It was the middle of the night. A man was standing alone at the edge of a cliff. He was looking up towards the sky, observing the stars. Though the stars shone brightly, it was still too dark to make out any distinct features on his face. He stargazed in silence, a gentle breeze brushing through his hair. Another person walked up behind him, hidden by the darkness.

"You're late," the man said, still staring at the sky.

"I wanted to attack her one more time, while she was weak. The guild managed to protect her, though."

"It doesn't matter. The seal alone is more than enough for us to be able to move on with our plans. Don't you see it?" His partner walked up beside him, and looked up as well.

"Don't you see it?" he repeated. "The stars... they are starting to fade. It's already working." The man chuckled as he thought to himself. Now that you have been taken care of, Lucy Heartfilia, we just have to find him.

The next day, Mirajane followed Lucy everywhere. When Lucy tended the bar, Mira was there too. When Lucy was talking to Levy about a book at one of the tables, Mira joined in on the conversation. When Lucy went out for a walk, Mira accompanied her. The Take-Over mage felt that Lucy's moment in danger was all her fault, and she was determined to keep Lucy safe.

Lucy, on the other hand, held nothing against Mira. She tried to tell the older girl that she would be fine on her own, and that she'd be more careful, but Mira wouldn't hear it.

When Team Natsu returned from their job, they strongly agreed that Lucy needed to be guarded at all times. Since they got back, Lucy always had at least one member of the team with her. Natsu and Erza tended to stay with her the most. Natsu liked having her company, and Erza insisted that there were times when only a woman could be with Lucy.

Lucy was initially uncomfortable with all the attention, and felt like a burden to the team, but everyone claimed that they were more than happy to hang out with her. So, she just accepted the constant presence of the mages.

Over the next couple days, she learned just how much fun the guild and its members could be. There was at least one guild-wide brawl a day, usually initiated by Natsu or Gray and stopped by Erza or the Master. Through these fights, the blonde learned just how terrifying the Requip mage could be, and made a mental note never to get on her bad side.

Lucy also moved into Fairy Hills, the girls' dorm for the guild. Erza offered to share one of her five rooms with Lucy for the time being. Lucy set up her room modestly, with a bed, a desk, and a dresser. She was still unsure of how long she would be staying with Fairy Tail, so she didn't want to commit too much to her decor. Still, she was happy to have a place to stay, and with so many other people at that. She also found herself completely cured of her fever and injuries after a couple days. Her memory loss seemed to be the only ailment that continued to plague her.

At night, however, Lucy continued to have strange dreams. One dream in particular seemed to.. speak to her. It was during her fourth night in Fairy Hills. There was no image to go with her dream; she was just in a void of black, speaking with the voice of her subconscious.

"Lucy."

"Yes?"

"You might feel a bit lost right now, but that's fine." Lucy furrowed her brow.

"How so?"

"You were meant to end up with Fairy Tail. Don't you feel it? That familiar sense of family."

"..I do. I just joined, but I already love it here." Lucy noticed that the strange feeling of familiarity was present here as well. Even in this empty void of a dream, she felt safe. The voice continued.

"Everything that has happened to you so far is tied to the prophecy of the stars. Do not falter. No matter how bleak the circumstances, you must press on, for what you believe in. And remember, love, you are not alone." Lucy felt the voice's presence start to fade, and she desperately reached out.

"Wait! Who are you? Why are you telling me this?" The presence grew weaker, but Lucy felt a lingering warmth in the air.

"That's for another time. I promise." With that, the presence faded completely, and Lucy felt herself being slowly pulled back into the real world.

"Good morning, Lucy." Erza was already up and fully dressed to go out. Lucy stretched as she got out of bed, and stifled a yawn.

"Good morning, Erza. You're up early."

"Yes, well, I like to make the most of each day. I also agreed to meet Natsu and the others in a couple hours to go out on a job. We decided yesterday on a job that involved finding a lost family heirloom somewhere in the town. It's a relatively easy task, but we wanted some fast cash."

"Sounds like fun!"

"Really? Would you like to join us, then?" Lucy blinked the last of her drowsiness away.

"Could I?" Erza put a hand to her chin to think for a brief moment before nodding with a smile.

"I don't think anyone would have any objections to you coming. It's not a dangerous job by any means, and you would have the whole team to watch you. And, you'd be able to go on something of a small adventure around the town. It would be a great chance to tour around and meet some locals. It's a win-win situation, the way I see it." Lucy's eyes brightened and she jumped out of bed.

