Chapter Six - Tree

Lucy strode toward the door glaring the whole time, "Follow me," she growled.

"Luce, are you sure you wanna go out there?" Bryan found the woman.

"I'm taking them to Heartfilia Town, so they can relax and train," the blonde told him, "and since I can't teleport there," - it was a policy introduced due to paparazzi possessing illegal teleportation devices - "I have to walk."

"Fine," Bryan let her go after a moment's deliberation, "but promise me you won't try to murder anyone this time just because they want your photo for a magazine."

"But Lucy loves taking photos for magazines," Happy mumbled. Wendy nodded sadly with the exceed.

"But, this isn't the Lucy we knew anymore," the bluenette informed the cat.

"She just acted like the Lucy I knew!" Natsu yelled and pushed a wall. I didn't burn like everyone expected; instead, it sent him bouncing to the other wall which had a similar spell cast on it. For five minutes the process of bouncing wall to wall continued, until Lucy shouted outside.

"Get out of my way dammit!"

"Lucy is it true you're marrying the King?"

"Are we all going to die?"

"Lucy what are your plans for the celebration?"

"How are you going to avoid war?"

"Lucy …" The questions continued, but the crowd suddenly feel silent. An imposing blonde had slung his arm around Lucy's shoulder. She shot him a glare but continued forward.

"That wasn't necessary," Lucy wiggled out of Laxus's arm as soon as they were out of the Paparazzis' sight and well into the Heartfilia Town boundaries. Laxus shrugged, but before anymore could be said, Lucy announced: "We're here!" She looked much younger, almost eighteen, when she saw the poorly built building.

"This looks like … Fairy Tail," Wendy breathed. The building standing before the group looked like crap compared to the new Fairy Tail building.

"I know, I had its specially built. Not many know about it, "she grinned, "We treat it like a rehabilitation center for mages that are hurt very badly emotionally and physically," She waved her hand at the many mages struggling, "You see each guild specializes in something. This guild is our healing guild." She smiled proudly.

"You really like it here," Laxus noted.

"It feels like home."

"It does," Wendy looked like she was in love with the place.

"Yeah ... when I had it designed, I was thinking about who would be the master of this guild, and I though maybe Porlyusica - it amazes me she managed to survive the war … but suddenly an idea hit me. That this would be the perfect place for Wendy to be the Master of." She grinned again, "Come on, let me give you guys a tour."

Lucy skipped through the facilities leading them through the many areas designed to help with wounds of all kind. Meditation rooms, spas, large rooms full of mats to train in, a large kitchen, an even larger library, and there were comfortable bedrooms made for all styles of living.

"This place is perfect," Wendy remarked at the end of the tour.

"And you guys get to stay here until the war begins," her smile faltered a bit. The entire group grew increasingly more depressed after that. "I have one more thing to show you."

Lucy lead the way through a forest outskirting the guild. In a clearing near a cliff, sat a tree, a sakura.

"Is-is that the tree I sent down the river when you were sick?" The pink haired man whispered. Natsu was, for once, courteous of the people meditating around the tree or weeping at its root; it had grown over the years.

"Yes, I kept it as a reminder that you must still be alive," Lucy laughed, but it sounded forced; now that they thought of it, her smiles seemed forced too, "I had completely forgotten about it until you arrived," She looked back at the tree. "We call it the Tree of Hope now. You tell it your sorrows and it will listen. These," she pointed to little pieces of paper. "are written by people once they have confessed, or cried, or whatever they came for. You take one once you have done what you done-" She was interrupted in her speech.

"Aunt Lucy!" A girl ran up to her.

"Janey," Lucy searched the girl's eyes. Why would Bryan's girl have run all the way here?

"They're here!" Lucy's eye widened in fear.

A/N: Hello Owls, I hoped you liked chapter six. It didn't meet my standards fully, but it was refreshing to write. We are starting to get into some plot stuff, so it should be more fun to write!

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.

Hoots,

Owls