~AN~

So…we are officially above 100 reviews AND 100 favorites XD

You guys are awesome, seriously and I can't even tell you how happy it makes me to know y'all still like my sad attempts at writing lol.

For any of my stories really lol

Anyways.

Chapter 10 y'all

Igneel and Silver were walking with Makarov, Gildarts and Laxus to the courthouse to meet up with Yajima and discuss their next course of action.

The evidence that they had gathered throughout the years regarding Lucy's health, the evidence that was gathered the night he attacked her in FC and the hospital reports of her injuries were more than enough to put him away for life.

All they needed was a testimony from Lucy stating everything that actually happened to her and they would be completely set but Gildarts was very reluctant to make her relive it in fear of her completely shutting them all out…so he has put it off and instead worked on what they had for the moment.

The five men had all taken a seat around Yajimas' large desk and were waiting for his opinions on the situation and what they needed to do to put Jude away.

Yajima sighed rather loudly, "this poor child…finally being able to open up and tell us everything…only to be attacked -again- by the very man we've been trying to capture for years…fate is cruel indeed."

Makarov hummed, "I fear that she may close off completely after this last attack…from what Loke told us and the reports he gave you…Jude was out for blood…and he wasn't going to stop until our Lucy was no more."

Makarov's face twisted to one of great pain and sadness as he looked down towards his lap, "it was my duty to protect her…my job as her guardian to watch out for her...instead we let her leave by herself when we knew he was still out there somewhere…and didn't think twice about it. I fear that Mira and Erza may never forgive us for not allowing them to leave to fetch Lucy and bring her back home. Maybe if we did…she wouldn't have crossed paths with that monster."

Laxus laid a hand on his grandfather's shoulder, "gramps…nobody could have known that he was waiting for her."

"Your boy is right Makie…there is no way you could have known what Jude Heartfilia was planning. He has given our boys the run around with finding him and has never left any clues as to his true intentions. At least now we know he is behind bars and cannot hurt her again." Yajima stated, trying to ease the discomfort in his friend's heart.

Gildarts let out a breath as he ran a hand through his slicked back slightly greying red hair, feeling the heaviness in his heart as well, "that may be true, yes, but if we had done a better job to track him down and bring him in for questioning at the very least…my little niece wouldn't have had to suffer yet again." He balled his fists and clenched his teeth as he glared at the carpeted ground.

Yajima looked to the two sulking males and shook his head, "dwelling in the past with 'should haves or could haves and what if's' will help no one." He stated sternly gaining the attentions of everyone in the room again once again, "what we need to focus on now is making sure that all of our gathered evidence sticks and puts this cruel man behind bars. My only concern at the moment is if we are able to get a statement from Miss Lucy about her attack. From what you have all stated she is unwell in the mental health section and -though I do understand- we still need her testimony for this to go to trial."

"Let us try and talk to her." Igneel suddenly spoke up, Silver nodding his head in agreement as they both sat up straighter.

Yajima raised a grey brow in their direction beckoning them silently to continue.

"We have much we need to discuss with Lucy to begin with about her mother. Let us try and talk to her and get her to open back up, we will have Gildarts in the room with us just in case we are successful so he can record her testimony." Igneel continued

Yajima placed a closed fist to his chin as he thought it over, "I'm sure it came as quite a shock to hear about not only Layla but also finding out about Miss Lucy as well. I know you two were close to that wonderful woman and it brought me great sadness when Makie told me about his findings when Miss Lucy finally told them who she was." He gave the older men a sad once over before he continued, "I have no doubt that you have much you need to tell her about her mother and I am sure Miss Lucy is just as confused as everyone else since Layla passed on when she was at such a young age and more than likely didn't tell her anything about her past." Yajima sighed and closed his eyes, "if you think you can get through to her, get her to open up, then go ahead. I do want Gildarts with you two when you do talk to her, I have a good feeling about this and I believe this will be the helpful push she will need to be able to start healing again." Yajima opened his eyes again and gave the two men a gentle smile which they returned.

Silver looked to where Gildarts was quietly standing, "come on Gildarts, lets head back to the hospital."

