17| FAIRY TAIL

The train ride home to Magnolia was more than interesting enough from Stella. Their whole group pretty much booked the train with a few other travelers that minded their own business in their seats reading or playing some crossword puzzles.

Their group on the other hand had a few sick dragon slayers, and annoyed vampires with a few irate mages. Among these irate mages was Gajeel and Gray, who's eyebrows would twitch before Gajeel turned green and a few vampires would snicker.

It also gave everyone some time to actually get to know one another, and for Erza to ask some important questions that would put her at ease finally getting her to ask them. There was no doubt that Lucy cared for these men, and these men cared enough for her to tolerate them. That gave Erza a sense of ease, but she was still on edge because to didn't know them and they didn't try to know her.

"How bad was she, truly?" Erza asked Shuu softly, who's arm was around a sleeping Lucy who had dosed off thirty minutes ago.

It was at this question Natsu stopped groaning about the train ride and laid there on Wendy's lap listening into the conversation half expecting someone to snap at her question and say nothing. Yet he knew Lucy, he knew she would never allow anyone to know how sad she was with her guards up. Even at Fairy Tail, Natsu seen her grieve for everyone else but herself.

"There had been a point I was sure she'd die of a broken heart." Reiji was the one to answer, pushing his spectacles up with his forefinger and leaned back against his seat. "There was a point not long before you came back into her life where she wouldn't even come out of her room, let alone eat. We go in to check on her, she laid there as lifeless as a dead body."

"She had basically forced her spirits to stay in their gates, and she was allowing herself to feel the loneliness and sadness she stored in her heart for so many years." Yuma continued, sighing softly and looking at his cousin. "When her mother died, she was the same exact way. Her heart was utterly broken, as well her father's. Yet she had Aquarius to help her through that, and that spirit had become her second mother in a way. Aquarius was all she had before she met Natsu."

"And she sacrificed Aquarius." Levy muttered softly, understanding now.

"The one thing Lucy was always amazingly scary at doing was having the facade of everything being okay." Yuma added, glancing at Levy. "The way she was brought up by her father after that was something she detested, but the lessons stuck and some of that became skills she utilizes."

"She was raised as a heiress." Gray recalled, unsure exactly how heiresses were raised and left the silent question in the air hanging.

"My cousin was able to pick up on the skills of pushing her emotions down and acting like she was okay, the public face of perfection. She only became better within your guild, and you bought it. Deeming her as a perfect person who had no sadness or anything as such." Yuma tells them, but there was no accusation in his voice. "After losing Aquarius, and the guild with the people she loved, well she lost a lot more than her mom and it hurt her a lot more."

"When she saw that your guild was back together, she didn't say anything." Laito inserted himself into the conversation. "We didn't ask because it was clear she wasn't ready to see anyone. Sure she missed you but she was in her anger stage of acceptance, and we took that as a chance to be selfish. We moved her to Stella to keep her to ourselves and away from you."

Shuu looked down at Lucy, then into the eyes of Erza. "I understand now, that for Lucy to be truly happy is if we got along the best we can. She was torn thinking she had to choose who to go with, so I made the choice for her after seeing her smiling more with you around. She belongs in her guild, where she was the most happiest. If you accept us as well, that's great. If not, then we will stick to Lucy in town."

Erza understood, and she could tell the others were starting to understand now. The reasoning they gave them was in Lucy's best interest, and Shuu was seemingly truly caring towards their blonde celestial mage.

"You bit her though." Natsu muttered, arm draped over his eyes. "You bit into her, scarred her skin, and hurt her. Did you not?"

"Yes." Shuu answered, feeling the question was directed to him. Which made sense because he saw how Natsu watched Lucy, how the pink haired idiot was so helplessly in love with Lucy that he didn't even understand himself.

"Then what makes you worthy of being in Fairy Tail? Let alone on this train with Lucy." Natsu growled lowly. "What is stopping us from reporting you to the Magic Council."

The answer was easy and simple for Shuu, "Because Lucy would be mad at you, maybe even hate you for getting rid of us- the ones who were there for her when you weren't."

