"Oh Yuki! Kyo! Tohru! You're-" Shigure was about to welcome the 3 teens who lived under the same roof as him in relief since they had not come back to the house since school ended. But he was immediately caught off guard when he not only saw them but the Host Club, the fairies and Lucy who seemed back to normal. "...with company..."
"Yes we're home safely!" Tohru said, trying to lift the very tense atmosphere growing behind the group, where Lucy and Team Natsu stood. "We're so sorry we couldn't have warned you beforehand!"
Shigure felt a shiver ran down his spine, only thinking the worse that befell Akito when Lucy regained her memories. "N-No it's quite alright, Tohru... no need to apologize."
Yuki and Kyo calmly walked in, taking their shoes off with Tohru and the hosts following. "We should start cooking, we got a lot of mouths to feed tonight."
"I'll help you guys if that's okay?" Haruhi asked.
"Me, Carla and Juvia will help too!" Wendy volunteered.
Tohru clapped her hands together happily and dragged the 4 other girls, and Kyo, since he was also good a cooking a decent meal. Leaving the rest of the hosts and mages to sit around the dining and living room as Yuki lead the way to a spare room for the hosts to change clothes. They, except the twins and Haruhi, were still wearing their Ouran uniforms and they had brought extra clothes just in case. Yuki also decided that he should change into something more comfortable.
Hikaru still stayed with Lucy, who was still silent in thought. His arm was still around her as they leaned against the wall, her head resting on his shoulder while everyone else in the room was watching some random show on TV, talking amongst themselves about when to go back to school, the fairies deciding to head to Fiore around noon. He peaked behind him to see Team Natsu sitting on the porch while looking at the garden, also lost in thought.
Though he should be blushing madly at how he and Lucy were practically cuddling with each other, Hikaru was surprisingly calm and wondered what exactly the younger Suoh was thinking in her head. It was pretty obvious that she would have a lot on her mind, considering she was Aya for 6 months with nothing to go on. But he also knew that she was undoubtedly thinking about what to do about Team Natsu and the rest of Fairy Tail. Of course, it helped to see that she held her right hand while massaging the back of it.
Kaoru noticed his twin still comforting the blonde and he smiled softly. He could tell that Hikaru was doing his best to comfort Lucy, even though both weren't saying anything and he just knew that Lucy appreciated the comfort despite knowing everyone's curiosity on what could be on her mind. He then looked to Tamaki, the older Suoh watching the show while taking subtle glances at Lucy every so often, making Kaoru laugh under his breath.
Looking at Gajeel, who was munching on a piece of metal from who-knows-where, and Lily, Kaoru noticed that the iron dragon slayer mimicked Tamaki's actions. But Gajeel wouldn't turn to glance but instead the twin noticed that his ear would twitch when he turned his head slightly to Lucy's directions. He assumed that Gajeel was just trying to use his super hearing to see if Lucy and Hikaru are whispering about something.
"I knew boss was the protective type considering how he acts with Haruhi, but I'm surprised that he's holding out this long with Lucy because she hasn't said anything." Kaoru thought. "Gajeel too, he's almost as protective as the boss."
Lucy, on the other hand, knew that everyone was trying to give her space after all that's happened. She also knew how Tamaki and Gajeel would look and listen towards her way every so often, making her giggle at the habit. She was grateful having both of them to be older brothers. But she was still troubled and conflicted. She didn't know what to do now that she is back to normal and now that she had forgiven Team Natsu.
Finally admitting to them about her leaving the guild is not the same as saying goodbye 6 months ago. She is changed. She had gotten used to living with Tamaki and being with the Host Club, but when she was kidnapped and had turned into Aya, she spent the next 6 months begging for her own forgiveness. She was confused about what to do now, especially since Kyoya and Kaoru had thought she would go back to Fairy Tail when she found it in her heart to forgive them.
"I just don't know..." She thought to herself. "Should I go back... am I ready for that?"
Then, she looked at the hosts, Yuki, Kyo and Tohru. She thought back at her time in Ouran before she was taken. Lucy knew just how happy she was with them and how she was so at home. She couldn't just leave them, Yuzuru and Shima and all her other friends at the school. Then there was the school she is currently enrolled in now. How could she explain that she had no memories prior to enrolling only to regain them in less than a week?
"I'm sure everyone will help me with that... but I still have one more thing to take care of." She mumbled quietly to herself, too quiet for even the dragon slayers to hear.
"Lucy?" Hikaru finally spoke up, looking at her with a worried face. "You better now?"
Lucy, deciding that she would first take care of one specific matter first, smiled gratefully at Hikaru for being patient with her as much as everyone else. She figured what she should do at that moment and hugged him tightly. "Yeah... I am." She replied softly, the Hitachiin twin blushing at the hug before hugging her back.
