Lucy let out a small sigh as she settled on the floor in front of a metal planter, the lights on her skin dancing in the soft glow of the stars, which was amplified by the glass dome running overhead. She ignored the cold sting of metal against the bare skin of her arms as she folded them atop the smooth surface before her, resting her chin upon her forearms and taking in a deep breath as her eyes fluttered shut. There was just something better about the air in the greenhouse since some of it was naturally produced rather than originating from the life support system, and she couldn't get enough of being in the room.

And, of course, the revitalizing light of the stars added even more richness to the refreshing aura of the greenhouse. While her body took in energy, she could relax to the sight of lush greenery illuminated against the stark contrast of stars shining in the blackness of space, a sight she'd seldom been able to see before her time aboard this ship.

She'd had to go against law to see such a view on her home planet, and the Alliance had only let her out to feed during the daytime, for it would be easier for her to sneak away in the darkness of night.

Now, she was perpetually appreciative that she could take in the sight as much as she wanted, and that it would always be there for her to seek refuge in.

There was a light knocking on the doorframe at the entrance of the greenhouse, so she shifted her head in that direction. The doorframe was still warped and twisted out of shape from the attack earlier, which prevented them from closing the blast doors.

Natsu was peaking past one the jutting edges, a soft grin slipping onto his face when he caught her focus, "Hey, Lucy."

He was eating that jerky again, the same kind he'd been snacking on when he'd walked in during her and Erza's initial cleanup of the greenhouse two days prior. He seemed to like it a lot, so maybe she'd have to ask him to try some later, when she was feeling up to trying to eat again.

Although the chocolate he'd given her had brought tears to her eyes with its sweet flavor, it ultimately hadn't been too kind to her. It seemed that after years of disuse, her stomach wasn't quite ready to jump back into its usual processes, so she'd resolved to take it slow with trying to eat again.

"Hey," she hummed back gently, unable to muster up a more enthusiastic greeting when she was feeling as content and relaxed as she was.

It was for that very same reason that she didn't slide away or physically react much to Natsu coming closer.

But she couldn't stop her eyes from widening at least a fraction when he settled on the ground right next to her; that of all the places in the room and with the edges of nearly a dozen planters open for a seat, he chose to plop right beside her. She wasn't used to people being so close without them wanting to examine her, restrain her, or inject something into her, but Natsu clearly didn't hold the same reservations about personal space. He'd been the one to instigate how they'd fallen asleep earlier, when he'd taken her to regain her energy after the whole ordeal on Ameri, and he hadn't seemed at all bothered by her nuzzling her head into his lap.

Lucy, on the other hand, was retrospectively horrified. She couldn't believe that she'd let herself act like that, and even the fact that she'd been too exhausted to think straight at the time couldn't save her from her embarrassment. Natsu was nice, but he was practically a stranger still, and she'd completely let her guard down. She had an inkling of a thought that he wouldn't have been so easily accepting of their contact in that moment had he not been so exhausted himself.

But he'd certainly proven himself trustworthy, even though she'd only really known him for no more than three days, today being their fourth.

"Erza found a market that has what we need on a nearby planet," the pilot mumbled around the jerky in his mouth, completely obvious to the thoughts racing through the blonde next to him. "We'll be there in a few hours."

"That's good," Lucy mumbled, burying the lower half of her face in her folded arms.

"Yeah…We're gonna try to be as quick as we can with gathering what we need and making repairs. We don't want to be stuck there for too long, since its on Balam's side of The Rim."

Lucy buried her face further into her arms as she nodded, not wanting Natsu to see the way she'd automatically bit her bottom lip.

The Rim. A name that left little up to the imagination. It was the unofficial, but widely used term for the strip of independent planets and colonies that rested between the spans of the galaxy that were officially claimed by the Council and the Alliance.

It was where her home planet had once resided, though now, she wasn't sure what remained of the place where she'd been born.

