"Good morning! How's Lucy-san doing?" Natsu groggily opened his eyes as he heard Wendy walk into the infirmary.

"Uwah?" Wendy couldn't help but giggle as she watched the older dragon slayer struggle to get himself in order, drool threatening to spill out of his mouth. When she stopped giggling, however, she noticed that Natsu had dark circles under his eyes.

"Natsu-san, are you okay? You look really tired. Did anything happen?" Natsu blinked a few more times before his brain finally began processing his surroundings.

"Oh, Wendy. Lucy got up in the middle of the night and started freaking out. I think she had a nightmare or something. I had to stay up and watch her for a while." Wendy was now beside the bed, a thoughtful look on her face.

"Sounds like it might've been a night terror. Well, she looks better now. It's my turn to watch her now, so you can go rest and grab something to eat." Natsu got up and stretched, relieving his stiff back.

"Thanks, Wendy. I'll see ya later." He left the room, and Wendy took the seat vacated by the older mage. She did a quick checkup on Lucy. The blonde's fever seemed to have broken, and the injuries she had when she was first found were all healed. To be completely honest, the blonde looked fine at the moment. She looked rather peaceful, sleeping in the bed. The only problem now appeared to be the night terrors that Natsu witnessed. Oh wait! Wendy remembered that Lucy's body rejected magic. Even if she was a non-magic user, Wendy's healing magic shouldn't have had such a painful effect on her. Wendy wondered if it was now safe to use her magic, now that Lucy seemed to be better. Still, Wendy was too scared of hurting the blonde again, and backed into her chair. She would wait until Porlyusica confirmed that it was okay to try.

The sky dragon slayer noticed Lucy shift and wake up. The blonde sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she did so.

"Good morning, Lucy-san! How are you feeling?"

"Good morning, Wendy. I feel much better, thanks."

"Um, are you sure you slept well?"

"Er, yes? Why do you ask?"

"Oh! I-I was just wondering if you really were okay, especially after what happened last night.." Lucy blinked a couple times.

"What happened last night?" Wendy stared at the blonde for a couple seconds. So she doesn't remember a thing.

Lucy continued to press Wendy. "Could you please tell me what happened?" Wendy apologized for her little lapse before quickly explaining about Lucy's night terror, and how Natsu comforted her back to sleep. Lucy flushed a bit out of embarrassment.

"O-Oh. I don't remember that at all. I-I'll have to thank Natsu for watching over me. Anyways, I really do feel better now, and I'm honestly kind of itching to start moving around. It's been a while since I've gone out, hasn't it?" The bluenette nodded an affirmative.

"Right, it would be good to move around again. But let me help you. You might be a bit unsteady on your legs." Lucy kicked off the covers and sat at the edge of the bed. Just as Wendy feared, the instant Lucy tried to stand, her legs gave out, and she would have collapsed if Wendy hadn't caught her in time. Wendy tucked herself under Lucy's arm to support her as a crutch. Lucy laughed nervously as she steadied herself.

"Thanks, I guess you were right." Wendy only smiled as she pointed to the bedside table.

"Here, we have some clothes for you to change into, and you can wash up in the bathroom next door." Lucy thanked Wendy and they made their way around, getting Lucy ready for the day. Lucy felt pretty bad; she was practically making a little girl carry her around.

When Lucy was satisfied with her appearance, the pair slowly made their way to the main hall of the guild. Lucy gasped at how large the building actually was. The main hall resembled a café, with the tables, the bar, and the stage. There were tons of people, drinking and having fun.

While Lucy was still gaping at the grandeur of the guild hall, Natsu and Gray ran up to the pair.

"Hey, Lucy! You're finally able to get up and move around?"

"Oi, Wendy, let us help. You look like you're having a tough time supporting her."

"Th-thank you!" Wendy ducked out from under Lucy's arm for Gray to replace her. Natsu took hold of Lucy's other arm, and they walked her over to the bar, where Erza and a white-haired bartender were waiting.

"Hi Lucy! We all heard about you, and have been worried sick! Good to see you up and about! Oh, and I'm Mirajane. Nice to meet you!" The Take-Over mage smiled in a way that Lucy couldn't help but return.

"Thanks, nice to meet you!"

"Oh, you must be hungry! Here, I have some leftovers from breakfast. Enjoy!" As Lucy sat at the bar, Mira presented a plate of eggs and toast. The blonde happily started eating, hungry from her ordeal over the last few days.

While Lucy was eating, members of the guild decided to introduce themselves and get to know her. By the time she was done with her small meal, she had already met Cana, Team Shadowgear, Macao, Wakaba, and Romeo, among others. She giggled to herself as she looked at the guild members that were starting to crowd around her spot at the bar, arguing to get the blonde's attention. These people seemed to be so much fun, each with his or her own colorful personality. Fairy Tail really seemed to be a nice place.

"Hey, where's Loke?" Lucy noticed some people talking among themselves.

"I think he's out on a job. He's seems to be out doing jobs a lot more lately."

"Really? Strange, considering this is Loke we're talking about."

"I know, right? He's probably just flirting around town. Too bad, he'd love to meet a beauty like Lucy here."

