"The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder."

~Ralph W. Sockman


Give me today my daily bread
Help me to walk alone ahead
Though I walk through the darkest valley I will fear no love
Oh my smile my mind reassure me I don't need no one

Woke up this morning with my mind set on loving me

With my mind set on loving me


"So." Lucy said, taking a bite of the hearty pasta Virgo had prepared for her. "What can I do for the Crime Sorciere this fine day?" The blonde woman didn't even glance up from her plate as she swallowed and took another bite.

Jellal, being the leader-y leader who leads like a leader, looked at her, a slightly embarrassed look on his face. "To be honest, we didn't even know that you were out here, I had felt a pulse of magical energy and made the group search for it. When we came through the wall, we found you sitting down with an immense magical aura around you." He answered, taking a bite out of his food.

"And it was a powerful pulse too, Lucy-san." Meredy commented. "Jellel thought it was a relic, or Gildarts." She giggled as her long-time friend blushed and looked away from the group.

Lucy chuckled lowly. "That's what happens when you train constantly for three years." Their heads snapped back to look at her, eyes wide and mouths open in astonishment.

"Three years, Blondie? That's a long time to be away from your Fairy family," CObra said, coming back into the clearing, brushing off leaves that were stuck in various places on his persona. He sat down next to Lucy, despite the weird looks his team was giving him (mostly Sorano and Midnight.), and dug into his plate, poisoned of course courtesy of Virgo.

"If you hadn't noticed, Dickwawd," Lucy said, pausing to swallow her lunch. She held up her hand and took another bite, ignoring the gasps of shock. "I left them a long time ago." She grimaced and wiped her mouth. After everything that had happened, they didn't need me anymore. I couldn't watch them die. Cobra gave her a sharp glance- one that she ignored- and watched as several memories flittered through her mind, some of her spirits, some of the war.

"Lucy-san, why would you leave? Do they know that you left?" Jellal asked, concerned and worried. What happened to make the Light of Fairy Tail leave?

Lucy sighed and set her plate to the side, taking a swig of the water in her canteen. She contemplated on answering the question with a lie, but then decided against it seeing as Cobra was sitting right next to her. "Things happened during the war, Jellal. The whole war was one big mind-fucking shitfest, okay?" She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath.

"But why did you leave?" He said, stressing the 'you' in his sentence.

Sorano looked at Jellal like he was crazy, before turning her gaze back to the bodacious blonde across from her. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion when she took a closer look at Lucy, more specifically Lucy's collarbones. Dark blue ink was set against her skin in an 'M' that curved out towards her shoulders. The familiar tattoo made her eyes widen as she gasped softly, an image of a blue haired mermaid popping up in her head.

Brown eyes met blue as Sorano said, "Lucy- I." The blonde girl shook her head slightly as she turned back to Jellal, who looked at them in confusion.

"I left because I had to. I couldn't stay in Fairy Tail anymore." I couldn't see that stupid fucking expression on everyone's face when I came in everyday. "Only the master knows why and where I've gone." I couldn't handle always being pissed off at everyone and self-critical at myself.

"What happened, Lucy?" Sorano asked, lowly as she scoot closer to her fellow holder mage. Lucy looked down at her hands as they curled into fists.

"I saved them."


Woke up this morning with my mind set on loving me

With my mind set on loving me
I'm not lonely, I'm alone
And I'm holy by my own
I'm not lonely, I'm alone
And I'm holy by my own


The pain behind those words physically left Cobra bereft. He swallowed the spit in his mouth as he stared wide eyed at the ground in front of him, listening to the cacophonous anguish coming from Lucy's multi-layered soul. It was astonishing… how sad it sounded. How much it wailed and cried out in pain. If he didn't close off his emotions, he would have been tearing up, just because he could actually feel his soul echoing hers.

"Saved... Fairy Tail? During the war, right?" Sorano said, grabbing onto one of Lucy's hands. The blonde just nodded as his white haired teammate continued in a whisper. "What you did should have been impossible, Lucy-san. You are so much stronger now, than you have ever been. If that mark is anything to go by." Of course, Cobra heard every word his 'friend' was saying, and he looked at Lucy to see what Sorano was talking about.

There, on her chest, in view- really it was in plain view- was the tattoo of Aquarius.

I know you heard, Beast Fucker. Sorano thought, her eyes still on the blonde. Keep this to yourself for now, alright? When he nodded, she continued, mentally sighing. Celestial Spirit Marks are only in myths. You can't get them tattooed on purpose because the King made it magically impossible, trust me I know. There are two ways to get the mark and that is if, One) A Celestial Spirit is dying and the King gives you the responsibility of becoming that spirit, or Two) You summon the Spirit King by breaking the contract with one of the Zodiac Spirits. She took a moment to glance around the camp; Jellal had a pensive expression on his face, Midnight had given up on trying to figure out what was happening and had fallen asleep again, Richard had gone off to check on Racer.

I… had heard rumors from my sister, before she gave her keys to Lucy permanently. Rumors about Mard Geer and the Celestial King engaging in a catastrophic fight. Thing is, the King doesn't come down for just anybody- actually he can't come down from the Celestial World because by the truce he and the Magic Council have, but he came down to our word because Lucy here…

She broke a Zodiac key.