"It's because of you that she was hurt." Natsu threw at Shuu.

"It's because of me she's still here." Shuu muttered, done with conversation as he turned his head to look out the window.

Ayato sighed loudly, now causing the shift of attention to fall upon him. He didn't care, and this argument was becoming old and annoying now. He thought his brothers were annoying, but these stubborn mages were more annoying. They didn't want to accept what they were and who Lucy was, because that meant fully accepting and understanding Lucy was different and changed. In his own opinion, Lucy was a strong individual who deserved to be happy. Which took a lot for him to admit.

"We are vampires, understand that." Ayato lowly growled to Natsu. "Even with all the shit Lucy and I say to one another or about each other, make no mistake Lucy affected our lives the same way she has yours. She is an angel in the darkness, a light that can never fully be snuffed out. She taught us that it was okay to feel and care, that surviving was not really living."

"Do you hurt people?" Juvia asked, tilting her head in question.

"We have." Laito nodded, "We've killed, never in this world. Yet you don't know our history, or our stories and now is not the time for that. Just know we grew up as vampires, never once human and that affected us. Lucy, she helped. She's the light of our family as much as yours."

Yui smiled to herself, knowing that Lucy would be in capable hands. Seeing the brothers trying to get along with Fairy Tail meant they were really doing this for Lucy. Seeing Erza nod her head and lean her head back meant that right now everything was okay.

Glancing at Lucy, Yui was sure she saw the little smile on Lucy's lips. Giggling to herself, Yui knew she was the only one who noticed Lucy was secretly awake, listening in onto the conversation.

Magnolia wasn't like the cities that the Sakamaki's were used to, or even the living situation they were prone to living in. The secluded mansion they lived in before when Yui first arrived into their lives, to the Heartfilia Estate that was lonely for miles on end, to heart Stella where they all lived busy lives in effort of trying to blend in.

Magnolia was a small town where people seemed to know each other, a place where the Mukami's used to once live at as children. It was the type of environment Yuma and his mother had once lived in after the death of his father. Even when Layla offered a room, his mother wanted nothing to do with Jude.

This town had that homey feeling, and Yuma understood all the more why Lucy yearned for this place and called it home. He would have too. The people of Magnolia were rushing around and life was passing around. There was no stillness or quietness in the air under the shinning sun that blazed with the heat of summer that licked at their skins. There was no bloodshed or danger here, not with the children running around laughing and the adults yelling at them to be careful.

To Yuma, this place was beautiful. His own mother would have loved Magnolia, and the thought of thinking about her now after such a long time made his chest tighten with realization at how far he'd fallen away from the boy she raised. The man he had been hurting Yui, his mother would have never have had it. That humane feeling of guilt for inflicting pain on Yui came to haunt him, but looking at her- she had the same forgiving eyes as Lucy.

No one looked their way with judgement or yelling like the fangirls they had back at Ryoutei Academy. If people did look over, they ignored them or muttered a greeting before moving along with their day. It was a nice change, not being noticed and left alone.

"Are you okay, Lucy?" Wendy questions, seeing how Lucy trailed after them looking lost in her thoughts. "You don't seem in high spirits."

For a moment Lucy didn't say anything, but then she offered the youngest dragon slayer a smile of reassurance, "Oh, no, it's nothing. I was just reminiscing about the past is all."

It was something that caused some of the others to look back at Lucy slightly, seeing her smile at Wendy to say it was okay. A smile that hid so much from so many people before, a smile they now could never be sure that it hid anything behind it.

Indeed this city holds too many memories.. of happy times, sad times, fun times. All right alongside Fairy Tail, but at the same time Fairy Tail disbanded a year and a half ago. Our master disappeared before we had time to grasp what had happen, and eventually everyone gradually went their own ways. Fairy Tail really was gone. Memories were all that remained.

That day Master Makarov had disbanded the guild was a day Lucy would never forget. It was a day up there where she categorized as one of the worst days she lived, going right next to losing her mother, and Aquarius, and Natsu leaving her. It was also a day Lucy didn't recall to often, and at the moment she couldn't help but think about it as she walked the same streets she walked leaving this city over a year ago.

