A/N

Okay, I am the worst writer out there. Buuuuuuuuuut! You still love me, right?

Anyway, to make it up to you all, this chapter is over 5k works WITHOUT my rambling. I also read a part to my mum and she started laughing, so that's good, right?

Okay, I don't really have a lot to say. Hope you enjoy!

"Wow..."

Everyone gazed in awe as realization dawned in on them. From the way Lucy had described her beach house, it was a small, cozy cottage that would look like a bungalow. But instead it was more like a beach mansion.

The house had seven bedrooms, six bathrooms, an extremely large kitchen and not to mention the back yard with a barbecue in it, a fireplace and even an outdoors shower.

"Now, everyone, please come in," the blonde girl said a bit nervous, before adding under her breath; "I don't want everyone to just stare at it, that is pretty embarrassing..." She waved her hand to gain the attention from Natsu and Gray, who were currently debating about what part of the sand was the best sand to lay down. Gajeel was currently pissing his pants at the idea of burying the two of them together in the sand.

Lucy sighed, this would probably turn out to be not one of her best ideas. Oh well, she'd better just ride it out and see how things would go from there rather than stay at campus and sulk at the end of summer.

The gang of teenagers grabbed their bags. Erza had brought for some reason not like everyone else a suitcate, but a chariot, filled with suitcases. And bags from all different kind of stores. Lucy could read some of the letters printed on them, before her face flushed a not yet named shade of red. Who knew Erza would shop there, of all places.

Everyone was grumbling a little from the long train ride, but were happy to have finally arrived. And maybe, just maybe, Natsu and Gajeel had overreacted a little tiny bit about the train ride. For some reason, both guys were getting extremely sick as soon as they got on the train, even when the train hadn't started riding yet. Lucy shrugged it off. Could be just some weird thing they had in common.

Although she did not appreciate the looks the boys were giving them. Although their faces were absolutely hilarious- Levy had even snapped a picture of a very pitiful looking Gajeel who had then threatened to "throw Shrimp in the ocean so she could be reunited with her family," his threat wasn't worth much considering how he almost started to barf all over her shoes.

Now that memory did bring back a smile on the blonde teen's face.

"Come on in, everyone! The faster we get settled in, the faster we can actually go to the beach!" Lucy happily exclaimed, a hge smile on her face as she entered her old house. She had lived a couple of years here, when her mother got sick. Although the time when her mother got sick was not very happy, this house was filled with the memories of laughter and of happy times.

So she didn't really care about the fact that she was back. She was the only one left from the Heartfilia family who still had the key to this house. As she shoved the key inside the door, her tattoo started to hurt a little.

"What the-"

"Luuuuucyyyyyyyy!" Natsu whined, crashing his head against her shoulder. "My tattoo huuuuuuurts!" His face truly was pitiful, she thought to herself. But then she remembered that this guy was a volunteer at a daycare and must have had dealt with worse. She even was around for a couple of times.

Like that time when the little girls, especially Wendy, wanted to learn different hairstyles. After the girls had carefully braided Lucy's hair and pinned in up in a very elegant way, the girls also wanted to try pigtails. And with an evil grin she had sent them Natsu's way. He claimed his head still hurt from all the times they had combed his hear through and tried putting it up.

"Well suck it up, big baby! Mine also hurts, but you don't see me whining about it, now do you?" And with that, she turned the key and opened the door.

"Welcome home, Miss Lucy!" A welcoming party. Consisting of the weirdest of her old servants. Why were her servants here? That was when Lucy heard a small giggle coming from a blue-haired girl who was suddenly very occupied with scratching off the old paint on her fingernails. That little...

"Lucy, I must say, this is a very great welcoming party," Erza joined in as she stepped over the doorstep and into the house. "Although I do wonder why they are calling you Miss..."

"Yeah, that's a thing I'd also like to know," Gray added, unconsciously undoing the buttons from his shirt and slipping it off.

