Nyaa~ I'm back! Welcome to the NEW first chapter! There are some minor changes to this chapter. Nothing too major just some clarifications. I know before a lot of people were confused because it didn't seem like Gray was still paying attention to Lucy. The order and events of the follwing chapters will change now that I'm correcting so it'll be good to re-read to keep up. Enjoy~

Lucy sighed and dropped her head on her desk. There had been something wrong with some of the guild members lately, and it was driving her crazy. Natsu was the most noticeable as they were on a team together. He had been becoming more distant ever since Lisanna returned from Edolas. It wasn't noticeable at first, but thinking back it started on their first mission since Lisanna returned.

It was an easy enough job for Team Natsu. All they had to do was take down a minor dark guild that was disturbing a town to the north of Fiore. Erza had been quite on the train ride with Natsu knocked unconscious in her lap, but Lucy didn't think anything about it.

Once they arrived and spoke to the job poster, they headed out in the direction of the guild. Immediately after busting down the doors, Erza went for the master and Natsu for the tougher mages leaving Gray and her to take down the forty or so lesser mages.

She went to the left and Gray to the right. She called out Loke and began to use her whip to wrap a few mages before pulling them in for Loke to use Regulus to knock them unconscious. The sounds of her comrades filled her ears.

"Ice make: Lance!"

"Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armor! Dance, my blades!"

"Roar of the fire dragon," Natsu yelled. There went the back wall of the dark guild. Lucy turned to Loke, who she could tell was tiring, and told him to go back while pulling a different key off her key ring.

"No. I shall protect you my dear princess," he flirted turning to wink at me. We missed the mage coming up behind him till Loke was forced back to the Spirit Realm after being injured by the enemy's sword.

"LOKE," she shouted as he disappeared. She flung her whip and wrapped it around the enemy's neck before jerking him and delivered a swift Lucy Kick to his face. A pained yell and sharp crack echoed in her ears then the man was knocked unconscious like the rest.

Lucy scanned her eyes over the ten or so mages she had left. Loke had helped cut them down so she decided to use one strong attack to finish them, and help the others.

"Open gate of the Golden Bull! Open gate of the Scorpion! Taurus! Scorpio!"

"Nice body, Lucy," Taurus said looking her up and down with hearts in his eyes.

"We are," Scorpio said with his usual hand jester.

The mages looked on confused, but unsure of the new arrivals magic ability. Lucy smiled at her friends while sweat coated her already tired body. Loke, the head of the Zodiacs, then two golden keys at the same time, she was proud of herself as she felt her magic lowering. She needed a quick finish. Her spirit friends turning their attention from their tired master attacked the remaining mages.

"Sandstorm Axe Aldebaran," the two yelled and with that the rest of her opponents and the part of the wall were crushed.

"Arigato, Taurus, Scorpio. You can go back now," she smiled as they disappeared. Her magic was low, but she turned to see if Gray needed help.

"Yo! Good job, Lucy," Gray said smiling as he walked toward her.

"Good job yourself," she replied looking at all his enemies. They were either frozen to the ground or to the wall, but they were all unconscious.

"Yes good job Gray," Erza spoke as she walked up dragging the unconscious dark guild master by the hair.

Gray wrapped his arm around Lucy's shoulders, "Don't forget Lucy. She took out half of them."

Erza looked over the beaten down mages to their left and smiled fondly.

"Yes you did very well Lucy. You improve more and more every day," Erza praised.

"No. No," Lucy waving her hands in front of herself, "You guys did much more than me. Besides Loke, Taurus, and Scorpio did most of the work."

Erza smiled and pulled Lucy into a painful hug against her chest plate. Gray winced and watched Lucy's eye water from the pain.

"Oh Lucy you're so cute when you're being modest," Erza rubbed her cheek against Lucy's head internally squealing from Lucy's adorableness.

"Erza shouldn't we get Natsu and get ready to go," Gray commented trying to get Lucy out of Erza's death grip without being attacked for ruining her motherly moment. Erza coughed and released Lucy unhappily.

"Yes. We need to get going so we can claim our reward," Erza sighed then bellowed, "NATSU HURRY UP AND GET DOWN HERE."

Natsu came bouncing down the stairs grinning ear to ear.

