Lucy blinked lazily up at a ceiling. She was in a bed. An unfamiliar familiar bed. With white sheets. And a room that was also familiarly sterile. She looked around in frantic confusion; her hand was shackled to the bed and she pulled at it, wondering why she felt like someone had ran her over with a bulldozer. And then she remembered… Erza was a bulldozer.

She closed her eyes and groaned. "You've got to be suitting me." She muttered to herself. Hearing a chuckle at her words, she lifted her head to see someone she didn't want to.

Natsu.


"Hiya, Luce." He said, familiar cheek-aching grin on his face. Lucy wanted to dig her nails into it.

He looked different- older. His hair was longer and more wild and his skin was a few shades darker, his shoulders broader and his teeth just a bit sharper. He looked dangerous and Lucy knew that he had definitely grew magic wise as well. But…. then again, so did she.

"What...the actual fuck!?" Lucy growled, her voice low and her eyes lighting up. Her magic surged beneath her fingertips. "Actually nevermind. Rhetorical questions don't need answers, so you can just get the fuck out of this room." She saw him deflate a bit at her venomous words. He gazed her her for a minute, just taking her in, before clapping his hands on his thighs and nodding.

"Alright, Lucy." He replied, giving her half a smile. "But, I'll be back in to check on you in a little bit. The guild's excited to see you." He grinned fully at her again and ran out the door. Lucy froze and grit her teeth.

She should have thrown fucking rocks at him. Boulders. Mountains. In his face. Fuck Natsu.

Closing her eyes, Lucy channeled her magic into her left hand and left out a controlled Regulus Blast from her palm, utterly destroying the shackle. She sat up immediately and frowned at the red marks already showing up on her wrist. Fucking Erza. Fucking Jellal.

She felt thoroughly pissed and stood up, heading towards the door with a killing intent. She snarled at the door handle, finding it locked. Backing up, Lucy closed her eyes again and took a step forward, her leg shooting out to hit the door. It fell with a thick sounding thud. The laughter and talking she could hear from her room stopped completely as Lucy walked with purpose towards the stairs.

Her magic whipped around her; golden/silver energy wrapped around her like a cloak as she gazed over the guild hall. The mages looked up at her in shock and awe. She snarled again and descended the stairs, heading towards the flash of scarlet in her peripheral.

"Erza. Fucking. Scarlet." Lucy said in a deadly tone. The Knight turned around and looked at her friend with surprise. It didn't last long as she was shot back by a beam of magic.

The titian woman flew into a table, cracking it in half as the mages seated at it scattered quickly. Erza groaned as she sat up, just in time to see an enraged blond with glowing fists flying towards her; she just barely dodged the woman. Lucy looked to be sailing past Erza, but at the last moment, she grasped a hold of red hair and turned her body in the air, using the momentum to drag Erza with her. Flipping the redhead over her airborn body, Lucy used Erza as a landing pad when they got to the floor.

"You absolute bitch!" Lucy seethed, her lips twisted in a snarl as she pinned the mage to the floor. "You had no right dragging me back here. No. Fucking. Right!"

Erza felt frightened for a moment; she'd never seen her former teammate so enraged before, never seen such fury burning in her brown eyes. This was a different Lucy. A grown-ass, powerful Celestial Mage who was on a whole new level than in the past.

"Lucy, you may want to calm down…." A voice said, hesitantly.

The blond whipped her head up and met Jellal's gaze with her teeth bared and eyes wild. "Don't worry, blueballs, you're next." She said, turning her attention back to Erza. It had been a mistake to take her eyes off of the woman in the first place. When she turned back, she was met with a fist to her face.

"Motherf- Ugh!" Lucy said, head snapping back as her nerves jolted with pain. Erza used this to her advantage to flip the other woman, pinning her to the ground.

"Are you done?" Erza asked, red hair coming down to graze at Lucy's face.

Lucy smirked viciously. "Not by a long shot, Titania." Lucy bucked her hips and threw Erza off her body, rolling upwards into a crouch as the other woman mirrored her.

"I don't get why you don't want to come back, Lucy." Erza said, trying to calculate the woman's next move.

Lucy's eyes narrowed. "Because I needed time, Erza. I already told you this."

"Yeah, and that's bullshit, so what's the real reason?" Lucy growled and launched herself at Erza, this time feet first.

"Regulus Lucy Kick!" Lucy yelled out and with a loud boom, the room was covered in wood chips and dust as a single giant hand came down in between the two women. Lucy dropped her leg immediately, standing up straight as she looked up at Master Makarov.

