It had already been 2 years since Lucy had left Fairy Tail. In those 2 years, Haruhi and Tamaki had finally become an official couple and everyone, including Lucy, had gone to America with Haruhi to study abroad for her 3rd year. Tamaki and Kyoya for their first year in uni. Honey and Mori for their 2nd year. Of course, the main reason the younger Suoh had gone was to keep her dramatic older brother in line and the others couldn't bear to be separated from their family. So, in the end, they all got apartments in the exact same building.

But during that entire year, Lucy felt like she was back in her old apartment in Magnolia again. During their first night in America, the hosts had thought to share some of their takeout food for dinner with the celestial mage since they thought she had no food. What they didn't expect was for Lucy to open her door before they rang the bell and see that she already had a home cook meal prepared with Plue eating on the table with her. They were surprised to say the least.

"Hey guys." She greeted, seeming unbothered that they were at the door. "You guys here for dinner?"

"How the heck did you know we were out here?" Tamaki asked, the take-out chicken not looking so appetizing anymore at the sight of Lucy's food. "We hadn't even rang the doorbell."

"Oh, I just knew." Lucy replied, rolling her eyes while thinking back to 2 certain fairies. "You can blame Natsu and Happy for that."

"I'm not quite following." Hikaru said with a raised eyebrow. "What does Natsu and Happy have to do with you knowing we were about ring the doorbell?"

The blonde then had to remind them that when she was a part of Fairy Tail, she had lived in her own little apartment. Where she had cooked, cleaned, did almost every household chore herself and paid rent using her own money. She then explained Natsu and Happy's frequent uninvited visits to her apartment, coming through her window every single time, and how she had developed a sort of 6th sense where she knows when someone plans on barging in on her.

"Wow Lucy, sounds like everyday was crazy." Honey remarked.

The celestial mage just sighed while slouching. "You don't even know the half of it, Honey."

Lucy then opened the door fully, gesturing for the hosts to come in. When they had removed their shoes and looked at the apartment, they realized that it was already furnished and that there was already food to last the blonde 2 weeks. They all looked at her with question marks above their heads and Lucy explained that when they had checked in their rooms, she immediately went out to a nearby grocery store to get some food for dinner while Virgo organized her furniture that was stashed in the celestial world in the apartment.

"You sure had everything planned out, huh Lucy?" Kaoru asked.

"That's what happens when you leave the elite life behind and go out to work for yourself." She replied, shrugging as she took Plue in her arms. "Besides, I wouldn't have kept this furniture if it weren't for my spirits."

"Still, it is impressive that you even taught yourself to cook and clean." Kyoya noted. "It isn't really something for someone of the elite to be interested in after all."

"But it was fun learning and it made making money for myself all the more satisfying, achieving it by myself that is."

Of course, all the hosts, except Haruhi and possibly Kyoya, were a little jealous. Besides the brunette, Lucy was the next most independent one in the group. None of them had done any sort of household chores when they were at home since they had maids and butlers for that sort of thing, but they were abroad and they had no maids or butlers with them. The closest things to household chores they had done, except Kyoya, was their little competition at the Misuzu pension.

Sadly, because of this discovery, both Lucy and Haruhi were tasked with the unfortunate roles of teaching the others how to make decent meals to last them the year. They all obviously ate their dinner at Lucy's that night and even had a full blown slumber party since she was the only one with a full furnished apartment. Virgo and Capricorn had even passed through their gates by themselves to provide air mattresses and blankets to the males while the 2 females shared the bed.

Lucy didn't know what was worse, the males of the host club or Natsu and Happy. The fire dragon slayer and his trusted exceed used to always barge in her room through the window to sleep in the bed with her. But Tamaki, for about half an hour or more, was complaining how he had never slept with his little sister and how he couldn't even cuddle with Haruhi. At least when Natsu and Happy had snuck in late at night, they were dead silent. So she fixed it with a perfect sleep song from Lyra.