Nodded his head to him the three men quickly stood bidding everyone farewell before walking out of Yajimas' office.

Yajima looked back to his old friend and his grandson again before speaking with a soft voice, "Makie…please don't let this tear you apart. If Igneel and Silver can get through to her than you have nothing to worry about and knowing that wonderful child she holds no ill will towards anyone. You all have raised her to be a fine young woman who is every bit as beautiful, caring and talented as her mother was."

Makarov quietly chuckled, "aye…our little Lucy is indeed a Layla reincarnate in every sense of the word. We couldn't have asked for a better light for our family then her nor would we ever find another to ever take her place in our hearts…Lucy truly is a wonderful child."

Laxus gently patted his back with a small smile on his face, silently agreeing with everything his grandfather spoke about his little sister.

"Give it time Makie."

"Aye…thank you Yaj."

~MAGNOLIA GENERAL HOSPITAL~

Igneel, Silver and Gildarts were finally making their way to Lucy's new room after finding a nurse to help them out. They had found out that Loke went home to rest for the day seeing as he hasn't slept in two full days to make sure that Lucy was good and stable before he even thought about leaving.

The nurse led them straight to her room, giving the door a soft knock before quietly opening the door for the older men to walk in.

The trio had barely even moved an inch with Natsu and Gray still squishing Lucy in between their bodies on the tiny hospital bed only now Lucy's face was buried into Natsu's chest and her back was to Gray. The two boys looked up from admiring their girls' still sleeping form and gave the three newcomers a welcoming smile.

"Hey dad." Natsu whispered out

"Hey." Gray followed suit

"Hey boys." Igneel and Silver said in unison while Gildarts simply nodded his head and leaned back against the wall facing Lucy's bed with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Is everythin' alright?" Natsu quietly questioned with a raised eyebrow

Igneel looked to Gildarts and Silver before looking back at his sons, "yea…everythin' is fine, for now."

"What do you mean for now?" Gray whispered

Silver sighed, "we need to try and talk to Lucy…we have to have her testimony to ensure that Jude is sent and stays put in jail."

Natsu and Gray looked at each other and then at Lucy before going back to their fathers, "I don't think that's such a good idea…" Natsu started. "Lucy woke up some time after we finally moved to the new room…she didn't say a word, only cried herself to sleep again." Gray finished

Igneel and Silver sighed dropping their gazes to the floor before looking back up to the three on the small bed, "we have to try, we are hopin' that if we talk to her first about her mother…then maybe she will open back up and tell us what happened to her." Igneel stated

Natsu and Gray slowly nodded, they already knew about their parents' relationship with Layla, they just had no idea that Lucy was her daughter and, apparently, nobody else did either…making Lucy the family's dirty little secret in a way. While they weren't overly excited about having to wake Lucy up and chance her breaking down again, they understood that this needed to be done in order for Lucy to have closure with her horrid past. Not only that but they -themselves- needed to hear from Lucy exactly what HAD happened to her and not just what Loke had found.

So with very gentle coaxing, the boys woke up their sleeping angel.

"Luce…" Natsu whispered into her ear while gently running a hand along her bare arm.

Lucy groaned softly but made no show of waking up.

"Come on Lucy, we need you to wake up now." Gray tried next running a hand through her soft golden hair.

The boys watched as she peeked an eye open seeing only Natsu's chest in her vision, she softly whimpered and shook her head no in defiance before squishing her face farther into his chest and closed her eyes again.

Natsu and Gray both chuckled before trying again, "come on Luce, our dads are here and so is Gildarts. They need to talk to you."

Lucy tensed between them and opened her eyes again.

"Don't worry Lucy, we aren't goin' anywhere. We will stay by your side through the entire thing if you want us too." Gray reassured her feeling her slowly relax in between them.

Lucy nodded her head and slowly sat up wincing slightly when the stitches in her hip pulled slightly, "easy now, not too fast. You don't want your stitches to pop open." Gray pointed out, he and Natsu helped her sit up completely allowing Lucy to see the three older men in the room with them.

