That night Lucy fell into a restless sleep. Tossing and turning she eventually gave up that she would have sleep tonight as dawns first light seeped through the window. Getting up she walked into the bathroom to look at herself and saw she was looking better. Taking off all the wrappings she got into the shower. As the hot water hit her skin she winced, but let it wash over her. As she washed her hair, she thought of herself and everything she had run from in the last year.
Stepping out she wrapped a towel around herself. Lucy knew that they couldn't go to her home without being dressed as her father saw fit, so she pulled out one of her keys and summoned Virgo. "Yes Princess?" she asked. "Virgo can you find me a tea length dress from the celestial world to wear." She nodded and disappeared before reappearing with a dress. "Will this be to your liking princess?" Nodding she smiled as Virgo disappeared. She continued to work on her hair until she groaned in frustration. Optioning to put it in a side braid she grabbed some more bandages to reapply them as Virgo came back out to help with her back. Then she grabbed the dress and groaned as she pulled the dress over her shoulders. "Ow…" Zipping the dress on the side she looked in the mirror afterwards and smiled it was a deep blue with off the shoulder straps. On the left strap was a crescent moon while the right had a sun. Lastly, the skirt was made of tulle and had tiny sequins to replicate stars.
Grabbing his shirt again she walked out on the back porch and watched as the sun rose. Leaning against the pillar she wrapped his purple shirt around her shoulders. As the sun rose higher, she walked over to the roses and started to tend to them. It was maybe ten minutes when she felt someone was behind her. Looking up Lucy saw tears grazing Laxus' eyes, but before she could ask, he turned around. "Come on we're going," he said flatly. Standing up she followed him to the house where she saw a pair of wedge shoes. Putting them on she set the shirt on the couch as they walked to the road.
Laxus grabbed her around the waist and teleported them to the train station. As Lucy steadied herself Laxus went to purchase two tickets. Returning they got on the train. Stopping at compartment he dragged her in. Sitting down she watched him as he put his sound pods on and closed his eyes. The train took off heading towards her old home.
It didn't take long before they arrived at the Heartfilia Estate. Lucy stood up with Laxus. As they walked in silence Laxus looked at her to see the tension. It was so thick that he could have cut it with a butter knife. Eventually they arrived in front of the mansion only to be greeted by servants. Many of which had expressed their love for Lucy. He was surprised how much the servants seemed to adore Lucy. Laxus couldn't stop staring at her intently. Shortly a servant girl came over and told Lucy her father wanted to see her. Nodding she said she would be along shortly. Turning to Laxus she smiled. "Can I ask you a favor?" Looking at her intensely she continued. "I would like to have you wait out here. I won't be long I promise."
With that she followed the servant girl to her father's study. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door. "Father, it's me Lucy. May I come in?" she asked Flatly. "Yes, you may," he answered. Walking in she saw the man she disliked more than anything. Walking towards him he started reprimanding her right away. "You ran away without even saying a word to me. How could you!" Gritting her teeth, she spoke. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left without speaking to you. It was a poor decision on my part. One I now deeply regret." "I'm glad you finally came to your senses and left that guild. A lady of your status shouldn't be affiliated with those ruffians. I certainly wasn't looking forward to wasting any more of my money to have it eradicated. You forced me to go to extremes Lucy. If you hadn't acted so selfishly, I wouldn't have had to lash out at your guild. You're the one who brought trouble down upon your friends," he said.
Lucy looked down at the floor unable to look at her father any longer. "It's better that you don't associate with them anyway. You're a member of the Heartfilia family. You have nothing in common with those peasants. You come from a completely different world than they do. Which brings me to the reason I wanted you home in the first place dear. It's about our family I've arranged for you to marry into the neighboring family." "Yes, I suspected that might be the case," she said. He turned around facing the window. "Try to think of it as an investment in your future. Once you're married, we will have access to all their assets including their land in the south which will allow us to expand the Heartfilia railway and bring in millions."
"I See." "And I expect you to give birth to a baby boy. We need a Heartfilia heir. That is all for now. You may go." Shaking she looked at the man she once called her father. "I'm sorry father, but that's not going to happen. I didn't come here to make amends. I came here to say my final good byes. I realize it was wrong of me to leave without saying anything. It's a decision I've regretted every single day. And so, I've come to tell you exactly how I feel before I leave for good." Jude turned around to look at his daughter shocked she would speak to him that way. "Lucy," he said warningly. "All the money in the world can't buy you happiness. I figured that out when I was a child. Finally, I was truly happy and I'm not going to let you ruin it!" she shouted pointing her finger at him.