"Love Rival is a Miss? Now Juvia is truly more concerned.. A Miss is a better catch for Juvia's beloved Gray-sama than someone like Juvia. She really has to get pregnant now. GRAY-SAMA!" Juvia threw herself at Gray, succesfully locking him in her secure grip and she started to cry and mumble things through her tears like "Would Gray-sama truly prefer someone of high birth?" and "Juvia is truly sorry for being born into the wrong side of life, she had always known Gray-sama had to be a Sir and now he has found his Miss and it's not Juvia." The girl went on and on, while Gray yelled out for some help. Juvia was almost melting against him and drowning him at the same time in her tears.

"Oi! Natsu! Could you please help me a little here!" Gray desperately tried to escape from Juvia's grip while her tears continued to fall on his body and he seriously started to worry for his own safety. "Juvia is very upset she cannot be what it is that Gray desires! But Juvia can become Gray-sama's concubine! That way they can be together, and Love-Rival can have Natsu as her concubine," the girl sobbed.

"Hey! What makes you think me and Lucy will even get married? And besides, why the hell would you offer yourself as a concubine? Juvia, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" After that, Gray's voice became muffled as Juvia silenced him with her hand, muttering "Gray-sama wil accept Juvia's virginity. After all, she saved it for him."

"WHAT THE HELL JUVIA!"

"I agree," Natsu said while pinching the bridge of his nose. "I dun' want Luce married to the Ice Princess. Plus, what makes that Juvia girl think she'd choose him when she can have me?"

A muffled laughter came from the corner where Gray was laying down, but Juvia quickly muffled him before pulling out an umbrella and hitting Natsu with it, while yelling; "How dare you insult my Gray-sama!"

Meanwhile, Gajeel and Levy were laughing their asses off, until Juvia decided to also come at them with her umbrella and yell at them for not standing up for her and her beloved.

Gajeel recognised the glare from her, and decided to run from her like hell, but he wasn't fast enough. And sure enough there was it, the first hit, full force on his head.

"And especially you, Gajeel-kun!" She furiously hitted the tall guy with her pink umbrella on his head. "How dare you! After all those years that you have known Juvia, you decide to humiliate Juvia by not standing up for her! Juvia had expected better from you, Gajeel-kun!"

"I -ow!- am sorry for not hel-ouch!-helping ya out with yer situation but I won't promise ya -DAMN IT WOMAN!- that I won't do it again," Gajeel managed to get out in between his cries of pain and getting hit by Juvia.

Satisfied by his answer, Juvia turned her attention to Levy, who looked very scared. But instead of hitting her, she dropped the umbrella and pulled Levy in an embrace.

"Huh?" Levy said.

"Thank you, for teaching Gajeel-kun some manners. Juvia is very glad he has met his soulmate, although she does think that the picture in your tattoo could be more flattering. But maybe Gajeel-kun's barfing face is very attractive to Levy-san. Juvia is not the one to judge people for their likes and dislikes in the bedroom. For example, Juvia herself would really like it if Gray-sama would come to her room one night and tie her all up so the Juvia cannot move, and then he looks into her eyes and says with his sexy voice that he has always loved Juvia, before giving her his handkerchief and after that night Juvia gets pregnant and she and Gray-sama will have 37 babies and they will live forever happy with their eternal love!" Juvia exclaimed, a dreamy look in her eyes.

Gray looked absolutely horrified.

"Anyway Luce, what's all this 'Miss' stuff about?" Natsu asked Lucy and tried to stop her from banging her head against the couch.

"Well, I am a Heartfilia. Which means my family is rich as hell, I grew up in a mansion, I had servants, yadeeyadeeya, anyway, after a certain someone," Lucy sent a glare to Levy, who was more scared of Lucy now than ever, "told them I would be here they decided to show up and give me a welcome home party."

"Well, I don't mind 'em," Gajeel said carelessly. Everyone turned heads, except Gray who was out cold after Juvia gave him a handkerchief and some very, very private things. Things he would see in his nightmares.

