people were leaving and Lucy just knew that if she was left alone, every part of her would break and fall to pieces.

Gajeel and Levy had also been recruited by the Magic Council but as officers. At first, they had been adamant about staying. Screw the Magic Council, they had said. But the pay was so good and Levy could learn so much about the world that with a few weeks of poking and prodding, they began packing up their things to leave. Obviously, Lucy didn't want them to leave. They were the only two people in the guild she felt like she could be around without faking a smile but she knew that they needed to leave, just like everyone else, to move past what had happened. Gajeel and Levy had begged for her to come along, made the council offer her a job as well, but the thought of leaving the only place she'd ever called home made her nauseous.

"Please come with us," Gajeel pleaded, pulling the blonde into a tight hug. He mentioned their beautiful apartment and the view. Levy reminded her of the traveling, but none of it was enough.

"I'm just… I have to stay here," Lucy shrugged, playing with the hem of her shirt. "Laxus and people are still here. I can't just leave them."

"Just because Natsu told you to take care of the guild doesn't mean you have to stay here," Levy whispered, the scrawled handwriting coming to mind. Lucy cringed at the thought of the dragon slayer, pain radiating through her body.

"I know. I promise I'll be fine," Lucy said in hushed tones in a weak attempt to assure the two that them leaving her wouldn't crush her entire being. "Just send me a bunch of postcards, okay?"

And then they were gone. The last people she would have told about Aquarius were gone and she knew that she'd probably have to carry this loss by herself for the rest of her life. Hypothetical situations flooded her mind as she curled up into her bed the night after saying goodbye to them and just sobbed. Lucy had refused to cry in front of them that day, knowing it would just make them worry and stay even longer. She had smiled and hugged them and said goodbye but now, she was home and so utterly alone.

She missed Natsu.

She missed the guild.

She missed Aquarius.

Laxus was the last to leave. He hadn't wanted to. He felt responsible for the entire guild now that his grandfather wasn't. He'd helplessly watched everyone slowly leave, unable to reopen without finding Gramps and getting him to sign off the guild to him. The old man had disappeared soon after his announcement and despite their efforts in trying to find him, he remained missing. Since he was the last one to leave, he was also the only one to truly witness Lucy become a shell of the woman she used to be. It was terrifying to see her fall apart silently like that, still coming to 8-Island every day and putting on a smile for the Thunder God Tribe. He didn't want to leave her alone in Magnolia with no one, but when they caught a trail of Gramps, he knew he had to leave. If there was a chance of bringing the guild back, he had to pursue it.

"You have to go," Lucy told him quietly, tracing the top of her coffee mug. The silence was deafening as she looked up at him, tears in her eyes. "You have to bring him back, Laxus, because I don't know what I'm going to do if the guild doesn't come back together. So, please, bring him back."

Laxus stared at her, unsure of how to respond to her emotional words. He couldn't muster up the strength or positivity in himself to assure her that everything would be alright, so, he just nodded silently and placed his hand atop of hers.

He leaves the next day with his entourage.

When she's finally alone in Magnolia, no guild or friends to talk to or spend time with, she finds herself spiraling into the dark depths of her mind her family had never let her go down before. Lucy tried to leave countless times, buying a ticket to go visit someone and marching to the train station with her bags packed before getting this soul-crushing, suffocating feeling which always ended up with her staring at the trains until it was too late to go. The letter that sat silently on her desk glared at her with a ferocity each time she returned home, daring her to leave, daring her to break his trust. She knew she couldn't.

The emptiness in her chest seemed to grow with each passing day and Lucy wasn't sure how to cope. She tried distracting herself. She worked at the bookstore in the city for a while and then freelanced for Sorcerer's Weekly but she could never find her focus. She couldn't write. She couldn't think. She couldn't breathe.

She thinks that maybe this had been it. This has been her breaking point. That after years of tragedy after tragedy, she has finally reached the point where she just can't be healed. Or she thought that maybe it could've been all of the things together. First, losing Aquarius. Then Natsu leaving and the guild disbanding and finally, everyone else leaving her behind. Maybe it was just too much.

She sits in front of the map strung with pins and photographs of her former guildmates in silence. The television provides enough noise in the background, the news channel dragging on about the decline of Fairy Tail. It seems like the sole topic they cover is her former guild and nearly always in a negative light. They mostly wonder about the whereabouts of Salamander and the reason under it all. Lucy wishes they knew so that she could understand it herself.

It's a quiet night as she traces the separate postcards from Levy and Gajeel, both probably trying to outshine each other and convince her to visit. It's times like these where it's quiet and cold that she misses everyone the most. She'd forgotten what winters really felt like without him by her side, without someone to lend her a jacket or someone to huddle next to. She'd forgotten what it felt like to be alone.

Her magic buzzes inside her veins in response to her strong emotions and she can see her keys light up in protest on her desk. Guilt pools in her chest when she realizes how long it's been since she's summoned one of her spirits. Lucy knows that punishing herself for what she'd done to Aquarius by shunning her celestial magic was hurting them more but every time she holds her keys, all she can feel is the broken bond between her and Aquarius.

She misses her spirits.

She misses Aquarius.

She misses her mother.