This took longer than expected and is shorter than all my other chapters. I'm so sorry, but a short chapter is better than no chapter!

Chapter 6- Reunions

Lucy could barely stand on her shaking legs as she saw the dump that the Fairy Tail guild had become. She looked upon the crooked sign and unhinged door in a slight panic that something terrible had happened to the guild in her absence. She simply would not stand for the guild she had grown to love to be in shambles any longer. Though she would love to fight whoever had done this, she was more responsible than that and knew that she had not been allowed to use her magic in so long that she might go into a different type of coma if she tried to used a lot of magic all at once.

When her train of thought hit the topic of comas, her head immediately began to spin.

Loke and Aries are in the guild right now and they won't even know what I look like…

Lucy sighed and walked through the doors greeted by the cheers and laughter coming from the people inside. Lucy smiled knowing that everything would soon be fine with the Tenrou group back.

Suddenly Lucy felt a tap on her shoulder causing her to whip her head around. "Hi! You must be one of the guild members who joined during the gap. I'm Levy. What's your name?"

Lucy looked at the shorter blue haired mage for a long time before tears started to stream down her pale face. The person she had talked with so many years ago about reading and writing looked just the same as she did seven years before, but she didn't recognize the woman Lucy had become. She turned her tear stained face down partially to hide her obvious crying and partially to look at what she had become. She was taller and curvier than the solid script mage in front of her and was dressed in dirty pink prison scrubs. She was not the young, innocent girl she used to be.

Finally gaining the confidence she needed to continue the so far one-sided conversation, Lucy planted a smile on her red and puffy face and looked up to the confused bluenette.

"What? You don't recognize your little Lu-chan anymore?"

Levy gasped suddenly and processed the information she was given. This blonde bombshell in front of her couldn't be the Lucy she knew before the 7 years she spent on Tenrou, could she? She was certainly taller and bustier than the little girl she knew before, but somehow when Levy looked into the woman's brown orbs, she knew she was Lucy.

"L-" She sniffed and began to scream out, "LU-CHAN!" She then ran to her and squeezed her until she couldn't breath anymore.

"Levy? I c-can't breathe!" Little did she know everyone in the guild had noticed their reunion and were staring with open mouths.

"Princess!" Leo called out, being the first to break out of his revery. He circled his suit-clad arms around the blonde mage who had only just escaped Levy's arms. "Knowing that I have left my princess for 7 years has left me destitute of any emotion other than sadness. I only hope you can forgive me of any pain I have brought to you."

At this Lucy began bawling. She remembered all the thoughts she had of him and Aries while she was in prison and squeezed the life out of him as Levy had her. "Please never leave me again!" She cried out burying her head in his neck as she did when she had nightmares as a child.

Loke's face turned from an expression of relief to one of concern. The girl in front of him seemed so broken- so hollow- that she could have honestly been an entirely different person. It broke his heart to see her this way.

"What happened while I've been gone, Princess?"

Lucy was hesitant to answer as she noticed all eyes were still on her, but decided to tell the guild everything.

"I've been in prison for the last seven years for breaking Cobra out." A collective gasp was heard, but there were no interruptions. "Though my body has gone through the change of seven years, I only have memories of the seven days I was awake. You see when you were trapped on the island, Loke," Leo smiled at her using his nickname, "it felt as if you and Aries were ripped from me and I was sent into a coma in which I only awakened on the seventh of July every year. This is the eighth time I've been awake in these seven years. Although prison itself wasn't very bad for me as I made-Friends-with what's left of the Oracion Seis, the fact that I was ripped from you and not allowed the company of my spirits for all those years has made me," she took her time to find the correct phrasing, "more mature than I already was when I was 12."

Everyone stood in silence taking in everything they had just been told. Little Lucy wasn't so little anymore. She had undergone yet another tragic experience and yet could still try and smile when everything seemed tough. Gray, the person who used to be her 'brother figure', no longer felt as if her could fill the role of the 'brother figure'. He felt inadequate; as if his leaving caused her all the pain she had been in and he was not alone in this feeling. Almost everyone in the guild blamed themselves for causing Lucy to become this shell of her former self.

Cana, on the other hand, would have none of it. She walked up to the weeping girl and handed her a beer. "I know two reasons why these seven year have been good for you, sweetheart." She pointed to her breasts individually, learning towards each one as she did. "One and two."

Lucy blushed a deep red. "Cana!"

"What? Don't tell me no one in that prison noticed what a beauty you've become!"

Lucy blushed even deeper and his her face as she thought of Midnight.

Suddenly Cobra came out of the crowd with an angry expression. "You did NOT hook up with Midnight. Please tell me I heard your thoughts wrong."

"I didn't 'hook up' with him! We just… Kissed… A lot."

Cobra facepalmed and walked out of the guild to think on that tidbit of information for a while.

Natsu on the other hand chose to make himself known with a declaration. "When he gets out of prison, he's going to fight me!"

A growl was heard as Laxus stepped out of the crowd and knocked Natsu into the ground. "Only if I don't get to him first."

Meanwhile Elfman was holding back a thrashing Evergreen, who was screaming, "I'm gonna kill that emo punk," over and over again.

This display was not gone unnoticed by Lucy as she began to double over laughing causing the guild to go silent.

"I've missed this."

Tears spilled over her plump cheeks as she stood in front of the people she had accepted as dead years ago who stared back at her with looks of understanding and remorse for leaving her alone for so long. They hated that she had spilled tears on their behalf and wanted to make it up to her, but didn't know how to.

Natsu, recovering from Laxus' strong punch that sent him into the ground, saw Lucy's tears and walked over to her pulling her into his strong arms. He whispered reassurances in her ear as she buried her head into his shoulder seeking the comfort that came from his familiar warmth.

When the tears had stopped Lucy pulled away from Natsu's reluctant arms and turned towards the guild master, Makarov.

"If it's alright with you, I'd like to officially join the guild."

"Of course it's alright, my child. I've always thought of you as an honorary member anyway." He then mumbled something about worrying about Sabertooth stealing Lucy away that only those with the best ears could hear.

Makarov motioned for Mira to come over with the guild stamp and she happily obliged with a skip in her step.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to make you an official member, Lucy. Now where would you like the guild mark and in what color?"

Lucy giggled at Mira's enthusiasm. "I'd like it on my right hand in pink, please."

Mira wasted no time in stamping the blonde's hand and pulling her into a hug. "Welcome to the guild, Lucy!"

The guild cheered and Lucy knew she was home. Though Lucy was overjoyed at her new membership, she couldn't help but think of Sabertooth. She knew her friends there wanted her to join when she was still training with them, but at the same time she felt right in Fairy Tail and she didn't think that Rogue would forgive her for leaving him. He probably hates her. She wouldn't blame him if he did. She just hopes that whenever she sees him again they can at least be civil, even though she'd love to still be his friend.