Lucy wasn't sure how long she had been asleep, or really where she even was. The sound of the train stopping at a station woke her up, figuring this stop is just as good as any of the other ones Lucy began to collect her things and get off the train to find a room to rent and a decent hot meal. The town she ended up in seemed nice, a bit smaller than Magnolia but larger than most that she's visited in the past on missions. Feeling herself fall back into the pain in her chest, she pushed thoughts aside of missions and her friends and her old town and began to explore the city. The first real smile passed across her face as she noticed the bookstore next to a café and hotel. Content with the setup, Lucy went into the hotel to obtain a key for the evening and drop off her few belongings, before deciding to eat a small meal at the café to refuel. The café was quaint and offered good food for a fair price.

"At least I don't have to spend half a month's rent on dinner anymore." Lucy thought to herself, thinking to her best friend's tendency to order one of everything off the menu. Sighing, she pushed the rest of her meal away, suddenly losing her appetite, mumbling to herself. "The bookstore would probably cheer me up, I haven't bought a new book in awhile and it would help me pass the time before I figure out what to do." Lucy paid for her meal and walked next door to the beautiful bookstore. Rows upon rows of books greeted her and she stood there in awe, never seeing a place as magnificent as this one. Happiness swelled in her chest as she traveled up and down rows of books, marveling at the titles and stories just waiting to be devoured. Lost in her own little world, Lucy didn't realize that someone was trying to get her attention. Placing her book down that she was skimming through, a friendly face greeted her.

"Oh, Yukino! I didn't see you.. Didn't realize you were there, I'm sorry!" Lucy said with a sad smile. Seeing Yukino just brought back everything she was attempting to suppress. Magic. Guilds. Friends. Natsu.

"Oh I'm sorry Lucy. I just didn't expect to see you here of all places, you were quite the surprise yourself! What are you doing here? I haven't heard of any missions offered around here, are you on a vacation?" Yukino smiled while holding a few books of her own.

"Oh. No. No mission and no vacation. I'm just here... to... get away for awhile. So I guess you could call it a vacation, didn't think of it like that." Lucy replied back to the white haired celestial mage. "Oh! That reminds me, I haven't seen you in so long, how are Pisces and Libra doing?"

"They are quite well thank you! I think they enjoy being in the newly reformed Sabertooth as much as I do. Oh Lucy, since you're in town please come by and see the new guild! We are all so proud of everything we have done and where we are compared to where we were! I just know Sting and the others would love to see you! Is anyone else from Fairy Tail in town right now?" Yukino questioned innocently. Word must not have traveled about Fairy Tail's disband to Sabertooth yet.

"No, Yukino. No one else from Fairy Tail is with me." Lucy replied very quietly while putting her head down. She no longer had any desire to be in this bookstore but didn't want to offend her friend. "It's just me." Tears began to form in her eyes as Lucy started to think about how alone she really was. She's in a strange town miles and miles away from the only home she truly had. Her best friend was Mavis knows where and he left her without saying goodbye, and now she's in a bookstore making small talk to a mage that clearly has no idea what's going on with her life. Lucy was miserable and on the verge of breaking down.

Yukino noticed the drastic change in the blonde and knew something was up. Since when did Lucy travel alone? Since when did Natsu not follow her around no matter where she went? Natsu was practically a puppy dog when it came to Lucy, something huge is obviously going on but she didn't want to embarrass her friend anymore then she already was, especially with the fresh tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. Deciding that she was going to help the blonde, Yukino set her books down to give Lucy a soft hug. "Hey Lucy, you don't need to talk about it, but how about we head back to Sabertooth for the night? We can have some drinks and swim and not talk about anything, would just be nice to have some company."

Lucy tensed up as Yukino spoke the soft words. Panicking, she blurted out the first excuse she could think of. "Oh.. Well.. Yukino that sounds nice but..." Not wanting to hurt the white haired mage's feelings, Lucy tried to be as nice as possible when on the verge of crying "I already have a hotel room for the night and all my stuffs there and I would really just like to take a bath and head to bed. I was on a train all day and just need a night in to relax I think. By myself. I'm sorry."

