LAST TIME: Tentatively I reached to thread my fingers in Laxus' hair, and trail along his jaw. His features instantly relaxed, his shoulders drooping and his eyes closing as a low purr reverberated through his chest at the contact. I swallowed thickly and whispered just loud enough for him to hear without abrading my throat any further.

"Sleep, Laxus, you look like hell. I'm right here."

He nodded once, and I ran my fingers slowly through Laxus' soft hair thinking to myself as I did so. My mind kept going back over everything that had happened. I found myself pushed unrelentingly forward by the procession of events. Everything had happened so quickly, I still didn't fully understand how I had gotten here.

The room was quiet around us, broken only by the sound of the ticking clock, the steady rhythm lulling us into a deep slumber. A sense of peace settling over me for the first time since all of this began. Laxus' head resting on my abdomen, and my fingers tangled in his spiky blonde locks.


Chapter 10

Aftermath

3rd person POV

With Lucy

The truth will always haunt me
Even though it set me free

It had been a month since Lucy had opened her eyes after the attack. Laxus had barely left her side, other than when she needed to change or shower. Lucy had refused any kind of assistance from anyone, her spirits included. After that first morning when she had all but thrown the sink at Laxus head when after hearing her blood chilling scream he had rocketed into the bathroom, taking the door off its hinges. Lucy had caught sight of herself in the mirror after her shower. The sight of her skin covered in cuts, scars and discolored by the healing bruises; her once ivory skin was left a sickening yellowish purple and red molted color; had pulled the scream from her.

And my tears flow like the ocean
As they floated in the breeze
They were falling in slow motion
And they brought me to my knees

Lucy shook her head at her reflection to chase away the memories in her mind. Even though some time had passed she still had a challenging time looking at her own reflection but today was the anniversary of her attack and she found she couldn't take her eyes off the sight looking back at her. The bruises had faded and no longer discolored her skin, the broken bones had mended but the damage left Lucy's life as a mage altered. While the shattered bones had been reset sadly, the ones in her left leg had set wrong initially and after the re-breaking and resetting it left her with a distinct limp. The ribs on her right side that had snapped managed to puncture a lung, leaving Lucy with a collection of disabilities that made longer; more complicated missions practically impossible.

You're haunting me, taunting me all in my brain
Turn off the light and now all that remains
Fills me with doubt

A sad smile graced her lips as she took in the woman staring back at her now, her fingers ghosting over each scar she had left over from that one night of hell. A thin silver scar that ran from the hairline at the back of her neck that curved down to trace her right collar bone. Another wider pink and silver mark that looked as if a section of flesh had been removed crested her left shoulder and bisected her shoulder blade. Lucy's fingers drifted lower to follow the jagged cut that banded her right hip, dipping below her panty line to circle around her pelvis and stop mid-thigh. Her hands began to shake and Lucy twisted her fingers together as her eyes drank in the rest of the scars that litter her body. Each one a reminder of the physical pain that she had endured at the hands of someone she had called a friend.

I get the feeling I'll never escape
I can't hide away from the shame of you

A sudden sharp rapt on the bathroom door startled Lucy from her downward spiral into the pit of her lingering insecurities and depression. Evergreen's soft voice lilted through the door finally causing Lucy to break eye contact with her double.

"Everything alright in there Lulu?"

Hastily and with shaking fingers Lucy wiped away the evidence of her tears from her lashes, scrambling to pull the last of her clothes on. Her voice wavered slightly when she called back to Evergreen that she was almost done, her voice muffled by the turquoise mock turtle neck she was in the process of pulling over her head. Once decently covered Lucy stepped barefooted from the bathroom, sinking to the edge of the bed to hastily pull her socks and boots on over her feet. Once she was sure that she was fully prepared she smiled sheepishly at Evergreen.

"Sorry Ever, I was..." She paused. "…distracted," Lucy finished lamely, not wanting to tell the older woman that she had been close to causing herself another panic attack and causing unnecessary worry from the fairy mage.

Evergreen watched as unease flashed through Lucy's almond roca eyes and pulled her into a hug being sure to keep the contact short and stepping away when she felt the familiar flinch of unease along with Lucy shudder. Evergreen smiled reassuringly at her as the two women separated. At Lucy's hesitant smile Evergreen shook her head. "Finish getting ready, I'll see you downstairs." At the confused look on the blonde mage's face Evergreen shook her head again. "Did you forget that Laxus was meeting us this morning to take you shopping for a new place to live today?"

