Thanks go out to everyone who reviewed and read and added this story to their favorites over the first two chapters and the first week J I hope you continue to stick with me and enjoy the story as much as I enjoy writing it!

Again, there were edits to the previous chapter. Once more, I ask you to re-read it (unless you already have) because I added a few scenes that tell about the years between Lucy leaving Fairy Tail and ending up in the town she's in now. If you already read it the second time, there were minor edits after the major ones, but they're not as important as the flashbacks. Sorry for all the editing and the asking for you to go re-read it…but you'll forgive me, right? XD

All familiar characters and towns and names and whatever else I mention are the property of the amazing Hiro Mashima. I love him for writing this epic manga.

Now, on with the next chapter of "Until She's Home Again".

I was sure that the ice all around me, coating the walls and the floors and even a few very unfortunate and unconscious mages of this dark guild, had come from an ice mage. And it was kind of obvious that the slashes across the torsos of other dark mages and even through the solid stone floor and a couple of wooden support beams came from a mage who used sharp weapons, and was likely to be an ex-qupping mage based on the variations of the blade markings. The scorch marks that were throughout the room, on the walls and floors and pillars, I gave little attention to. They were caused during the battle, maybe with some explosives. Hopefully with some explosives. Just because there was an ice mage and an ex-quip one at that, didn't necessarily mean they couldn't have some back up if their magic power was exhausted a little. Or they'd just busted open some pipes and it had started a fire, or something. The presence of all three markings did not mean what I feared and wished for in equal measure was true. Which could happen, I suppose, but when in the last three years had I ever been "Lucky" Lucy Heartfilia?

I knew of my error when I reached the open room atop the stairs where the explosions had been coming from. I recognized the woman laying facedown on the floor and bleeding from several spots in an instant. The injured angel's scarlet hair lay a mess around her head, like a halo of fire. Her well-kept, polished, and seemingly impenetrable armor had been pierced, or dented severely in several places, sticky red liquid pouring from each hole in the metal. I ducked back behind the door and took a deep breath. Several deep breaths, in fact, as I peered around to see more. Six feet from the woman lay a poor, beaten creature that looked reminiscent of a cat, only it was blue. In the middle of the room there was a rosy haired man, about ready to collapse but staying up on one knee by sheer force of will. He was standing protectively in front of an unconscious, dark haired, and half-naked man, who lay on his back. The fallen raven haired man's chest bore the same mark as the woman's left arm and the other man's right shoulder.

Why does this have to be now? I thought, pulling back behind the door once again and tried desperately to calm my erratic breathing pattern and my racing thoughts.

"This is all that the world-famous Fairy Tail has?" a familiar voice laughed imperiously. I peered out to spot the cruel, mage-napping Nara from a year ago bearing down upon the two men. "This is all that Team Natsu has? How pathetic! Ha ha! Cana and Gildartz would have been more of a challenge, but this garbage was all I got. Oh, well. Are you ready to die, you worthless brats?"

I knew there was something wrong. Nara wasn't nearly strong enough to take out Happy and Gray, let alone Erza! And to have Natsu beaten so badly that he could barely hold himself up in front of Gray to protect him from any further harm?

I could feel my eyes widen considerably when Nara's fire magic swirled around him, and its color moved me into action. After all, his fire magic couldn't be black. He was too terrible a mage to accomplish something like that by legal means. And magic didn't just change its colors for any reason - I should know, I read all about it when I was searching for the answer to my condition.

I had read that once a mage's magic turned black, it meant that some sort of outside influence had forced the mage to be overtaken by negative energy, or was still in the process of overtaking them. It was black magic, the blackest of magics and an incredibly cruel way to control someone. It changed the true nature of the mage's magic, until it was far stronger than it should have been and exhibited strange qualities. The book's passage had warned caution to those who may encounter such a mage, but there wasn't really time for me to use discretion like that for a case like this.

My fist clenched tighter at my side, and I scrabbled for my Layla Heart persona as I turned and darted into the room.

