Chapter 25: Lucy's Resolve
The sun shines brightly down onto Magnolia, the smoke ruins of the Magic Giant that was Phantom Lord's Headquarter is still down on the lake. The war between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord is over as Fairy Tail won. Everyone is gather together in front of the ruins of the guild, cheering and celebrating their victory. While nearby, Happy and Lucy watch everyone as Lucy has her hands form into fists.
"Everyone seems really happy, Lucy." Happy says as he looks up at her.
"Yeah…" Lucy replies.
Then Happy notices the look on her face, Lucy is looking down at the ground with a sad look on her face.
"Lucy?" Happy calls.
Meanwhile on the Phantom Lord Headquarters
Natsu and Gajeel are both still lying on the ground separated by a floor as both of them look up at the sky and not moving.
"Hey, can you hear me, Gajeel?" Natsu asks.
"I can't hear nothin'." Gajeel says.
Natsu turns around and pushes himself up so he could look down at him. "So hey, where'd you learn Dragon Slyer magic?"
"I said I couldn't hear you!" Gajeel states turning his head slightly away.
"I've never met anyone who used the same magic as me. You could at least tell me that much!"
"Oh shut it." Gajeel says causing Natsu to cry out annoyed as his eyes widen and go blank and a tick mark pops above his head. "Metalicana."
"Huh?" Natsu says.
"The Iron Dragon, Metalicana." Gajeel says as he sits up.
"What?" Natsu questions standing up and leaning forward, only for the ground to give away beneath him and send him crashing down to Gajeel's level. "I knew it! You were taught by a dragon!" He says picking himself back up and looking at Gajeel.
"You too?" Gajeel asks.
"So where is it now?"
"Who knows?" Gajeel replies as he looks away.
"Where is it now?!" Natsu yells out with his eyes widen with blank as a tick mark on his head as Gajeel is taken back and covers his right ear with his pinky, looking back at him with annoyed look.
"I said I don't know!" Gajeel yells back with a tick mark and blank eyes as well.
The two Dragon Slayers headbutt each other and quickly breaks apart holding their heads in pain as smoke sizzles out from them and they grunt in pain.
"Man… Just talking to you makes my brains turn to mush." Gajeel says.
"Say that again!" Natsu says annoyed as he crosses his arms and looks back at Gajeel who has turned away from him.
"It disappeared. One day, Metalicana suddenly vanished. Without saying a thing. Man… What a selfish jerk." Gajeel says as he looks up at the sky.
Natsu hears this and crawls closer to him. "Wait, that wasn't 7 years ago on July 7th, was it?" Natsu asks as Gajeel suddenly becomes intrigue and looks at him.
"Wait… Do you know where Metalicana is?" He asks.
"Not a chance. I'm looking for Igneel, a fire dragon. He also disappeared 7 years ago on July 7th." Natsu says as she sits back down and crosses his arms and legs.
"7 years ago… Year 777, Month 7, Day 7… On that day two dragons disappeared…" Gajeel says when suddenly Natsu slams his head into him again with an annoyed look on his face.
"Why is it a bunch of sevens line up?!" He questions and Gajeel begins pushing his head back and looks at him with an annoyed look as well.
"How the hell should I know?!"
Just like before, the two break away as Gajeel stands back up and Natsu hunches down on the ground, both of them holding their foreheads him pain again.
"Not like I care anyways." Gajeel says recovering as he crosses his arms.
"If you're leavin', then scat already." Natsu says.
"This is our guild! You're the one that should get out!" Gajeel retorts after he turns around as his head enlarges, a tick mark appears on his head as his eyes go blank and widen and his teeth sharpen annoyed and anger.
Natsu stands back up and sighs. "Man, why so picky?"
"Get out now!" Gajeel says as Natsu begins to walk away.
"Give me a call if you find anything about Igneel okay?"
"Why the hell should I be nice to you, huh?"
Natsu stops his tracks as he turns his head back slightly to look at him. "Because we're both Dragon Slayers!"
"Don't give me that crap! Next time we meet I'll kick your ass! I guarantee it! Make sure you've said your prayers." Gajeel yells as he holds his right arm out and give a thumb down to Natsu.
"You're dangerous, you know that? I thought we could call it even now and make up…" Natsu casually says as he crosses his arms.
"You're the one that's dangerous! Just look at what you did to our guild!" Gajeel yells.
"Well you busted up our guild first! I knew it! I give up making nice with you!" Natsu yells back.
Then suddenly Lugia appears from below surprising both Natsu and Gajeel as Sakura is sitting on its neck.
"Natsu!" Sakura calls out as she waves her arm.
"Sakura!?" Natsu shouts.