"What? Sounds like fun to me. 'Sides, they can help putting yer stuff away, right?" He raised his eyebrows and used Levy's head to support his arms, while she looked annoyed.

Lucy sighed a little. This holiday was totally not going as she had planned.

"Okay everyone. Virgo, Loke, Taurus, would you please help my friends bring their luggage upstairs?"

"With the moooooooost pleasure, Lady Lucy!" a tall guy with a lot of muscle said, before grabbing Erza's chariot and carrying, yes, carrying the thing upstairs to a room.

"Yes, Princess!" a young woman with short pink hair said in a monotone voice. "After that, will we receive punishment?"

"No Virgo.. Please," Lucy said as she went back to banging her head against the couch, until a smooth hand grabbed her head.

"You shouldn't do that, my beautiful Lady." A boy, not much older than Natsu or Gray, with an orange mane and a pair of glasses said as he grabbed her wrist.

Lucy only sighed. "Do as you are told, Loke. You do not want me to start using that, now do you?" she said in her most sweet voice while wearing her darkest expression ever. He yelped in fear and then quickly followed Virgo up to the stairs.

It was then that she noticed she was still holding the key to the beach house. She decided to put it away, but as she proceeded to walk towards the place where she kept her keys, she saw her wrist and her tattoo.

"What the hell..."

##

"Finally, something normal!" Lucy happily exclaimed as she splatted water on Levy. The girls were in their bathing suits, enjoying the warm sun and the cold water. Levy had tied her blue locks up in a high ponytail and was trying her best to avoid the splatters of water that were coming her way.

"Lu-chan! Please, have mercy on me!" Lucy knew how Levy hated to get wet when the water was still cold, so she decided not to be too harsh on her. She was only splashing her a little bit with the water, after she had dived in first, of course. Lucy had braided her hear in a fish-tail one, so that loose strands of hair couldn't get out and annoy her.

Levy was wearing a cute green and yellow bikini with ruffles to emphasize her behind and cover up the parts she was lacking in the boob department. Currently, her bikini was still dry with not a single drop of water on it, and she'd like to keep it like that.

The sun was gazing over the gang of bubbly teenagers, who were laughing to their hearts content and had the best of time the have had in a long time.

Lucy and Levy just happened to be the only ones from their little party who were in the sea. Natsu ran off, yelling something about smelling food. Juvia had dragged Gray along to who knows where, and honestly, Lucy huped Gray would last. Although it also was funny.

Erza had walked out of the sea a bit earlier, saying something about how she wanted to relax in the sun a little bit before the hot-headed ones came back. Gajeel had settled down at the small bar at her beach that her servants ran and had not left the bar ever since, especially not after he found out they had a karaoke set. Lucy felt bad for her servants, but at the same time, she was happy for them. They could probably let loose a little bit now, and Virgo actually happened to love karaoke.

Levy, distracted by the sun and trying to tan a bit, was lost in her thoughts. She was happy with the way things were turning out for her and Gajeel, and she was also happy for Natsu and Lucy. Gray and Juvia, well.. Juvia probably needed to tone it down a little bit, but after that they'd be good. So no need to worry about that.

While thinking, she failed to notice Lucy swimming up to her. She noticed when Lucy had picked her up and pressed her close to her dripping wet body.

"Lu-chan! Put me down THIS INSTANT!" Her legs were kicking in the air, but it was in vain.

"Oh hell no, Levy-chan! It's payback time for telling my servants, for making me dance around the stage like a bunny AND for not telling me the story behind the Puffy Fish! Here we go!"

And with that, Lucy threw Levy in the water, who was instantly dripping wet, like Lucy was. The only difference was that Lucy had tears from laughter in her eyes, while Levy looked ready to commit a murder. She walked towards the beach and reached inside of her purse, still wearing that scary expression.

"KYAA! Levy! No! Not the fly swatter! NOT THE FLY SWATTER! I'll do anything! LORD! SAVE ME"

##

Meanwhile, Erza was relaxing in the sun. She was wearing a black bikini and had tied her scarlet locks up in a pony tail. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to let the sun warm and even burn her delicate skin a little bit.