Traveling to Ameri had brought them into the no man's land, but she hadn't thought they'd actually venture closer to Balam's side of the area of uncertainty. The last time she'd gone through it had been with Jellal during her escape, but they'd only stayed long enough to ditch one ship and board another before they'd been off again.

"Erza wanted me to tell you that it'd probably be best if you stayed on the ship while we're there."

Lucy nodded again, humming to let him know she had no qualms about staying on board. She hadn't been planning on getting off anyways, nor did she ever think she'd have the luxury of going out and exploring the planets and stations they visited.

Ameri had been a special case since Gray had needed her help, but now that Natsu and Erza were back, she knew it was likely that she'd seldom have the opportunity to walk about freely again.

This ship was the only place she was safe, and though she didn't want to think about it, she knew that even that fact could someday change.

Keeping the lower half of her face buried in her arms, she shifted her gaze to the pilot at her left.

She didn't want this ship to become unsafe. Not for her, nor the three crew members who operated it. She didn't want to leave.

Natsu was still contently snacking on his jerky, placing his elbows on the edge of the planter and leaning forward onto it like Lucy was, "Normally, we wouldn't go to a planet so close to Balam territory, but without jumping into FTL, it'd take us months to get to the next closest place with the supplies we need. Gray doesn't think the ship will hold up until then, and we'd probably lose all flight power if we tried to go so far." His gaze fell, his voice a little more heavy as he mumbled, "With the little food we have left, we don't think we'll hold up until then."

Lucy tore her focus away again when his features shifted, a grim silence briefly falling over them for a few moments. The current situation was proof of how revolutionary the experiments she'd endured were, of how humanity had advanced so far, yet hunger and dependence on food were as prevalent as they'd ever been. As she cast a glance over at the downtrodden pilot, she almost felt guilty for the fact that she'd been turned into what she was. And yet, it wasn't a gift that she'd asked for, nor was it one she even wanted.

Natsu suddenly chuckled to ease the atmosphere, as if he'd finally caught on to the blonde's inner feelings. His voice was a lot lighter as he glanced her way and pledged, "But we'll be all stocked up again once we've made it to the station. We'll be able to feast! Then you can finally join us for that meal."

A soft smile tugging at the corners of Lucy's lips. Inviting her to eat with them had been one of the first things he'd said to her, and in all of the craziness that had shortly followed, she'd thought he would've forgotten.

She nodded her head, finally pulling her face out of the cover of her arms, "Sounds like a plan."

The blonde felt bad for contributing so little to the conversation, having nothing to say other than a few short phrases.

But it seemed like she didn't need to fill the silence. Natsu was doing plenty well on keeping things going on his own.

"I haven't had a good meal since before we went to Ameri," he pouted, running his hand over his stomach. His mindset seemed to shift with that thought, the pilot quickly inhaling before his focus whipped to her, his voice somewhat demanding as he probed, "Was Gray nice to you while Erza and I were gone?"

"He was…decent," Lucy softly settled on a word she found appropriate after a moment of thought. Admittedly, Gray had been a lot nicer to her during their time on Ameri than he had been before the ordeal, but she knew without a doubt that his change in behavior was at least partially due to the fact that she had somewhat been the only person on his side.

Lucy chose to go the more lighthearted route rather than divulging all of that though, a soft trill in her voice, "He didn't shoot me in the back again, if that's what you were asking."

Natsu's focus returned forward as he sharply nodded, "Good. He can be a real asshole sometimes." After a brief moment of contemplation, he corrected, "Actually, he's a real asshole all the time."

The blonde muffled a laugh by burying her mouth into her upper arm. She'd been a bit surprised by their fighting in the bridge earlier, but now she guessed that that was a thing Natsu and Gray always did. They would fight and insult each other, but it was obvious that they didn't really hate each other, or at least not as much as they said they did. She'd seen it in the way that Gray had been so worried after the jumper went down, and in how he'd been so intent on getting Natsu and Erza back, refusing to believe that they were dead.