"Not…so…fast!" I shouted, letting my power build up around my hand as I charged toward the bulkier man who stood just five feet away from the most powerful fire mage I had ever known. I didn't care that the book had warned against confronting a person whose magic had become like this, not when he was threatening my former nakama and the people I still cared most about in the entire world.

Erza struggled to turn to the source of my voice, and Happy blinked hazily at me, regaining consciousness, as I flitted by almost as a blur. Gray stirred at the shout I let out and Natsu glanced over his shoulder even as I ran up to them. I reached them and leapt into the air, as if the two were a hurdle and I was doing my best to jump over them. My black trench coat fluttered behind me as I solidified the energy around my right hand, the hand where my Fairy Tail mark was hidden, and swung forward at the man. I released the energy when I should have hit him, but he had dodged backwards. I darted forward again, the golden light of my magic already glowing around my left hand as I swung it at Nara again. He let out a rather sinister sounding chuckle as he dodged my repeatedly thrown punches, and even the occasional kicks.

"What's this, now?" he asked as I paused and wiped some sweat from my forehead. "You're that freelance mage that showed up around here last year, aren't you? The impudent little bitch who ruined my plans for all of the mages in this place! And now you think you can take out my dark guild, too, do you?"

"I don't think," I said, squeezing a leather-clad fist tighter, feeling the material bunch up in my palm. "I know!"

I charged at Nara once more, increasingly annoyed at how he kept dodging my attacks and laughing all the while in that condescending way he had.

"What's wrong? Can't touch me?" he taunted. "Seems as if your single hit on me all that time ago was just a lucky shot, doesn't it? And such a strange fighting style, too…wherever did you learn this? You're not even a fighting type of mage, are you?"

I directed my next punch to the ground, using the new explosion of my magical power to propel myself, feet first, at the man who was infuriatingly avoiding me. My feet were alight with power, but were soon wrapped in dark fire which seemed to have a grip of its own. The magic around my feet was snuffed out and the fire somehow threw me roughly against the ground. I let out a cry of pain, but struggled up just as soon as I had the strength to. A trickle of blood ran down my left arm from the newly acquired scrape I had gained from the rubble left over from Team Natsu's previous fight with the changed Nara.

"It doesn't matter," I said, standing defiantly, noticing that Natsu had managed to pull the semiconscious Gray over by Erza, out of the middle of the room. He had Happy sitting beside Erza, taking care of her as well as he was able in this situation. They weren't in the way anymore, so they wouldn't be hurt by the battle in the middle of it. Surely that had been Natsu's train of thought, too. I must have let my eyes linger too long on my former teammates as I noticed that Nara's eyes flicked toward them as well. He smirked at me and as he sent his black flames their way and I cried, "Don't you dare!"

The shout didn't stop him, but I used another of my explosions to propel myself to intercept the black fire just as it was about to hit Natsu, who stood protectively in front of the others, arms spread wide.

A grunt of pain left me as the fire impacted. It felt less like fire and more like hot sludge, ramming against me with the force of a rampaging bull. I slid back a few inches but held my ground, gritting my teeth and glaring through my wig's black bangs as the enemy raised an eyebrow at me questioningly, smirking.

"Who the hell are you?" came Natsu's voice from right behind me. There was a painful twinge in the region of my heart, almost as though I hoped he would recognize me. But I knew it was better that he didn't because soon, I would be lost to them. For good.

"I'm a…friend," I gasped, standing up to my full height and glaring at the smirking Nara. "You should just leave, and get your friends out of here. I'll handle it."

"I can't leave!" Natsu growled, and I could here the offense in his tone.

I'm not saying you can't handle it, I wanted to tell him, just that I don't want you to get hurt anymore. Don't you see, Natsu? I care about you. It's me, Lucy! One of your best friends, a former teammate! I still care, I do!

But of course I couldn't say that. I was too much of a coward. Or maybe it made me strong, to be able to hide from my friends when they stood - or lay - around me.