Natsu and Gray positioned themselves right behind her to allow Lucy to lean back into both of their bodies if she grew too tired to stay seated.

Lucy looked to Gildarts first giving the older man a small smile which he returned allowing him to relax some from his position on the wall.

She then looked to the two other older males both sitting down in chairs to the left of Gildarts and the end of the hospital bed.

Lucy gave a small wave with her left hand at the two and they smiled back, "hey darlin', it's good to see you again." Igneel softly said earning him a small smile from the girl in return.

"We wanted to talk with you for a while, that is if you're up for it." Silver spoke next

Lucy looked back and forth between the two older males debating on whether or not she should hear them out.

"You don't have to say anythin', but we thought you would like to hear about your mother when we were younger." Igneel stated watching her face to gage her reactions.

Lucy's eyes went wide, "mama…" she softly spoke, "the way…the way you've talk about her…it's like you knew her but I never heard about you until I started talking to Natsu and Gray. She never told me about her past…it was like she was purposely keeping that part of her life a secret from me and I never understood why."

Igneel and Silver nodded, "aye…we figured she wouldn't tell you anything about us. We had a-uh…fallin' out -I suppose would be the best word- many years ago that caused a giant rift to separate us and we were never able to recover from it." Igneel sadly explained

Lucy dropped her gaze to the bed and her brows furrowed as she pondered over the new information, "Could you explain?" she questioned looking back up at the older males.

Both men nodded their heads and allowed Lucy to lean back to rest her body against Natsu and Gray watching as both their boys wrapped an arm around her waist before they began, "We met your mother durin' our junior year of high school. Her family had just moved to Colorado and we happened to meet her on her very first day at FTAU." Igneel began

Both males chuckled, "how we all met was quite funny though, your mother was a very gentle and kind woman but she was definitely a spitfire who had no qualms about tellin' you exactly how she felt." Silver laughed out at the memory.

Lucy cracked a small smile, "how did you all meet?" she questioned, secretly enjoying the feeling of Natsu and Gray's arms around her waist while she rested her body against theirs.

"To put it bluntly, we hit on her." Igneel answered rubbing the back his head

"Aye, but she wouldn't have any of it and had quickly put us in our place. She told us that she would never fall for such -and I quote- 'degenerate, pigheaded, idiotic, insufferable, fools who didn't know how to treat a woman nor how to keep it in their pants.' Needless to say we were shocked because we have never been turned down before." Silver stated causing Natsu and Gray to quietly snicker behind Lucy.

"Eventually -with quite a bit of persuasion and determination- we were able to convince Layla that we were not just lookin' for another conquest to add to our belts and instead only wanted friendship, she was more than happy to oblige us then." Igneel continued smiling softly at the memory

Lucy snorted slightly, "you followed her around and bugged her until she finally gave in didn't you?"

By the looks of the slight pink on their cheeks and turned away faces Lucy hit it right on the money and it caused her to giggle.

Like father like son. Natsu and Gray constantly blew up her phone trying to get her to talk to them before she finally relinquished, now they were her best friends.

Silver coughed to clear his throat, "It wasn't long after that we introduced her to Ur and -the twins- Grand and Porly and we were inseparable. We took her with us to FC so she could meet the family, everyone immediately took a likin' to her and thought of her as a bright light for the family. Gramps welcomed her with open arms and without a second thought, it was all over for her from there, she was stuck with us." everyone laughed

"We had later found out that Layla was quite talented when it came to a guitar or a camera. We more often than not found ourselves relaxin' in one of our homes listenin' to her play for hours or she would show us her abundance of photo albums filled to the brim of pictures that she had taken. The things she was able to capture with either strings or a lens was truly remarkable and we still to this day have no idea how she did it." Silver continued

Lucy gave them a sad smile, "I know that feeling all too well…I am still trying to figure out how she was able to bring beauty in things that should not be considered beautiful. I'm getting there though and I'm sure mama is proud of me."

All the males in the room gave the girl a soft smile and then continued.