Not knowing how to respond to Natsu's insult to the mechanic, Lucy decided to shift the topic, reaching out to run her fingertips across the dew-covered leaf of a plant as she hummed, "I'm glad that Erza and I were able to salvage a lot of this stuff. It would've been a shame if that thing had destroyed all of it."

Natsu made a noise of agreement, and she could feel his eyes on her, watching her curiously.

His brows were furrowed as he innocently questioned, "Why do you like plants so much? I mean…other than them being, like…your 'photosynthesis sisters' and all that."

She couldn't help but laugh softly at that. Once again, he'd managed to get her guard down, and before she could stop herself, she was answering his curiosity honestly and without withholding much, "My home planet didn't spin, so the same side was always facing our orbital star. That meant that there were only a few areas that were in the right climate for plant-growth. Lush greenery like this was rare, so being able to see it whenever I like…being able to touch it…I want to take as much of it in as I can."

The pilot's eyes followed her movements as she ran her fingertips over the leaf of one of the many plants in the dirt before her, the simplicity of her affection bringing a soft grin to his features. Hearing her talk about her past in a manner that wasn't overwhelmingly melancholy was certainly a pleasant change.

But he knew that his next question wouldn't bring about the same reminiscent remembrance. During her explanation, he couldn't help but notice that she'd used only past tense when referring to her home.

He cleared his throat gently, looking away for a moment to gather his thoughts before he tentatively ventured, "So…your home planet…was it attacked by the Balam Alliance?"

Her smile immediately faded and her head turned away from him, silence weighing down on them for a moment before she quietly mumbled, "…more or less."

Something about the way she said it suggested that there was a lot more to the situation than just a simple attack, but he knew well about the pain that memories of the past could bring about when mentioned. His own home had fallen victim to the casualties of war, and for him, talking about life before he'd been picked up by the council could be incredibly taxing. He didn't like talking about his home world, so he wouldn't force her to do the same if it made her uncomfortable.

And he had a feeling that he wouldn't get much out of her if he kept asking her about her home, but he, just like his crewmates, was still so incredibly curious about the blonde and where she'd come from. She'd spoken of her past easily and even with fondness only moments ago, so he decided to take one more gamble before he called it quits. Just one more question, and if he got a negative response, he'd stop. He wanted answers, but he didn't want to push her so far that she closed herself off to him for forever.

"Lucy…" he hesitantly breached the silence, his voice still tentative. He set his bag of jerky aside, pulling back from the planter and wrapping his arms around his knees, "Can I…Can I ask how long you were held captive?"

Her focus slowly drifted forward from where it'd been turned away, allowing him to see her side profile, the very edges of which were set alight with the soft glow of the stars. Her eyes were downcast, her eyelashes dusting her cheeks as she swallowed heavily before whispering through a tight throat, "About five years. I was eleven...when they first took me…" Her hands had fallen into her lap, where her fingers began toying with the piled edges of her loose shirt.

Natsu's eyes had gone wide the second she'd spoken.

Since she was eleven? He hadn't exactly had the easiest life when he'd been that age either, but he couldn't imagine what it must've been like to have been fully at the mercy of the Alliance at such a young age, with no chance of defending himself against such a power.

It must've been terrifying.

The blonde suddenly cleared her throat, sniffling and blinking quickly a few times before she cast a quick glance his way, her voice a lot more clear than it had been previously as she asked, "What about you? How long have you been a part of all this?"

Natsu took a deep breath. She'd told him something which obviously brought her pain, so it was only fair that he share some of his past in return. He shrugged lightly, "I grew up on a planet that was overseen by the Council. So…since I was born, I guess."

Lucy softly nodded her head before swallowing heavily once more, "But…when did you start to fight for the Council by choice?"

Like he had many times as of late, Natsu thought over how he wasn't exactly doing it by choice even now. Exploration and adventure were his heart's desires, but traveling the galaxy simply wasn't possible without the Council's aid.

