Dear Readers,

I felt rude with how short 33 was, so... here you go :)

I don't own Fairy Tail (Mashima) or Pradesh Characters (Desna). GoddessxNyte2 is my wonderful beta.

Enjoy!

When Lucy opened her eyes, she was confused. She remembered everything that happened in Peregrande, but not how she got out of that country - if she really was out of it - nor how long she'd been asleep. She hoped, after everything that happened, she was able to get Zen out of that awful fucking place, but she wasn't sure.

What was even stranger was that, despite that she had just literally gotten out of the biggest battle of her life - with an entire nation, no less - she felt great. A little tired, but otherwise wonderful. She'd not experienced life without at least a training bruise or cut or two (or several) in over a year, and it had her a little worried that she'd been out of it for far longer than she had initially guessed.

Yawning, Lucy went to stretch her arms over her head, only to find that she was unable to. Something made a clinking noise on her right wrist, and she narrowed her eyes at the offending magic suppression cuff that she spotted keeping her wrist chained to the post of what appeared to be an infirmary bed.

That was when she noticed that she had surprisingly sharp eyesight, like she hadn't experienced in quite a while.

She gasped. Lucy had actually been narrowing both of her eyes, and she just now realized it.

'Loke…? Want to explain what the fuck is going on?'

"That won't work, that handcuff is magic suppressing, Ms. Heartfilia, and you have two other limiters on your ankles," a deep, suspicious voice spoke aloud.

Loke summoned himself half a second later and squared himself to the man that was just out of Lucy's sight, "I wouldn't underestimate the Princess, Boscan."

"Loke, chill the fuck out, man. We just need answers," a second man spoke.

Lucy gasped, was that…

"Bickslow..." it came out as a whisper.

A tired-looking seith mage came into view, stepping past a still-tense Loke to mess with some settings on the high-tech infirmary bed Lucy was laying in. A few moments later, Lucy was sitting up (thanks to the bed being adjustable) and staring at her guildmate, studying his features.

He wouldn't meet her eyes.

"Loke," Lucy said, without looking away from her friend, "I will be fine here. Tell everyone I'm alright, will you? I don't have the available power to maintain most of the bonds right now."

Loke put hand through his hair, "...you sure about this, Lucy?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Thank you," she confirmed.

Several minutes of silence later, and Lucy couldn't take it anymore, "Is… is Zen safe? How did you find me? Where's Erik? And can you tell me how the fuck I randomly have the use of both of my eyes?"

Bickslow, for the first time since Lucy woke, looked at the friend he'd been missing for more than a year. He chuckled softly, "Which question would you like me to answer first, Cosplayer?" he asked weakly, but with a small smile.

Without hesitation, she asked about Zen.

"He is fine. Resting. He was here for a while but we convinced him to go sleep."

The person who answered hadn't been Bickslow, but she did recognize the man she saw stepping to the foot of her bed. He was the one who'd first spoken, and having now seen him, she knew who he was.

After all, everyone who had ever seen a Boscan Edition Sorcerer Weekly would recognize the platinum hair and lean-but-built form of Kaleb Pradesh, Fifth Wizard Saint of Bosco and White Sea's guildmaster.

"Kaleb Pradesh. Seems it took me engaging with an entire nation to finally catch your attention, huh?"

Kaleb's typically calm demeanor fell to an annoyed expression, "I could have found you at any time," he clarified.

Lucy raised an eyebrow, "Why didn't you?"

"My energy mage was bus- it doesn't matter. You're here now and I have questions."

The celestial mage almost giggled, but held herself back, "Right, right," she took in a deep breath and looked at Bickslow, who had gone back to averting his gaze, "I… can't tell you everything but-"

"Lucy, you say one more word about not being able to be honest with your fucking family, and I swear to the fucking stars you summon I will march you directly to Fiore myself and toss you to the Rune Knights."

The blonde just blinked at Bix's outburst, but when she saw the tears lining his exhausted red eyes she simply let her head fall to her chest, "I… I'm sorry, Bix. I thought I didn't have a choice, but… maybe I was wrong."

