Lucy's eyes fluttered open. She was lying on the floor next to her bed. She must've passed out after crying the previous night. Not that it was anything new. She use to cry herself to sleep sometimes before she had joined Fairy Tail. Groaning, she pulled herself onto her knees and crawled to her window. It was early morning. Good. She had a lot to do that day. Especially since it was the day the Jullenes were due to arrive. Two days later she would be leaving the manor for good. Leaving all her house staff who were her friends. Leaving her family back at the guild. Memories of the conversation between her and Natsu the previous night caused tears to swell in her eyes. She wasn't that surprised that he had come after her. She knew him well enough to know he would do it for any family member. However, she was surprised that Erza and Gray had come with him. She had thought Erza and the Master would understand the situation and let her go. Even Gray should've had the sense to stay put. However, they were in town. Well, maybe not anymore. She hoped she made it clear enough to Natsu that she had no intention of returning. While she knew him to be stubborn, she knew, well hoped, Erza and Gray would come to senses and drag him home. Who knows, maybe even Happy would understand. While this brought her relief and some happiness, she was immensely saddened by this. Her last conversation with her best friend had involved her threatening him. She never even apologized for being a burden. At least she made sure he would give her keys to someone worthy. Her spirits! She never got to say goodbye. She would never see her beloved spirits again. She missed them all. Virgo, Cancer, Plue, Sagittarius, Holorgium, Crux, Lyra, even Aquarius and Taurus. At least they will have each other, she thought. Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

"Ms. Lucy," a familiar voice called out. "Are you awake?"

"Yes, Mrs. Spetto," she called out.

"Breakfast is ready. Would you like it in your room or will you have it downstairs?"

"Actually, I'm not hungry," Lucy called out. She had no appetite after the previous night. "I'm just going to get ready."

"If you're sure," Ms. Spetto said. "Just remember, you have a lot to do today. The party is tonight and you have a list of things to be done today. I'll leave the list our here." With that, she walked away.

The party. Lucy was extremely nervous. She had always dreamed of getting married but never like this. She always thought some prince would come and sweep her off her feet and carry of her off. Okay, it was a little cheesy but to be fair, she loved hearing the fairy tails her mom would read her as a child. The princess would be living some miserable life after the death of one of her parents and then some charming man would come and save her. Lucy's situation was almost the same. Afterall, she hated her life after her mom's death. The only difference was that she was an heiress instead of a princess. Also, there was no charming prince to sweep her off her feet. Afterall, if she remembered correctly, she was twice her fiance's size. Plus, he was old and disgusting. She sighed. She hated the idea of her future. However, if this would save her family, her real family, she was more than willing to do it. They had sacrificed a lot in attempt to keep her from Phantom's clutches. However, they weren't strong enough. So now, she must sacrifice her happiness to save her family. Funny how life works out. One minute you're free and with people you never want to leave. The next, you're running from them to save them. With that, Lucy got up and walked to her closet; ready to start the painful day.


"You did what?" Erza's voice rang out through the hotel room. She had just punched Natsu through the bathroom door and he was now lying facedown on the floor of the bathroom. Erza and Gray had just woken up a few minutes ago to find a depressed fire breather and cat sulking on their bed. When Erza persistently asked them what was wrong, they finally admitted that they had snuck out to find Lucy. "You disobeyed Master's orders!" she yelled.

"Ow Erza! What was that for?" was his response.

"Idiot," Gray said. He looked amused at the scene before him. "Why would you do that? We agreed yesterday we would sneak in as a team during the party to avoid being caught." Erza was nodding furiously beside him.

"We know," Happy spoke up. He had escaped Erza's wrath since he could fly and was now helping Natsu off the the ground. "We just really missed Lucy and wanted her back."

"Besides," Natsu jumped off the ground. "It was stupid to wait. There was no point, especially since I found her house and snuck in so easily."

Erza was fuming and was about to punch him again when Gray interjected. "Wait, you found Lucy?" Natsu nodded. "Well, where is she?" Natsu suddenly dropped back onto the ground again and Happy flew on top of his head to cry.

"She..didn't come with us," Natsu mumbled, looking away from the two. "She refused to."

Gray and Erza stared at the them surprised as Happy burst into tears.

"What, why?" Gray asked.

"Basically for the same reasons she said in her letter," Natsu muttered as he reached up to grab Happy. "She doesn't think the guild is strong enough to hold up on their own and thinks we safer if she is gone."

Erza and Gray didn't say anything but just looked at each other meaningfully. They knew the Celestial Mage well and had been expecting this. It was one of the reasons why they didn't want Natsu to go alone. He didn't understand her view on the whole situation. They knew that Lucy, who always claimed to be weak despite being in the strongest team, could be really hard on herself and often thought she was burden to the team. However, her heart was still big and she really cared for her friends and would do anything to keep them safe.