And that's how it was for the next year while they were abroad. Once school started, it was simple studying from there and once or twice every week, one of them would host a little dinner for the night. Both girls were proud actually, it had taken roughly 2 weeks to a month for the males to learn how to cook decent meals on their own and they were happy that they enjoyed it. Though, Honey insisted that he learn how to bake strawberry cakes in case of emergencies, to which Lucy helped with since it was the same case with Erza.

The next year, the Hitachiin twins, Haruhi and Lucy graduated from the high school and the brunette finally went to school as a girl. Hikaru, Kaoru and Haruhi had all enrolled at the Ouran university like the others while Lucy said that she wasn't planning on going to university. When asked why by the others, she only shrugged and said that she was planning something else. Tamaki had an idea on what it was and agreed, telling her that she could take as much time as she needed to think, much to the others' surprise.

While the hosts were in the university, doing their studies and recreating the host club in the university, Lucy had decided to take a little trip for a couple of weeks. She had only told Yuzuru of her future plans and he was happy to lend her the money she needed for her trip of healing, which she accepted in gratitude. She hadn't gone to a very far place, knowing full well that if she did, Tamaki might suffer from a heart attack. Instead, she had decided to surprise the Sohmas by knocking at Shigure's house unannounced.

Tohru was the one to open the door and was completely surprised to see Lucy after so long. She had heard from Haruhi that they had all gone abroad so it was understandable that they weren't able to visit. The 2 females immediately began to catch up while walking to the living area since Yuki and Kyo were at the main house at the moment. Shigure had been working in his office, so when he came out and saw Lucy, he had welcomed her with a little less shock than Tohru.

It was around evening when Tohru was making dinner with Lucy's help that she timidly informed the blonde of her and Kyo's relationship while he and Yuki entered the house. Lucy had immediately screeched in happiness at the news, which made the 2 boys think that Tohru was in danger and rushed to the kitchen. Before they could even open their mouths to ask what was going on, Kyo was tackled by the blonde who was blabbing out incoherent sentences that was actually her congratulating him.

It took the both of them a second or 2 to comprehend what just happened and the fact that Lucy was there. Tohru was just laughing at their dumbfounded faces, since she hadn't even told Lucy that the Zodiac curse was no more. Which was sure to bring the blonde even more excitement than she already had. When Lucy had finally separated from the orange haired boy, Yuki and Kyo's faces immediately brightened in happiness at the sight of her.

They all greeted each other with a hug, not even hesitating to pull the celestial mage in. But when Lucy saw that Tohru had joined the hug and had an arm around Kyo, she realized that the orange haired boy didn't transform into a cat. She broke the hug and stared at Yuki and Kyo with a concentrated look upon her face. The trio stood there in confusion but no matter how much the mage concentrated, she couldn't feel the energy of the curse on Yuki and Kyo.

Then it struck her and her eyes widened as she gasped. It was then she started cheering and congratulating them for having to be free of the curse. They realized that that was why she was staring at them and thanked her for the praise. She then pulled Yuki and Kyo to the dining area to tell her everything that happened for the curse to break. But they couldn't tell her much, just that they felt like their soul say goodbye to the spirit possessing them and it probably had something to do with Akito.

At the sound of the head Sohma, Lucy clapped her hands together as she remembered promising to visit the woman. She didn't know if Kyo, Yuki or even Tohru knew of Akito's actual sex, so she remained quiet and told them that she would ask Shigure to take her to the head Sohma. It soon became night and Tohru told Lucy that she was welcome to share her bed for the night before seeing Akito, to which the blonde agreed. Teasing Kyo about it since he couldn't spend time with his girlfriend, making the 2 of them blush.

"Gheez, we don't see each other in a whole year and you can't even go one day without making fun of me." Kyo grumbled.

"Aww~ c'mon Kyo." Lucy said, ruffling his hair. "It's not like you're not dating, so what's the harm?"

"Oh yeah? What about you and one of those twins? Who was it... Hikaru?" Kyo retorted, making Lucy blush at the bear idea of it. "Or that other guy from that guild... Natsu? The pinked headed dragon boy?"