"Ok that's fine, but tomorrow morning I'm coming to get you bright and early and take you to the guild to get some breakfast and catch up! I would also love to spar with you to see how well we have both done with training! I'm not taking no for an answer!" Yukino replied happily, knowing that Lucy was depressed over something and refused to let the girl just wallow alone in a hotel room. Yukino may not know Lucy as much as she would like to, but she knows heartbreak when she sees it. Resolving herself to get to the bottom of the blonde's pain and help in any way she can, Yukino bid Lucy farewell for the evening, promising to be by first thing in the morning.

Lucy walked back to her room, deciding to do exactly what she told the other celestial mage. Lucy started herself a hot bath and relaxed for awhile before curling up in bed and attempting to fall asleep. Just like the other evening, the pain of losing her friends, her family, and Natsu was threatening to overtake her. Lucy was strong though and pushed the thoughts aside and finally fell asleep in the middle of the night, only crying a little at the current state of her life. The next morning came way too soon and Lucy wanted nothing more than to stay in bed all day eating ice cream and reading sad novels. But knowing Yukino would be there shortly, and not wanting to show any weakness to the other mage, Lucy got up and got ready for the day. Deciding on one of the outfits she threw in her bag, Lucy dressed in a red tank top that showed her stomach just a bit, black tight pants and black knee high boots. Satisfied with the state of her hair and minor makeup, Lucy started to head downstairs to wait on Yukino.

Not long after walking downstairs, Lucy noticed a few figures walking near her hotel. Recognizing Yukino along with Rogue and the Exceed Frosch, Lucy gave the trio a small wave. Yukino approached her and held out her arms for a huge hug while greeting Lucy. "Lucy! I'm so excited to see you this morning! I told everyone at the guild that you would be visiting today and Frosch was so excited to see you and catch up that he begged Rogue to join me this morning. So we will all be your escort to Sabertooth today. Sting even requested a private meeting with you to chat and welcome you to the city and guild, how awesome is that? He even said you have full access to anything Sabertooth has while in town! Sting is such a good master don't you think?"

Lucy started to tear up a bit at the kindness the other mages are sharing with her, as well as thinking about her past guild and master. Hugging Yukino back, Lucy simply replied "Thanks you guys, I really appreciate it. I would love to come visit and see Sabertooth today. And Frosch," she turned to the impatient Exceed "I missed you too. I love that you wanted to come personally greet me today, you are such a kind friend."

Upon hearing her kind words and accepting a hug from the blonde, Frosch blushed and mumbled shyly about friends and started to tear up from happiness. Rogue simply watched the scene, noticing that something was off with the blonde celestial mage, confirming Yukino's suspicions from last night. Rogue asked Sting to do some digging into Fairy Tail and he should have some answers for them by the time they get back to the guild. If someone had happened to Lucy, Rogue knew that Fairy Tail and especially Natsu wouldn't be happy and might possibly destroy half the continent to make things right. Precautions to get to the bottom of the issue and reunite friends was a top priority for the shadow dragonslayer right now.

The group slowly started heading over to the Sabertooth headquarters as Lucy and Yukino chatted casually about their celestial magic. Lucy thought it was nice to have someone to talk to about her magic, sometimes the wizards in Fairy Tail didn't understand how her magic worked or the limits and shortcomings of being a summoner type mage, instead comparing her magic to the brute force of types like Erza and even Natsu. Yukino understood perfectly that their type of magic excelled at certain situations instead of punch your way through your enemies, and even offered some helpful tips on how to handle certain battle situations. Thinking about her old friends started to make the blonde upset so she pushed the thoughts aside again, to deal with them another day, choosing instead to enjoy time spent with Sabertooth. Shortly after leaving the hotel the group found themselves at a large gate. Never seeing Sabertooth's new guild before, Lucy stopped to gap at the sight before her. A large imposing structure stood before her, almost twice the size of the current Fairy Tail guild, surrounded by a large fence and gate. The most surprising part of the building was the statue of a large sharp toothed cat that was situated on top. The statue, she noted, was the cat that the guild was named after, a saber-tooth tiger protecting the guild. Shocked but impressed, Lucy gave her friends a smile as if approving of the guild. She knew that Sabertooth was recently trying to focus on their bonds of friendship instead of sheer magical power and they were probably very proud of their new building, a smile went a long way to show that she understood and appreciated it.