"I've come to pick you up!" Sakura shouts and Lugia moves its head towards him and grabs Natsu by the scarf with its mouth before Lugia flies back to Fairy Tail side.
~A few hours later~
Lugia is floating above the lake as Sakura, Natsu, Gray, Erza, and Happy look at it.
"Thank you, Lugia." Sakura says and Lugia nods its head before it flies up in the air and folds its wings as it dives into the lake.
They stare at the spot where Lugia dived as silence comes in.
"You're amazing, Sakura." Erza says causing Sakura to look at her.
"Eh?" She says.
"Not only you can summon that creature, you we're able to fight Jose on even ground." Erza says.
"Say what?!" Natsu yells in shock in hearing this.
"You went toe-to-toe with Master of Phantom and one of the Wizard Saints on even grounds?!" Happy asks in awe.
"This is the first time I heard it!?" Gray also yells in shock.
"Th-That's not true. I just… well…" Sakura stutters.
"There is nothing you should be ashamed about." Erza tells her.
"But…"
"That's it! You and me right now, let's go! I'm all fired up!" Natsu declares as he clenches his right fist and raises it up.
"E–H!?"
"Setting that aside, there's something more important to deal with at the moment." Erza says as she and the others look at Makarov and the others as they all standing in front of and looking at the ruins of the guild.
Makarov then sighs. "They've really made a big mess now…" He says.
"U-um… Master…"
They all hear and see Lucy as she approaches Makarov and stops a few feet from his as everyone turns towards her.
"You've really had a tough time, I know." Makarov says with Lucy still showing a saddened look on her face as she closes her eyes and tilts her head forward a little.
"Don't give us that face, Lu-chan!" A familiar voice calls out as Lucy and the others look to see the familiar faces of Team Shadow Gear. "Were back!" Levy says giving a wink.
"Levy-chan!" Lucy calls.
A few bandages covered her face but nothing more serious than that. Compared to her teammates, Jet has bandages wrapped around his left arm, his right arm in a cast and holds up by a sling, Droy has the upper half of his face bandaged up leaving only his right eye to see out of and using a crutch to help him walk around. Behind the three, is Reedus who is beaten up from his fight with Gajeel, Boze and Sue when they assaulted the safehouse for Lucy.
"Everyone worked together to beat them." Levy says.
"Although the guild was destroyed." Droy says.
"We all just need to rebuild it." Jet says.
"Oui." Reedus agrees.
"You guys…" Lucy says.
"Sorry for making you worried, Lu-chan." Levy says.
"N-No! This is all my…" Lucy says as she still blames herself for everything that had happened.
"I heard. But nobody thinks this is your fault, Lu-chan." Levy says with a sympathetic look on her face.
"On the other hand… I'm sorry I couldn't be more help." Reedus says scratching his hair.
Lucy has her eyes closed and her hands together covering her mouth.
"Lucy." Makarov calls catching her attention as she opens her eyes and turns her head to him. "Fun things, sad thing… We can't share everything, but what we can, we should share. That's what it means to be in a guild. A single person's happiness is everyone's happiness. A single person's anger is everyone's anger. And a single person's tears are everyone's tears. You have no reason to feel guilty. Lucy… You should be able to tell how everyone feels…"
At this point, Lucy has her hands covering her face as she is on the verge of crying as she finally begins to understand that everyone in guild continue to be her fellow guildmates and friends no matter what the circumstances.
"Raise your head! You're part of the Fairy Tail family!" Makarov says.
Lucy puts her hands down, tears fall from her eyes to the ground as they finally begin to stream down her cheeks and she finally let's all of her emotions out as she begins to cry loudly into the air. Everyone looks on at her with sympathetic smiles on their faces as Mirajane having to wipe away some of her own tears that came to her eyes, Natsu giving a wide grin to her as she slides to the ground to her legs, closing her eyes and continues to cry as Levy walks over to give her some support.
"Although… We went a bit overboard… This is going to seriously anger the Council… Or wait, if it goes poorly maybe even imprisonment…" Makarov thought, closing his eyes as he begins to think of just what the Council might do since they did start a war against another legal guild and caused a lot of destruction as always as sweat begins pouring down his face. Suddenly, he bursts out crying as well as tears stream down his face with some of the mages seeing this and their eyes going blank as the others confused on why their master is now crying all of the sudden.
"Master?!" Erza asks with wide eyes.
~One week later~
"It's been one week since our battle with Phantom ended. We've finally gotten back out peaceful days…"
The front of the guild is seen as it is in the process of being rebuilt. The mages of Fairy Tail work hard doing various jobs to help in the reconstruction of their guild. Laki tries to add in some weird statues with her Wood Make Magic which Macao holds up a sign with an X on it for a no on the statue she created.
