A/N: I hope most of you enjoyed the first chapter. Please remember to be kind to one another and not be rude in reviews. There's constructive criticism and then there's hate. The characters' views are not my own.

I have 6 chapters already written out and will probably post one a day for now, after that I'll aim for weekly updates.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, my interpretation of those characters, the plot and OCs are all my own, though n_n

"Hey, Lulu… You okay?"

Lucy blinked a few times to clear her eyes, her body ached everywhere but the worst of it was in her left hand. She tried to move it and hissed out in pain, cradling it to her chest when he moved to hold it for her. His touch was so much more gentle than she was used to from him. Not that he was a brute, he was just so strong he seemed to forget she wasn't the same.

"Hang on, here." His normally cold hands dropped even lower in temperature. Thank the gods for her walking ice pack of a friend. Slowly her hand grew numb, the pain receding for the moment as she snuggled closer to him. It had been so long since anyone but Loke had held her.

"Thanks." Slowly she looked around the clearing, all the Mages were gone and Natsu was standing there staring at her like she'd just grown another head. "What happened?"

She tried to think back to the last thing she could remember, she'd run off into the woods chasing some idiot who thought he could get away. She remembered him pulling her on top of him and then… She gasped, doubling over on Gray's lap as she squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. It was like two parts of her consciousness had slammed into each other; she knew that hadn't been Jackal but in her state, she hadn't been able to tell. The last thing she remembered before everything cut off was her hands beating a man and she hadn't planned on stopping until he was dead.

Gray's free hand rubbed into her hair, he made a 'shh' sound as he shook his head and rocked her gently. Had she killed that man? Their guild had preyed on innocent children, like those people who had taken Erza all those years ago, she would have been completely justified if she had killed him. They had hurt so many people. She felt like she was going to be sick, justified or not, she didn't want to be a murderer.

"I kil-"

"Have some faith in me would ya? Like I'd let ya."

She sucked in a desperate breath as she looked up at Gray, the truth was on his face. Was his nose crooked? She couldn't find herself to care too much right then, she threw her arms around him and squeezed him so hard she heard him wheeze. Her body began to shake from the relief of it all, her Magic came with a price now. She had to make sure she only used it like that when necessary, little bits now and there wouldn't matter but letting it take her over like that was too dangerous for those around her. She looked up with a frown, her body flooding with guilt at the sight of Gray's nose. He'd never let anyone get so close to him to break his nose.

"I hurt you."

It wasn't a question. She might not have remembered what the hell had happened but she knew that she'd done that. Gray just chuckled, his eyes flickering over her head to an oddly silent Natsu before looking back at her.

"Well, I had to knock ya out with an Ice Hammer, I figure we're even."

Natsu growled but she just smiled, nodding at him. She did feel better at hearing that, if she had been so out of control that she had attacked Gray of all people then she deserved to get knocked out. She silently thanked the gods again that he was there to stop her from crossing that line of no return. Leaning up she kissed him on the cheek, there were no hard feelings between them. Happy flew over from somewhere then, his expression changed when he saw her, but he said nothing as he landed on Natsu's shoulder. When the Fire Dragon stayed silent still Lucy turned to look at him, he had the guiltiest look on his face that she'd ever seen.

"Natsu? What's wrong?"

He didn't say anything at first, just walked over to kneel in front of her. His hand shook gently, and he gave her a gentle smile. Her mind stumbled around trying to figure out what the hell was going on. How hard had she hit her head? Gray and Natsu loved her, she knew that just like she loved them, but they were never this gentle. At first, she'd been wary because of it, always worried about being pulled into their fights, but then she'd realised that they did tone it down a bit around Wendy. It had taken her until then to realise; they weren't gentle with her because they saw her as one of them. They'd always try to protect her, it was in their blood, but they also saw her as another strong Mage, one they didn't have to hold back with. The gentleness was so out of character with her that she was wondering if she really had grown another head.

"Uh, m' just… I'm really sorry, Luce… I went off to train to get stronger but then I came back and did the same dumb shit as before. I wasn't there to back you guys up and you got hurt."

She felt like her eyes were going to fall out of her head if they widened any further. When he'd run off earlier, she'd been so pissed, she'd been ready to drag his ass back to the guild by his ear and make him sit there for a week. Never in her life had she thought he would realise what he'd done and apologisefor it. Maybe he was trying to become a better Mage? Every time she thought of him going off on his own her heart hurt, the pain of losing Aquarius would have been so much easier to deal with had she had him or Gray with her. Had been for the best, though? Natsu was trying to grow up and she'd learned to deal with the loss on her own. Given that she had all her Spirits, she'd never been alone long, but at first, she had refused to summon them. Afraid they'd see her as a monster for what she'd done. Afraid she might just lose them too.

Lucy realised she'd been staring at Natsu for at least a minute without saying a word and shook her head, smiling at him as she nodded.