"HEY ICE BREATH. Bet you fought like a girl," Natsu taunted smirking.

"At least I know how to get my work done on time, droopy eyes."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY? YOU WANNA GO?"

Natsu lit his fist on fire and jumped towards Gray. Only to be punched to the floor by demon Erza.

"NO FIGHTING!"

At once Natsu jumped up and wrapped an arm around Gray while Gray wrapped an arm around him.

"AYE SIR," the two idiots chorused.

Lucy giggled at the Happy impressions. It made her miss the annoying blue exceed. Happy decided to visit the exceeds with Carla and Pantherlily. He at least still enjoyed hanging out with her. Most of Fairy Tail seemed to be spending most of their time with Lisanna especially Natus who didn't sleep over as much as he used to. Happy spent the night with her sometime, but it just wasn't the same without the fire breathing idiot. Her eyes unknowingly drifted to him while she was lost in thought.

Erza paused slightly before continuing her lecture about how friends shouldn't fight. She had noticed the growing distance building between the two. It upset her but she couldn't do anything about it without it seeming like she was choosing sides.

"Lucy are you ready to go," Erza asked after finishing her lecture with a fist on each of the boys' heads. The idiot's groaning ignored by the s-class mage.

"Hmm. Yeah! Whenever you're ready," Lucy smiled brightly. Only Gray and Erza noticed it was forced and fake. Natsu hadn't acknowledged Lucy at all on this mission except to inform her about it and sleep on her lap during the train ride.

Lucy sat up and sighed while wiping the tears out of the corners of her eyes. Ever since that mission she hadn't seen nor spoken to Natsu except for a glimpse every now and then around the guild. He even stopped taking missions with Gray and Erza if he knew she was going. It was like she was a disease he didn't want to catch. Erza and Gray couldn't spend much time with her anymore, but they didn't go out of their way to avoid her. Erza was having to take on solo S-class missions for the Master, and Lucy couldn't blame Master Makarov. Team Natsu caused more damage than needed thanks to Natsu burning everything. On the other hand, Gray was being dragged off on missions with Juvia more often than not.

She couldn't blame anyone else though for wanting to spend time with the returned Strauss sibling. If her mother suddenly came back, she would want to spend all her time catching up too. It wasn't right for her to be jealous, but she also thought about the way some of the guild was acting.

It was like she was a ghost. She couldn't even get missions approved by Mira, she had to get them approved by Master. It hurt so much trying to talk to people only to be ignored or brushed off. It was like she was a little girl again trying to get her daddy's attention. She knew she wouldn't get it, but she kept trying no matter how much it hurt every time she was rejected.

Even Levy, her best friend, was pushing her away. Lucy closed her eyes and tilted her head back remembering the last time she tried to talk to Levy.

She had just finished three chapters of her novel while Levy was away on a mission with team ShadowGear. She had been bored since Natsu was ignoring her and Gray and Erza were away on missions. Lucy got ready quickly that morning knowing team ShadowGear had returned the night before.

She strapped on her keys and whip and grabbed her new chapters as she ran out the door. She ran towards the guild her feet slapping against the sidewalk and waving towards the people who yelled good morning to her. She paused at the door of the guild to catch her breath. What if Levy ignored her like most everyone else? Shaking her head to clear her insecurities away, Lucy knew Levy would never do that. They were to close. She took a deep breath before stepping into the guild. Her eyes roamed before landing on Levy sitting near the back talking with someone. A genuine smile made its way across her face as she walked towards Levy.

"Hey Levy! I just finished –"

"Can't you see I'm catching up with Lisanna? Go bother someone else," Levy snapped at Lucy before turning her attention back to Lisanna.

Lucy's breath caught in her throat. Levy didn't want her around either.

"Yeah…sorry," she mumbled before turning and running out of the guild tears blurring her vision, unknowingly attracting the red gazes of two of the few who still noticed her.

Lucy got up from her desk and went to curl up in bed. It hurt that everyone – well most everyone – was ignoring her. She thought they were nakama. That they stuck to each other in thick or thin. Tears blurred her vision as she tried looking at her cracked window. It stayed open in her hopes that Natsu would show up and hang out like they used to.

A flash of light burst behind her as one of her spirit friends opened their own gates. Without her team around she had been going on missions by herself and had gotten stronger because of it.