"We can't…go back until we've finished this job!" Gray groaned from his position, sitting against the wall. I jerked my attention to him for a brief moment, before focusing on the enemy mage.

"It's nearly the third anniversary," Erza's voice came out as a grunt, "the third year since our precious nakama disappeared."

She struggled to her feet.

"We have to finish this," Natsu said, his eyes fierce, "for Lucy!"

"Aye!"

My heart clenched painfully in my chest, and I completely abandoned Nara for a moment to scan their expressions. The determination, the sincerity, the look of sadness and grief that seemed to have a place in each and every face they showed to me. They missed me, just as much as I'd missed them. Only they could never know that the person who stood in front of them now was the very same person that they were so desperate to find. I honestly didn't know which fate was worse; to constantly wonder about your friends and loved ones, to pray that they were okay, that they were alive and happy? Or was it the one where you miss your friends just as much as they missed you? Where you are forced to suffer being so close to them but can't run into their embrace, to laugh with them like you once did? To sit by and watch them grieve and agonize over your disappearance but be unable to say anything to comfort them, or to tell them that you're right there?

"Stay, for all I care," I said, turning back to the mage with black fire who was examining the exchange with a strangely unattached air. I was on guard as I told them, "Stay, but stay back. I'm sure your Lucy wouldn't want you to get hurt any more."

"It doesn't matter what happens to us!" Erza's voice choked out, and I glanced her way for a millisecond to see salty tears beginning to make the trek down her cheeks. "It doesn't!"

"We've gotta do this," Gray said, and I could tell by his voice behind me that his teeth were gritted from the pain. I heard him fighting to stand.

"For Lucy," Happy said, his tone firm and proud.

"We're gonna do a hard job every chance we get," Natsu said, "and if we get knocked around a little, who cares? Until Luce comes home again, to Fairy Tail, we'll keep doing it, and if we get hurt a little each time, it just proves to her that we still need her. See?"

I closed my eyes and turned my head down, steeling myself by clenching my teeth tightly and telling myself that I couldn't cry. Because wouldn't I just give myself away if I did…? And I couldn't do that, not here and not now. It would only cause more pain to my dearest friends in the long run than my absence ever could. If I showed myself now, they could hope and rejoice but it would only be temporary, for when I truly did succumb to my fate, there could be no hoping anymore. All that would remain was the hurt, and it would hurt that much more. They would have just found me after so long and would have to lose me all over again. That's why I wanted to keep it from them.

"Don't let yourself get hurt," I said, leaping from them and right at Nara with a fist glowing. I had to distance myself from my old teammates before I started crying and revealed myself. I was scrambling for my Layla Heart persona, but she just wouldn't come. "Ack!"

I cried out in pain as the fire grabbed my arm and tossed me aside. This time I was able to twist in the air and land on my feet, but it still hurt. The fire had grabbed my already bleeding arm in what was like a vice grip for the few short seconds it had taken to completely pull me off course and throw me. I let out a low growl as I propelled myself forward again, even as I saw Erza ex-quipping to her flame resistant armor and Gray trying to take deep breaths as he clutched the wall to keep his balance. I was focused enough this time, though, that I was able to leap above the fire and land an explosive punch before the fire blasted me back.

I wiped the trickle from the nick on my temple with my fingers, looking at the red that came away. My lips turned down in a scowl at the damage my own attack had caused me by tossing rubble violently into the air. The rock that had struck me lay in a small ring of blood a foot to my right, and with some distaste I kicked it aside.

"This is our fight!" Natsu's voice cried, and I jerked my head his way just in time to see him stumble backwards, clutching his abdomen.

"Weaklings," Nara said contemptuously, "all of you."

Natsu's not a weakling. He's a much better fire mage than you ever were or ever will be!

"Speak for yourself!" I shouted, letting both of my fists light up. I saw the bruise forming on his cheek from my last punch, and wished that it had had the same effect as it had the first time I'd ever fought him. "You're the weakest one here!"