Lucy smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck, the embarrassment of having forgotten painted her cheeks a dusty rose color. Evergreen snickered softly and shook her head as she made her way towards the door. "We're meeting Laxus in a few and the boys are waiting; so, hurry up." Evergreen's voice lingered behind as she disappeared beyond the door leaving the celestial mage to collect herself and gather her thoughts alone.

Evergreen waited for Lucy to join here and the other two members of the Rainjishu at the door. They were going to meet up with Laxus outside the guild where they would separate for the better part of the day. The team had found out the hard way that keeping Lucy out of the guild as much as possible was for the best when after her first visit with in the hall had caused a serious panic attack from the small blonde. It was clearly obvious that Lucy didn't care to be around the guild too much lately, especially when everyone was always bombarding the young woman with questions on how she was holding up and the questions only served to remind Lucy of a time that was better off forgotten.

0-0-0

With Evergreen

"So, I will see you for lunch, we can talk then alright Lulu?" Evergreen said when the four mages caught up to Laxus a few blocks from the guild's doors. A snicker left the brunette's lips at the confused look on Lucy's face. Evergreen smiled and gently reminded her temporary roommate that the whole team was joining up for lunch later in the day.

Evergreen watched Laxus lead the young mage away, promising to meet around one o'clock for lunch. The sight of Lucy's eyes still blinking owlishly as she tried to understand what was going on made Evergreen want to call out and check on the blonde woman but she opted to forego the desire to ask how she was doing. Evergreen could tell in one look, Lucy had been the fairy mages impromptu roommate after she'd almost become catatonic the first time they took her back to her old apartment. The image of the usually bubbly blonde mage curled in on herself screaming, eyes wide and blank still haunted her nightmares.

Over the course of the last few weeks Evergreen had begun to notice a few changes in the celestial mage. Lucy's smiles hardly ever reached her eyes and she never laughed anymore. Her entire appearance had changed as well; gone were the micro tops and skirts. Now you would be hard-pressed to find the blonde mage in anything that didn't cover almost every inch of her skin. Lucy's once hip length corn silk hair had been hastily chopped off the first morning Lucy had been out of bed. She had taken a pair of surgeons sheers and cut her hair so short the strands barely touched her ears. Evergreen remembered the fight and bitter tears they had all shed as they watched Lucy fight with Wendy and eventually Leo over calling on her friends and spirits for help. It was only after hours of shouting and several emotional breakdowns that Lucy relented. She called on Cancer and allowed the crab spirit to even out and straighten up the blonde's hack job on her hair.

The other major change was Lucy's new aversion to physical contact. Where before the attack it was not uncommon to see Lucy in contact of some form with her friends; now though, she despised being touched. It had taken almost every day of the last month of the members of the Rainjishu slowly being in contact with the blonde for her to allow them simple touches, her hand or her shoulder. Occasionally they could get away with small hugs. Though she never returned them and they could only touch Lucy when the blonde knew it was coming. Evergreen could clearly remember when they had found out about Lucy's distain for contact. About a week after she had been released form Wendy's care and given the all clear to leave the infirmary, Titania had flung herself at Lucy in a moment of pure elation. Only she never made contact with her sister figure, for Erza had been thrown across the room almost as fast as she had moved towards Lucy. A sharp cry of terror had spilled from Lucy's lips and she had curled in on herself. In that moment, a massive wave of magic energy surged out from the blonde and had resulted in Erza being thrown back and Lucy collapsing from sudden magical depletion. Master later explained to the team that in that moment Lucy had merely reacted as a result of when she had endured and forced her magic from her body in a massive wave of energy to protect herself from the unwanted contact.

The three remaining members of the Rainjishu stood on the sidewalk watching the backs of their two team mates as they separated. The same feeling of concern and worry for the two blondes echoing in each of their hearts. Silently they turned around and continued to short 3 block trek up to the guild.

"So, do you think Cosplayer is alright to be on her own again yet?"

Bickslow's query brought Evergreen up short causing her to stumble in her stride. While Lucy had healed beautifully as far as her physical injuries were concerned; her mental state was another matter altogether. Freed and Bickslow stopped when neither heard the repetitive click-clack of Evergreens heels on the pavement and turned to see their friend frozen, a strange mix of concern and concentration etched into her features.

"Evergreen…is everything alright?" Freed called out to the brunette in an attempt to garner her attention.

With a shake of her head Evergreen smiled at the boys and nodded. Instead of telling either Bickslow or Freed exactly how damaged their little blonde friend really was she opted to change the subject. Evergreen told the boys she was fine, just a stray thought and quickened her steps to catch up to them. Once she was again matching their steady stride Bickslow decided he couldn't leave sleeping dogs lie and had to pester his sister figure.