How things changed so fast. When they found her, Lucy hadn't been surprised to see that they were the same, yet more mature but were still Fairy Tail mages at heart. Where as her's wavered. Had they not found her by chance in Stella, Lucy knew deep down that she would have been selfish and stayed there, and maybe never return back.

It was a truth she wouldn't say, because there was no need to know now that she was here. She was home. Without warning to herself, Lucy stopped walking right then and there in the middle of the pavement. In turn caused the others to stop with her.

"What's wrong Lu-chan?" Levy asked her best friend, seeing Lucy grip at the hem of her shirt.

"The guild hall is just up ahead." Natsu says, points his thumb back over his shoulder towards their destination.

Without thinking, the words slipped from her lips. "I'm scared to go any further."

For once her emotions were not based off of the loss of Aquarius, or the conflicting emotions of the Sakamaki's and Mukami's. For once it wasn't because of Natsu leaving her alone, or her friends leaving after the guild's disbandment. She was not feeling anger, or sadness, or joy.

She felt worried, anxious and scared. It was the silly sense of childish fear of facing people she hadn't seen for a while, but it was mostly the fear of what her family would think about the ten males she had been living with. How they would react to them being vampires and that Lucy was in a contract with them.

She feared their rejection.

Lucy knew that they would ask about her contract, if they knew. Just like Erza had once tried to talk to her about, and Lucy told Erza it was a binding contract and promise. As a celestial mage she wouldn't go back on it. Yet as silly as it sounded, Lucy didn't care anymore.

Yes, at first she had justified anger at her father and the brothers for a contracted marriage. It had been the reason why she ran away from the Heartfilia Estate in the first place and to the town of Hargeon, where she met Natsu and Happy and eventually ended up at Fairy Tail.

So yes, she saw the point Gray had made when he said it was hypocritical of her to follow through with that contract. For her, she didn't see it that way anymore as the time went on. Sure Gray was right and was wrong. In the span of over the year and half, the Sakamaki's had been there to help pick up the broken pieces, which had not only surprised her but themselves. Yui had made her way into Lucy's heart, and besides an old piece of paper with her signature on it, Lucy loved and cared for each one of them.

"Is it because of the old building being gone? We have a new one." Natsu asks, grinning at the blonde and pumping his fist. "This is where it all starts!"

"It's how everyone else feels that worries me." Lucy confesses, her eyes shifting to look at the floor under her feet. She felt like it was silly, but it was true. "The truth about the brothers, about my situation. It's bad enough that you, my closest friends, can't seem to act like you trust them for more than five minutes. The guild won't, because you worry about something that maybe you will never understand."

"Lucy." It was Erza who spoke, moving to stand in front of the steller mage and put a hand on her shoulder. "Fairy Tail is about forgiveness, we accept those who wish for a better life or second chance. Yes I know how we acted before was childish, but we have been worried about you. Now that I have had time to think, human or not, if you trust them to call them family- then we will too."

"Do you mean that?" Lucy sounded so hopeful that it broke Erza's heart that the blonde really believed they would reject the brothers that easily now.

I understand now, that for Lucy to be truly happy is if we got along the best we can.

"I do." Erza says softly, remembering Shuu's words as the echoed in her head, knowing the man was right. For once they needed to set aside personal feelings, and for once think of Lucy and her happiness. The blonde deserved that much after al she's done and has been through. "I support you Lucy, because we are nakama."

Lucy felt her heart flutter in hope, because hearing the people she mostly respected and wanted their approval was something she didn't think she'd get. It took Lucy to look around her, glancing at each of the faces of her nakama and getting their small nods of approval for her body to relax somewhat.

Natsu was the only one with his arms crossed, looking away and glaring at the ground. Yet Lucy could understand why her best friend seemed torn in his own emotions and mind, because now things were changing. Natsu Dragneel's biggest thing he despised more than losing was change. Lucy knew it was hard for him to slowly accept her life now, it's why he was against it and why he got emotional.