"Everyone, let's take a break!" Mirajane announces with her angelic smile on her face once again as she carries a tray of drinks on it with Aiko, fully recovered thanks to Sakura, as she helps Mirajane with the drinks.
~Flashback~
The Fairy Tail mages gather together and find themselves surrounded by the army of the Council, the Rune Knights.
"Although after it happened, it's been super tough. We were rounded up by the Council's army, the Rune Knights."
"This ain't good…" Wakaba worryingly says as he and Macao slides back a little in fright of seeing the Rune Knights before them as Cana in front of them sweatdrops on the back of her head.
"They've already caught wind?" Macao questions.
"Run for it!" Natsu suddenly cries out with widened eyes as he attempts to run.
"Aye sir!" Happy agrees as he attempts to fly away behind Natsu. Though the two are immediately caught in a light blue colored magic circle in front of the Rune Knights as it levitates them in the air.
"That's not going to work, Natsu. You can't get away from the Rune Knights." Mirajane says with says with an embarrassed look on her face.
Suddenly, Makarov appears in front of her crying again taking her back.
"Master, hand in there!" Erza says with wide eyes and pupils.
Outside of Magnolia was the Rune Knights camp where all of the Fairy Tail mages and Sakura are brought to be detained as they are to be interviewed about the incident. Inside on he the tents is Lucy with three rune knights surrounding the table, an anthropomorphic amphibian looking creature and another rune sitting down at the table with the creature writing down what Lucy said and the Rune Knight telling her what she and the others has said about the incident.
"We were dragged to the army post to be interviewed about what happened. Every day they'd questions us, but finally after a week, it calmed down."
~End Flashback~
Inside her apartment, Lucy is sitting at her desk, writing another letter to her mother as she lets out a sigh before getting back writing.
"It seems like Fairy Tail's punishment will be handed down front the Council at a later date. But, don't worry Mom. I don't think it'll be that bad of a punishment. Since the circumstantial evidence and witness reports all point to an attack from Phantom."
Just then, Lucy stops writing and groans in pain, lifting her shirt up a little to reveal a heavily purple bruise mark on her left hip from Gajeel's constant beating up on her.
"I hope these bruises go away…" Lucy says, then looks out her window to see a baby bird and its mother in the nest as the mother bird gives the baby bird a worm to eat. Seeing this saddens her as it reminds her of her caring and loving mother when she was still alive as she got back writing her letter.
"So Mom… Do you think he was behind the whole thing, pulling the strings? I know what he's like, but to go this far… No, he'd do it. He wouldn't have any problem with this. But why would he suddenly try and take me back? It's not like he cares about me personally. Mom… He'll do it again, wouldn't he? Using the power of his money… That… I couldn't…"
Lucy finishes the letter and sealed it in an envelope, she turns her head around thinking of something and looks back forward. Lucy clenches her right fist on her leg as she lifts her head up with a determined look in her eyes.
Meanwhile at the guild
Natsu cries out as he attempts to raise a massive pile of wooden beams above his head only to fain as they topple down on top of him and send him to the ground trapping him underneath it as he cried out in pain. Happy, Mirajane, and Aiko see this as Happy has sweat running down the back of his head.
"That's 'cause you tried to carry so many at once, idiot." Gray says walking by with a single wooden beam over his shoulder as a certain Water Mage of Phantom Lord hiding and peeking out from behind a nearby wall looking at Gray.
Suddenly, Natsu pushes himself up and throws all the wooden beams off him as he yells out in anger. "What'd you call me?!"
"You wanna go?" Gray angrily questions as he and Natsu gets in each other's faces.
"You're carrying them so dainty!" Natsu retorts as they continue push back and forth on each other's face.
"You over there!" The two are suddenly are suddenly slammed right into the ground by a beam, courtesy of Erza who is now requipped into a construction worker's outfit complete with a yellow and black hard hat with a red Fairy Tail symbol on it. "Less talking more working!" Erza says lifting the beam back up. "We're going to rebuild Fairy Tail ASAP!"
"'Kay…" Natsu and Gray weakly says as both of them are literally dug into the ground, their eyes blank with massive bumps on their heads. From a few feet away, Jet and Droy watch the scene with sweatdrops.
"Erza's really into it…" Droy says.
"She can requip to an outfit like that?" Jet questions.
Around the guild, Fairy Tail mages as well as Takeru walking around carrying beams around his destinations quickly. Tsubasa and Latias are seen flying in the air holding ropes that are tied up to a load of five beams as they carry it somewhere.