"Now that I think about it, Hikaru was the only one you recognized when you had no memories as Aya." Yuki thought, recalling the confusion that entire ordeal brought on. "You were even cuddling him when you were still recovering from escaping the main house."

"Yeah and you seemed undeniably close to Natsu." Tohru added, thinking back to when everyone had stayed at Shigure's house for a while. "After you guys made up, he and Happy stayed beside you the entire time before you left."

"T-That's just because Natsu, Happy and I were once a team! We used to always go on missions, s-so they were probably just trying to relive that before they had to say bye!" Lucy retorted, trying to suppress the blush that was forming on her face. "A-And Hikaru was only just trying to comfort me! N-Nothing more than that!"

Shigure, at that moment, opened the door to his office with a blank stare on his face. "Lucy... you were stuttering just now." He stated before closing the door.

A tick mark must've appeared on her head because when the blonde heard that, she turned to the office with an angered look. "I didn't ask you, you perverted dog!"

"That's too bad on Hikaru's part." Yuki said, acting all smug about the mischievous twin. "I was sure that he had a terrible crush on you considering how panicked he was when you were kidnapped as your brother was, Lucy."

"Oh, he definitely had a crush on Lucy." Tohru said a matter-of-factly.

"How'd you figure that, Tohru?" Kyo asked, Yuki and Lucy being equally curious at the reasons for her words. Though, the celestial mage was reluctant to know, since she herself didn't know how to feel about the idea of Hikaru or Natsu liking her more than friends.

Tohru blinked twice and her eyes widened since they didn't find Hikaru's crush on Lucy as obvious as she, Haruhi and Kaoru did. "Wasn't it too easy to tell?" She asked. "He was like Kyo around me before we started going out... and Haruhi and Kaoru knew it since before she was kidnapped?"

"What!?" Lucy exclaimed, her head going dizzy as her face turned bright red.

"Haha! Can't make fun of me now, can ya!?" Kyo teased with the biggest grin on his face.

The trio just laughed at Lucy's embarrassment and Lucy couldn't help but sulk childishly as Kyo taunted her. She was definitely not gonna let the others know of this revelation. Tamaki would definitely go crazy on the spot and if the guild were to hear about that, they were surely to threaten the poor boy. There was one thing that she was going to admit though, besides Tamaki, Hikaru would be second closest to her in terms of their relationship.

"I'm not exactly ready for a relationship, plus..." Lucy thought once she had calmed down. "I don't know how they'll react when they hear with what I'm planning to do..."

The next day came rather quickly and Lucy was eager to see Akito. Shigure was the one to bring Lucy to the main house, since the trio had to go to university and it was a train ride away. On their way to the main house, black haired Sohma was the one telling the blonde how Akito had been and how the woman was finally moving on from her mental trauma. Lucy was surprised to hear the fact that Akito even had a mental trauma, but it did explain her behaviour towards others.

But of course, knowing that the girl had finally warmed her heart, Lucy felt a sense of pride. She also found out from Shigure about Akito being a woman and how everyone in the family now knew. But what surprised the Sohma was the fact, Lucy had known from when she regained her memories that Akito is in fact a female. He didn't know how to respond at first, but Lucy explained what happened after she confronted the woman about it and he relaxed, laughing at the reaction.

When they finally arrived at the main house, Akito was already waiting for Shigure at the front door. The male had already called beforehand to say that he was bringing a guest over. When she saw the blonde, Lucy had already ran and took Akito in her embrace, the head Sohma not having a second to react or say anything. But she was most definitely surprised to see the only other female to hold out her hand before Tohru and returned the hug.

When they parted, Lucy greeted her in surprise at the shoulder length hair of Akito. It had been a year since they had seen each other, but it still grew longer than what Lucy expected. And the blonde was even more surprised by how gentle Akito spoke. The head Sohma sounded much more at peace and seemed so mature, not like a year ago when she had blushed in embarrassment when Lucy had teased her before she left the last time.

