Chapter 3 Fated Reunion

All of Lucy's friends tried running after her, but it was hard to pick up her scent or even see anything through all of the rain.

"Crap. Has anyone found her yet?!" Sting called out.

"No. And we've looked everywhere." Juvia said with concern in her voice.

"She most likely took off already." Rogue said.

"Then we just have to go after her!" Ryu exclaimed.

"But then we'd be in danger." Lector said.

"But, what about Lucy?" Frosch said on the brink of tears. They all looked down in sadness and still not knowing what to do.

"We'll just keep looking for now. Going to that place will be our last resort." Sting said. They all nodded in agreement and all started looking again.

After running out of the guild, Lucy took off straight to the destination that she was heading in, not taking anything with her. Since it wasn't in Fiore, she had to use her magic to fly there. Tears still streamed down her cheeks, but it was hard to tell because rain was still pouring down and she still wore an angry expression. She was moving at high speeds, so she should've reached it by now.

"Damn! Where is it!?" Lucy grunted.

Just as she said that, the rain began lightening until it came to a complete stop. She looked around with a puzzled expression because dark clouds were still over her head. She looked below her and saw a small island that seemed to be covered in a forest. Lucy's eyes widen when she felt some magical power coming from it. She quickly moved down to the island and landed on the edge of it. Lucy looked at the thick groves of trees before her for a few moments before going into the forest.

"I left them to find him and that's what'll do." Lucy thought. She heard rustling in some bushes to the left of her and some giant wolf jumped out and tried to attack her. Luckily, Lucy killed it before it could even touch her.

"Jeez. If stuff like this roams this place, I can understand why it's so dangerous here." Lucy mumbled.

She kept walking around aimlessly, killing off any other beasts like the one from earlier that tried to attack her, until she came upon a small clearing, but not any regular one. The reason it was a clearing was because everything in that small area was dead. The grass, trees, plants, even some animals. Lucy walked into the center of the clearing, almost looking horrified and sickened.

"Holy crap." Lucy whispered.

"Truly horrible, isn't?" a voice said.

Lucy snapped her head around, but she couldn't see anyone. Suddenly, she was able to a figure coming out of the forest into the clearing. Once the person was completely visible, she saw that it was a man with black hair that was wearing a purple robe and a white sash. After seeing him, Lucy almost immediately recognized him.

"W-wait...aren't you..." Lucy stuttered. The man smiled sadly at her.

"I should've known you'd find me, Lucy." he said. Small tears formed in Lucy's eyes. She ran towards him and wrapped her arms around his waist very tightly.

"I thought I'd never find you...Zeref." Lucy choked out.

"I wouldn't stay too close to me Lucy." said Zeref. Lucy heard that and looked up at him and slowly let go.

"Why not? I spent so long looking for you, why wouldn't I want to stay close to you." said Lucy. Zeref just looked down sadly without saying anything. That's when Lucy remembered an important fact.

"Oh, right. That magic." mumbled Lucy.

"I'm sorry for making you come all this way, but please go." said Zeref as he began to turn around. But before he could fully turn around, Lucy grabbed his wrist.

"No! I won't you slip away just like this. If you come back with, you can start over and we can find some way to help you." Lucy exclaimed. Zeref didn't even look over his shoulder or turn around in the slightest.

"Please, just leave me Lucy." Zeref said again. Lucy's grip became even tighter.

"I said I'm not letting you go!" Lucy practically shouted. Suddenly, Zeref's eyes widen and he let out a pained shout while grabbing his head with his free hand.

"Hey! What's wrong!?" Lucy asked in a panicked tone, letting go of his wrist and placing her hands on his back. Before she could even try and do anything, Zeref pushed her away hard enough to cause her to fall onto the ground.

"What's going on!?" Lucy said as she got onto her feet. She reached out to Zeref again, ignoring all of the stuff around him.

"Don't come near me!" Zeref shout.

But, Lucy was already about to touch it. When she did, an unexpected thing happened. The part where her finger tips were touching began glowing a bright gold light and he became brighter and brighter, until it a small shockwave happened. The light vanished and so did the black mist around Zeref and they were both thrown back a few feet. Lucy and Zeref both looked dumb struck about what happened.

"Wh-what just..." Zeref trailed off.

"I-I don't know." Lucy answered. She was the first one to get back on her feet, so she walked over to Zeref.

"Anyway, are you ok?" Lucky asked.

She held out her hand to help him up, but after Zeref grabbed her hand and Lucy pulled him up, some of the black mist from earlier almost appeared to go from Zeref's hand to Lucy's. They let go of the other's hand when they saw that happen.

"What was that?" Zeref asked.

"I don't know, but something tells me it means something." Lucy said, looking at her hand.

"But Lucy, how did you find me exactly?" Zeref asked.

"Oh, well, someone left me this small lacrima that showed you and they left a piece of paper that told me where this place was." Lucy explained. Once he heard that, Zeref's eyes widen.

"What's wrong?" Lucy said.

"Oh no. This is bad." Zeref muttered.