When they both separated, Lucy began to stand up, catching everyone's attention but she just ignored them. Hikaru looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. "Where are you going?"
"I need to take care of some things by myself for second." She replied, looking at Shigure who was sitting at the opposite side of the room. A chill going down his back. "Shigure, if you don't mind, I'd like to talk to you in private."
"I-In private?" He asked, his nerves creeping up his neck.
"Are you sure you want to do this now Lucy, dinner is to be prepared shortly." Kyoya said, as a matter-of-factly.
Her eyes softened at Kyoya's concern before nodding. "Don't worry, we'll be quick."
With that being said, she and Shigure went into his study to talk, closing the door behind them. But Lucy peaked from behind right after, warning everyone not to eavesdrop on the conversation unless they want to suffer the consequences, to which everyone readily agreed and just had to wait for her to tell them what exactly they talked about.
Lucy stood, leaning against the wall as her head was down and her eyes closed in thought. Shigure had gotten settled in his seat and hoped that she was not about to lay out all the lawsuits about her kidnapping on him. He didn't know the Suoh-Heartfilia personally like everyone else, except for the fact that she was filthy rich, has a very high net worth and is the daughter between 2 major money powerhouses. But he hoped that she had it in her heart to forgive him like Hikaru, Kaoru and Haruhi said.
"Considering how nervous you are right now, I assume you know that I am a Suoh-Heartfilia like everyone else right?" Lucy said, breaking the thick silence between them.
Shigure, in that instance, composed himself and nodded, not daring to make eye-contact with the blonde girl. "Yes." He simply replied.
"Who told you?"
"Those 2 twins and Haruhi."
Lucy crossed her arms and gave a nod of understanding. "I see." She said before turning her head to look at Shigure, her stare almost burning through his whole body. "Is it alright to assume that you are also behind my kidnapping?"
The male immediately paled and his body froze, already seeing the court before his eyes and the amount of money that he and Akito would be responsible for. But before he could protest, make up a lie and beg for mercy, Lucy spoke yet again. "I won't ask you if that's true and I definitely won't ask why you did it, if that's what you're worried about."
"What...?" He asked, completely shocked about her words.
"I have a feeling Hikaru, Kaoru and Haruhi had threatened you about suing the Sohmas with the help of mine and Kyoya's family." Lucy explained. "And I also know my old teammates probably nearly, froze, burned and sliced you to death."
"Please don't remind me of that traumatic experience." Shigure thought, shivering at the memory.
"I won't hold any of this accountable to the Sohma family and I will not allow the family to be sued either, regardless of what my father says, and it will be as if nothing happened." She continued, the weight and fear disappearing from Shigure's shoulders but the guilt still in his chest. "But this generosity comes with a price."
"What is it!?" Shigure asked, his hands in prayer formation. "I'll do anything! Please!"
The celestial mage went to sit in front of Shigure's desk and place a hand on his shoulder. "Tomorrow, I will go to school with Yuki, Kyo, Tohru and possibly my brother and some of the hosts to talk about my enrolment in the school." She explained. "While we are there, you are to go to Sohma house and deliver a message for me."
"...What message?" Shigure asked.
Tohru, Kyo, Wendy, Juvia and Carla had finally finished cooking dinner and everyone ate quickly. Their stomachs had been growling for food since they got to the house, the events with Akito completely draining them of energy. Everyone, except Team Natsu, had gathered at the dining table, she sat next to Kyo, who was on her left, and Tamaki, who was on her right while the rest hosts began to tell Lucy what she missed in Ouran the past 6 months.
"Wow Kyo, I didn't know you could cook." Lucy remarked, patting his head like he was a kid. "You really a grown up, aren't you?"
"Don't go saying that like I'm a child!" Kyo shouted defensively, only to point at Yuki accusingly. "For your information, I'm more of a better cook than that rat boy!"
"No way!" Honey said, his eyes going wide as he turned to Yuki who sat next to him and Mori. "You can't cook, Yu-chan?"
Yuki immediately blushed in slight embarrassment while scratching the back of his neck. "I'm not the best at it. My specialty is more on gardening though."
"Well that's the least surprising, considering that you and Mori-senpai are now university students, Honey-senpai." Lucy said, finishing her meal. "Your guests must have cried when you graduated, right?"
"Yeah." Mori said, nodding his head slightly.
"But it's okay!" Honey said after taking another bite of his cake for dessert. "We come by the club any time we can so that no one gets lonely!"
"They're right." Kyoya agreed. "After all, our club won't be complete without our boy lolita and stoic type."
Lucy laughed at the so Kyoya-like response. "Of course you would only say something like that, senpai."
"Say Lucy, what are you going to to do about school anyway?" Tamaki asked. "You're still enrolled here as a second year student with Tohru and the others, right?"