But he didn't want to drag her down and further tarnish her view of the Council by admitting that, so he answered her question simply and honestly, "I got taken in by someone from the Council when I was twelve, but in terms of actually going and doing missions…I think I was fourteen when I started piloting for them. So, I guess it's already been five years…" with a bit of a bitter chuckle, he softly noted, "…kind of the same time span as you."

"It's a shame, isn't it?" Lucy started, her focus still downcast, but her voice holding a slight edge of frustration. "That for both of us, those five years were wasted playing a part in a battle that we didn't even start?" She shook her head as if in disappointment, "Jellal once told me that this was an era of peace."

Natsu's gaze fell, too.

It really was a shame. If he'd done the math right, she was sixteen, three years younger than him, which meant that just like him, she hadn't been born when the conflict first broke out. And being born into a war-torn galaxy had set them up for a life full of conflict, something they didn't have the power to change.

"Peace is a loosely defined term nowadays," he lowly lamented. "It simply means that there's no full out war. But tensions are higher than they've ever been, and each side's restlessly fighting to gain the upper hand so that when all of that tension finally snaps, they'll emerge out of the floodwaters victorious."

He didn't say anything more, knowing he'd got his point across. Hell, if anything, Lucy herself served as a testament of all that he'd said.

There was silence again for a few moments before the blonde turned to him, genuine curiosity in her tone, "Why do you fight for the Council? It's obvious that you don't agree with all that they've done."

"No one on board this ship fully agrees with what they've done," he sharply affirmed. "But I fight for them because I've lived a life without their aid, and I'd rather die than go back."

Natsu let out a heavy sigh as his fingers flicked through the box of old control board panels before him, grumbling to himself as he watched his hands become dirty with dust and grime.

This supposed 'market' they'd gone to really was just that. Independent colonies were normally in a bit of disarray from trying to function on their own, but the market didn't seem to be regulated much at all, and he and Gray had passed by more than a few sketchy looking allies before they'd found a tech shop. The tech shop itself wasn't any less sketchy or rundown than the rest of the market, but it at least offered supplies with which they could make due until they were able to get back into the heart of the Council's territory, where they were authorized to get whatever resources they needed from any Council outpost they could find.

The shady atmosphere aside, Natsu's boredom was another reason he was in somewhat of a rush. After leaving Lucy secured in the ship, Erza had sent him with Gray to gather supplies to fix the engine room while the redhead went on her own to find food. It wasn't fair that he'd gotten stuck with the ice princess, looking through boxes of scraps for the parts they needed while she got to go off and explore all of the foods this place had to offer. Didn't Erza know that food was one of his favorite things?

Actually, on second thought…maybe that was exactly why she'd sent him off with Gray. He probably couldn't be trusted to buy any food other than what appealed to him, and he really didn't have the best diet. But hey, he was still alive and pretty fit, wasn't he?

"Natsu?"

His brows furrowed at the soft, questioning call of his name.

The second he started to turn around, there was a happy cry of, "It is you!"

His eyes widened a fraction at the blue haired girl practically skipping down the aisle towards him, "Levy?"

"It's so good to see you!" she happily chirped as she came to a stop before him, one of her hands at her chest, holding tight to the strap of the bag at her side, which he guessed held countless artifacts.

She was an archaeologist of sorts, but the girl was primarily concerned with languages found in dated inscriptions. She and her crew traveled to uninhabited or scarcely populated planets that had once thrived with life, scouring the ruins for knowledge of societies that were now gone, whether they simply faded away or were exterminated by the cruelty of the war.

That was part of the meaning behind the name of her crew's ship. They were always concerned with the pieces that had been left behind, the shadows of civilizations long gone.

Natsu sometimes found her work interesting, but his crew's brand of missions would always be more appealing and exciting to him.