"I'll get ready right now!" Erza chuckled as she watched Lucy run towards the showers. She decided to go downstairs and find some breakfast for Lucy.

After their morning preparations were done, Lucy and Erza walked together to the guild hall. The rest of the team was already there, and they were sitting together at a table. The two ladies took seats at the table, and everyone exchanged greetings.

"Is it okay if Lucy tags along for today's job? I thought it over, and I think that it would be fine for her to accompany us, since today's task is pretty simple."

"Sure you can come. You seem like you got smarts, and would actually be helpful in looking for a lost object, unlike Flamebrain here.

"What'd you say!?" Natsu stepped out of his chair, and butted heads with Gray.

"You wanna go!?"

"Like you could ever beat me, Ice Princess!"

"Oh yeah!?"

"Both of you, stop." Erza shoved them apart and gave them both a death glare. The two mages sat back down, scowling. Lucy and Wendy nervously laughed. Erza, satisfied for the time being, sat back down.

"Anyways, we should go. The client last remembers seeing their item at the park, so let's start there." Everyone nodded in agreement, and they set off in the direction of the park.

The job took less time than expected. Lucy managed to spot the trinket hanging from a tree branch, probably carried there by a bird. They all went to turn in the item for their reward, and decided to spend their extra time going around town.

Lucy took her time seeing what Magnolia had to offer. She ate local food, met local people, and visited iconic sites. She enjoyed being able to learn more about where she was, and having great friends around only enhanced the experience.

The most exciting part for her, however, was shopping. Since arriving at Fairy Tail, the blonde had virtually nothing of her own, clothes or otherwise. For a while, Erza had graciously lent some of her outfits to Lucy. However, she felt that she should at least have some clothes of her own. Fortunately for her, the team gave her a portion of the earlier job's reward, which turned out to be enough to buy a few outfits at the stores. She went through the stores, and with some help from Erza and Wendy, managed to find a number of cute outfits that met her budget.

After Lucy's shopping spree, the group decided to have dinner at a nearby restaurant before going home. At the dorm, Lucy and Erza spent some time talking as they sorted out the former's new clothes and got ready for bed.

"So, Lucy. How was your day? Did you enjoy coming along with us?"

"Oh, yes! The job itself wasn't that bad, and it was so much fun being able to explore Magnolia with everyone! And I'm glad to have some things of my own to wear! Today worked out perfectly!" Erza could only smile at the euphoria the blonde was still feeling.

"Maybe you'd like to join us on some more jobs in the future, then?"

"Yes! It's pretty fun being with you guys, so I'm actually pretty excited! But... I can't use any magic, so I don't know if I would be much help.." The Requip mage shook her head and smiled.

"Nonsense. You were a great help on today's job. Even if you can't fight, there are so many other things you can do. Just like today's job, there are many jobs that involve little to no combat. You'll be fine." Lucy's eyes brightened at the statement.

With that, Lucy began to regularly accompany Team Natsu on jobs. Just as Erza said, she proved to be very useful, even without magic. On one particular job, when the team had to find some herbs in a forest, Lucy proved to be a skilled navigator. She was good enough at following a map during the day, and at night, she had extensive knowledge of the stars, and was able to use them to get her bearings. When the team started taking more difficult jobs like taking down bandit groups around town, Lucy stayed back and provided first aid. As it turned out, Lucy was far from useless to the team.

After another couple of weeks of jobs, Natsu decided he wanted to tackle a more challenging job. He was getting bored of the lack of action he'd been facing recently. Erza objected for Lucy's sake, but the blonde said that she wanted to go on a harder job too, even if it did prove to be dangerous. After a good half hour of debating, Erza gave in. They ultimately decided on a job to eradicate a dark guild that was starting to form in the outskirts of Magnolia. Because it was relatively new, they figured that it wouldn't be that organized or dangerous.

When they got close to the dark guild hall, they hid as Erza came up with a plan. The building was rather plain, and was covered in vines to blend in with the surrounding foliage. After a few minutes of checking out the structure, Erza turned to the group and explained her plan.

"Okay. It seems that there are multiple entrances. We should split into teams to take each entrance. Wendy, Natsu, take the north entrance. Gray, Lucy, take the east entrance. I'll take the main entrance at the south. Happy, Carla, you will fly over us and scout out the guild. Report anything you find. Hopefully, I can be enough of a distraction to bring most of the members to myself." Lucy nodded with the rest of the group. From her observations of the team on their previous jobs, Lucy knew that Erza could easily handle a whole mob of mages on her own. In fact, she trusted the strength of everyone there. Though she hadn't seen much of the power of the rest of the guild members, she was as confident as Mirajane that this was Fairy Tail's strongest team.