Igneel looked down to his lap, "We were like that all throughout our junior year but the start of our senior year myself, Silver, Grand and Ur began to feel a different connection to your mother. One of a deeper feelin' and the longer we were with her the harder it became to hide the feelin's the 4 of us had." he looked up at the girl, seeing if she understood

Lucy's brows pinched again and she eyed Igneel, "what do you mean? What feelings?"

Igneel chuckled and closed his eyes, "to put it bluntly again…the 4 of us loved Layla. We loved her to the point that we all wanted her as ours, we had even agreed that if Layla should accept us we would all share her. We were hers and she was ours."

Lucy's face burned bright red and she dropped her gaze to the bed, twiddling her fingers together, "O-oh…I-I see." She squeaked out

Natsu and Gray tightened their holds around the girl, they were hoping that this conversation would help them somehow. They wanted her to know that it was ok to love more than one person, that both of them loved her more than words could describe and had already had the agreement that they would share her. Not only would they become closer but this would also give them a way to help her not only heal but for them to also make up for what they did to her.

They just hoped that she was like her mother and kept her mind open.

Igneel nodded his head at her, "we never forced anythin' on Layla. But we wanted to make sure she knew exactly how the 4 of us felt about her, so we finally told her…at first she didn't take it well. She didn't like the idea of the 5 of us being in a relationship, it was burned into her head that you can only love one person, can only be in a relationship with one person and anything else is considered 'taboo'. Not only that but for some reason she was so bent out of shape with what other people would think about us all being together and it wasn't until we all finally sat her down and explained to her that it shouldn't matter what other people think, what does matter is how we all felt for one another…how much we loved each other."

"What we didn't know at the time was Layla actually did feel the same way as we did, she loved all of us and wanted us to be together, she was just scared." Silver gave Lucy a small smile, "she eventually accepted all of us under one condition…we had to keep our relationship a secret. Being completely honest we didn't like it one bit…but we understood. Her parents were old fashioned and would never have approved of us, so to keep Layla as ours…we kept each other a secret."

Igneel rubbed the back of his head again, "it worked out well until we decided to finally bring the physical aspect into our group. After that it became harder to hide the fact that we weren't more than just best friends."

Natsu, Gray and Lucy choked on their spit, while Gildarts scoffed, "y'all didn't hide shit. We knew from the very beginning." He rolled his eyes at the two males, "you guys weren't exactly the most restrained of couples." He chuckled out at them

Igneel and Silver waved him off, "yea yea, whatever…the point we're tryin' to make here is it wasn't good for us to try and hide our love for each other but we did it for Layla's sake." Igneel's eyes softened, "we even made a plan. After we all graduated college we would start our own businesses and run them together as a family and travel the world."

Igneels eyes quickly changed to a pained look, "Silver and I made mistakes though…"

Lucy looked back and forth between the two, "what happened?"

Igneel let out a long breath, "we never planned that we would fall in love with Grand and Ur too…so much so that we wanted them in our lives just as much as we all wanted Layla."

"Our first mistake…we married Ur and Grand…we didn't even consider how it would make Layla feel being left out like that." Silver looked down to his hands in shame

"Our second mistake…Grand and Ur had become pregnant with Natsu and Gray and again we didn't think to how that would make Layla feel. She had always told us how much she wanted to get married and become a mother…we left her out and didn't think twice about it until it was too late." Igneel whispered

Silver raised his head to look back at Lucy, "Before we knew it Layla was distancing herself from all of us and because of that…she met someone new."

Igneel balled his fists and gritted his teeth, "it all flew by in such a blur that we didn't even realize what was going on until the day before Layla was to be married. We all were so shocked and hurt…we couldn't believe that Layla would just leave us like that…"

"Our third and final mistake…we blamed Layla for us driftin' apart…" Silver didn't try to hide his emotions letting a few tears drift down his cheeks.