"What are you doing here?" It was a stupid question, really, since the answer was so obvious. There was only one thing that brought people like him and her out to a place like The Rim, but he'd never been particularly close to Levy, so he was unsure of what to do other than to revert back to the basics of making conversation.

Nonetheless, the blue haired girl politely answered his question without a smidgen of annoyance or exasperation. She'd always been incredibly sweet and kind, "The boys and I were on a mission on a nearby planet, checking out the ruins there." She lifted the tablet in her right hand, showing him the cracked screen, "This thing got busted when I took a tumble down an old staircase, so we were just stopping by to get it fixed and grab some supplies. I'm guessing you're here for the same thing?"

"Yeah," he sighed heavily, going back to shuffling through the parts on the shelf before him to search for the panel Gray had tasked him with finding. "We're practically out of food, and our ship took quite a beating a few days ago. The FTL drive is toast."

She gave him a soft, sympathetic smile for a moment before sweeping her gaze curiously down the aisle they were in, her brows furrowed a tiny fraction as she asked, "Where are Gray and Erza?"

"The ice princess took off somewhere else to get some more parts, and Erza went to get the food."

She nodded softly and hummed, "I'd like to see them for a bit before I go. I'm sure Jet and Droy wouldn't mind catching up with you guys either. How long has it been?"

"Four or five months?" Natsu ventured with an air of uncertainty, thinking back to the last time he'd seen the blue haired girl.

Levy let out a noise that sounded like a mix of a scoff and a sigh, giving the pilot a pointed look, "Would it kill you guys to come back to headquarters every now and then? Everyone misses you guys, and I'm sure Cana wouldn't mind having some drinking buddies again."

He chuckled, "It's a long way to go just for a drink."

"But its home," she warmly professed, a soft grin on her features. "And you don't even have to really come all that way, you know. Your ship has a transport room, in case you've forgotten. And there's cloning transports on pretty much every station nowadays."

He shivered at the mention of those transports. The idea was simple: get in a pod that scans your body at one location, and transport your consciousness into the clone that's created at another location, one that's possibly light-years away. The whole thing just seemed unnatural to him, and even thinking about cloning himself and leaving his real body vulnerable like that made him uneasy.

It'd been a long time since they'd last been to headquarters though, and the idea of seeing everyone again was becoming more and more appealing the longer he thought about it.

Levy jumped a bit when the band of metal around his right wrist suddenly started beeping, and Natsu's brows furrowed as he bent his forearm up to bring the band that was connected to their ship into his line of sight, "The hell?"

"What is that?" the girl questioned, subtly rising up onto the balls of her feet to try and get a peek at his wrist.

"Ashface!"

Gray's shout sounded from somewhere else in the shop just as Natsu sprang into action, the pilot dropping everything he was carrying before tearing down the aisle and out of the shop. The mechanic appeared right beside him as he kicked up dirt in his run through the marketplace and back to their ship, the alarm on their wristbands beeping all the while.

Lucy's eyes lazily followed the passing crowd as they walked through the marketplace, the passerby completely oblivious to the girl lying on her side atop the blanket she'd laid out for herself. The outside of the glass in the greenhouse had been darkened when they'd landed, preventing the people outside from seeing in. Such a measure allowed the blonde to lie and watch the hustle and bustle of the market from afar, and although she yearned to go out and explore the marketplace herself, the sight of so many people simply living their lives made her feel a little bit better.

She was still feeling a little down after having spoken to Natsu earlier, even though it'd been hours ago. They'd both left that conversation feeling frustrated, not with each other, of course, but just with the way things were in general.

It was nice to have some time on her own after that. There were certain things she really didn't mind talking about, but going into detail about other occurrences wasn't easy for her. She wanted Natsu, Erza, and Gray to trust her, but there had to be some sort of balance between her desire to make the crew of three feel like she wasn't hiding important information from them and her own comfort and sanity.

Talking about the events surrounding her capture was where she drew the line, but she'd slipped up and allowed herself to come close to crossing that line by speaking of her home planet.