"Psychic." Sakura says as she has her gloved hand out with the Mind Plate on it as she uses the move to levitate a big pile of beams and lifts them up to some Fairy Tail wizards on a platform. Recca is seen burning some parts of the wood on the beams to make them smoother and passes to Vent as the Regal Pokémon uses Leaf Blade to cut them.
"Well, that takes the meaning of a helping hand to a whole new level." Macao says as he and Wakaba watch this.
"No kidding. Not only that, but with Sakura and her friends helping out we just might finish rebuilding this place more quickly." Wakaba says.
"Here you go, Master." Sakura says as she uses Psychic to bring a big pile of beams over.
"Thanks, Sakura." Makarov who has made himself bigger says as he grabs one of the wooden beams and places it on the other two and begins pounding it in place while humming a tune to himself and Sakura walks away to give the beams to the others who need them.
"Master's also really getting into it!" Levy says.
"He sure it!" Jet and Droy says in surprised.
"Foreman! Where do you need this timber?" Erza yells out as Makarov stops and turns his head to her.
"Oh, over there!" Makarov replies pointing his thumb in the direction.
Who is she calling foreman?" Jet and Droy question.
"Damn it! I hate losing!" Natsu and Gray complains popping halfway out from the hole as they still has blank eyes.
"Ooh, its whack-a-mole!" Happy points out.
"Wait…" Macao says.
"Isn't it kind of big?" Wakaba questions.
"Now that you mention it, it sort of look bigger than it usually does." Sakura says as she slides in.
"While we're at it, we're expanding." Mirajane says from behind the three with what looks like a paper with drawing on it in her hands. See? Here's what it'll look like when it's finished." Mirajane says lifting the drawing up.
"Seriously?" Macao asks.
"Let's have a look." Wakaba says.
"It would be fun without changing it." Natsu says popping up in front of Mirajane to look at the picture.
"What kind of guild is it going to be like?" Gray asks also popping up in front of her.
"I want to take a look too." Sakura says also walking over to look at the picture.
The picture looks like something from a kindergarten kid was to draw it.
"Wow…" Macao sarcastically grunts with a sweatdrop and slightly closed eye.
"This is another…" Wakaba says.
"Its… very interesting." Sakura says with a sweatdrop on her head.
"I don't get it." Natsu says with a questions mark appearing and then disappearing above his head.
"But man, this is really crappy. What idiot drew this?" Gray questions leaning towards it and squinting his eyes.
Mirajane continues to smile brightly with her eyes closed and suddenly she turns away and begins crying as her tears fly out from her closed eyes and she has her hands to them. Gray behind now crying out in panic at the fact he now knows that she made the drawing and had insulted to her as he wildly waves his hands side to side in front of him with widened eyes.
"Oh, it was Mira-chan!" Gray says with a high-pitched voice. Behind him, the others stare at him, Natsu and Macao with narrowed eyes as Sakura crosses her arms.
"You made her cry again." The guys state.
"You have no delicacy, don't you?" Sakura says.
"And such is Gray." Happy says appearing in front of the two with blank eyes.
~Thirty minutes later~
After finally calming down Mirajane after apologizing repeatedly, Gray and everyone get back to work at continuing now their construction on the new guild building as Sakura talks to Mirajane about something. Eventually, Natsu, Happy, and Gray stop as they are beginning to tire out from the hard day's work. Gray is sitting down with his eyes closed on two flat rocks while Happy and Natsu are standing up in front of him as Natsu yawns and stretches his left arm up.
"I'm starving!" Natsu says.
"Aye!" Happy agrees.
"Time to eat?" Gray wonders and suddenly, a stream of water splashes into Natsu taking Gray and Happy back what just happened. Then the water immediately disappears as now a big pink-food container is in Gray's hands which he didn't notice it. "What's this?" He questions.
"I'm soaked!" Natsu says as he has water dripping down from them.
"It's a lunch box!" Happy says as Gray and Natsu notice it.
"A lunch box?" Gray questions as he then opens the lid, gasping at what he found inside. Inside the box is an assortment of meat, fruits, vegetables, as well as some rice, but the weird parts are the tentacles coming out from the lower parts of it, the green ooze sliming out and eyes poke out from lower parts, and then there is the word 'Love' spelled out with fruits on the meat patties and then to top it all off is Gray's face with sparkles in his eyes, around his hair, and his teeth which is grinning.
"Seeing this cause Gray to freak out as he whines out with blank eyes, but Natsu's eyes sparkles at the sight of it.
"That looks good!" Natsu says.
"I know! This is called a character lunch!" Happy answers.
"Can I actually eat this something this insane? It's dripping something." Gray questions.