"They day before the wedding gramps threw a party at FC for Layla, we crashed it…we found her standing next to Jude while talkin' with a few of our family members. Silver and I threw ourselves to our knees before her and begged her in front of everyone not to marry him…that he was no good for her…we pleaded for her to come back to us and leave with us like we had all planned. Grand and Ur even tried to beg her even though they were due to go into labor at any point. Layla looked at all 4 of us and gave us a sad smile before she said she was sorry but she had found true love and it was with Jude...not us. She said that we didn't have room for her in our hearts anymore but that she was happy that we found a stronger love in each other than she could ever give us and wished us good luck for the future." Igneel balled his fists and gritted his teeth…he shouldn't have let her walk away from them…he should have made her come back to them.

"She walked away from us after that and just before she could leave I yelled out how could she just give up on us like that after everything we had been through together she was just goin' to toss us aside just like that…I'll never forget her face nor the words she spoke, she turned her head to look over her shoulder at us and gave us one last blinding smile while she had tears rolling down her face and said 'I never once gave up on us.' Then she walked out of our lives forever…that was the last time we ever saw her." Igneel had tears streaming down his face as well as Silver and Lucy's heart clenched in pain.

"We were so mad at her that we didn't even go to the wedding the next day…about a week after that Ur went into labor and one more week Grand went into labor. After that we focused on our families and starting our businesses, over the course of a few years our businesses blossomed and thrived all throughout the states. We eventually decided that we wanted to expand to other countries…so we left. Over the years we finally accepted that no…Layla was not to blame but we were…she never gave up on us…we forgot about her." Silver finished their story and both males looked up at Lucy who had tears steadily flowing from her eyes and her left hand was raised up to cover her mouth.

Igneel and Silver stood and walked to the bed kneeling down right next to Lucy and looked up at her, "we wanted to tell you about how we felt for your mother…we loved her dearly…we STILL love her and words cannot describe the amount that we have missed her. We made a mistake 19 years ago…we should have never left her alone, we should have never let her think that we didn't love her any less than we did Grand and Ur. Lucy…you should have been one of ours…we should have been your dads but because of our mistakes we allowed her to walk out of our lives and never went after her. We do not want to make the same mistake with you…we were already years too late to keep you from getting hurt by the same man that stole our world from us. Please allow us to help you heal and finally keep that man behind bars where he belongs." Igneel pleaded gently taking the fingers of her cast hand into his while Silver held onto her left hand.

"please…let us help you."

Lucy darted her eyes back and forth between the older males before looking over her shoulder at Gray and Natsu seeing them both smile at her and nod their heads. Lucy looked back to Igneel and Silver and smiled, "ok."

Lucy told them everything, saying how she left FC to go and visit her mom to try and calm down her frantic nerves before Natsu and Gray showed up. How she talked for a bit longer than she had planned and then to when she got ready to leave only to freeze solid when she heard her father's voice. She told them how he had walked up to her and immediately slapped her sending her flying to the ground, she told them how he forced her to keep standing back up only to be knocked back to the ground again. She told them how he had started to kick her and that's how she got the massive bruise across her bottom jaw, she even made sure to tell them all the harsh words he spoke into her ear to break her. She told them how it had almost worked had it not been for her fighting spirit kicking in giving her the hope that she could get away and live. She told them about her first attempt at getting away only for it to completely backfire on her causing her to not only get stabbed twice but to also have her arm shattered by a rock.

Gildarts gritted his teeth when she spoke about her arm and continued to record her story of the events. Natsu and Gray refused to release her from their hold, hoping that by feeling them and knowing that they were there that it would make it easier on her to speak.

She then told them about how she completely lost hope once he was finished destroying her arm and how she thought that she would never be able to play again and it was also when she started talking about the sexual assault. All the males growled out as she spoke of how she felt like she was being torn apart from the inside out, she was crying more as she continued her story.

She told them that her fighting spirit kicked in again refusing to allow her to die and once again gave her new hope and allowed her to strike and get away. She told them about her running back to FC to the point when she came crashing through the doors and screamed out for help.

Once she was finally finished, Lucy was a sobbing mess. Having to relive her entire ordeal only made her wounds start to ache more and the pain in her heart and mind throb. Natsu and Gray wrapped their arms around her and forced her to lay back down while Igneel, Silver and Gildarts gathered their things and left to head back to the courthouse.