He turned and decided to start advancing on me, stopping ten feet away and peering at something near my right hip with interest. The cries of my celestial spirits, calling out my name, faintly reached me, and I glanced down to the pouch at my belt that hid the keys. It kept lighting up with golden light as they, most likely Loke, tried to come through to our world without my call. I knew that my expression had softened, but I tried to harden it again as I turned my attention back to Nara. A smirk spread across his face and his laugh came back.

"I see now, girl," he snorted, "I can see now that you're a celestial mage!" he was laughing like it was the funniest thing in the world, which it really wasn't. "Or you are, originally. But why does a stellar spirit mage keep her spirits from appearing to help her, even of their own will? How have you managed to keep them from coming? Since, I assume, the item or items in the pouch at your side are your keys, and you're somehow maintaining a barrier around them. Your type are so weak! So, then, why aren't you summoning them to help you out? Anyone here could tell that you need all the help you can get!"

"I don't summon them," I said lowly, dropping my head and turning my eyes away from the mage, "because I hurt one of them. My spirits are some of my dearest friends, and I can't forgive myself for it."

The memory of that day came back, flashing through my mind.

"Great job!" I said happily to Capricorn, Aries, Cancer, and Loke, whom I had summoned to help me with a new request. I was able to summon more than one of my spirits at a time now, and I was feeling strong and on top of the world. "You guys can go back now."

"Lucy, don't," Loke said slowly, "I have a bad feeling about this…"

The others had already gone back, and it was just Loke and I standing there, in the midst of our defeated opponents. The spirit was looking around us, eyes narrowed in an expression of the utmost concentration. I knew he was searching for the cause of his unease, and I smiled gently at the closest friend I had among my spirits. Just as I decided to try to console him, to tell him things were all right, he spoke again.

"Lucy, I really don't feel right about this," he persisted, pleading with his eyes and refusing to return to the spirit world.

"Loke, I-"

"I've got you!" a voice yelled from behind, cutting me off effectively as Loke and I spun to see the new threat. The mage ex-quipped from a sword to a long, tri-bladed spear as he fell toward me, the point directed at my chest. My eyes widened and I was frozen in place. My insistent zodiac spirit was not, however, and managed to leap in to save me just as he always does. In the process of deflecting the spear and picking me up, he managed to earn a gash across the shoulder he had placed between the offensive weapon and his master. He winced, but quickly dodged out of the way, taking me with him to a place far out of range.

We were a good twenty feet away, and my panic changed from that of fearing the mage to the panic over a prickle that started up my spine and caused my hair to stand on end.

"Let me go!" I shrieked, trying to wriggle out of Loke's strong grasp. "Loke, it's-"

The two of us both burst into screams of agony simultaneously, though after the initial, sharp outcry, Loke grit his teeth and tried not to cry out. I realized then that my Magical Overflows could even harm a stellar spirit when his expression contorted in pain and his mouth clenched tightly against the scream. Cuts began to appear all over his body, worse than even those that appeared on my own.

"Loke!" I managed somehow. "Loke, let go! Go back!"

It was such a huge challenge to even say that much before I erupted once more into a high pitched scream.

"I won't!" he grunted, arms tightening around me as I weakly struggled. "You're not going through this hell alone, Lucy!"

It was a particularly vicious attack, blowing away the enemy mage and rendering him unconscious. Before the end of the painful fluctuation of celestial magic, Loke collapsed to his knees, with me still clutched tightly against his chest. Afterwards, he trembled violently.

"Loke, look at me!" I cried and shook as I forced myself off of his legs and onto the ground. "Loke!"

He groaned weakly and lifted his head slightly. Horrified, I watched the blood run down his face in several streaks. Some of his orange hair was matted together with the sticky red substance, and the shattered pieces of his sunglasses lay fanned in a three foot radius around us. The frames crumbled from his face even as I watched him, my heart wrenching.