Soon, Shigure had left them alone while the 2 females went out into the garden to catch up with one another. Lucy had told the older girl of her going abroad and told her about Tamaki and the rest of the hosts, why she was a Suoh-Heartfilia and so on. She even spoke about how comfortable and happy Yuki and Kyo seem which brought upon the question of how the curse was broken. Since the answer from her book back when the trio had ask was pretty vague.

"It was pretty simple actually." Akito replied, to which Lucy just looked at her in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"I let them go." She said, making Lucy stare at her with slightly wide eyes. "The curse was made through unnatural means and thus it is assumed that the power of the curse was being broken over time. But, because all of us had created a strong natural bond with Tohru, the curse weakened even more. Allowing me and the others say farewell to the spirits that resided within us."

"Because you created strong bonds... you were able to say farewell?" Lucy asked, suddenly remembering the words from Crux's report.

"...the way to break the curse is to... fill your heart with love. Find someone who is willing enough to accept all of you whole and give you love. When you have that warmth, the curse will break."

It wasn't exactly the same as the report, but the words definitely had a play in its own sense. Akito began talking, but Lucy couldn't hear. The concept rang too familiar in her head and she couldn't help but tear up at the thought. The head Sohma couldn't help but notice how Lucy just froze in place, her tears finally surfacing after a year of being trapped within her heart. It shocked the black haired woman and she took the blonde in her embrace out of concern and worry.

"Lucy... what is wrong?" Akito asked, the girl in question hugging her back as she buried her head in Akito's kimono. "There is something on your mind... and I can only assume no one else knows, am I correct?"

The younger Suoh nodded and they both sat under a tree on the grass. She didn't say anything at first, Akito knew better not to rush someone who was collecting their thoughts. Lucy's tears were still spilling over her face and it is easy to tell that she was very troubled with whatever was going through her mind. The celestial mage didn't expect to break, but she couldn't help it because she was still afraid. Afraid of what might happen when she goes through her plan.

But she remembered the words that she had said before going quiet. It's because the members of the Zodiac had created strong bonds that they were able to say farewell to the spirits that had been possessing people in the Sohma family for generations. But just because they are gone, doesn't mean that the bond itself has completely disappeared... and that idea alone is what made Lucy have more faith in herself and in the plan that she was going to go forward with.

"I've decided to do something, Akito..." She simply stated. "Something that might hurt Tamaki and the others back home..."

The woman looked at Lucy, tilting her head. "And what exactly do you plan to do?"

The younger Suoh stayed silent again, her tears starting to dry up as she looked at Akito and opened her mouth. "I..."

Fairy Tail was rowdy and loud as usual.

The afternoon sun shined down on the large guild hall while another regular guild brawl was taking place, courtesy of Natsu and Gray picking a fight with one another as per usual. Of course, bystanders were enjoying the chaotic show, drinking their mugs of booze and Makarov was just sitting on the bar like he usually does. The old guild master was reading his magazines like usual, Mira so often hitting his head when his imagination decides to take a detour.

The past year was quite boring as it gets for Fairy Tail. When Team Natsu, Gajeel, Pantherlily, Juvia, Wendy and Carla returned to the guild a year ago from the Lucy rescue mission, everyone was surprised to see them all talking together and messing around. Sure, those who had been forgotten by the guild had warmed up to everyone over the course of Lucy's disappearance, but it wasn't like they had actually forgiven the guild for their wrong doing.

All the members watched in silence as the group of 9 approached Makarov with satisfied grins and smirks and began to cheer how the mission was a success and they were able to get Lucy back in the few days they were gone. Making the guild as a whole rejoice at the news that Lucy had returned. Of course, Lisanna came over and asked why the others were so comfortable with Team Natsu and Wendy, innocent and carefree, revealed that the group of 4 were happy because Lucy had forgiven them.