"Don't you worry darlin', we will take care of everything for you. you just work on getting better." Igneel placed a hand on her head feeling her nod before they walked out.

After that…it was just a matter of waiting…

Lucy sniffled from her spot against Natsu's chest, "N-N-Natsu, Gray…am I-I ever going to be ok?"

Natsu and Gray looked at each other before looking back down at the shivering girl in their arms, "of course you are Lucy, why wouldn't you be?" Gray asked while pushing a lock of hair behind her ear.

Lucy buried her face farther into Natsu's chest, "w-what if he gets out? He will find m-me again and I-I won't survive again…he'll k-kill me…"

Natsu growled and Lucy could feel the rumbling against her face, "like hell that bastard will get out. And even if he does we'll kill him before he ever gets a chance to even look at you again."

"…please don't leave me alone…" Lucy mumbled into his chest

"Never." Natsu and Gray said in unison gripping her even tighter. They would never leave her alone again and -even if she didn't know it yet- she was theirs and theirs alone. No one beside them was ever allowed to touch her ever again and that was a promise.

Lucy was released from the hospital a week later allowing her to finally return home.

True to their words Natsu and Gray stayed with her the entire time, only ever leaving to get food but one of them was always with her.

The first thing Lucy did was have them take her to FC so she could spend time with her family, everyone cheered and rejoiced having their little one back and safe with them once again. The party that happened afterwards was chaotic to say the least.

Lucy was currently sitting at the bar with Elfman right next to her while she watched Mira run drinks all around the club. Natsu and Gray were busy picking fights with everyone but always looked to where Lucy was to make sure she was safe and being taken care of.

"Big brother…" Lucy began not looking at the man next to her

"What is it little one?" he questioned wrapping an arm around her shoulders, being careful not to aggravate her stitches or tug on her sling.

Lucy sighed and turned to look at Elfman, "how long do you think it will take for everything to go through?"

Elfman shook his head before gently lifting her up into his massive arms and held her close, "I don't know little one, these things take time but I know for sure that you have nothing to worry about. We won't let anything happen to you ever again and that's a promise."

Lucy buried her face into his chest taking in his woodsy scent to calm herself down, "…I'm scared big brother…" she whispered out clutching onto his shirt.

Elfman felt his heart crack, "I know little one…don't you worry though. We're all here for you and we aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Do you want to go home?"

He felt Lucy nod her head slowly, he stood up walking to where Mira was serving drinks to Laxus, Bickslow, Freed and Evergreen, "Laxus, can you take Lucy home? She's pretty worn out."

Mira walked up to them and placed a hand on Lucy's head, "are you ok Lucy?"

Lucy nodded her head again and looked to Mira, "I'm ok big sis, I'm just really tired and ready to go home." she gave a small smile and Mira simply sighed and leaned in to place a kiss on her forehead, "ok Lucy, go home and get some rest. We will see you in the morning ok?"

"ok"

Elfman handed her over to Laxus and watched as she buried her face into his chest and gripped his shirt.

Natsu and Gray had run up the moment they seen Elfman pass Lucy over to Laxus with worried faces, "what's going on? Is Lucy ok?" Natsu questioned while placing a hand on her head

Laxus rolled his eyes, "she's fine kid, she's just tired. I'm taking her home."

Natsu and Gray both whimpered watching Laxus walk out of the building with their girl, "she's fine guys, it's just been an emotional week for her. You'll see her tomorrow." Mira patted them both on their heads before walking off to serve more drinks.

"…yea…ok…"

~5 MONTHS LATER~

"Has the jury reached a verdict?" Yajima questioned when all the people charged with jury duty filed out of their meeting room.

"We have your honor." One juror spoke while carrying a piece of paper to the podium.

"Please rise for the verdict." Yajima commanded, waiting for everyone to rise from their perspective seating. He looked to the first two rows that held the family members, Lucy was curled up tightly against Mira and Elfman's sides and Natsu and Gray were standing in the row directly behind her both placed a hand on her shoulders while they waited for the results to be read.