"Then give it to me!" Natsu says as he grabs the moving tentacle and pulls it out, putting part of it into his mouth as he attempts to tear it off to eat it.
"Who said you could eat?!" Erza questions with her head enlarging and wide blank eyes of anger. Suddenly, she returns to normal as she notices the lunch box in Gray's hands. "Is that one of those character lunches?" She asks and grabs a fork that came with the box before stabbing it into the food, right into Gray's face. Seeing this causes Gray to cry out in fear. Erza then puts the food into her mouth and begins eating it. "This isn't bad. Give me some more."
"Really I'll eat it too." Gray says.
"What are you guys doing?" Sakura asks as she walks up to her.
"Oh, Sakura." Erza calls. When Sakura gets there, she sees the lunch box in Gray's hand.
"Is that one of those character lunches? I haven't seen one of those for a long time." Sakura says as she remembers.
"You had one of these before?" Gray asks.
"Yep. My mom makes them time to time when I leave home to school." Sakura says.
"You have a nice mother." Erza says causing Sakura to giggle.
"Natsu, Gray, Erza, Sakura…"
The five turn their heads to see a familiar face they haven't seen a while. Loke walks up to them as he has in his right hand the rest of Lucy's Celestial Keys. "Would you give these to Lucy? They're her keys."
"It's you. I was wondering where you'd gone off to." Gray says as he and Natsu walk up to him with Loke handing the keys to Natsu.
"You've been searching for these the whole time?" Natsu asks.
"Are you okay? You don't look so good at all." Happy says floating behind him with a worried look on his face.
"Are you having trouble sleeping?" Sakura asks.
"Thanks. I'm fine. Sheesh… It's hard being a male feminist…" Loke says.
"Lucy isn't here. Her injuries hurt so bad she can't move, maybe…" Happy says.
"May we should go check on her. You come too, Loke." Natsu says.
"I'll pass. You know I can't handle Celestial Wizards." Loke says as he turns and walks away.
"Really? But Lucy's still Lucy." Natsu says putting his hands begins his head.
"Natsu. We all have our weaknesses. Don't pry." Erza says.
~Later~
"Lucy!" Happy calls out in joy appearing outside Lucy's window.
"You feeling okay?" Natsu yells also appearing outside her window.
"Don't come in through the window!" Gray says as he crawls in through the chimney.
"And don't crawl in through the chimney!" Sakura scolds at Gray.
"Enter through the door, people. The door." Erza says while casually drinking a cup of tea making the others sweatdrop at her.
"Aye." Happy says.
As the group stand around the room for a few seconds, they notice something odd.
"Huh?" Natsu says.
"She'd usually be all…" Gray trails off.
"THIS IS MY ROOM!" Happy yells with a Lucy's mask on his face as Natsu and Gray pretend to act frightened by him crying out in panic.
"…And stuff." Erza says now in her normal armor with her right hand to her chin thinking about how two that was.
"In the bath?" Gray questions.
"Gray, you perv!" Gray imagines Lucy in the bath throwing a comb at him for entering as she yells.
"Something like this was bound to happen eventually…" Gray says.
"Don't do it, Gray!" Sakura tells him.
"Pardon the intrusion!" Gray says opening the curtains to her bathroom.
"She ain't here." Natsu nonchalantly says while sitting in her bathtub full clothed waving his right hand back and forth.
"That's not how it's supposed to go! And get out of there!" Gray yells in shock with bulging eyes as blue lines and sweat down the back of his head.
"Why is her bathtub full of water?" Sakura questions.
"Maybe she's out?" Erza says as she covers in a towel with one wrapped around her head as well while carrying a bucket of conditioners and other bathing supplies.
"Why did you come here again?" Gray questions with blue lines and sweat again down the back of his head.
The group stand around the room again in silence.
"You're straight-man act is lame." Erza says.
"Without Lucy, our tempo is all off." Happy says.
"Quit finding fault! And oh, I'm sorry I suck at comedy." Gray says with dark blue likes appearing out from his body.
"Lucy!" Happy calls out opening one of her drawers and suddenly, his eyes widen and go blank in shock as Natsu appears behind him.
"Hey, you…" Upon seeing what is in the drawer, Natsu gasps in shock as his jaw drops open and his eyes also go wide and blank.
"What are you people doing?" Gray ask when he too sees what's in the drawer and cries out in shock with sweat flying from his head before calming down, his eyes also goes blank and his mouth hanging open in shock. Erza calmly walks up behind them and looks in with only her left eye showing at it and the pupil are also wide.
"What are you looking at?" Sakura asks when she cries out in shock with her eyes widen.
Smoke rises out from all their heads as they continue to look down at what's in Lucy's drawer with sweat and pink lines going down the back of their heads.