"Are you…all right?" he asked me, wincing as a shudder passed through his form.

"Loke," I disentangled myself from him completely, letting go of the shoulder I'd been holding as though I'd been burned. "I'm …I'm so sorry," I whispered this before taking his key in my hand and saying, "Gate of the Lion, Close!"

"No, Luc-" his words were cut off as he unwillingly returned to the spirit world.

There he could rest and recover. He could relax for as long as he needed to, because from then on I vowed that I would never voluntarily call forth one of my celestial spirits to help me in a fight. I had my whip at my side, and that's all I would need.

It was three months later that I entered the town of Reason for the first time.

My fists shook as the memory drew to a close, the bloody vision of Loke staying to torment me even when I squeezed my eyes shut. It replayed, seeming to use the inside of my eyelids as a screen on which it projected, and repeatedly showed me Leo the Lion lifting his bloody head at my call. I was only thankful that I was successfully able to hold them back for the last six months, since the attacks had all been of that magnitude, or greater, and I wasn't sure how their bodies could hold up against such powerful fluctuations of my magic. Loke was the hardest to hold back, even though he knew best the reason I wanted to keep them from materializing.

I don't even know how I managed to hold them back, because they had even tried to use their own power to appear and failed.

"You? How could a weakling like you hurt a stellar spirit? Unless they're all just as weak as you are," Nara snorted derisively, jerking me back to the present and incensing me. He dared to call Leo the Lion, Fairy Tail's womanizing Loke, weak? He would pay.

"I'll show you," I grinned Layla Heart's feral grin, stepping forward with a few quick steps and grabbing the lapel of his jacket, pulling him closer. "Nara, have you ever heard of…Magical Overflow?"

His eyes widened, as did that of Erza and Gray over his shoulder (Natsu was just as adorably oblivious as I was used to), and Happy fell weakly onto Natsu's head with an expression of utter disbelief on his feline features.

"What…? You would be dead by now if you ha–aaargh!" the scream ripped from his mouth in the midst of his sentence as the power burst into being around us. I grit my teeth determinedly against the pain, unwilling to let him hear me scream just as he was. Cuts appeared on the skin of both of us, and I felt insanely pleased that I'd thought to use this condition of mine as a weapon against this bastard. A man who had attempted, a year ago, to brainwash all the mages of this innocent little town, in order to start his very own dark guild. And it seemed as if he'd achieved the objective without Reason's mages, but returned to the small town to set up a base. He disgusted me, but not enough that I would let him die.

I pushed him out of the flow of celestial energy that enveloped me when I knew he would be unable to move anymore, and he was unconscious. I let out a pained sound in the back of my throat, like a wounded animal, but I would not give the satisfaction of letting him hear it, even in his unconscious state. And finally, finally, after what had seemed an eternity but was, in reality, only about thirty seconds, I fell to my knees, gasping in huge lungful after huge lungful of air. My left glove was ripped nearly to shreds, my coat in tatters, and my skirt with a few rips, but my right glove was relatively intact, still hiding from Natsu and the others the only evidence they'd need to know who I was.

"Hey!" Gray shouted, trying to stumble over. Erza stumbled a few shaky steps before crumpling to the ground, crying out at the gash in her thigh. Gray lifted his bruised face to call, "Hey, are you all right, lady?"

"Hey," a warm hand touched my shoulder, "answer him! Are you all right?"

I looked up at the speaker to find that it was Natsu, and I swore a bit of recognition flashed across his face when I had turned to him, and a puzzled expression overcame his worry.

"I'm fine," I threw Natsu's hand off, breaking my heart a little more in the process. "Nara's out. Hurry and tie him. Use some rope or cuffs that don't allow him to use magic, if you've got that. The mayor's house is the largest in town, but it's on top of the hospital. You can go get your reward and then you can get yourselves checked out. Don't push yourselves too hard," I paused, looking briefly at them as I made my way to the door. I turned my back on them and said, as I stalked out, "Your Lucy wouldn't want you to kill yourselves for her sake."