"Are you sure it was nothing Evergreen? You had the strangest look on your face, made it look so much worse than usual." Bixlow taunted his tongue lolling from between his lips.

His taunting had rewarded him with several quick hard smacks to the head from the fairy mage with her fan and the threat to drop it or she would turn him to stone and use him as a coat rack in the guild. The laughing and taunting died down and the three once again fell into silence as the guild doors came into view. "Do you think he will finally try to talk to her about being mates today? I mean it's easy to see that having to be separated is taking its toll on him and ya know I think Cosplayer would be better off if she just shacked up with boss man instead of getting another place of her own."

A visible shudder worked its way through the group as they each thought back to various conversations the guild had on dragon mates recently. All discussion of Laxus and Lucy mating had become almost taboo; dragon mating in general had been a touchy subject after the incident between Lisanna and Levy two weeks ago. The guild was still recovering from the shock of the quiet, soft spoken script mage tearing into Lisanna like a mad woman. The girls had apparently been in the guild bathhouse relaxing when Levy caught sight of a strange bruise like mark on the youngest Strauss' hip. When she got a better look at the mark was when all hell broke loose in the guild. Levy had grabbed Lisanna by the neck and drug the nude woman through the guild and threw her prone in the middle of the floor. It had taken Gajeel to calm the little blue haired woman down enough for them to find out that what had Levy so worked up was the incomplete mating mark on Lisanna's left hip. To prove her point Levy grabbed the young Strauss and flipped her over, pointing the mark out to Gajeel. There on the upper part of her hip was a make the size of a silver dollar that to anyone else appeared to be an almost healed burn. The sight had sent Gajeel into a rage, but for apparently reasons vastly different than that of his mate.

When the excitement had died down and Gajeel had a tight hold on Levy so she couldn't hurt the little takeover mage the truth was finally out in the open. Lisanna admitted that the last night that they had been on their mission, the night that Lucy had been attacked, She and Natsu had started the mating process with the intention of explaining everything to Lucy in the morning. However, at some point in the night Natsu had left her while she slept and when she awoke there was a guild-wide man hunt out for the pink haired slayer. Lisanna had admitted that she feared the guilds reaction to the truth if she admitted that she and Natsu had mated at some point before the attack on Lucy.

Gajeel had apparently been more upset with the fire slayer because he was now missing with a partially claimed mate which left both of them in a precarious situation and his attack on Lucy only aggravated that. Levy apparently wanted to take Lisanna out because she should have some connection to Natsu and felt that the youngest Strauss was protecting him by not sharing what she could tell through her barely formed link. Levy hadn't spoken to Lisanna since the other woman explained that she felt nothing through the bond, it was just empty on the other end. The excitement caused by the revelation of Natsu and Lisanna's status of mates had stirred the guild up and caused Laxus to decide that he would hold off as long as possible on telling Lucy anything to do with them being mates until things settled down again.

"I - highly doubt it." Freed finally said breaking everyone out of the respective memories. "Considering we still have not found Natsu and the issues that happened with Lisanna concerning mating. Well let's just say I don't see Laxus-sama saying anything until the threat to Miss Lucy is resolved and has accepted the changes the past events have brought to her life." Freed ran a hand through his emerald hair, pulling a few stands free of the thin band that was tying it back. "I don't think Laxus wants to burden her with anything else while her mind is still so clearly addled."

"Well, yea, okay but didn't Levy say something about how starting the mating and bonding process could help Lucy heal faster since she would get like strength from boss man or something?"

"While Miss Levy did say something to that effect there is the concern of the physical stress of mating adding to the current mental stress Miss Lucy could cause stress in the mate bond and result in a failed bonding. Which could hurt both Laxus and Lucy in the end."

As Freed spoke the others were reminded of the conversation Gajeel had with Laxus about mating and what all it entailed after Levy had torn into Laxus for refusing to even talk to Lucy about mating thinking he was being selfish and making things worse for Lucy. The three friends fell into silence again as the guild doors came into view, each one thinking over the dilemma that their leader was struggling with and wishing there was a way they could help.


A/N: Thank you to all my followers, favorites and those of you who reviewed or sent me notes on your thoughts about whats going to happen. While this chapter is not as long as I had intended it to be it I still wanted to get this out there for you all. The next update I have will be to Mine for Tonight Mine Forever. Thank you again to everyone who has stuck by me while things get back to a simi-normal level. Between work and the kids my writing time has dropped significantly but I will see my stories through to the end. I just want to thank you all for your patience and understanding. I am working as quick as i can on future updates. See you all soon with more for this and my other stories!