After Erza's briefing, everyone split up. Lucy followed Gray to the east entrance. They waited a few minutes in the bushes nearby, and they heard an explosion coming from the south end of the building. They grinned, knowing that Erza was already doing her part. A small group of mages burst out of the door before them, figuring that the Requip mage was not alone. Gray jumped out of the bushes and proceeded to quickly take care of the group of mages. They proved to be pushovers, and went down without the ice mage even having to use his magic that much. Lucy emerged from her hiding spot as Gray dusted off his hands.

"Not much of a fight."

"True, they're weaker than we thought. The others should have no problem, then." Gray nodded and walked to the door. He pushed it open, and the pair walked inside.

It was eerily quiet. Gray could hear Erza and the others fighting outside, but the inside of the building seemed to be empty. They were in a big, but sparsely decorated room. There were a few crates around the perimeter of the room, but the center of the room was clear. He knew that something was off.

Before he could react, however, multiple large lacrima emerged from the ground, activating a magic-draining trap. Gray growled in pain as he felt all of his power leave his body. Lucy also felt the pain as she was trapped in the room with him. She saw the magic leaving the ice mage, but couldn't do anything as she felt her own body shaking. Why? She thought. Why am I affected? I don't have magic... She gasped as she saw dark tendrils of energy seep out of her skin. It was burning everywhere, and she screamed at the pain.

A few minutes later, they were both completely drained, and the lacrima deactivated. A door on the far side of the room opened, and a group of mages filed into the room, smirking at the pair.

"Game over, fairies! Say your goodbyes!" They started to close in towards Gray to finish him off. Lucy panicked inside, but she couldn't move, not in her current state. No... Not him... NO! She screamed again, but this time in determination.

Gray couldn't believe his eyes as he turned to Lucy. She was wrapped in golden light, and it soon flooded the room. He heard grunts around him, and he turned again to see the mages being taken down. Fighting them were two figures: what seemed to be a goat wearing a suit, and an all-too familiar looking human wearing tinted glasses. The new pair made quick work of the dark guild's mages. The man in glasses gave Gray an apologetic look before silently disappearing with the goat in a flash of golden light. Gray wanted to check on Lucy, but he was too confused and too tired. He merely leaned his head back on the ground and let unconsciousness take him under.

What. The. Fuck.

Natsu, Erza, and Wendy were rushing towards the east entrance. They all made quick work of the mages at their sides, and met up in the middle of the guild. They noted that Lucy and Gray were absent, and feared the worst when they heard Lucy scream. When they got to the missing pair, they were mortified. Gray was lying on the floor, looking beat up and unconscious, and Lucy was on her knees, gasping for breath.

Wendy immediately ran to Gray, who seemed to need more attention, and Natsu ran to Lucy, catching her just as she started to slump forward. She leaned into his embrace, no longer having the energy to support herself. Still trying to steady her breath, she could only whisper to the dragon slayer.

"Gray.."

"Wendy's healing him right now. He'll be fine."

"Thank goodness..."

"Shh.. Don't talk. Save your energy." Lucy pulled away from him and barely managed a smile as fatigue started to completely take over.

"Natsu... I-" Her eyes closed as the last of her consciousness faded.

"Lucy!? Hang in there!" Natsu frantically tried to keep Lucy awake, but she slipped into the same state as Gray, and could only say her last words in her head.

I remember.

A/N: Hi again! As usual, thank you for all your support so far! And on top of that, I'd like to apologize. This chapter was probably a bit confusing and hard to read, and I say this because it was pretty hard to write :3. I mulled it over for a bit, and I really couldn't come up with a way to make this chapter more coherent. A lot happens in this chapter, but I had to sort of cram everything into this chapter to finish up what I call "the beginning chapters". I did that to be able to tie up any loose ends of Lucy meeting the guild so I can start taking off with the plot. I won't really ask for reviews this time either, because, well, I know this chapter was probably bad xD

But the story's about to get more spicy! Things are about to start moving, so I hope I got you excited enough to keep reading! I'll try to have the next chapter up by next Thursday (which seems to be my regular updating day), but I might have to change the day to make writing easier. Not sure yet.

Either way, thanks for reading, and I hope you stay reading to the end!