Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or anything really.

A/N: A little more dramatic of a chapter than I had planned.

Finding Lucy

Lucy could not help but drag her feet as she took her final steps of her "journey". Fairy Tail stood in all of its glory in front of her. An odd sensation filled her. How long had it been since she had laid eyes on her once upon a time sanctuary? But the feelings fueling her now were foreign to her. Words echoed in her mind. What was the truth? What were lies?

Lucy thought she had overcame this internal battle. She had deliberately made slow progress in making her way. Half of herself urged her to disappear from everything she ever knew while the other half reminded her she had absolutely nothing. Nobody. She hadn't the slightest clue where to begin again.

Nobody misses you. They are not even looking for you. If you don't believe me, see it for yourself.

Lucy's hand froze on the handle of the door as the words played over in her head. She had no business here. This was a terrible mistake. Life continues on for everyone even if your own world seemed to cease to exist.

The door flung open; almost completely off its hinges. Lucy came face to face with the dark eyes of a very familiar dragon slayer.

Big, black eyes studied the cards on display in front of him. He did his best not to dig his claws on the slender shoulder he was perched on due to his excitement. He was on a secret mission. Lucy's rent money could depend on it. Happy blinked his left eye twice before slowly blinking his right eye very slowly. Lisanna was his for the taking.

Natsu did his best to seemed like he was studying his own deck but he carefully eyed his blue haired friend. Natsu smirked evilly as he realized he had the game in the bag.

"Well, Natsu, what is going to be your next move?" Lisanna eyed her longtime friend.

"Well Lis- I will give you one last chance to forfeit and spare yourself this embarrassing defeat!" Natsu grinned his Cheshire cat grin.

"I don't know, Natsu. Maybe you should give up while you are a head? The stakes are pretty high this round you know!"

"No way! I'm all in! And I win!" Natsu layed his cards flat on the table as he spoke before gloating proudly.

"Hmm. I wouldn't be so sure about that!" Lisanna neatly layed her cards on the table for Natsu to see, revealing two cards she had hid from Happy's view.

"What? No way!" The two best friends spoke in unison.

"Happy! You had one job!" Natsu stood up, really fired up now.

"Nastsu, I swear! I had no idea Lisanna would stoop to your level or I would have watched her better!"

Lisanna giggled as she listened to Happy and Natsu argue back and forth with each other. The two's trick was easy to catch on to. She had dared to test Natsu's cockiness and challenge him all or nothing. All or nothing not being that much at all but it was the principle of the matter.

"Bunny girl?"

Natsu froze as he heard the faint words leave Gajeel's lips. Gajeel had barely spoken above a whisper but the words somehow rose above all the other voices in the guild. Was his mind playing tricks on him? Natsu took a couple of deep sniffs. He had imagined this day for a very long time now only to fear that it would never become a reality. But there she was. There was Lucy. He couldn't see her but her scent had been forever imprinted on his brain. He can and will always recognize it with ease.

Natsu let his body react naturally. His feet took off on their own accord towards her. Natsu gave little thought to shoving Gajeel out of the doorway.

"Lu-cy…" Natsu stopped in his tracks. Lucy? He kept trying to register in his brain. She smelled like her but the look was off. Her once gorgeous hair looked lifeless. It was long and matted in certain spots. The Lucy he knew would never allow such a thing to occur. His Lucy had always been light in complexion but managed to have a sun kissed glow. The girl before him was a ghost. If Natsu studied her skin too long he could catch the faintest glimpse of her blood flowing through her veins. Lucy's big brown eyes. This girl shared those same big, brown eyes that Natsu dreamed about every night but there was something off. Her eyes were clouded over; the eyes almost turning to a gray color or at least to Natsu's well-tuned senses.

"Lucy?" Natsu repeats but he can't help but cringe at the strain of his voice.