Of course, the whole guild heard and they immediately went into shell shock. Everyone was silent and they stared at Team Natsu with their eyes practically escaping their sockets, which called for a thorough explanation of what exactly happened after finding Lucy. When they heard the heart to heart conversation they had with Lucy and the explanation she gave them about what she went through, the guild became silent and couldn't believe that Lucy had felt like that for almost 6 months when she was still in the guild.

Especially when they heard that her guild mark was no more. Like Team Natsu, that was something that never crossed their minds. And Like them, they never thought she could've felt so broken to the point that she had to actually quit the guild for her own well-being. And that thought alone hurt. So when Juvia told them that Lucy sent her regards and hoped to see them in the future, they all felt better and rejoiced. Vowing that they would get even stronger so that Lucy would would be proud yet again to be a Fairy Tail member.

They had spent that year going on jobs like normal, bringing in new members and making their family bond stronger. Makarov had originally planned to hold the S-Class trials during the year, but decided to post-phone it until Gildarts, and most importantly Lucy, had come back. Which was unpredictable considering that she had gone studying abroad with the hosts. But Makarov held onto the belief that Lucy would rejoin the guild sooner than everyone else had thought.

So it was quite unexpected when both Makarov and Mira were approached by someone wearing a turquoise halter top that was tucked in a pink peach floral skirt that went just slightly above the mid of their thighs, brown knee high boots and a turquoise cardigan that had a hood concealing their face. Both Makarov and Mira didn't really find them suspicious since their aura was anything but evil. So the guild master just greeted them with his usual aloof attitude.

"Well now, what do we have here?" He asked. "What can I help you with, child?"

"I was hoping I could join the guild?"

"Why of course, we'd love to have a new member in the guild." Mira said, putting the glasses she was cleaning down and leaving to get the box of stamps for the guild mark.

Makarov just hummed and looked toward the large dust cloud that consisted of the many members that were involved in the brawl. "I'm afraid you're going to have to get used to this setting, child." He said. "Every day is like this when a part of this family."

"No need to worry about me... this is normal to me too."

"Hm?" Before Makarov could ask what that meant, Mira had come back with the stamps in hand. "I wanted to ask, how is it that you were able to get past the boys with their fighting?" She asked. "Not everyone can do it, you know."

"You could say practice." They replied, looking towards those who were fighting, Makarov noticing a warm smile form across their face as they mumbled something too low for him to hear. "And besides... I'm glad nothing has changed."

"Well, you'll fit right in then!" The takeover mage replied as she held up the stamp. "So? What colour and where would you like your mark?"

The stranger turned back to face them, the smile they held soon being replaced by a smirk as they placed their right hand on the counter surface. Both Makarov and Mira had to blink twice when the stranger looked at them, their brown eyes peaking from behind the hood. "I'd like it pink please... on the back of my right hand, if you will."

Only one person had their guild mark in that place and colour, though they weren't a guild member anymore, Mira and Makarov couldn't help bu stare at the person that stood before them. Slowly, but surely, Mira had stamped the guild mark on her hand without breaking eye contact, Makarov's eyes threatening to spill tears. "Child... please tell me you're..."

"Master, watch out!"

Before the girl before them could reply, Erza and Lisanna had screamed in unison at Natsu flying straight towards the 3 at a fast speed. Apparently, Gray was able to kick Natsu square across the face with full force which would explain the footprint on his right cheek. But before Mira or Makarov could move, due to their shock at the realization at who was in front of them, the hooded girl raised her hand as her smirk only grew wider and a soft golden aura surrounding her hand.

As the fire dragon slayer was about to tackle the girl, he had come in contact with a golden barrier, the spell looking very familiar as she swiped her hand horizontally so that the barrier would disperse and send Natsu flying to the other side of the guild. By this point, Happy would've gone to fetch his best friend, but the exceed was too lost in thought at the person who had just sent the dragon slayer flying. The girl in question, placing a hand on her hip, showcasing the all too familiar whip that was concealed by her cardigan.