"There's underwear like this?" Happy asks shockingly.
"Underwear? That?" Gray questions.
"When would you where such a thing?" Erza wonders.
"When you're eating?" Natsu asks looking back at them with wide eyes.
"No way, no how." Happy, Erza, and Gray reply shaking their heads back and forth.
"This is embarrassing…" Sakura says.
"Wait, this is dangerous. Close the drawer already." Gray says as Erza happens to look over at her desk and notices something on it. What it looks like a paper weight on top of a paper with words on it.
"Lucy, come out!" Happy yells.
"Where have you been searching?" Gray asks.
"Happy, don't open any drawers." Sakura tells him.
"WHOA~!" Happy cries out in panic as he accidentally knocks something over to the ground.
"Natsu turns around to notice Happy covered with white envelopes that had come out from a small chest with a few more in it.
"What're these?" Erza questions with wide eyes and pupils.
"Letters?" Gray asks with wide eyes and pupils as well.
Natsu without a thought, sits down and opens one of them and begins to read it. "Mom, I finally joined the guild of my dreams. Fairy Tail…"
"Natsu!" Sakura yells.
"Hey, hey, don't go reading those!" Gray worryingly says with sweat flying out from the back of his head.
"Today, I met a person named Erza. She's cool and pretty. Then Natsu, Gray, and Sakura…
Hearing Natsu read the part about her in Lucy's letter cause Erza to blush a little as Gray and Happy decide to look at the rest of the envelopes.
"Are all these letters to her mother?" Gray wonders.
"Looks like it." Happy says.
"I wonder why she didn't send them?" Natsu says.
"You have a point." Sakura agrees.
"She left a note." Erza says catching everyone's attention. "Look, Lucy left a note." She says again holding up a note in her hand as she looks at it. "'I will go home'. It seems." Erza says with her hand shaking as she reads it.
"HUH!" The others cry out in shock with wide eyes, dropped mouths and sweat running their foreheads hearing this. "SAY WHA–T?!"
Meanwhile Lucy is already sitting on a train on her way back to her home as she looks out her window at the passing view.
Closer and closer, Lucy got to her old home and walks down a dirt path through the open field as the memories of her father come back to her. When she arrived, she stands atop a grassy hill as the wind blows her hair and the grass as she sees her home.
A short, middle-aged woman with a square face, long dark purple hair tied in a ponytail behind her head and wearing a green with pink-colored sleeves and golden edges maid dress, an apron tied around her waist, a small mantle covering her shoulders and classic maid hate on her head is seen sweeping the pathway leading up to the massive mansion up ahead.
Lucy appears just a few feet away from the main who is unaware of her presence as she is singing a tune.
"Spetto-san!" Lucy calls out as the maid finally stops and noticed her.
Suddenly tears come to the maid's eyes and she begins shaking in happiness before finally beginning to cry with tears coming down her cheeks and snot coming out from her nose.
"Lucy-ojousama!" All the servants and workers cries out in joy as they suddenly appear from out of nowhere.
Lucy soon surrounds by all the servants and workers of the mansion as they all overjoy to see her back again with Spetto hugging Lucy while still crying. "I'm so glad you're okay! Lucy-ojou… Lucy-ojou…"
"I'm sorry for worrying everyone." Lucy says.
"Ojou-sama, we have some new reference books from the East." The librarian of the residence Ribbon informs while holding two books in his hand.
"Ojou-sama have you've grown… Run off with a lover or two, have you?" Aed the head chef says.
"Have you been keeping up with your magic studies?" Bero, Lucy's teacher who taught her how to use her magic asks as his whole body shaking a lot.
"I can't believe we get to see you again, Ojou-sama!" Spetto continues to cry as then massive streams of tears shoot out from her eyes.
"There go the waterworks…" A nearby maid says with a sweatdrop.
"You're all the same as ever I see." Lucy thought with a small sad smile on her face.
"Ojou-sama… Dana-sama asks you come to the study at the main residence." A maid coming out says catching everyone's attention.
Lucy looks up at her old house, specifically at the middle window where her father might be staring out and looking at her as Lucy has an unwavering determined look on her face.
"He tells his daughter that ran away and came back to report to him? He hasn't changed either, it seems."
~Afterwards~
Lucy is brought back to her old room where she changes into a formal-wear pink dress, her hair is tied into a bun with a pink headwear wrapped around it with two bangs coming down the side of her face and a bead necklace-like headpiece around her head.
"I'd forgotten… When I lived here. I would wear clothes like this."
"Is it too tight?" One of the maids that helped her change asks. Both of them having hearts flying out from their heads as they rest them against their clasped hands together.