"Still, hasn't he been acting just a little bit weird recently? Like, something's off with him."

Fighting her rising blush at the compliment, Lucy tried to focus on the question in her mind.

"Who's Loke?"

Gray addressed Lucy while trying to shove some of the guys off the bar. "He's another member. Total ladies' man. Watch out for him. He'll do anything to woo you." Lucy laughed at the warning.

After another half-hour of talking, the crowd around Lucy died down. She was then left alone at the bar with Mirajane, Natsu, Wendy, and Gray. They sat there for a minute in silence, seemingly tired from the sudden social event that just took place.

"I'm back!" The front doors of the guild swung open, and the group turned to see who was entering. Lucy saw a young man with orange hair and tinted shades walk in. Lucy had to admit, he looked rather attractive.

Gray stood up and called to the man. "Yo! Loke! What's up? How'd your job go?"

"Hey. It went well, nothing too hard. I'm just glad to finally have some time to rest."

"You've been going on more jobs recently. Why's that?"

"Heh, I guess I just felt like doing more work recently."

"Sure, whatever. Anyways, come here. We've got a new friend here." Gray stood up from the barstool and Lucy did the same. Loke began walking over, but stopped the instant he fully processed Lucy's appearance. His eyes widened in shock as he began to stare at the blonde.

Lucy shifted uncomfortably under his intense gaze. Nevertheless, she put on a bright smile and introduced herself.

"Hi, I'm Lucy. Nice to meet you!" Loke didn't move, but whispered something so quietly that only the dragon slayers present could hear.

"You..."

"Eh? You already know her from somewhere?" Natsu scrunched his face in confusion.

Gray smirked. "Maybe Lucy's already been a victim of Loke's flirtatious ways."

Lucy blinked. "Have I met you before? I'm sory, but I'm having some trouble remembering things right now.."

"N-no! It's nothing!" Loke quickly recovered from his trance, and genuinely smiled at Lucy. "Hi, it's nice to meet you." Loke shifted around a bit more before turning to leave. "Sorry, but I have to go. Just remembered something. See you guys later!"

Everyone at the bar just looked on in the direction the mage took off in.

"That was weird."

"Whatever. I'm bored. Let's go out for a job! Where's Happy?" Natsu got up to find his Exceed companion before heading over to the request board.

"I guess I'll go too. Where'd Erza run off to? She'll probably want to tag along. See you later, Lucy."

"I should get Carla, too. Bye, Lucy-san!" Gray and Wendy got up to follow Natsu.

"See you guys later!" Lucy waved at them before getting back to her seat and turning to face Mirajane. The bartender leaned forward, interest gleaming in her eyes.

"So, Lucy. What are you going to do?"

"Pardon?"

"I mean, now that you're getting better, do you have any plans?" Lucy leaned on an elbow as she thought. She really didn't have any plans for the near future. She still didn't know who she really was or where she was from, but she couldn't afford to just sit around doing nothing.

"How about you stay with us for a while?" Lucy's looked up, surprise evident on her face. Mirajane only smiled as she elaborated.

"You can work here until everything sorts itself out. I heard that you don't have access to any magic, but you're more than welcome to help out in the guild hall!"

"Could I really?"

"Sure! You can help me out with the bar. Master already said you could stay, didn't he? Mirajane took out a large stamp from under the counter. " Here! This is to give you your very own guild mark! With this, you'll officially be a member of our family! Where do you want it?" Lucy brightened at the thought of being a part of this large family she already liked so much.

"Here, please!" Lucy held up her right hand, and the white-haired mage pressed the stamp on her hand. With a pop, the stamp was removed, and a pink Fairy Tail logo appeared. Lucy's smile widened as she softly touched her new mark. For the first time since waking up in that forest, she felt a sense of belonging. Even though she had just met everyone, she noticed that they were almost too easy to befriend, almost as if she had known them already. Even when she saw some of the quirks of the members (like Cana chugging down a barrel of beer, or Gray randomly stripping, or Natsu devouring a plate of food on fire), she wasn't as surprised as she thought she should have been. For some reason, Lucy felt as if she had finally returned home. Everything just seemed so.. familiar.

Mirajane giggled as she watched Lucy get lost in her thoughts. "We're glad to have you too, but aren't you a little too excited?" Lucy shook her head a few times and tried to stand up. She had to brace herself against the bar counter at first, but after a couple more minutes, she was able to stand on her own. The blonde figured that the meal helped her body regain some of its strength. After pacing back and forth a bit to make sure she could walk, she turned to Mira for instructions.

"So, what can I do to help out?"

"You can serve food and drinks here for a while. I can go to the tables to tend to the people there, and you can get the ones that walk up. Think you can mix some drinks? Can you cook? There's also a kitchen in the back." Lucy nodded and made her way next to the Take-Over mage. As it turns out, Lucy was a pretty good cook and bartender. After demonstrating her ability to make several drinks and dishes, Lucy satisfied Mirajane enough to be left alone with customers.

After working the bar for a couple hours, Lucy went into the kitchen to start preparing food for lunch. The kitchen was large, and the appliances were all high-quality. Lucy was going through the fridge for ingredients when a sudden chill made her straighten up and look around.