"Mmmmhmm, this truly does a person good," she said in contentment, stretching her arms a little above her head. Until she had accidentily hit something. Or someone, judging from the way it felt.

"I- Oh my, I am so sorry, are you alright?" Erza jumped up and looked at the person with true concern. The other person was a boy, maybe a year older than she was, with blue hair, a pale skin and a heavenly body. But his most defining feature was a red tattoo at the right side of his face.

And he was unbelievably handsome. Erza noticed herself starting to blush and she was still holding on to his wrist. She quickly let go of him and used that hand to ruffle through her hair a bit, before speaking up again.

"I hope I didn't scare you a lot. And if I did, I am very sorry. Please accept my humble apology." Erza bowed her head to the stranger.

To her surprise, he started chuckling.

"It's good to know you haven't changed at all, Erza," the boy said, still chuckling. He was wearing a pair of dark green swimming pants and a pair of flip-flops.

Erza raised her head, not believing her ears. It couldn't possibly be.. The boy she had met in the orphanage, the boy who had given every single person in there hope, the boy who she had spent her entire childhood crushing on, that boy standing right in front of her and she did not even recognise him!

She could feel her cheeks heat up, as she slowly looked at his face. When she was met with his kind smile, she knew her answer. And she acted on it without thinking.

"Jellal!" She threw herself at him, arms around his neck and their bodies pressed together.

"It is so good to see you again! I have missed you so much! How was boarding school? I heard that you were brought to another orphanage, called Tower of Heaven, but afer that, I have no clue as to where you went. I have missed you so much!"

Erza once again hugged him tight, not caring about the way her body pressed against his. Although he might have known her his entire childhood, she had changed and he could not help some things. Especially not when his childhood friend grew up to be so extremely beautiful.

He coughed, before answering her. "It is true that I have been sent away to Tower of Heaven. But I prefer not to speak of it, it is not some period out of my life that I am proud of. You must have heard the stories about the Demon from the Tower of Heaven..."

He looked down to the ground as he explained to Erza what he had gone through there. For an outsider, this must have looked pretty ridiculous. A young girl in a black bikini and a young boy in green swimming pants and flipflops, wearing such serious looks on their faces.

After he was done, Erza hugged him tightly again.

"Why don't you come with me, Jellal? We at Magnolia have an excellent programm and would be honoured to have you at our university." She offered him a kind smile as he started to blush.

"B-but I have done so much wrong in my life. How can I expect anyone to accept me?" He looked back at the ground agsin, before Erza grabbed his head.

"Listen to me, Jellal. We believe in second chances. And you happen to have the luck that I am in the student council, so I have the authority to offer you a spot at Magnolia. Now, I will ask again. Will you come with me? And before you answer that, you should know that there are a bunch of crazy students around. For example, one who only eats tobasco sauce, another one who only eats popsicles, a girl with servants, a guy with more iron in his body than a fridge and an overemotional girl who calls every one 'Love Rival'. So, will you come with me?"

Erza smiled at him as she offered him her hand.

And he accepted.

"Great! Now let's go and get something to eat. I don't know about you, but I am starving, and I'd love to catch up with you a little!" Erza got up and dragged her childhood friend along.

Let's just pray Lucy didn't mind another person staying at her house.

##

"Gray-sama, you really are good at this!" Juvia's face was flushed as Gray's fingers worked his magic.

He was fast, precise and knew exactly where to hit it and where not. Gray knew perfectly well what he was doing.

The couple was driven off to a more private part of the beach, where they were currently engaged in some activities that not everyone would approve off. Not that they cared. They were both old enough to decide what they wanted to do and what not. They didn't need people telling them that what they were doing was 'inappropriate' of that they should 'act their age'.

This was way too much fun.

"Gray-sama, almost! Just a little bit more to the right! Please, Gray-sama!" Juvia cried out, face even more flushed.

"Okay! I got this! Let me work my last piece of magic on this one!"