"It's gotten a little small for you, however." The other maid says.
"Don't worry." Lucy replies.
"Oh eyes… I've gotten taller."
Lucy turns around and gives a warm smile at the two maids.
"Well, I'll be off." Lucy says to them.
"Right!" Both of them reply with smiles on their faces.
~A few minutes later~
"It's Lucy. I have returned, Father." Lucy calls from outside the door of a barely lit room that is very long and massive with a blue carpet leading all the way to the end where the massive window let the sun shine in as there is also a second level too, it was a library. At the end of it, standing before his desk is Lucy's father, Jude Heartfilia. A relative tall, middle-aged man with black eyes and slicked back, blonde hair and a matching, extreme trim mustache, and a firm, square jaw, his hair is kept extremely neat and trim, and he wears an expensive tailored brown suit.
"Come in." Jude says turning around to face her as she walks in towards him. "So you have finally returned, Lucy." Jude says with a cold-hearted tone in his voice as Lucy stops with a saddened look on her face.
"Father… I apologize for running away from home without saying anything. I truly regret those actions." Lucy says in a monotone voice.
"You have made a right decision. As long as you are in that guild, I must use my wealth and influence to crush it." Jude says without a single hint of care for the people of Fairy Tail in it as he turns away from her. "You have matured, Lucy." He says as he turns his head slightly and looks at her out of the corner of his eyes. "It seems I've made you realize how much trouble your selfish actions cause for those around you. You are the daughter of the Heartfilias. You are not other people. You lived in different worlds. It is fortunate that you finally understand this, Lucy. There is also one reason I've had you returned. A very fortunate event. A marriage with the son of the Jurener family has been proposed." Jude says then turning away from her again to look out the window.
"Yes… I figured it was something like that." Lucy says.
"A marriage with the Jurener family will allow the Heartfilia Railways to make solid strides to the south. This marriage will ensure our future fortune." Jude says.
"Our fortune?" Lucy repeats.
"And you must give birth to a boy. So he can become heir to the Heartfilia estate. This is all. Return to your room." Just says but Just doesn't move from her spot.
"Father… You seem to be mistaken." Lucy speaks up in a defiant voice causing Jude to turn around to face her. "I have returned in order to show you my resolve." She says with a saddened look still on her face as she looks down. "It's true that I was wrong to leave without saying anything. It was no different than simply running away." Lucy then looks straight at him with a serious look on her face. "So this time, I'm going to tell you exactly how I feel before I leave!"
Jude widens his eyes in shock at hearing this from her before narrowing down a little. "Lucy!"
"There is nothing fortunate about having your fate decided for you! You must grab your own happiness yourself! I'm going to walk my own path. Don't go deciding on who I'll marry. And…" Lucy points right at her father with her right hand. "Don't lay a finger on Fairy Tail again!" She yells and then grabs to top of her dress and tears it apart in an act of defiance against her father leaving her upper body only covered by her undergarments. "The next time you do… I, and everyone else in the guild will consider you the enemy!" She states as she turns away from Jude whose eyes widen in shock.
Then Lucy's face softens a little. "If you haven't done that, maybe we could be a bit more civil. But it's too late now. You have hurt my friends far too much. What I want isn't money, or pretty dresses, or fortune forced upon me…" Lucy says as she begins to walk away towards the door. "I'm not Lucky Lucy of the Heartfilias anymore." She then waves her right hand back at him, showing her Fairy Tail mark on the top of it. "Fairy Tail is my other family now, and they recognize me just as Lucy! It's far more loving family than this!" Lucy says stopping in her tracks and turning back towards her father with a saddened look on her face and tears on her eyes. "I only lived her a little while, but leaving the home I lived in with mother was incredibly difficult. Spetto-san, Belo-ojiisan, Ribbon-san, Aed-san… It'll be really hard leaving them all… But… But you see… If Mom was still alive… I think she'd tell me 'You go do what you want to do.'"
In Jude's eyes, sparkles rain down above from Lucy, and his late-wife appears beside her with a warm smile on her face.
"Layla…" Jude mutters.
Lucy then turns away again. "Farewell, Dad."
~A few hours later~
Lucy is back in her normal clothes form when she arrived here, her purse is over her shoulder as the sun has begun to set. Lucy stands in the graveyard of her home, looking up at a tall stone angel as a sad smile comes to her face as she looks down at the massive tombstone at the feet of the angel.
Layla Heartfilia
X748-X777
"Mom…" Lucy mutters and looks back up at the smile of the stone angel before looking back at her mother's tombstone. "Now then…" Lucy says putting her left and to her hip.
"LUCY!" Familiar voices cry out surprising her as she turns around.