"Yeah, you're damn right you were wrong. You have any idea how hard things have been at Fairy Tail since you left?"

"...I... no, I don't." She said, hiding her face in the knees she pulled to her chest. And she really didn't. She'd asked Laxus not to tell her about anyone, it was too painful. She'd not considered how painful it was for them.

"Cosplayer, we were devastated. All of us. And confused, and we'd just nearly lost half the fucking guild to an attack, and nobody understood what the hell was going on, and all of a sudden you were just fucking gone. The day you left, so did I. So did Gray. And Natsu and Happy, Erza and Jellal. They've finally started to get their shit together but it took so long. And I still see the damage in their souls. Freed refuses to research anything to do with the stars. At all. He says thinking about it is too painful. Evergreen won't even speak to the other girls. Cana was a fucking alcoholic mess until Gildarts came back to the guild one day and forced her to get her shit together. Fucking Romeo, that little kid that considered himself your little bro? He's gotten himself enough training scars to put your whole year after Tartaros to shame. Goddamn it, what the hell were you thinking?"

"I-"

"I've spent the last year hiding out in another fucking country because it was too goddamn depressing to be at Fairy Tail, and-"

"I was trying to protect you!" Lucy yelled, cutting him off, "I'm so sorry that everything happened the way it did, Bix. I really am. But I… I couldn't live with myself… If I let something happen… to all of you, because… b-because of me…"

For the first time since her last day at Fairy Tail, Lucy cried. Loud, unstifled, choking sobs as she tried to hold herself together by physically holding herself.

Bickslow and Kaleb both sat stunned. Kaleb had caught snippets of thought centered around the celestial mage leaving the guild and some form of guilt, but whatever bonds she had with her spirits were making her thoughts difficult to follow.

By now, Kaleb knew only that there was more to the story than either of them knew.

Before either could respond, an angry Zen walked into the room with a mildly confused Cristoff.

"So, uhh… bad time?" Cris asked, observing the crying celestial mage on the bed.

She didn't even look up.

"I think you two should go," Zen addressed Kaleb and Bickslow as he crossed the room to gently touch Lucy's shoulder. She only cried harder.

When neither brother made any attempt to move, Zen physically scooted the blonde over on the bed and climbed in next to her, draping an arm over her shoulders and pulling her face to his chest, "Lucy," he spoke softly.

"Z-Zen…? You're okay? I thought you were sleeping," she spoke to him, looking up at him through her tears.

"I don't sleep for long, old habits. Listen, will you agree to tell them everything once you calm down?" he asked her, dipping his head toward the guildmaster and her guildmate.

Taking a deep breath, she nodded, refusing to look at the two he was referring to, "I… just… need a minute."

Zen turned a glare toward his brothers, "There you go. She will explain everything later, probably best if she explains to the whole family, so set that up and I'll make sure she gets there."

Kaleb nodded reluctantly, but Bickslow approached the bed, tapping her shoulder. Zen eyed him warily but didn't do anything to stop him.

"Cosplayer…"

She turned to look at him, tears falling freely, "Y-yeah?"

He enveloped her in one of those hugs she remembered so fondly from before, "I don't know what happened, or why, but we're family always, right?"

She sobbed into his shoulder, but nodded, "Yeah, Bix. See?"

She pulled back and lifted the edge of her undamaged purple shirt (one of the perks of stardress? Less money spent on her ruined wardrobe) to reveal her dark purple Guildmark.

Bickslow gave her a sloppy grin (tongue and everything), "I knew ya weren't gone for good, Cosplayer. Get some rest, because I expect the full story this afternoon, hear me?"

Taking a deep, shuddering breath to calm herself, she mumbled an affirmative.

Erik walked in a second later and glared at Zen, "The fuck you doing in bed with Bright Eyes, Angel Boy? And why the hell is she handcuffed to the bed?"

Lucy and Zen both blushed, while Kaleb moved to remove the restraints now that he was sure she'd stick around to reveal what the hell was going on.