"I'm warning you, you better not mess with Fairy Tail ever again! It doesn't matter that you're my father, if you threaten us, we will crush you just like any other enemy! It didn't have to be this way, you and I could have sat down together and talked things out, but now I can't trust you because you've hurt too many people I care about. I don't need fancy dresses, a big house, or money to be happy. I just need to be accepted for who I am!" Turning around towards the door she held her keys close and smiled. "Because of you I made a sacrifice to save my friends. I gave my word to someone to be theirs and I intend to keep it. To be honest I may have only been in their care less than twenty-four hours, but they've cared more for me than you ever have. And another thing I'm not Lucky Lucy Heartfilia anymore, I'm Lucy of Fairy Tail," she said walking away holding her hand up that had the guild emblem on it.
"The people there treat me like family, something you never did. "It was hard for me to leave this house. All the memories of mom I had, but it's time for me to move on. I truly believe if mom were still alive, she would tell me to listen to my heart and follow my dreams. So, this is goodbye daddy," said Lucy sadly. She left and stopped by her old room before leaving. Grabbing a photo of her mother she walked out the door to see Laxus standing by her mother's grave. "Laxus…" He turned as she came up next to him. "Your mother died when you were small around the same time my mother disappeared," he said. "Huh? Oh, yea I guess you're right. Someone at the guild told me about your mother Kaori." They stood there awkwardly when Laxus put a hand on her shoulder. "Let's go," he said. Nodding they left to return to the train.
When they returned to Magnolia the sun was setting. They were half way home when her stomach started rumbling. Laughing he took her to get food. Seeing they were at the guild she smiled and ran towards the door only to be grabbed around the waist by Laxus. "Hold on Blon… Lucy. Keep in mind everyone here may hold malice towards me not that I care, but you may be placed in a direct line of fire knowing a certain flame brain." Nodding he released her from his grip and they walked into the temporary guild hall.
Everyone turned to see Lucy followed behind by Laxus. "Lucy!" shouted Natsu and Gray. They stood up as she smiled. "Natsu! Gray!" she ran up to them and stood in front of them before they hugged her. "Where have you been!?" shouted Natsu. "We just went on a little trip, right Laxus," smiled Lucy. Nodding he went to sit with the Thunder Legion as Lucy sat with her team. It didn't take long for Natsu to get angry from everything that happened in the last twenty-four hours and to challenge Laxus. "Jeez, doesn't the idiot ever learn," said Gray. Lucy was looking on as was everyone else when she felt the need to intervene. Confused she tried to resist it, but the feeling just got worse. Standing up Erza looked at her. "Lucy?" Running she intervened at the last moment. Arms and legs spread out protecting Laxus.
Natsu stopped right before his fist connected with Lucy. "Lucy! Get out of the way! He needs to be taught he can't treat anyone like they're his toys!" shouted Natsu. Everyone looked on as Lucy stood between the two. Laxus looked just as surprised as anyone else. "No!" There was a determination in her eyes that Natsu had never seen before. It almost looked like a mates, but that was impossible. A mate was chosen when two people felt affection for each other. At least that is what Igneel told him and as far as he knew Lucy and Laxus didn't even care for each other. "Lucy why are you protecting this jerk! He took away your freedom!" Growling she moved into a defensive fighting stance. "Because he could have been a jerk, but he wasn't! In fact, he helped me yesterday with all the wounds that had been inflicted on me because of Phantom Lord and today he went with me back home. My father was the cause of the attack and I didn't want anything else to happen to the guild, so I went to speak with him. I don't care what anyone thinks, but I'm keeping my word to him! If you don't like it, you'll have to fight me!" She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up at Laxus and saw a warm look in his eyes before it turned cold.
"Listen up you weaklings! If I had taken away her freedom, do you think she would be here today? I would have kept her confined to my place, not allowed her to see anyone, and taken her away from her team, but here she is. Be angry all you want, but remember she made the decision herself!" shouted Laxus. "Yeah, but you decided to be the one who wanted to be a pig!" shouted Cana. "Enough!" Everyone looked at Lucy. "I am a celestial wizard and I make contracts based on promises. How can my spirits trust me if I break a promise I made! I promise everyone that what Laxus said was true. I…" Suddenly Lucy collapsed causing everyone to grow concerned. "Idiot she used too much energy today," he said picking her up. Laxus took her back to his home and laid her on the bed.
Deciding to change her wrappings he grabbed more bandages and returned to see one of her spirits standing there. "Would you like some help? "she asked. He handed her the bandages and Virgo made quick work of rewrapping her back while Laxus went to grab her suitcase. Returning he saw the spirit was laying her down and disappeared. Opening the suit case, he turned red as he went through her clothes until he found her pajamas. Carefully he dressed her and pulled the covers over her before he went upstairs to his room.