He stared at her with an unflinching gaze, his expression a mix of pride and disappointment. Erza stood on the other size with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Lucy." Master rumbled out, retracting his hand. "It's good to see you in person, but what are you doing here? Your last letter said that you'd be in the Waas forest by now."

Lucy rolled her eyes and huffed. "I would have been had the Walking Taint and the Wonder Criminals over there left me the fuck alone." She said, mirroring Erza by crossing her arms under her chest. Makarov lifted an eyebrow and looked down to see Jellal and the rest of Crime Sorciere in his hall.

"Ah, I see." He stroked his mustache. "And I assume Erza was tracking said Walking Taint?"

"M-master!" Erza stammered, trying but failing to defend her friend and 'secret' lover. Cobra was almost bent over in laughter at Makarov's nonchalant way of insulting Jellal.

"I think that's going to be my favorite memory, besides Jiggly Tits tackling Titania and beating the shit out of her." Cobra said to Meredy, who giggled sweetly. Laxus chuckled next to them in agreement.

"Walking Taint does have a good ring to it." Makarov said, stroking his mustache again. He cracked a smile down at his children, his eyes twinkling, and continued. "But nevertheless, Lucy is free to come and go from this guild. She may not be member anymore, but she'll always be family."

The guild was deathly quiet at that announcement.

"Hey, Gramps, what do you mean that she's not a member anymore?" Laxus asked, leaning against the bar with a mug of beer in his hand.

Lucy held up her hand for the whole guild to see. "I'm no longer affiliated with this guild." She replied loud enough so that everyone could hear her.

"What the fuck? Why?" Gray called out to her, watching as she turned to him. He saw her eyes change- no longer were they the bright amber brown they were when they were apart of Team Natsu, now… her eyes were darker, richer. Like the darkest cocoa, with bits of gold dusting throughout her eyes. It was enchanting and if he wasn't currently married, he would probably still want to ravish the blond bombshell.

She grimaced. "What else was I supposed to do when we disbanded, Gray? Stay here in hopes that, maybe, one day we'd all get back together and rebuild the guild like the good old days? That we'd all get to finally have our happy endings?" She shook her head and ran a hand through her long, long hair. "I couldn't keep hoping for something I didn't think would happen. I couldn't afford to be that naive and with all that had happened…." Lucy sighed, hard. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad the guild is back, but I've been away so long, I don't even know how to interact with people anymore."

"But… are you willing to try again?" Wendy asked her. Lucy looked resigned and worn down. The amount of stress she felt was almost unbearable. She wanted to sleep, but it seemed the guild had endless questions.

Was she willing to try again?

"I don't know." She replied and then looked at Wendy with sad eyes. "I don't know if I even want to."

Wendy nodded and scrunched up her face a bit in thought. "How about a deal then?" She asked, hugging Charle to her.

Lucy smirked softly at her. "What sort of deal, sweetheart?"

Wendy smiled, her dimples deepening as a mischievous expression crossed her face. "Stay at the guild for a few weeks, get to know everyone again, talk to us, party with us. If, after a few weeks, you feel like you can join the guild again, join us."

Lucy tilted her head, inquisitively. "And if I don't?"

Wendy but her lip and thought, but before she could say anything a familiar voice spoke up for her.

"If you don't, then we'll let you go." Natsu said, standing up to join his dragon sister. "You'll get to leave and we won't force you to come back… but if you choose to stay, you can't leave again, Lucy." Lucy's gaze flicked from Wendy to Natsu.

Everyone waited for her answer on a baited breath.

"Deal."


Lucy let out a long breath of air. It was morning, early morning to be exact. The air was cold and damp, dew clinging to everything as the sun just barely kissed the horizon; even it was reluctant to be up this early.

Lucy loved it though. Loved the early mornings that were quiet and peaceful and foggy.

"Lucy-sama, ten more curls and then you need to stretch again." Capricorn instructed, watching as his upside down Master curled her body upwards from where she was hanging, her chest just brushing her knees and her core muscles burning as she slowing released her breath coming back down.

Mornings like this made for perfect training days as well. No one was awake this early to bother her, or see her, or-

"Blondie, what the fuck are you doing?"

She was so done with this bullshit. Couldn't she have one normal training session without someone interrupting her?


So... I know Lucy seems really, really out of character, but she was nit going to be the same teenage girl she was when Tartaros happened. Shit was fucked up. Her back story that I added to is fucked up, so she's not going to just forgive these guys like she does in the manga and anime. It's gojng to take time, like it does in real life. The trust is going to have to be built back up. Lucy's not a little girl anymore, she's a strong woman who is knowlegable about the world now.

Anyway, I hope you guys liked the chapter. Drop me some comments, suggestions, flames, the works.