"Natsu, we're still partners yeah?" Lucy's soft voice asked, yet sounded loud in the dragon slayer's ears as he looked up at the blonde in surprise.

"You're not leaving the team?" Natsu asks, unsure as he glanced at Shuu as he lingered off to the side.

Shuu wanted to roll his eyes at the pink haired idiot. He knew the partnership between mages in a guild didn't mean a serious relationship with the other, and that was thanks to Lucy staying up with him and explaining how things worked here. He also knew that Lucy being Natsu's partner was nothing more than a friendship. With that in mind, he knew exactly what Lucy meant when she answered Natsu.

"Of course not." Lucy walked up to Natsu, offering him a smile as a peace offering. "I know we haven't really spoken to each other alone, and I'm sorry. I'm sorry I worried you and kept things from you, but please accept that they are in my life now. Know that I'm not leaving Fairy Tail again, nor am I leaving the team or am I going to stop being your partner. We're nakama right?"

Natsu couldn't help but grin at the blonde, pulling her into a hug and inhaling her scent of vanilla and strawberries, that was mixed with Shuu's scent of coconut. In that moment he didn't care about the stupid vampires, just that his Luce promised to stay indirectly. She was home and to stay.

Gray coughed into his hand, "As touching as all this is, I think we should head back to the guild. We've been gone long enough, especially Lucy." He smiled sightly at the scene and knowing then that everything was going to be fine and work out. He knew it would, and that as strange as it might be that the Sakamaki's and Mukami's would be just fine with them.

"Gray's right, we should get going back." Erza says, smiling seeing that Natsu and Luce had started to mend their strained friendship.

"Oi, Salamander let go of Bunny Girl already." Gajeel snapped at Natsu when he didn't budge.

Lucy laughed lightly, pushing Natsu away gently and stepping back to gather her bag. A new sense of ease rested in her chest now, at least for this moment. It was all she needed, to feel safe and sure that this would work out. That for once everything would be okay again.

"Let's go home now, Natsu." Lucy says, taking a step forward to fall into line on her spot next to sure as the group moved forward to walk.

Shuu couldn't help but look over his shoulder at the dragon slayer who stood in the way now. How Natsu looked at him with pure distaste and untrusting smoldering onyx eyes. They didn't scare Shuu, because he knew selfishly as he placed his arm around Lucy's shoulder that Natsu wouldn't touch him. As long as Lucy was in his arms, with her eyes on him meant Natsu wouldn't take her.

Confidence was fleeting for Lucy as she now stood in front of the Fairy Tail guild's doors where her family she missed so dearly sat behind. Lucy grew nervous again because no one inside those doors knew she was coming home today. She had tried to shoved these emotions down after they resumed their walk towards the guild, but it was a futile effort.

There would be questions, yelling and tears and she was already feeling overwhelmed. Too much was happening too fast, and Lucy wasn't sure how to keep up. Sure she knew she missed everyone, but now she had to figure out how to bring two parts of her life completely together and to do so without issue. Even if Erza and Gray try to pacify her fears, it wasn't working as strong now.

"Calm down, Lu." Shuu whispered against her hair, hearing her heartbeat race with her nerves.

"Your heartbeat is going crazy, Bunny." Gajeel added, watching as the taller blonde took his newfound place besides Lucy- who took his hand into her smaller one.

Wendy could practically see some of the tension of Lucy's body leave as her nerves calmed with Shuu by her side. Seeing her relax so easily with someone who wasn't Natsu was strange, and she knew the fire dragon slayer was hurting too. He was losing the girl he loved, and she never even knew. Wendy wasn't even sure if he knew his own feelings either.

"You ready Lucy?" Erza asks, standing in front of the door.

Lucy nodded, offering a smile. "As ready as I'll ever be."

With that confirmation from the blonde, Erza turned around to face the guild doors and tossed them open with a force that called for the rest of the guild's attention. The yells of welcome backs and how was the mission were hollered as per usual, but as Team Natsu and company made their way into the guild the place seem to quiet down.

Behind their comrades stood a group unknown men and a young woman with their beloved celestial mage who stood there fidgeting with a nervous smile.