"It's okay. I mean, it's not, but you realised what you did wrong and Gray and I did have it mostly under control… It's not your fault I got hurt. Just try harder for next time okay?"

When that signature grin of his appeared and he nodded she almost sighed in relief, glad he was back to normal. She looked up at Gray, to see the same shocked expression on his face that must've been on hers. It made her wonder, what had the year done for Gray? She knew that he was different, his Magic was stronger… and darker. She just hoped he'd managed to work through things a bit as well. Clearing her throat she leaned her head on Gray's shoulder, she felt exhausted.

"Guess we should go get our reward and stuff yeah?"

Natsu jumped up with a nod. Gray stood up, still holding her in a bridal carry and she couldn't have been more thankful. She was sure if he put her down, she would've fallen over, even him standing up had made her dizzy. Then he shook his head.

"Natsu, Happy, you guys go get the reward. M'gonna head home with Lucy, Wendy should check out her wrist."

Gray's eye drifted to Lucy's blonde head of hair as he stood up. Natsu's apology would've put him on his ass if he hadn't already been sitting down, he hadn't meant to shove all the blame onto him earlier. He'd been just as guilty. Now he'd just given out and order and Natsu surprised the hell out of him again by just nodding, giving them a quick wave before he walked off into the forest.

"Think we shoulda checked to make sure that wasn't some weird clone the guild master made?"

Lucy gave a short laugh of surprise as she shook her head in amusement and he grinned down at her. She'd been unconscious for almost half an hour before and while Loke and Virgo had done all of his work for him, he'd thought about Lucy. He had gone over every instance since Tartaros that he could think of when he had seen her. The list was pitifully small but every memory had him frowning more; she hadn't been the same since the guild had opened again. She had come to the guild every day, gone on a job or two with them, but whenever she smiled it was less than usual. Not as bright, not as happy. He'd walked passed her apartment a few times on his way home from the guild, it had been past midnight each time and every single time she had been awake even though she'd left the guild early in the evening.

She might show up but the only time she was ever really present anymore was when she had a job to do. What had happened to her?

"Maybe we should've. I think he's just trying really hard, though."

"Guess so…"

He stared down at her for a moment more before he began carrying her through the forest. It would take too damn long to walk from here to Magnolia. Chewing his lip he looked around for a moment. He could always rent a car but then he'd have to put her down. The problem was that he needed to talk with her, and they couldn't do that surrounded by their guild but her wrist had to take priority over everything.

"Lucy?"

Gray almost changed his mind when she looked up at him, she was covered in dirt and blood, but he didn't care about that; it was the genuine little smile on her face. He felt it like a kick to the gut. It had been so long since she'd given him a genuine smile. He wished he didn't have to be the reason for it to disappear, but he couldn't let it go.

"Earlier… You kinda went…" He took a breath and shook his head; she'd been so out of control.

"You attacked me, calling me a demon and sayin' ya were gonna kill us all. I know that the Tartaros thing fucked us all up royally, but I've heard about what happened from everyone else. The only time anyone really mentions you is when ya somehow got us outta the cube thing."

She'd gone so still when he first started talking, he thought she might've passed out again but then she began to shake so hard her teeth smacked together. Pulling her closer he looked around, quickly seeing a nice big rock up ahead that he could sit on. She still didn't say a word but he smelt the salt from her tears, the shaking was so bad it was like she was vibrating and he just pulled her closer as much as he could without knocking her injuries.

"Shit, m'sorry… I didn't mean ta upset ya, I just… I wanna help if it's bugging you, y'know?"

When the first of her sobs broke out, he felt like the biggest prick alive. He just had to bring it up. Crushing her to him, he rocked them back and forth as he panicked inside. He never did well with emotions, he had tried so hard for Lucy on multiple occasions because she'd needed someone to talk to and he never slept much. They'd stayed up on so many missions now, just talking while everyone else slept, that he missed it when he didn't have her to talk to. When she broke down like this, though, he just didn't have any fucking clue what to do. She opened her mouth at one point, looking like she was going to try to speak but then she just let out another sob and he felt it go straight through his heart.

"Come on, Lulu, s'okay… I got ya, nothing can get ya here…"

It took ten minutes and a floodgate of tears later before she stopped crying, she still hadn't said a word but the heaviness in his stomach knew it had to have been awful. He'd watched Lucy spit in the face of every enemy they'd ever faced, she might have nightmares sometimes, but he'd never seen her so completely broken like this. He just waited, doing his best to find a vein of patience inside him. It wasn't like he could shake it out of her. When the truth did come it wasn't in the form of words, though, she just reached under her top and pulled off a necklace. He didn't recognise the pendant until she laid it on the palm he opened for her.

Aquarius' key.