"On the count of attempted murder…" Yajima started

"Guilty"

"On count of attempted rape…"

"Guilty"

"On count of sexual assault…"

"Guilty"

"On count of child endangerment…"

"Guilty"

"On count of child abuse..."

"Guilty"

"Then it is settled, Jude Heartfilia I hereby sentence you to 75 years to life without parole. Mavis have mercy on your soul." Yajima slammed his gavel down onto his desk.

Jude laughed, "it doesn't matter what happens to me now, I've already left my mark forever. I won the woman and ruined the mind of that pathetic rat." Jude looked behind him to where Lucy was standing, "You hear me you wretched little bitch!? You'll never be free of me! I'll always be in your head, never forget that I OWN YOU! WITHOUT ME YOU WOULDN'T EVEN BE HERE!" he screamed out.

Natsu and Gray jumped over Lucy's seat and were joined by Gajeel when they tried to jump to where Jude was had they not been stopped by Igneel, Silver, Elfman, Jellal and Laxus.

"GET THIS MONSTER OUT OF MY COURTROOM NOW!" Yajima bellowed out

They all watched as Jude was hauled away in cuffs by armed police officers, "YOU'RE MINE! DON'T YOU EVER FUCKING FORGET IT!" he was finally silenced when the doors leading to the holding cells closed behind him allowing everyone to let out a relieved breath.

Lucy hid her face in Mira's chest and let out a shaky breath, "are you ok Lucy?" Mira whispered her arms wrapped around the trembling girl while one had was gently stroking her hair.

Lucy nodded her head, "I-I'm fine big sis…just shaken up a bit. I'll be ok though." She pulled back to look at the older woman and smiled, "I'll be ok."

Mira closed her eyes and sighed before leaning in and kissing her forehead, "we're here for you…don't you dare forget that." Mira cupped her cheeks in her palms forcing Lucy to look her in the eyes, "I mean it…don't handle anything by yourself you hear me?"

Lucy nodded again while looking into Mira's bright blue eyes, "aye ma'am."

Mira didn't get a chance to say anything more before Lucy was pulled out of her arms and lifted into the warm arms of Natsu and walked out of the court room with Gray right next to them, "come on Luce…let's get out of here." Natsu softly said while looking down at the girl in his arms.

Lucy didn't say anything only burying her head into his chest as they all walked out of the courthouse with the rest of their family close behind.

Natsu and Gray walked up to their brand new red and blue Audi R8's parked in front of the massive building. Gray opened the door to Natsu's car allowing him to slide Lucy in and close the door behind her.

Natsu and Gray looked back at everyone else talking amongst themselves, "we're gonna take her to our house for a while and let her relax. We will bring her to FC later on." Gray stated watching everyone nod their heads

Natsu turned to look at their parents, "are you headin' home too dad or are you goin' to FC?"

Igneel waved them off, "go on and spend time with Lucy, I'm sure she needs it right now. We're goin' to head to FC to hang out with everyone else, just be sure to bring her by later on alright?"

The young men nodded their heads before turning to their cars climbing in and driving away from everyone.

Makarov sighed as they watched the boys' cars disappear in the distance, "it is finally over…"

"Yes it is. Now all we have to do is finish helping Lucy heal and this horrible nightmare can finally be put to rest." Erza stated

"That bastards lucky we were able to hold the boys back…otherwise they probably would have killed him." Laxus growled out

"You're damn right we would have…" Gajeel sneered, "how fuckin' heartless do you have to be to yell out somethin' like that to your own daughter?"

"there are a lot of things we may never truly understand when it comes to Jude Heartfilia but what's done is done and he is being sent away for the rest of his life. Lucy is safe and that's all that matters now." Makarov said feeling the absolute relief within his chest.

"Aye." everyone agreed

"Come, let us go back to FC and celebrate our victory children."

"AYE!"

~AN~

SO!

Hi...

Hows it goin'?

I missed you lotsies XD

I hope y'all liked the new chapter, have to let me know how I did lol

Until next time!

Much love from a tkitty! XD