"Hey, hey!" Natsu's voice shouted. "Wait–!"

"Aye!" Happy wailed after, but I didn't pay any attention, leaving the warehouse with all the haste I could manage with my several bleeding lacerations, mostly from my own magic.

I stared at the ceiling of my apartment, hearing the sounds of the café down below me. I knew from the noises below that my old team from Fairy Tail was there, because I heard Natsu yelling at Gray and Gray yelling back.

"It seems like you guys are feeling better," I said softly. I didn't have to speak so quietly, or worry about them hearing me, because of the enchantment around the room that gave me privacy, but I did anyway. Almost as if I was afraid Natsu's hearing was good enough to completely bypass a magic barrier. Maybe it was a foolish thought, but a girl who was on the run and hiding from the people one floor below was bound to be extremely cautious, right?

I let my eyes flutter closed, and Natsu's face entered my mind. The same rosy hair that I remembered, if just a bit longer and shaggier, but it still looked good on him. And of course, that white scarf that was given to him by Igneel, which looked just the same as it had the last hundred times I'd seen it. He still sported the vest without a normal t-shirt or something under it, showing off some pretty nice abs. But then again, Natsu had always had nice abs. A nice body in general, if I was to be completely and utterly honest with myself. I'd always noticed Natsu in that sense, but I never let myself act on it. The way his eyes shined when he grinned that childlike grin was just so endearing, and I let a kind of sad smile cross my lips. And it was easy to see that he'd matured some, even if his attitude was pretty much the same. His jaw line, as I pictured his face in my head, had become stronger and more defined, and I just wanted to go downstairs and walk right up to him to run my fingers across his features. But I couldn't.

Sighing, I opened my eyes to realize I had my hand lifted in the air, right where I'd been picturing it as I caressed the face of the Natsu in my mind.

A knock suddenly came at the door to the flat, and I sat up as Harrah's voice called, "Layla, I really hate to bother you with this, but could you give me a hand down here? The mages who went to the warehouse and dealt with Nara and those thugs today are a bit demanding, and eat a lot, and, well…"

I laughed and said under my breath, "Just like old times." I stood and said louder, for her to hear, "I'll be down in a minute!"

"Thank you!"

I heard her trundling back downstairs, and I smiled softly to myself as I put on a different pair of gloves, as I had tossed my tattered ones and hadn't bothered with putting others on just yet. Then I changed from my pajama pants, in which I was just lounging around, into some tight, faded black jeans and my normal boots while I threw on a blue tank top. My cuts were virtually all healed, due to the magical salve I kept on hand, and so I could have looked worse. I then covered my blonde hair with the wig that I'd done some new styling to, since it had been mussed up by the power that had engulfed Nara and I.

"That should do it," I said, looking in the mirror and seeing blue, contact-covered eyes staring back at me. I tried a smile, but it looked forced, so I thought of seeing the others again, and it brightened just a little. I was still happy to see them, even if they didn't know who I was and couldn't recognize me. And this way, when my end came, I could pull into my mind pictures of them as they were now and not just their three years younger counterparts.

I opened the door and slunk down the stairs, coming out behind the small counter.

"There you are, Layla!" Harrah smiled at me, giving me a once over with her eyes, as if to assure that I was fine. She had seen me all cut up earlier. "Can you please take these plates to that group over there by the window? The mages?"

My stomach lurched oddly.

"Yeah," I nodded. On a whim, I slid on my apron kept in the café for when I helped her out, and, on a whim, slid a box of matches into the pocket.

As I carried the trays toward the table, I let myself reminisce just a little, like that one time we'd helped at one of the Master's friend's new restaurant and how Natsu couldn't keep himself from eating half the food he was supposed to take out. And how Erza had gotten so into it! Gray wasn't able to keep his clothes on, but that hadn't really been a surprise. Though I had been hoping he could do it for just a single day.