He moved his hand up a little bit and placed the shell at the entrance of their sand castle as Juvia gasped.

"It's beautiful, Gray-sama! Juvia thinks that the merpeople would love it! That is, if they would fit in here," Juvia muttered, while washing her hands clean from the sand in the sea.

Gray wiped his brow with his elbow, careful not to get any sand in his eyes.

"What do you say Juvia, do you think we could win the contest with this beauty?" He grinned at her, and in return she smiled at him.

"Juvia thinks we killed it!"

She high fived Gray, before deciding to finally take a dive. The water was nice and clear. It wasn't too hot, or too cold. Exactly how she loved it. Juvia had always loved the water and swimming, but she barely had time for any of them. It always made her sad a little, but she managed to push those sad feelings away. On her breaks, she could swim. And she could always have joined the swimming team at her old school, except that the pressure there was on even worse than it was at home.

She dived deeper, wanting to forget about her surroundings for a while. Just being one with the water for a while, before getting back up again. But not now. Juvia swam through the clear waters, being able to see some little fish and some seaweed. She shyly waved to the fish, who quickly swam away.

Juvia felt a little bit disappointed, but not for long. After all, they were fish. Just as she wanted to turn around to swim further- she could do a little longer before getting up again to breathe, after all she could hold her breath for nearly a minute and a half- the fish returned. It carefully swam towards her, wary of any sudden movements.

Juvia stayed still as a statue. And sure enough, the fish all came swimming towards her. It were little, colourful fish that were swimming all around her. Juvia giggled, and to her surprise the fish didn't swam away. They stayed with her, even as she swam back to the shore again. She had to get some air now, or else she would drown.

Besides, the judges for the sandcastle competition would show up soon and she wanted to be there with Gray.

Juvia poked her head out on the surface, gulping in some air before casually swimming back to their sand castle. She noticed Gray standing a bit lost, now that she was not around.

And it was true. Although Gray would never, ever, ever admit it oud loud, he did like the girl. Of course he did, with the entire soulmate thing and all, but even with that, he liked her. It was just hard for him to say so.

But now that she wasn't around, he felt lost. She said that she would go for a swim, and that he should dtay with their sandcastle. After all, they wanted to win. The winner would be featured in a magazine and Gray could use the publicity. This would show that he not only could create sculpture's out of ice, but also out of sand. Although he had to credit Juvia for the concept.

Gray felt a bit ashamed. All he had done was dcorating it and sculpting the little towers. Juvia had made the entire base, all he had to do was finish it up. And yet, she was so excited about his work.

"Gray-sama!" Her voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Hey, Juvia.. Did you have a nice swim?" he asked her, subconsciously scratshing his head.

"Oh yes, Juvia did. Juvia loves to swim, just like Gray-sama loves to work with ice. It is something she has been brought up with."

"How did you know I was brought up with sculpting ice?" His eyes nearly popped out of his head. This girl truly was something else. She had been with him for nearly four months now, not that they were a couple but still, and he had barely talked about his childhood. So how did she know?

In response, she only shrugged her shoulders. "Juvia just knew." She looked back to the sea. The soft breeze played with her hair and left it in a natural wavy style that could only be described as 'cute'.

"Oh, look! The judges are here Gray-sama! Let's go!"

Juvia ran towards the judges, quickly slipping on her white beach dress before starting ti talk to them happily.

Gray only shook his head a little, before laughing and following Juvia's footsteps. Let's see if they could win this bad boy.

##

"I still can't believe you hit me with that fly swatter, Levy!"

The night had fallen and the gang of teens, including Jellal, who was acceped in their group after a short explanation from Erza, was sitting outside under the stars next to a bonfire. Gajeel had packed his guitar, but one glare from Levy made him think different and he had put the guitar on a standard for anyone to play on.

They were currently eating up the last bit of food that Lucy's servants had cooked for them and were discussing today's events.