"Ow that hurt!" Natsu whined, recovering as he got up. But the simple laugh broke through the silence and soon, the fire dragon slayer had also gone quiet at the sound of the all too familiar laugh and the all too familiar scent that he vowed he would never forget ever again. "No way... are you...?"

"What?" She asked, pulling down her hood as blonde hair that reached her waist was revealed. "Don't recognize a fellow guild member?"

The guild stared in silence for only a moment, Lucy was standing right before them with a smirk on her face. They didn't know if she was just an illusion made from magic, an apparition or some sick joke. Regardless of all those possibilities, they couldn't help but commit to memory of the Lucy before them. But that silence was soon broken, by the open sobs of a certain blue haired solid script mage, who had been holding back her sorrow of missing her used to be best friend.

"It's you...!" Levy said as she gasped, tears welling up in her eyes. "Lucy!"

At those words, Gajeel and the others began to make their way to the younger Suoh and greet her. "Why didn't you tell us you were coming!?" Wendy asked, tackling Lucy in a hug.

The blonde just laughed as she returned the hug. "I just wanted to surprise you, is all." She said, greeting Gajeel and the others with a smile. "Besides, I thought it was about time."

The guild was still quite in shock, save for Team Natsu and those who didn't ignore Lucy. They weren't sure how they should act, nor knew what they should say to the girl. But considering her attitude, they had hoped that she had forgiven them to some extent. They just watched in silence as she greeted Team Natsu one by one, proving that she had indeed forgiven them. They all couldn't help but wish they could greet her the same way and was too lost in thought, that they all hadn't realized that the blonde now stood in front of Levy.

"Levy?"

When the bluenette heard the blonde's voice, she was surprised to see the celestial mage standing in front of her. Her expression showed concern and her eyes showed no hate, unlike the last time Lucy had come to visit the guild. She didn't know how to respond, even now that a year has passed. So she could only stutter and blush in utter nervousness at the blonde that used to be such an important friend to her. Yet she was silenced immediately, feeling something embrace her.

"L-Lucy...?" The solid script mage asked, not knowing how to respond to the hug.

"It's okay, Levy." Lucy replied while whispering quietly so the dragon slayers couldn't hear, tightening the hug. "I've come home now."

"W-What?"

When the 2 separated, Levy was already crying, not believing the words she heard. The very words that she had imagined and hoped for ever since it was revealed that Lucy had left Fairy Tail. So when Natsu came over with a hand on Lucy's shoulder, the blonde already knew that she was about to cause another uproar. "Thought it was time for what?" He asked.

The celestial mage just gave the brightest smile she could and raised her right hand, all her fingers folded except for the index and thumb as she showcased her newly returned guild mark to everyone around her. Literally everyone, except Makarov and Mira, stared at the undeniable mark on her right hand. Gajeel, Wendy, Juvia, Lisanna, Lily and Carla all shocked at that Lucy hadn't told them that she had planned to return to Fairy Tail. Though, she did say she wanted to surprise everyone.

By this point, Makarov was bawling without holding back. "Rejoice my children!" He announced, the rest of the guild beginning to cry at the realization of what Lucy had done. "For our family has finally returned home!"

The younger Suoh lowered her hand as everyone around her began to welcome her back to the guild, crying as they did so. Apologizes were thrown left and right and Lucy continued to forgive them one by one, giving each of her guild mates hugs in return. Which made them cry even more. Team Natsu had each given her a hug as well, not crying as much as the other guild members, but definitely shed a few tears. She couldn't help but smile through it all.

Taking in everything that was happening, Lucy couldn't help but think back to her other family. Especially that carefree older brother of hers/ The fact that she had even rejoined Fairy Tail is thanks to him, the rest of the hosts, the Sohmas and Tohru. She began to tear up herself thinking about it. But then she remembered what Akito had told her... and what she realized when she visited the head Sohma. I was able to say farewell... thanks to our strong bonds. And those bonds... will never break even if they disappear from sight.

Lucy let her tears fall as she hugged herself. "I... I'm home... everyone!"