"Oh I figured you can help me with that." Lucy said, catching everyone's at the table's attention. "I'm going to have a lot of explaining to do about the situation, so I'm going to school tomorrow and talk to the headmaster or something like that."
"Are you still going to come to class?" Tohru asked.
"You bet I will! Imagine how funny it would be for everyone in class to find out that Aya Lilith is actually Lucy Suoh!" The blonde remarked while laughing at the thought.
Haruhi, Shigure, Yuki, Kyo and the fairies sweatdropped at the statement. "I think everyone in the class would drop dead if they find out a filthy rich girl is attending their school." They all thought in unison.
"I already have a cover story figured out so I was hoping that Hikaru, Kaoru and Tamaki will come with me as back up." Lucy added. "I'll explain the situation before class and then I'll be free once class ends."
"I think Uo will freak out knowing you're a rich girl, Lucy." Tohru said. "Hana... she might just accept it though."
"But I do have some place to be after that before we go back." Lucy said. "So I was hoping the rest of you could meet us at the school's front gates after school ends."
"Sure, Bunny Girl." Gajeel replied. "But don't come yelling at me when those students go yelling for their lives when they take one look at me."
"If the cops come, they can go through me and Kyoya!" She replied nonchalantly.
Kyoya nodded his head at the idea and pushed his glasses up. "A fine idea." He replied. "It'd be nice to see how the police force around here behaves in comparison to my family's own private force."
"What kind of a rich person is he!?" The Sohmas, the fairies and Tohru wondered.
Lucy laughed at everyone's reactions and then looked over to Team Natsu, who had been eating on the porch to the garden the entire time. Her eyes softened as she got up from the table, deciding it was finally time to talk to them. There would be no shouting, accusations or arguments. Just simple explanations and understandings. Everyone watched as she got up, heading towards the group of 4, having an idea what she was going to do.
"I'll be right back?" She said as more of a question.
Juvia and Wendy smiled and gave her a thumbs up in return. "Take your time Lucy." Wendy said.
"We'll all be cleaning up inside." Juvia added.
"Just don't go destroying the garden while you're out there." Carla warned, spreading her wings to start collecting dishes.
"Come on everyone." Lily said, following after Carla. "Let's clean up."
"Yes sir!" Hikaru and Kaoru said, saluting to Lily before collecting dishes and bringing them to the sink.
The celestial mage chuckled at her friends' support and slowly walked up to Team Natsu. The fire dragon slayer had immediately heard her nearing steps and was the first one to turn around, his eyes widening when he saw her standing behind them with a smile. It was if the image itself was copied and pasted straight from the past. When Happy, Gray and Erza noticed Natsu turn around, they too followed and had the same expression plastered on their faces.
Lucy didn't say anything and nudged her head to outside, the path to Yuki's garden coming to view. Team Natsu didn't say anything and when they continued to show no signs of response, the blonde just sighed before grabbing Natsu by the wrist and dragging him away to walk with her. The boy was startled, stumbling as he didn't expect that from her but he regained his footing shortly and just let her drag him to wherever it was she wanted to go.
She stopped and turned her head to see the other 3 still staring at her and Natsu, but at least they were standing. Lucy tilted her head in confusion and gestured for them to follow her. "Hey, aren't you guys coming or not?" She called out like when they would almost be late for the train during job requests. "I'm going to just leave you guys if you just stand there!"
Happy, Gray and Erza immediately shook their heads out of their trance and ran to catch up to them. Once they were together, Lucy smiled again began to lead the way, letting go of Natsu's wrist as she did so. "Finally, I thought you guys wouldn't move if I hadn't done that." She spoke again, to which they still didn't reply.
To say they were utterly confused as to what the situation was at the moment is an understatement. Team Natsu was completely bewildered at the girl's actions and they sure didn't know how to react. Heck, just having her talk to them like before the entire ordeal had occurred felt foreign to them! It's not like they didn't like her acting like old times, but it was just the fact they could no longer tell if she was forcing herself to do it or not, unlike when they were still a team practically a year ago.
It was silent as they walked through the path, Natsu providing a light source using his fist. But it wasn't uncomfortable or tense like it was on their way to Shigure's house. It was soothing and almost therapeutic for them to be walking together again. The midnight breeze blew softly and the stars shown through the sky. It was quite romantic actually, but we all know that's not the purpose for the scenery to be so peaceful.
Once they made it halfway through the path, Team Natsu was met with a small clearing that was full of rocky formations. Some seemed natural and some seemed like the rocks had been damaged by some. It was the same clearing that Tohru had brought Kyo back when he had turned into his true cat form. The brunette girl had told Lucy about it once, that the clearing was where Tohru saw a sunrise for a beautiful beginning. What better place to be with the current situation.