Her conversation with the pilot had also served to make her more curious about Natsu's past, and subsequently, Gray and Erza's, too. She didn't feel ready to divulge every detail about herself to the crew of three yet, but maybe one day they'd all be able to share their burdens with one another.

Lucy's brows furrowed when a deep hum suddenly traveled through the metal she was lying on, lifting her head to better hear where the sound was originating from.

It was probably the ramp, she realized. It'd never made such a sound when moving before, but more and more stuff aboard their ship was beginning to malfunction, so it wouldn't surprise her if the mechanism that lifted and lowered the slab of metal was having some difficulty with its operation.

She wasn't expecting the crew back so soon, but she figured as long as she made sure she wasn't seen by anybody outside, she could at least go and greet them.

So she pushed herself to her feet, leaving the warm blanket she'd laid out for herself and the greenhouse behind.

Natsu and Gray stumbled to a stop as an explosion rocked the ground.

The pilot only gave himself a brief moment to stare ahead as dirt and smoke flew through the air, billowing over the tops of buildings, before he took off again towards the pillaring smoke.

That was where they'd left their ship, and that was where they'd left Lucy behind, all on her own.

Lucy's head lulled to the side, a series of coughs slipping through her lips as she came to and scrunched her eyes shut in pain. Her desperate heaving for air only drew more dust and other particles into her lungs as she lied on her back, dazed beyond being able to comprehend what was happening.

The blonde had taken no more than two steps around the corner to the rear of the ship when she'd been blown backwards, the subsequent slamming of her head against the wall briefly stealing her consciousness away from her.

She couldn't hear a thing, and when she opened her eyes, she could hardly make out anything among the smoke that was billowing through the hallways of the ship.

Instinct had her fighting to get to her feet despite how her body was aching from being thrown back, so she curled herself upwards, sliding her arms beneath her to support herself as she rested on her elbows for a moment.

A wince poured through her clenched teeth as her head pounded with the movement, slowly becoming conscious of the feeling of blood sliding down the side of her face and threatening to drip over her eyebrow and into her right eye.

She tensed when the dulled, nearly muted sound of heavy footfalls reached her ears, growing closer with every step. But she couldn't move, her body freezing even further when a figure cut through the smoke, their features becoming more clear the nearer they got.

Black hair tumbled over broad shoulders in choppy clumps, the edges of his wild mane brushing against his muscled chest and arms. A pair of red eyes settled on her, so stark against the neutral color of the smoke that they seemed to be glowing.

Lucy couldn't help but cower into herself, her hands futilely striving to shove herself backwards while a metal bat swung tauntingly through the air above her.

AN

See, I told you Gajeel would be coming back. Some of you were speculating that the last arc was going to be the one with all the Phantom Lord peeps, but no, my children…this is my version of the Phantom Lord arc. This arc was one of the ones that I came up with when this story was originally supposed to be a "rewrite the entire story but in such-and-such universe" fics, so expect to see some new characters and maybe learn a bit more about a certain character's past ;)

Levy's here now! The rest of Team Shadow Gear will be appearing some time in the next chapters, as well. And I mean, Jet and Droy aren't all that exciting, but hey...the more characters I mention, the more hyped I get.

And yes, we learned that the guild does exist in this fic, though it doesn't function exactly like it does in the original FT verse. We'll get more details on that later!

I've mentioned before that there's a considerable age gap between Lucy and the rest of the crew, and now we know exactly how much younger she is. Just remember that it has a purpose, and that I'm not doing it just because I can or want to. That age gap will come into play later, I swear.

Sorry if the end felt rushed, we've just had some severe thunder and hail storms lately, and I live in kind of a remote area, so the power's been really iffy these past few weeks. I just wanted to get the chapter finished before my laptop died :)

I hope to update more frequently now that I'm officially done with school and work for the summer. I'll try to have another chapter out sometime next week!

As always, thank you so much for reading and I'd love to hear your thoughts! See you next time!