"Natsu," Erza said gently, all former hostility gone. "You need to think about the situation from Lucy's perspective. She believes that she is the reason the guild was torn apart. The reason why the Master, you, me and others in our guild were hurt. It's not that she doesn't think the guild isn't strong, in fact, it's the opposite. She sees how strong we all are and doesn't think she can live up to it. She also thinks the guild will continue being attacked as long as she it there. She simply wants us all to be safe. That's why she left."

"Ya," Gray smirked from his spot next to Erza. " Give your teammate some credit. If you weren't so blind, you would notice it's not always about strength."

Natsu glared at Gray. He knew that Lucy was worried for the guild and he knew how low her self-esteem was when it came to her own strength but didn't she see it didn't matter? Part of him was still mad that Lucy saw the guild as unable to handle so many attacks but the way Erza was putting it made more sense. It was just about their safety. Afterall, he knew Lucy liked to avoid fights if they weren't necessary and that was exactly what she was doing here. Natsu walked over to the dresser silently and picked up Lucy's keys. He remembered the conversation he had with Loke when he had given him the keys. He had asked Natsu to bring her back despite being terrified of her. He was still confused why he was so scared of her giving that they had never spoken for longer than 30 seconds but it still seemed nice that he cared about her safety. He pocketed the keys as to not forget them again ad turned to his two friends who were staring at him.

"You're right, I was dumb to think that." He jumped on the bed and grinned, becoming his normal energetic self. "Alright, so what's the plan?"


"Have you finished everything?"

"Yes, father," Lucy said. It was mid-afternoon and she was standing in her father's office again. She had spent most of the day relearning the important families and studying the Sawalu culture. She had then made sure preparations were ready for the party and brushed up on her 'fancy people skills' as she liked to call it. After a year of being simply Lucy and always casually greeting people, she had to brush up on her formal greeting skills. The only thing she had left to do was get dressed. It was what she was dreading most out of all her preparations. After all, she was to wear one of her mother's old gowns. All her old ones were a bit too small but she was now the same as her mother when she got married. The pink dress was sacred to Lucy and she didn't want to tarnish her mother's memory by wearing to her leaving all her friends/marrying some pervert party. Plus, it hurt to look at because she really missed her mom.

"Good." Her father interrupted her thoughts. "Now go to your room until the celebration starts later tonight."

Too tired to argue, Lucy walked out of the room without any more words.

A few hours later, Lucy was standing in the main ballroom greeting guests. The party had only started around half an hour ago but the room was already full of people who she didn't know. It was weird how the upper class acted. Everyone acted as tho they knew her even if she had never seen them. People would converse with everyone like they were old buds just to show their social class. This was one thing she definitely didn't miss in the year she had been gone. The hours she had spent learning all the important families really payed off because she had been able to recognize the Taziats, the Rubins, Kilaels, and so many other families she had never even heard of. The Julenelles had yet to arrive tho. However, as far as Lucy knew, it was only Sawarr who was coming seeing as he didn't have much family left. She was busy greeting some princess named Hisui when suddenly someone appeared by her shoulder. It was Mrs. Spetto. Lucy was surprised to see her considering she normally wasn't allowed in the ballroom during events.

She grabbed Lucy and muttered into her ear, "you father asked me to tell you that Sawarr has arrived."

Lucy's heart filled with anxiety. She was so nervous. However, she kept her composure and thanked her. Ms. Spetto grabbed Lucy's hand and squeezed it to wish her luck and rushed out of the room, tears swelling in her eyes. Lucy took a deep breath and started roam the ballroom looking for him.


Natsu, Gray, and Erza had just managed to sneak into the mansion and find the room of Lucy's party. They were all dressed in appropriate attire to try and blend in yet, it was a miracle that no one had been caught considering how loud Natsu was. Happy was waiting outside the house seeing how it would have been weird and distracting for a flying cat to at the party. While had tried to make Happy wait back at the inn, Happy had insisted he come and Natsu had backed him up. Unwilling to argue any more, she reluctantly let them tag along. Now they were hiding in the back off the room trying not to be seen.

"Remember the plan," the scarlet mage whispered. "We are trying to avoid any fight. We just need to find Lucy and convince her she doesn't need to stay."

"Easier said than done," Natsu muttered. Erza ignored him.

"Also remember, Juvia warned us that some members of Phantom would be here. Be careful and avoid them at all costs. Only attack if it is necessary. Understand, Natsu?" she glared at him.

"Ya, ya, I get it," Natsu shot back and with that, he wandered into the crowd to find Lucy.


Hey guys. I know that not many people read this story, but I'm sorry I only update once a month. I wanted to do more but school is just the worst and I hardly have any free time now. However, if I stick to my outline then there are only three chapters left so it's almost done. Also if this chapter seems a little over dramatic, it's because I was listening to random dramatic/sad soundtracks on youtube. It may just seem dramatic to me though.

Thanks to Black Hearts24, FAIRY4LIFE, NaluLover28, Patri36, SecretAddition, bahall1964, and xMiyazono for favoriting. Also any followers!