Rogue pushed the gate open and lead the remaining trio through the courtyard. The grass was very green and taken care of, flowers well manicured and trees trimmed. Overall it was a pleasing courtyard, full of life and well loved. Upon entering the imposing structure, Lucy was greeted with a similar situation she was used to, lots of voices and cheers at the arrivals. Sabertooth was happy to have a visitor from Fairy Tail, and especially thrilled that it was the kind Lucy. Starting to feel emotional, Lucy turned from the crowd and asked Yukino if she should go meet Sting now. Nodding, Yukino turned to Rogue and had Lucy follow the man to the back of the room. Being stopped a few times on their trip back, people patting or asking questions to Lucy as she passed by, finally Rogue led her to a small door marked Master. Pushing the door open without knocking, Sting had heard them walking up with his enhanced hearing, Rogue simply let her in and closed the door leaving the two alone.

"Welcome to Sabertooth Lucy, we're very happy to have you here! We can't wait to show you around and tell you about all the changes we are going through." Sting greeted her with a wide toothy smile very similar to her best friend's. "And we will have plenty of time for that. I'm just going to go ahead and cut to the chase so we can enjoy the party that they are more than likely preparing for your honor. I don't want to sour the good mood going on out there so I ask that we talk truthfully. Yesterday Yukino came to me very upset at whatever is going on with you, she of course noticed no matter how hard you tried to hide it. She cares about you Lucy, what you did for her back in the Grand Magic Games, plus sharing your love for the spirits makes her view you as a sort of extended family member. We take care of our family here, and in this case that's extended to you. I did some digging after she left yesterday, requesting communication from Fairy Tail to find out what's going on. I'm not going to apologize for doing this, as Master of this guild I need to keep up to date on the activities of ally guilds in case of emergencies. I found out what happened a few days ago Lucy, and I honestly have no words. No one, absolutely no one from the other guilds had any idea what Master Makarov was thinking prior to this disbandment. It was not a plan that the other masters were aware of and some are upset, most are however, offering placement for former Fairy Tail members. We all talked last night and came to an agreement that any Fairy Tail wizard who wishes to join another guild may do so, we are all opening our doors to them. We even decided that in the case of Fairy Tails inevitable reformat, any wizard who wishes to leave and rejoin will meet no resistance. I would like to think that if something happened to Sabertooth, Fairy Tail would be there to welcome my members with open arms until I could reform again. I'm not saying you need to join another guild, just that the option is there and we would love to have you in the meantime of this horrible event."

Lucy sat quiet through Sting's speech, emotionless. Too much was going on in her head at the same time that she began to shutdown and pull the mask over her face that she used to wear while in her father's house. Sting knew about Fairy Tail. Sting and the other masters formed a plan to take in old Fairy Tail members in a loving embrace, not expecting anything in return, just out of kindness. Lucy could join Sabertooth and find a second family since her original had broken apart. The only thing that kept burning a hole in her chest was the thought of Natsu. What would he think if she joined another guild? Would he be upset? Would he come storming in the doors demanding to take Lucy back to where she belonged and threatening to fight anyone that stood in his way? Finally seeing a ray of hope in the darkness she has been living in for a few days, Lucy started to process what Natsu leaving meant to her. No Natsu meant no partner to take missions with. No missions meant no money, no rent, no food, no shopping. Lucy loved to shop more than most people and without a steady flow of income she would be seriously depressed with her clothing choices. But without Natsu, she can't enjoy life anymore. Without Natsu life wasn't worth enjoying, but since he left her she doesn't really have a choice but to grit her teeth and move on right? Maybe what Sting offered her was a way out, a way to hide her pain and slowly start the process of getting her heart broken and then having her family ripped away from her. Coming to a conclusion, Lucy raised her head to Sting who had been waiting patiently for her answer.

"Sting. Thank you for talking to the other masters and discussing our situation. I'm sure plenty of mages will find happy homes in the other guilds, especially younger ones like Wendy and Carla. Before I give you an answer, I want to make a request. Leave Natsu out of this. I'm going to speak plainly with you since you took the time to ensure safe homes for the other Fairy Tail members, Natsu left the day prior to Fairy Tail disbanding, leaving only a note behind letting me know that he and Happy were going out to train for an undetermined amount of time. I don't believe he meant anything malicious about it, he didn't know that Fairy Tail would disband after he left, but the fact that it did still remains. He broke my heart and I honestly can't deal with talk of Natsu or missions to go find him. I need time to heal and deal with everything that's going on right now, I hope you can understand." Finally getting that off her chest for the first time in days, Lucy realized just how much holding everything in can make things worse. Sting nodded softly and gave her a small smile.