My reverie was cut short as I got to the table and sat the trays down, to be looked up at and recognition cross their eyes.

"It's you!" all of them said in unison.

"Hello again, Fairy Tail mages," I said stiffly, but I grinned my bestial Layla grin as I said, "My name is Layla, and I'm going to be helping to serve you."

"You! B-but, you're a mage!" said Natsu, looking confused. "Why are you acting like a waitress when you're such a strong mage…?"

I snorted as I absentmindedly took out a match and struck it, lighting an entire chicken on fire before dropping the still lit match on the same plate. Natsu snatched it up quickly and licked the flame off of the match, grinning like a kid at Christmas. After watching that, I said, "I help out here, since the town was nice enough to give me the flat above for no charge after I took out Nara last year. Obviously, I didn't take him down well enough, but that's this so-called 'strong mage' for you."

I laughed at my own expense, taking Erza's glass and knowing by just one glance that she had the strawberry soda. I grinned a little as I said I'd be right back, and I headed back to the counter. I refilled the soda and covertly sliced a piece of our strawberry cake, telling Harrah, who was watching, that I'd pay for this piece. She looked at me slightly confusedly, and I just flashed a genuine smile her way. I was truly happy that I could at least do something that might console an old friend, even just a little, like Natsu's fire food, or Erza's favorite type of cake, or even the bowl of ice cream that I dished out for Gray and the fish I dug out for Happy. Maybe it wasn't smart, and maybe the actions might hint at who I was, but I was hoping for them to be dense enough that they wouldn't realize it.

So I walked back out there, with the kind of swagger a waitress would have, and held the tray above my head so they didn't see it. I placed Erza's drink before her.

"Thank you," she said, taking a drink.

"These are on the house," I said, smiling at them, as I placed a fish down by Happy with, "A fish for the kitty," since I wasn't supposed to know that he was an exceed, and then I put Gray's bowl in front of him, "some ice cream for the ice mage," I smiled at his wide-eyed look, and then I gestured at the charred plate where the fiery chicken had been, "and there was some fiery food for your fire mage, but I think he really enjoyed it already," to which they laughed, and then I smiled gently at Erza as I sat the slice of cake in front of her as I told her, "and I thought you'd like this, because you seemed to really enjoy our signature strawberry soda."

"You seem a lot nicer than you were earlier," Happy said, mouth full of fish.

"Well, I really owe you guys a lot," I laughed, searching for a little more of my indifferent persona, "because if you hadn't taken out all the small fry, I would have been overwhelmed. They think that I'm a good mage since that first time I was here, a year ago, I took out that black fire mage - his fire magic was horrible, did you notice? - on my own. So they think I can handle everything they throw at me. A little unfair, but I do my best and I don't complain. I owe them a lot, too."

"We should really thank you," said Erza, cutting a bite of her cake with poise. "If you hadn't shown up when you did, I'm afraid we would have utterly failed."

"You're doing it all for a friend," I said, turning my eyes down as I collected the dirty dishes that they were done with, "and I can sympathize with you. I don't know what she did to deserve friends like you guys, whoever she is, but she's one lucky girl."

She used to be, I thought to myself.

"You kind of remind me of her," Gray said suddenly, and I nearly froze.

"Oh…?" I questioned, timidly.

"Yeah. You've got huge boobs."

As I walked away, Gray was clutching his head where I'd hit him (without the magic fist), and also clutching his nose where his face had hit the table. I heard him groan, Natsu burst into laughter. Happy was munching away happily on his fish, and Erza was completely oblivious to it as she savored her cake. But with my back turned, I smiled softly to myself. Really, why couldn't they change a little more than that? It made it so much harder to stay away.

Again, aphrodite931 was a great help on this chapter! One of her suggestions from the first or second chapter came into play here for a much greater effect! The entire Loke scene was inspired by just one or two sentences from her. So, thanks, Aphrodite! You make this just THAT much better! Check out her Ophiuchus and When You Don't Know Me! J