His mind flashed back to when Lucy had so proudly introduced him to Aquarius. The mermaid had looked beyond pissed at being summoned to meet one of her friends but then she'd taken a look at him, told her she wasn't going to be impressed unless he was her boyfriend and poofed back to the Spirit world.

"So, that was Aquarius. She's… always cranky, really that never changes, but she was my first friend. I've had her so long now, Mama gave her to me whenever I'd go out without her because she'd keep me safe. I guess she was kind of like a mother to me too when mum died."

"Huh, I guess that woulda been nice."

"Yeah, there were no other kids around, so it was just me and my spirits…"

He lifted the key to his face. It was broken at the end as if someone had snapped it in half, and it was blackened. Dead. His hand shook, the sick feeling in his stomach had tripled until he felt like he was going to start crying himself. Natsu had told him about how Lucy had been alone that whole year, how no one had gone with her. His face drained of all its colour. Lucy hated being alone more than anyone he knew, she'd grown up all alone, and while he knew that she loved her Spirits, it was hard not for her to think they were just there because of her contracts. It was never the case, even Lucy knew that, but he knew why it'd hurt to be left alone by her guild, by the rest of her family.

"H-ow?"

"I had to save everyone... I—" Her face turned away from him guiltily, "by sacrificing a Zodiac Key you can summon the Celestial Spirit King once."

Her tone was so flat, so devoid of emotion that she could have been talking about the weather. He felt something inside of him break. They had done this. Him and his guild. She had sacrificed a piece of herself, another member of her family, to save them, and what had they all done? They'd fucking left her behind. He shook his head, not wanting to believe it. How had they not seen? Suddenly he stood up, putting her down as gently as he could on the rock before walking to where he could see a stream just ahead. He threw up on the embankment before leaning down to scoop water up, rinsing his mouth out.

He was disgusted with himself. How could they have done that to her?

"M'so sorry, Lucy… I dunno how you can even stand to be around any of us. I know how much she meant to you..."

A hand pressed into his back and he almost jumped a foot off the ground. He hadn't heard Lucy move. He hesitantly turned, moving to wrap his arms around her. She instantly hugged him back, holding him as close as she could as she cried on him again for the loss of her oldest friend. The fact she could even touch him let alone hug him was a miracle. He didn't know how she was doing it, had he been made to make that choice and then treated how she was, he'd be so fucking far away from anything that reminded him of home he'd end up several countries over and it still wouldn't be far enough.

Yet here she was, crying on him as he held her like she still cared for him after all he'd done or rather neglected to do. Unable to let her go, for fear that she might realise how much she should hate him, they stayed like that until he lost count of how long it had been but the moon was now high in the sky as the stars twinkled above them. He looked up to see they had an almost clear view of them all. Standing up, he scooped Lucy up into his arms; she didn't seem to notice the change as he walked over so they were laying on their backs in the grass looking up at the sky. He shrugged off his coat to throw over her, so she didn't get cold as he lay next to her.

"She's not dead. Aquarius, I mean... She can never come back to our world but she's not dead..."

Her voice startled him and he moved closer so she could lay her head on his chest as she looked at her friends in the sky, he could hear the relief in her voice that at the very least the closest connection she had with her mother was safe from harm. It barely made him feel any better though, he didn't have to hear her say it to know the fact they'd never see each other again killed her inside, that the idea her children would never get to meet her disappointed her beyond comprehension. She didn't need to say anything for him to know how much she was hurting over it and unfortunately for him, he had little, if any, ideas on how he might be able to alleviate her pain even slightly.

"S'good she's safe, maybe ya can write her a story, one about her boyfriend or something... She can't drown you if she thinks it's terrible either, so that's an upside, hell she might even do it to Loke instead if she can't do it to you."

And there it was, that beautiful laugh of hers that was currently ringing through the air because of him. It was slightly sad, but it was full of freedom, like even though it hurt there was a possibility that it might not hurt as often as it did right now. He silently promised her that he would do everything in his power to make sure she could laugh like that again. He was also very aware however of how fucking angry he was with his guild; they had all left her alone and while he hated himself more than already possible, he couldn't help but be even angrier at them, at all the people who had been there and seen how she was and still left without her.

"I hope not, kitties don't like to get wet…"

Turning his attention back to her he brought up his hand to brush some hair out of her eyes and couldn't help but chuckle at her words. The image of a very well dressed Loke almost getting drowned by Aquarius was pretty funny. Looking around, he let out a sigh, they couldn't stay here. Well, they probably could. Lucy always had Virgo pack a tent just in case but it was getting cold. She was already injured; he didn't want her getting sick as well. She really did need to have Wendy take a look at her hand.

Standing up, he brought her with him, his arm wrapping around her waist so he could support most of her weight. This way if she collapsed, he could just catch her. He watched as she pulled his coat on to keep her warm; it looked twenty million times better on her.

"C'mon, let's see if we can get a car."