Lucy awoke in a cave that seemed vaguely familiar until she remembered where she was. She softly caressed Mavis's headstone before wandering the island. This was going to be her domain for the foreseeable future, so she figured she'd better get used to it. Mavis had given her directions to a cave close to the headstone that Lucy could use to make herself a home and that was the first place the blonde went, setting it up so that at least it seemed homey. She unpacked her few belongings and set up a picture of Natsu, Gray, herself, and Erza. It was the only photo she'd packed and for a moment she felt a pang of guilt for not having one of Levy or anyone else in the guild.

Lucy silently scolded herself. They would be gone before she forgot about any of them. She should have left the picture at her apartment, but she couldn't bare the thought of having nothing to remember her family by. She smiled softly at the photo before setting it by the place she'd made her bed. Turning from the scene she decided that it was time to learn the island inside out so that she would never be lost.

"Right," She said to herself. "Well, no use just moping about here. For all I know I could be here the next hundred years. Might as well reacquaint myself with this place."

She sighed as she walked, wishing that she had someone there to talk to.

Might as well get used to. I'm going to be alone for a very long time.

Then she shivered, remembering that Zeref was also somewhere on this island.

I hope I don't run into him.

She couldn't help but wonder what the evilest mage in history was like, though. Her instincts screamed at her not to get close to him, not to try to find him, but her writer's curiosity was dying to know more about him. She wondered if he was really as evil as everyone said or if he'd become evil due to his magic. She could imagine how it would be easy to slip down that path when you had magic that could kill someone without even your conscious thought.

She shivered as she recalled how easy it had been to raise Natsu from death. It's not something that she would want to do again, even if it had been easier than summoning her spirits. She stopped as she realized she'd been wandering without paying attention. Turning she wondered if she could remember how to get back to her cave. As far as she could remember she'd been wandering on this path.

Nodding to herself she turned back around, so long as she stayed on the path she should be able to make her way back to the cave without an issue. She continued on until she reached a lake. She smiled as she sat beside it.

"I'd forgotten how large this island was," She whispered.

She fingered the one of the two key that she had brought with her. She had dissolved contracts with all of her spirits except two. Plue, because his key was so common that she hadn't felt any guilt about keeping him with her, and Loke, who had steadfastly refused to even consider allowing her to dissolve it. The others had protested, Aquarius had thrown a fit.

"I've put all this time and energy into training you and now you're going to leave me. I'm going to have to start all over again!"

Lucy smiled at the memory, knowing it was the mermaid's way of saying that she would miss Lucy. The others had all had their say as well, some even cried, but in the end they had all agreed. All but Loke. He refused to come for a long time and Lucy was sure it was because word had gotten around that she was dissolving the contracts. When he finally did show up he refused to allow her to terminate it, reminding her that he had made his own contract with the Celestial Spirit King that he would always be with her.

She'd finally relented when he told her that until she actually died he was bound to her or else he would die himself. No matter what may come she couldn't just let him die, so she attached the two keys to her waist, leaving the others on her desk. Gray would make sure that they got to the girl she was leaving them for.

Loke materialized and sat beside her.

"Pretty lonely, huh?" He asked.

She nodded, "It's strange not having anyone around, almost like being back at the mansion."

He nodded, "How are you holding up?"

She shrugged, "I'm okay right now. It's a nice break for the moment. It's later that I'm worried about. What's it going to be like not having Natsu curled up next to me tonight? To wake up and not hear him and Gray arguing? Or to hear Erza complaining that I don't have enough cake?"

Loke hugged her close as she started crying.

"I'm all alone out here, Loke. No wonder why Mavis enjoys sticking around the guild hall so much."

The spirit gave her a sympathetic look.

"I'll come out to see you as much as I can," He said quietly. "I'm still under contract with you, so feel free to summon me whenever you need to."

He looked around the island frowning, "Other than a few monsters here and there, you shouldn't really need me to do much fighting, so I think I'll be okay just spending time with you when you need me to."

Lucy wrapped her arms around him, hugging him close.

"I'm so glad you stayed with me," She whispered.

He grinned, pushing his glasses up before hugging her back, "Where else would I go?"

She smiled up at him, completely unaware of the dark figure at the other side of the lake, watching them sadly.

"I hope you don't die, too, Lucy," The figure whispered, softly before turning and hurrying in the other direction.