"LUCY!" Natsu, Happy, Gray, Erza, and Sakura yell out again as they run towards her.
"Why?!" Lucy cries out in shock with wide eyes and pupils, shocked to see her friends not only here but running/flying towards her. Happy suddenly flies right into her chest crying with tears in his eyes as Lucy is knocked back a little.
Lucy then begins to hear from Natsu on how they came here to rescue her from her father having taken a train and ran all the way here as the others listen to Natsu as Lucy has sweat running down the back of her head with Happy in her arms. Lucy quickly straightens it out though feeling a bit embarrassed about this as she explains why she really came back and that she was going to return to them and the rest of the guild. Hearing this seems to have Natsu angered a little for some reason as he grits his teeth and narrows his eyebrows at her. Gray's eyes went blank and wide as his jaw drops open. Erza has her right hand in a lightly tightened fist in front of her mouth as she laughs at this. Sakura also laughs at this as her right hand is above her mouth.
Happy looks up at Lucy with tears coming down from his eyes while Lucy looks down at him. Natsu begins jumping up and down on one leg with two veins pop above his head letting her know how worried they all were only to find this out. With the whole misunderstanding out of the way, and the group finally back together again, they finally decide to start heading back home. All the servants and workers gather outside and wave and yell goodbye to Lucy as she waves back at them.
"I'm really sorry I worried you all." Lucy says.
"Don't worry, it's our fault for jumping to conclusions." Erza says.
"I guess we were worried for nothing." Gray says.
"You could have said that in your letter so we won't have to chase you all the way here." Sakura says.
"Happy was crying the whole time." Natsu says with his hands behind his back.
"You were sobbing too, Natsu!" Happy points out.
"N-no I wasn't!" Natsu says with a small blush on his face as he looks away at the ground.
"I'm sorry, really…" Lucy says again.
"Now that this case is over for good, I'm going on ahead." Sakura says as she stops causing the others to look at her.
"Huh?"
Sakura puts her right thumb and index finger in her mouth before blowing into a sharp, loud whistle. Soon, a shadow appears on the sky as it comes closer to them and Sakura waves at it.
"Latias!" Sakura shouts as the shadow comes even closer, revealing Latias as she gets in front of her.
"How in the world Latias hear you all the way from Magnolia?!" Gray questions.
"That's our secret. Right, Latias?" Sakura asks and Latias nods her head. Then Sakura gets on Latia's back and faces the others. "I'll go on ahead of you guys."
"Okay." Erza says and Latias flies up to the sky leaving the five there.
"That was a surprise." Lucy says.
"Aye!" Happy agrees.
"But sheesh, what a spacious town." Gray says.
"It's so calm and peaceful." Erza says.
"Oh, this isn't a town. It's our garden. Our land goes all the way to that mountain over there." Lucy says pointing to a nearby mountain as everyone stops and looks at the mountain. "Huh?" She says noticing how they have completely frozen in spot. "What's the matter, everyone?"
Unknown to her, Natsu's eyes go blank and he grits his teeth with blue lines going under his left eye and Gray has also gone blank and has lines under his left eye.
Suddenly, they both turn pale with their eyes growing while still blank and they both give a salute, Gray with his left hand and Natsu with his right hand.
"All hail Princess Lucy!" Gray cries out talking Lucy back by surprised as she cries out, swinging her arms back to her right into the air with her eyes going small and blank and sweat flying from her face.
"Said it like it's nothin'!" Natsu cries out, both of them are completely taken back by the size of her land.
"Natsu and Gray have been beaten! Captain Erza, please give your orders!" Happy cries out with his eyes closed as behind him, Natsu and Gray have their arms over each other's shoulders while swinging their free arms up into the air, their eyes are like buttons and their mouths puckers up as they are acting like friends again.
Erza however also gone pale though remains calm as she looks up at the sky letting out a sigh. "The sky sure is blue…"
"Captain Erza's malfunctioning!" Happy cries out in panic.
Lucy sees all her friends' reaction from learning how big her home is, she lets out a small laugh and looks back at them with tears in her eyes.
"To Mom up in Heaven. I'm doing well."
Lucy closes her eyes again sending tear drops flying out from her eyes and everyone calm down now as Lucy runs up after them as they all look back at her waiting for her to catch up.
"You know what, Mom? I don't think I can live without by friends."
All of them smiles towards Lucy as Natsu gives a grin to her and a sideways thumb up.
"Since Fairy Tail is already part of me!"
Meanwhile
Somewhere on the sky
Latias continues flying back to Magnolia with Sakura on her back as she looks at the horizon.
"Family, huh?" Sakura says as she remembers her parents. "I want to see them again."