"LUCY!" Came the yells and the cries and the astonishment that she was found alive and breathing.

The yelling caused the vampires and four dragon slayers to wince at the volume of the guild, yet Lucy stood their smiling suddenly the smile that gave her the title of the Light of Fairy Tail as al her fears and worries melted away. She gave a look back at the men next to her before going and hugging the guild she missed dearly, feeling an over whelming urge to greet everyone.

The guild she missed so much that she had become numb at one point and pushed them all behind her, considering them the past in the darkest point of her life. She tried hard at first to keep up the positivity for her family here at the guild, but sometimes the bitterness and her sadness was to great for her to actually control. It was sometimes too exhausting acting like she was happy, and for the Sakamaki's she never had to pretend.

"Where have you been Lu!?" Came different shouts with the glad you're okay and the who are they?

Lucy wasn't sure how to answer that exactly, because there was so much to tell. To tell them was to relive it all, and she knew she owed her guild that much at least for making them worry, but the first person she needed to see was Master Makarov. She needed to at least tell him the truth, and then they would come to a decision on what to do.

Lucy could only hope for the best and wish luck was on her side.

Shuu on the other hand had let his hand slip from Lucy's the moment she stepped through the doors. He took in the guild hall that the blonde mage had talked about with high adoration. It was loud, and rowdy just how she would tell him all those nights they laid in bed looking at the ceiling.

He knew that Reiji was uncomfortable in this rowdy environment, the mannerisms where probably going to cause his brother to blow a fuse sooner or later. Yet seeing Lucy greet people with the smile lighting up her features, he found for once he didn't mind the noise. If Lucy was happy, then he would be too.

Shuu came to a realization now, his eyes watching her move, that she was his life. Shuu Sakamaki was in love with Lucy Heartfilia, and a life without her was not one he could live in now. She was the woman who taught him to love, to be one with her and his own humanity in his heart. That compassion was not weakness. Her smile brought him joy, and her laugh was the most beautiful music to his ears.

He would court her the right way, contract be damn.

Yuma chuckled to himself, feeling at ease now knowing his cousin would be okay. Somehow she had managed to pacify the Mukami's and his brothers into living cohesively, and for once in a life time they got along the best they could. Sure they had their differences, but lately the lines were blurred between pureblood and halfbreed, because in this world that didn't matter.

"Is Master in?" Erza asks Mira as Levy and Gajeel broke off to sit in the guild as Lucy readjusted.

In return Mira nodded, "He's in his office. Who are they Lucy?" Mira asks, having noticed the group of men with one female that entered the guid. She had indeed noticed the taller blonde male watching Lucy, and Natsu glaring at the man every now and then, The take over mage couldn't help but wonder what Lucy had been doing and where she had been.

"The tall brunette one, who looks like someone kicked his puppy, is my older cousin Yuma Mukami." Lucy grinned hearing Yuma protest lightly, but she continued on pointing to the remaining three of the Mukami clan as she introduced them. "These are Yuma's adoptive brothers, the oldest Ruki, Kou and Azusa."

Kou merely smiled at everyone, his inner model peaking out as that easy going persona slipped into place as it did so naturally. It was a flaw really, being this fake character her put on but with strangers in this amount he wasn't too sure what to really do.

Ruki felt out of place, and he could only imagine how Reiji was fairing. They were vampires, and yes they were used to being the center of attention with fangirls but it was like meeting the family. The stares were piercing, curiosity thick in the air and the attention this time was heavy. This was an environment he wasn't used to all that much, and now it seemed as if he had a new goal to work on.

Azusa was just there, resisting the urge to hurt himself. He knew Lucy didn't like it when he harmed himself, and the one time she caught him was enough for him to know. The blonde was not a masochist, she didn't enjoy pain and seeing others in pain hurt her. In that case, Azusa did it in secret in his own room where he could avoid Lucy seeing. At the moment, he didn't care for this guild but Lucy cared. He cared about her so he would care on the behalf of her.

Lucy then pointed at Yui, "This is Yui, she's a friend."