Lucy sat down on one of the rock formations, looking up at the sky and into the stars as Team Natsu watched her, not wanting to break the silence that was so peaceful. But the blonde knew that they would go nowhere unless someone started talking. So, she pulled her knees to her chest and looked at her old guildmates while resting her head atop her arms that were resting on her knees.
"Don't you have something to ask me?" She asked.
The 4 fairies twitched at the question and knew that this was not the time to treasure Lucy's presence and looked away from her in shame. They knew they had no right to ask, but they knew that that was why she brought them out there in the first place. "We heard it from Carla but we want to hear it from your mouth." Gray finally spoke up.
"Why did you quit Fairy Tail?" Natsu asked, desperation in his voice. "Was it really because you knew you'd break if you stayed longer? You really couldn't stand us any more than you waited so you had to leave?"
"When everyone else had told the guild you left Fairy Tail, we thought you had just gone to become independent for a little while to clear your head." Erza added, her voice faltering. "We, and the rest of the guild, did not consider that you may have actually quit the guild and surrendered your guild mark."
"We didn't know we had hurt you that badly, Lucy." Happy said. "So, can't we talk this out?"
The blonde celestial mage looked at each of them and uncurled herself from her rolled up position. She jumped off her rock and stood in front of them, the smile she had greeted them with still plastered on her face. Lucy didn't say anything at first but she just brought each of them closer, embracing them in one big, and very much needed, group hug. As nervous and hesitant Team Natsu was, they still hugged her back immediately. They stayed like that a while until Lucy let go.
"Back at the guild, I told you all that you lost Lucy of Fairy Tail when you abandoned her to suffer on the floor." She began to say. "After that day, I accepted the fact that you would come back to me and the others when it was time. So I used that time to get stronger. I trained with Master, Mira, Gajeel, Wendy and Juvia everyday and once I was so angry at the situation that I destroyed a part of a forest... but it was never enough for me."
"Before I decided to quit, I was waiting for the day you would come up to all of us again like nothing ever happened. I was ready to forgive you for the suffering we went through. Because Fairy Tail never lets things get them down. I was prepared to forget. But deep down, I resented each and every one of you who ignored us. I wished terrible things on you, only to immediately regret it."
"It was those thoughts that plagued me. I hated myself and all of you for making me like that. It was during that time that I realized I was slowly breaking apart... and the others knew it. I was angry and scared and my mind conflicted with my emotions. I was losing myself and I knew that I had to get out before I did something I would regret. That's the real reason why I left."
"It wasn't because I hated the guild to the point I'd go rogue or anything like that. Yes, you hurting me and the others the way you did had something to do with it but ultimately, it all boils down to me losing myself."
"Lucy..." Team Natsu thought in unison, their eyes wide in shock of the explanation they received.
"And that's why I can't go back to Fairy Tail... at least not yet." Lucy continued. "I'm not ready to go back and I don't think I'll be ready soon. Even though I've forgiven you, Team Natsu, I don't know if I can fully forgive the guild yet. Since I know that the explanation you can only give me about ignoring us is because you lost track of time."
"I never knew you had gone through so much, Lucy." Erza finally said. "I... I didn't think we could ever make you think like that without us sensing something wrong."
"I looked up to all of you in the guild and I loved everyone in the guild too." The blonde replied. "Your influence on me is stronger than you think."
"We don't deserve your forgiveness then and we don't deserve it now." Gray added. "But you can sure as hell know, that we will never forget you, the others and anyone else ever again."
Lucy smiled at those words and nodded gratefully. "And I hold you up to that promise."
"You will still visit us every once and a while right?" Happy asked. "I'm sure the guild would like to see you safe and happy now that you're back."
"Of course, Happy."
"How could trust us after all that?" Natsu mumbled, Lucy hearing him so she stood to face him. "It makes sense for you to keep on hating us after that."
The younger Suoh just sighed and brought Natsu into another tight hug. "Tomorrow, with everyone else, I want you come with me and support me in what I have to do after school. I want you guys to be there and become a team again, even if it is just a short while." She said. "Think of it as Lucy of Fairy Tail's final mission."
Once he heard those words, the fire dragon slayer's widened and he could feel tears beginning to surface at the blonde's words. The reality of saying goodbye to a reality that had Lucy a part of Fairy Tail was ending and the thing she had to do after school would be her final mission. Sure, she would visit the guild like she said earlier, but it's not the same as having her back permanently. But Natsu knew better than to push her to go back. He had hope that she would return on her own accord one day.
Natsu held back the tears and broke the hug between him and Lucy. He looked into her eyes, only to see the conflict, pain and sadness in her eyes with her own words. The smile she gave was merely her way of saying that 'that course of action was the best for everyone right now' and he nodded to her with his classical grin in return. If it was for Lucy, Natsu would do anything. Because regardless, she is a part of his nakama and that won't change, whether she was in Fairy Tail or not.
"Okay... Luce..."