"I still can't believe Juvia and I were disqualified from that competition," Gray sulked in his chair, a bitter expression on his face whenever he thought back about them not being allowed to compete because they were 'too old.' Well, Gray had read the rules several times and those rules had said nothing about an age limit! Those mean bastards were just jealous that he and Juvia could build such amazing sand castles.

Juvia patted his leg in a comforting way while telling him that she thought their castle had been the best. Of course.

Levy was curled up against Gajeel's side, head against his shoulder and her eyes were closed. She had had a perfect day, apart from Lucy throwing her into the water. Well, after that she went to the bar and had a lot of fun together with Gajeel. They had drank some drinks, sang some songs and bonded a little bit more. Their bond was not as strong as Natsu's and Lucy's, but those two were the densest idiots. Because yes, they had been gossiping a little bit about them. Natsu had been persistant on seeing Lucy every day during last year, so yeah, their bond was unbreakable. But still, Gajeel and Levy were becoming closer by the second.

Erza was sitting next to Jellal, a small smile on her face as she saw his tattoo. Not the red one, no, but the soulmate indicators. His was placed on his bicep, just like Erza's. A sword glowing in a golden light. Now that she had this piece of information, Erza could allow herself to completely fall in love with him again.

Lucy stood up and walked towards Gajeel's guitar.

"Gajeel, may I?" she asked, unsure of how he would react.

"Be my guest, Bunny Girl," he said, careful not to startle Levy.

"Okay.. Well, guys... I'd like to sing a song to you all.. It is a song that describes how I used to feel.. Before I met all of you. So I hope you will -literally- hear me out.. Well.. That's it.."

She strummed the guitar a little, before playing the opening chords and starting to sing.

"Hello, hello anybody out there? 'Cause I don't hear a sound.
Alone, alone I don't really know where the world is, but I miss it now.

I'm out on the edge and I'm screaming my name like a fool at the top of my lungs.
Sometimes when I close my eyes I pretend I'm all right but it's never enough.

'Cause my echo, echo is the only voice coming back.
My shadow, shadow is the only friend that I have.

Listen, listen I will take a whisper if that's all you had to give.
But it isn't, isn't you could come and save me and try to chase the crazy right out of my head.

I'm out on the edge and I'm screaming my name like a fool at the top of my lungs.
Sometimes when I close my eyes I pretend I'm all right but it's never enough.

'Cause my echo, echo is the only voice coming back.
My shadow, shadow is the only friend that I have.

I don't wanna be an island and I just wanna feel alive and get to see your face again.
I don't wanna be an island and I just wanna feel alive and get to see your face again.

Just my echo, Oh, my shadow, you're my only friend.

And I'm out on the edge and I'm screaming my name like a fool at the top of my lungs.
Sometimes when I close my eyes I pretend I'm all right but it's never enough

'Cause my echo, echo.
Oh my shadow, shadow.

Hello, hello anybody out there..."

As she played the last chord, she opened her eyes again, to see Natsu standing right in front of her. He took the guitar from her, carefully putting it away before grabbing her in a hug that lasted forever.

Juvia started openly crying during the song. Erza had teared up a little, Levy had a tear streaming down her face and even Gajeel had tears forming in his eyes.

But at the same time, Gray was holding Juvia close to comfort her. Jellal was holding Erza's hand, and Gajeel and Levy were in an embrace.

Natsu gazed at Lucy. "Your shadow is no more your only friend Luce. Remember that."

He kissed her softly on her forehead as the fireworks exploded above their heads, celebrating their newly found love and friendship.

A/N

I am madly in love with the ending. Excuse me while I am a lovesick pile of a crappy writer.

I'm sorry this chapter was a bit boring at the beginning, it was really filler-ish. Sorry!

The end is pretty important though, but well..

The song I used here is 'Echo' from Jason Walker. And it is so pretty. I swear t God I cry every time I hear it. So listen to it please, it truly is an amazing song.

Also, for those of you wondering about my face, I have an Instagram account!

Username is the same as here xD I like it. And I need a kawaii senpai.

Okay, lemme know what you thought of this chapter!

Bye bye ~