Yui let the breath out she had been holding, glad this time it wasn't Ruki's fiance. Not that there was anything wrong with him, the lying was tiresome sometimes. Stories were easy to accidentally mess up up retelling them, so this was the best. Yet now Yui got to see Lucy's guild and the people she told stories about. It was an experience Yui wanted to see herself.

"These six, are the Sakamaki brothers." Lucy says, deciding to go from youngest to oldest. "Subaru, Laito, Kanato, Ayato, Reiji, and Shuu."

To Subaru, everyone in this damn building was loud and annoying. He wouldn't mind punching them in the face just to shut them up. Yet seeing the blonde that laid on the bench in the gardens, who had opened up to him and to know what she had been through- he couldn't be the one to fuck this up for her. His bet was it would be Ayato to snap first.

Laito was still dejected that someone else calls Lucy the nickname Bunny, even though he called her Usagi-chan. Other than that he thought this place would be fun, entertaining the very least. He could see a drunk at the bar, barrel at hand eyeing him down with her long brown hair swaying slightly. Yes, she looked like fun and he wouldn't mind. Laito couldn't help but smirk and send the woman a wink.

Kanato just hugged Teddy tighter, eyes looking around the room. These were the people who would try to take Lucy away, and he wouldn't allow it. No, no one would take Lucy- not even that stupid pink haired idiot. Kanato was determined to show Lucy this wasn't home, but he had to respect her wishes if this was what she wanted, especially if Shuu was allowing it and even agreeing. Sometimes, Kanato didn't understand his brothers, and when it came to Lucy he was at a loss.

Ayato was excited really, because this was new to him. This environment and the people, and hell the chance to beat Natsu's ass? Ayato honestly found that pyro annoying, and he hoped they were allowed to stay so Ayato could kick his ass. Other than that, there was a sense of freedom that Ayato truly felt. Away from his father, and expectations with few regulations had Ayato actually feeling a sense of ease. Yet seeing a few males looking at Yui had Ayato growly lowly in warning.

Reiji had already decided he would get a job at a clinic in town, where he could still make his creations and be close to a blood supply in the form of bags. He already formed this idea in his head, knowing hunting would be limited and they had to survive somehow. He didn't mind the guild, something with how they had been welcomed with the others without hostility which in turned caused Reiji to nodded and not hate everyone. He was still deciding.

Shuu could feel the bar woman, Mira, eyes on him and they were boring into him as if trying to see his soul. Something about that woman in particular caused a shiver to go down his spine. He knew Lucy had mentioned this woman to him, but honestly he didn't remember what it was Lucy had said. In turn, Shuu was looking every where but at Lucy's back side.

"How do you know all of these handsome men, Lucy?" Mira's voice was sweet, too sweet and Lucy knew what was coming next from the match maker. "Are one of them your boyfriend?"

The question was sly in tone, and it caused Lucy to laugh a little as she glanced at Shuu. This didn't go unnoticed by anyone really, not the small tint of pink on the celestial mage's cheeks either.

"Yes, but now isn't story time." Lucy says, walking towards the stairs with Erza following and ignoring Mira's surprised intake of air of her admittance to a boyfriend. "I need to speak to Master about my cousin and the others."

Yet it only caused more questions to form for some guild members.

This was a filler chapter really, and I'm sorry for the wait in an update. I was stuck on this chapter and how to move forward to the next story arc. It was this chapter in particular that I was stuck on and now here we are.

Once again thank you to al the support for this story! I appreciate it so very much!

I would even appreciate if you checked out my other Fairy Tail fan fic I've recently posted on here, Seven Deadly Sins, and I will post description below;

Natsu never went to Crocus for the GMG or met Lucy again a year later. Instead he went back to an empty home, found Wendy and embarked on a journey to find the others- which he did successfully. Yet after Tartaros, Fairy Tail and Sabertooth weren't ready to be tasked with locating and recovering seven missing high profiled mages who had gone missing under suspicious activity, including their own celestial mage and dragon slayer- Lucy Heartfilia and Sting Eucliffe.

Please check out my other story, and please leave me a review :)

Thank you again for all the support!