She narrows her eyes as Natsu slowly reaches out his head to touch the blonde mage's face. Her lip is split open with what looks like a lousy attempt to clean up the wound, emphasizing the damage done. Both of her once lovely eyes are black and blue. He drops his hand back to his side. Natsu can't decide if the mark on her forehead is a scar or dirt. He lets his eyes wonder done the half-naked girl. She is covered by an oversized shirt and what appears to be nothing else. Natsu gulps at the sight of his long lost friend but does his best to shake it off. She is here. That is the main thing. The bruises and cuts will heal.

"Luce." Natsu reaches out once more to his long lost friend, not caring about the tears that threaten to spill over.

"Don't!" Her voice was uncharacteristically harsh.

"What?" Natsu froze in his spot.

"Don't. Fucking. Cry. "

Natsu and Gajeel had managed to capture the rest of the guilds attention. Erza, Gray, Levy, Juvia and Happy froze mid stride on their way to greet Lucy at the door. Natsu blinked a couple of times, unsure what his next course of action should be.

Lucy let out a long sigh before finally whispering, "I just want to go home." She had no idea where that would even be but she needed a shower and a lot of sleep.

Surprisingly enough, Natsu and Happy had worked hard over the past year in keeping Lucy's apartment as well as keeping it neat. Well as neat as possible for those two. Lucy headed straight for the tub, filling it with hot water.

"She's probably just tired," Erza broke the silence of the team as they sat on Lucy's couch waiting for her to finish in the wash room.

"She looks like she needs to go to a doctor," Gray countered.

"She doesn't appear to have any fresh wounds. I offered to heal her but she declined." Wendy lowered her head as if it were her own fault Lucy was in this condition.

"So she will be fine until the morning at least. Then we will seek out a doctor," Erza decided.

Lucy emerged out of the bathroom in a black long sleeved tee and loose pink sweat pants with a small yelp from the surprise of her teammates still sitting on her couch. "You guys are still here? It's late. We should call it a day, don't you think?"

The group blinked a couple of times. "Luce, are you ok? You seem rather indifferent on returning! We are a team! We are here for you! Talk to us! Where have you been? What happened?" Natsu walked over to be where Lucy stood. "You look like you have been through hell." Gray too came to stop next to Lucy.

They don't care, Lucy.

"I'm fine. Thank you. I'm just tired." Lucy spoke above a whisper as she took a shy step away from the two men. When had they gotten so intimidating?

"Alright. We can talk tomorrow. Get some rest and we will be right out here if you need anything," Gray placed a hand on each of the blondes shoulders as reassurance.

Why was no one listening to her? Why was he touching her? Lucy clenched her fist. Why did she feel so powerless? Lucy placed her hands over Gray's lightly. With no warning, Lucy dug her fingernails into Gray's hands.

"What the hell?" Gray released Lucy immediately and pulled back, glaring at the blonde. The rest of the team wasn't exactly sure what had just went on.

"You don't get to touch me. And as for the rest of you, get out. I want to be alone. I am not sure why you can't understand that but get out. I said get out. Get out! Get out! Get out!" Lucy couldn't fight back the anger she had been suppressing, every word she spoke was louder than the previous. She manically targeted a mirror on the wall next to her. She grabbed the mirror and letting it effortlessly slip from her fingers. The once beautiful object shattering upon impact into nothing more than jagged glass.

She traced the outline of the jagged piece of glass with her finger. It was sharp. She could see her reflection every once in a while as she played with the glass. She accidently rounded an edge too closely and cut herself. She dropped the glass onto her lap and quickly covered her cut finger with the other hand. She was about to wrap it in a piece of her shredded clothing but the quick footsteps approaching made her freeze. It was now or never.

"Lucy?" Natsu's voice brought Lucy back to the present. He was the only one left standing in the room.

"I'm just tired, Natsu. So tired."

Natsu seemd to come to an understanding and with a quick head shake made his way out the door. He left Lucy in her mess- to pick up all alone.

That was when Lucy first returned from being away in case you weren't sure on the timeline. So was that too dramatic? LOL sorry. I don't think all the chapters will be so serious. But we shall see. Shoot me a review and let me know your takes on the story? Any things you want to see happen? And thanks for reading!