She saw some dark blobs start to emerge from the walls of the kitchen. The dark blobs slowly took humanoid forms as they dropped to the floor. Lucy gasped and pressed her back to the wall.

"H-hello!? Is anyone there!? Help!" Lucy's cries were unheard in the main hall; it was too loud for anyone to hear sounds coming from the kitchen. Someone might have been able to hear if they were nearby at the bar, but the bar was vacant.

Lucy could only watch as the blobs continued to take form before her. Whatever these things were, they were unlike anything else on Earthland. Their black bodies were somewhat transparent, and seemed to be shimmering. It was as if glitter was thrown all over the creatures. They made no noise as they formed around her. Lucy counted that six creatures formed in the kitchen.

She knew that time was running out, and her options were severely limited. The door was blocked off, and she couldn't fight. There were a couple windows that she might be able to jump out of, but she would have to risk passing a couple of the creatures, and she wasn't that fast in her current physical state.

Lucy noticed a flash of light in the corner of her eye. When she turned to see the source, the light was so bright that she had to cover her eyes with an arm. As she closed her eyes, she could hear a few steps and grunts as someone bounded across the room. She stayed frozen for a while until all movement in the room stopped.

"Are you okay?" Lucy opened her eyes to see that Loke was standing in front of her, a ring on his finger softly glowing with a yellow light. He was a little out of breath, but otherwise unscathed. When she looked around, the creatures had all disappeared, leaving a small cloud of glittering light in the kitchen.

"Y-yes. Thank you for saving me.." Lucy blushed a bit as she looked down. Loke softly smiled.

"Any time, for you. Be more careful next time, though."

"Lucy, are you all right!? I saw a bright flash of light from the kitchen and- Loke? What are you doing here? What's all this residue around the kitchen?" Mirajane rushed in, confused and frantic. Lucy turned to the white-haired mage and tried her best to explain what happened.

"I'm fine! It's just.. some weird blob-creature things showed up, but Loke came and took them out before they could do anything." The explanation did not help ease Mira's worries.

"WHAT!? Oh my gosh Lucy I'm so sorry! I should've been here with you!" She tackled Lucy and hugged her while sobbing on her shoulder.

"I-I'm really fine, nothing happened! Nothing to worry about.."

"What do we have here?" Makarov walked in, slightly shocked at the bewildering scene before him. "I saw the light, and... someone care to explain?" Mirajane pulled herself away from Lucy, and the latter sighed before retelling the events that transpired only minutes before.

The guild master thoughtfully stroked his beard. "Hmm... It's fortunate Loke came to save you. But why you of all people, Loke? I thought you went back out to town. I'm surprised you managed to come save her when the other members just outside failed to." Loke stammered and looked away.

"I-it's just.. I had a weird feeling, I guess. I sort of sensed the things spawning in nearby, and I rushed over to help." Loke shifted uncomfortably under the master's hard stare. He knew that Makarov wasn't satisfied with that answer, but fortunately, he pressed no further.

"Ahem. Very well then. That was a strange occurrence, but everything seems okay now. Be more careful in the future, though. All of you."

"Yes, Master!" Makarov left the kitchen, going back to the main hall.

"I guess I'll go too." Loke turned to leave.

"Um, thanks again for saving me!" He turned to Lucy and smiled again.

"I told you, I'll be here any time you need me." And with that, he left.

Lucy softly laughed as she looked at his retreating figure. Flirt.

Outside, Loke was about to leave the guild again when Makarov called from the other side of the room.

"Loke, to my office, please." Loke awkwardly scratched his head before following the master. He had a good idea of where this is going. When they took their seats in the office, Makarov cleared his throat and looked at Loke with strong intent.

"I believe you know why I called you here."

"I have a vague idea, yeah." The old man sighed before continuing.

"You have some sort of affiliation with Lucy, don't you? You know something about what's going on with her." Loke shrugged his shoulders and gave a knowing smile.

"You could say I know a thing or two. To be honest, I have a pretty interesting story to tell you, but I'm not sure if you'll buy it." Makarov settled in more comfortably in his chair, his facial features softening.

"Try me."

A/N: Hi again! This might be a pretty long note, so I apologize in advance!

First off, thanks for reading! Writing this is quite an adventure. I'm new to writing, so I'm learning a lot, and it's fun! So I thank you for supporting me; it really keeps me going!

The main point of this note is the subject of romance. I'm staying flexible about this for a while, to see how things play out in the story. As far as I can tell, NaLu is the only pairing possible that can work in conjunction with how the plot works out. At the moment, I'm choosing not to have them end up together, but I may have some moments for them (like the end of Ch 2). I'd like to ask, are you guys okay with that arrangement? Or would you like to see their relationship develop further? Your answers may or may not affect how things end up, but I'm curious about what everyone's thinking.

Sorry for asking so many questions over the last couple of chapters! I'm writing with a sort of mentality that my story should be somewhat tailored to what the audience wants, so hearing your opinions really matters to me. But either way, thank you so much for reading! I'm actually ahead with my writing, so the next chapter will come out within the next week for sure!