"I'm sorry Lucy. I wasn't aware of Natsu's departure prior to the events a few days ago. Frankly, I'm a bit pissed off at that hot head. He's dense but not an idiot, I can't believe he just left you without saying anything and didn't even think about bringing you along on this soul searching mission of his." Letting out an angry huff, Sting stood up and started to pace the office floor. "I'll agree to leaving Natsu out of discussions with you, but I can't promise that everyone else will unless you let them know what you told me. At least let Yukino know if you don't want to tell anyone else. I have a feeling the two of you will become strong friends and she might understand a bit better than I do about all this. She often tells me I'm as dense as concrete, so I think it's a dragonslayer thing." Shooting off the eerily similar Natsu smile, Sting walked towards Lucy. "I can promise that you can be happy here if you try. We are really trying here to make a fun and safe guild for everyone. I think having you around will be awesome for everyone. I'll request that your first few missions be with someone else just to get a feel of things. I will also bribe you with some hand to hand combat training with myself, Rogue, and Yukino since we all spar together daily. I think you can afford some additional training with your whip and unarmed in case you're ever in a position that you don't have your keys. Yukino has become very self sufficient and I would love to see you that way someday as well. Trust us Lucy, we won't let you down here. We want to help you."

Finally coming to a decision, Lucy stood up. If Natsu can just up and leave everyone to train to become stronger, what's stopping Lucy from doing the same? Maybe one day she will meet up with her best friend and knock some sense into him. "Alright Sting, I'm in. Let's train so that one day I can beat some actual brains into Natsu and Happy. I'll track them down one day, but in the meantime let's do this!"

"PERFECT! ROGUE! YUKINO!" Sting yelled and cheered punching the air with his arm. "COME ON IN GUYS, SHE SAID YES!" Yukino and Rogue bust in the room, most likely waiting near the door in case Sting needed them. Yukino ran and hugged the blonde mage and Rogue joined Sting grabbing his back with his arm. "Last thing Lucy, I really hate to bring it up when everyone is so happy, but we will have to remove the Fairy Tail stamp and give you a new Sabertooth one. Of course, just temporary until Fairy Tail inevitably comes back."

Shaking slightly at the thought, Lucy never actually believed she would be rid of her pink stamp marking her hand. She thought back to the day Natsu found her and her first day in the guild, and then all the happy memories she had in them. Clenching her fist, Lucy nodded and held out her hand. Yukino wiped the stamp off her hand with the magic eraser and then grabbed the Sabertooth one.

"Where would you like it Lucy?" Yukino questioned.

Thinking hard about this, she didn't want to mark up the same hand as the one her Fairy Tail stamp once lived, and thinking the other hand would probably be weird as well, Lucy made up her mind. "Right arm. Bicep."

Surprised about her choice, seeing as similar that is to her dragonslayer friend, Yukino nodded and moved into her arm to mark it. "And the color Lucy?"

Lucy didn't even need to think before she responded with "Red."

"You sure Lucy?" Sting questioned, knowing just what the mage was asking them to do to her. Everyday she would be reminded of her best friend.

"Yes. Do it." Lucy responded, locking eyes with her new Master. "I can handle it. I want to remember. I want to get stronger and find him and knock some sense in him."

Yukino placed the stamp down on Lucy's arm and Lucy moved her arm to look at the strange mark on her body. A pang of guilt went through her as she thought about all her friends from Fairy Tail, until she remember that Fairy Tail no longer existed and she was left alone to find her own way. Smiling up at everyone in the room, Lucy thanked them all and thought to herself that this was the beginning of something awesome if she would let it, and in due time she would ask Sting to let her go find that idiot friend of hers to find out the truth behind his leaving, and to let him know just what it was doing to her in the present.


Hey guys, this is deff a slow burn NaLu, you'll see a little of him next chapter but we've gotta set Lucy up first. She's the one that was abandoned by her best friend and then her 'family' fell apart a few days after that, so she's obviously going to get some attention first off. I've got some awesome plans for our lovable fire breather, he doesn't realize how much he hurt his best friend yet since he didn't know Fairy Tail was going to break up after he left Lucy, I have a feeling if he did, he would have asked her to join him :)

I'm hoping to update as much as I can! Writing one day and editing the next one, so hoping to keep around every 2-3 days depending on how busy I am at work. Thanks for all the reads so far, makes me pretty happy!