"Sumimasen," Aries mumbled before crawling in behind me and surrounding us with her wool.

She and Aries had gotten closer after Lucy all but beat Loke to admit his feeling to her one day when Aries told her how she felt about the playboy lion. They were now a happy couple who worked well together like Aquarius and Scorpio. Lucy smiled a bit through her tears. She was getting closer to all her spirit friends since she became a ghost in the guild.

Even she and Aquarius had come to an understanding and now had a more teasing sisterly relationship rather than her previous moodiness. Aquarius is even more protective of Lucy and has threatened to come out and "show the guild what it means to ignore and upset her master". Although she still couldn't come out without water, Lucy made sure to keep a reign on them when she stopped by the guild to pick up a mission.

Lucy turned over and cuddled close to Aries. They had definitely become closer although Lucy had yet to break her of the habit of apologizing all the time. Last she heard though. Loke couldn't do it either so she wasn't too disappointed.

"Shh. Lucy-sama, sumimasen. It will all turn out ok," Aries attempted to comfort.

Sniffling Lucy tried to smile at her through the tears, "Yeah maybe they'll notice me soon."

After that Lucy cried herself to sleep as she had done every night since they began to ignore her. Aries stayed throughout the night holding her master, for once in nearly a murderous rage at the pain those people had caused her master.

Around midnight Loke opened his own gate to be once again greeted by the sight of Aries holding their master who still continued to cry even in her sleep.

Sighing, Loke sat down on the edge of the bed. He held his head in his hands. How could they do this to Lucy? He had even gone to see if they would ignore him like they did her only to be greeted by everyone happily. Why would they only ignore Lucy? If they were going to ignore her, they should ignore him since he's her celestial spirit, part of her magic, but no they greeted him and tried pulling him into yet another party for Lisanna's return.

"Loke," Aries whispered turning her head slightly to look at him without disturbing their master, "she still isn't sleeping well. Sumimasen, I don't know what to do."

Aries started to tear up unhappy at being able to do nothing for her master. Lucy-sama was the best master she had ever had, but she couldn't do anything to make her feel better. Lucy-sama was nothing like Karen. She was kind and sweet and did everything she could for her spirits. She never treated them like weapons and instead fought beside them.

Aries tensed slightly before relaxing as Loke stroked her hair. She still slightly feared people because of Karen, but she had gotten better.

"Shh, Aries, Lucy wouldn't want you getting upset over her. You know that," Loke whispered back smiling a bit, "I'm feeling pretty useless myself. Can't stop Lucy from crying and I can't stop you from crying for her."

"Sumimasen, sumimasen, sumimas–," Aries whimpered before Loke covered her mouth with a finger to stop the apologies.

"It's not your fault. We just need to think of a way to get her back to her old self. Maybe the few she talks about without crying still notice her and can help. We'll have a meeting with the other spirits when you get released," Loke smiled at Lucy's arms tight around his girlfriend's waist while hers were wrapped around Lucy's shoulders and petting her hair.

"B-but, but, Lucy–" Aries stuttered unhappy at leaving her master when she knew holding her made her feel better.

"I'll get Plue to take your place. You don't want Lucy sad any longer do you," Loke questioned turning away so she could see his grin. He was glad Lucy wasn't awake she'd beat him for using Aries feelings against her even if it was necessary.

"Sumimasen. Of course I want Lucy-sama happy again. I don't want her to be sad anymore."

"Good. I'll go let everyone know about the meeting while you escape her arms, then I'll come back with Plue."

Aries smiled happily now that they were going to plan a way to get their master happy again, "Ok."

With that Loke disappeared and Aries began to wiggle herself out of her master's arms. After a half hour of struggles and petting to keep Lucy asleep, Aries escaped and Loke returned Plue in his arms.

After Plue cuddled up into Lucy's arms with her mumbling, Aries wrapped them in her wool before turning to Loke.

Loke smiled and ran the back of his hand across her cheek, "Don't worry, sweetheart. We'll get the old Lucy back."

"I know because that is our pride as spirits," Aries smiled.

With that Loke and Aries returned to the Spirit World for the meeting on how to get their master back to their normal self.

Rewritten 11/2/15