Lucy got to her feet and backed away. "Zeref—" she started.

"I underestimated you. I thought you were nothing more than a flighty woman who had somehow stumbled upon all twelve Zodiac Keys." He took a step towards her and she stepped back. "And yet, you somehow managed to come closer to killing me than anyone else has in four centuries."

"I wasn't trying to kill you," she said.

"I should rip your throat out."

Something snapped inside of Lucy. She stopped backing away and stuck her finger in his face. "Really? Are you really going to stand here and threaten me? Yes, I knew that you would lose your magic when you passed through Eclipse but I didn't kill you. As a matter of fact, I went through some considerable effort to save your crispy ass. I'm probably the closest thing you have to a friend right now."

She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

Zeref didn't speak. Lucy would have paid good money to know what he was thinking.

"Fine," he said after a long moment.

"Fine what?"

"Fine, I'm not going to kill you."

Hallelujah, the man can listen to reason.

"Does that mean that I'm free to go?" she asked.

She waited.

"Yes, you are free to go."

They stood staring at each other.

"Okay, well thanks for letting me go." She waited to see if he would do something. It felt like they should hug or something—maybe a handshake? Instead, she noddedand turned around.

She walked towards the gate and exited—she kept walking, almost expecting something to stop her. Up ahead, a group of people were coming out of the forest. She grinned and started jogging.

It was her guild—the entire guild. Natsu was in front with Master Makarov close behind. Erza, Mirajane, Lisanna, Elfman, Gray, Juvia, Levy, Gajeel, Laxus, Wendy and Cana were all charging up the hill with another 70 of her closets friends right behind them. It was a small army.

"Hi guys, it's okay. I'm okay!" Lucy shouted.

She ran to Natsu first. He hugged her. "What happened? How did you escape?" He was looking up towards the castle and Lucy followed his gaze.

Zeref was standing there, watching them. He stood another moment and then turned to walk back into his castle.

Lucy relaxed and looked at her friend. "Man, am I happy to see you guys!"

After they finished greeting one another, the group hiked back to the train station and took the first available train back to Magnolia. To say that it was a boisterous train ride would have been an understatement. Laxus got motion sickness but was too proud to be seen by anyone so he had locked himself off in a sleeper car. This then prompted teasing from Cana who had found the train's minibar. Evergreen, Bixlow and Freed had then tried to defend their leader but Cana was too drunk to be reasoned with. Happy flew up and down the aisles, occasionally taking a bite of fish from other passenger's meals when they weren't looking.

It was chaos.

Lucy filled Makarov in on what had happened but decided to be vague with the other members of her guild. Zeref had made not-so-subtle threats about distributing information.

She also had the chance to hear Levy recount the story of her escape. The little librarian had waited until nightfall and then used her writing magic to create a rope ladder and climb out of the tower. She had fought two guards, scaled the castle wall and run all the way back to Fairy Tail. Zeref had been wrong to call her the 'weak one'.

It was dusk when the train finally pulled into Magnolia.

Lucy stepped off the train. "Oh no!" She smacked her forehead. "I forgot that my apartment was destroyed. I have nowhere to sleep tonight."

Natsu slid off the train and landed beside her. He swayed back and forth a few times, looking queasy. "No-no problem, you can stay with Happy and me."

She thanked him and they began walking towards his home. He was unusually quite during the trip.

"Is everything okay," she asked.

"He wants to know if you slept with Zeref," said Happy.

"Happy!" yelled Natsu.

"What? Why would you think that?" asked Lucy.

"Well, you told everyone 'I did something for Zeref and then he let me go'," said Happy.

Perhaps she had been a little too vague in her recount of the events of the last three days. She sighed. "I didn't sleep with him. I helped him get a necklace so he can kill Acnologia."

Natsu's eyes widened.

"Please don't spread that around," she added. "I'm not sure what he would do if that information got out."

It was dark by the time they reached the forest outside Magnolia so Natsu used fire magic to light the way. It cast shadows around the unfamiliar landscape but Natsu and Happy didn't seem to mind. It was obvious that had made the trip hundreds of times before.

"You look scared Lucy," said Happy. "You should hold Natsu's hand."

She rolled her eyes at the Exceed. "I'm not that scared, it's just a little dark. I can't believe you guys live out here by yourselves."

"It's not that bad," said Natsu. "And on the plus side, we don't have to pay rent."

"Ah, that would be nice," sighed Lucy. "Say, how did you ever save up enough to buy a house?"

"Gildarts gave us this house," said Happy.

"Oh, I see. You guys are lucky that he looks out for you," said Lucy.

"Yeah, when we were young, we had a lot of people looking out for us," said Natsu.

They reached the little cottage and Lucy braced herself for a mess. She had followed Natsu to his home once before and been appalled by the squalor he and Happy had been living in. The only items that he had treated with any respect were those that had come from the jobs he had worked on with friends. The sentiment had touched her so deeply that she had cleaned his entire home for him. That had been more than seven years ago so she wasn't sure what to expect today.

She opened the door and took a deep breath…

Not too bad.

The cottage wasn't as clean as she had left it but it seemed that Natsu and Happy had made some attempt to keep things tidy. Natsu's weights were organized and there were only a couple dishes in the sink. There were a few broken potato chips on the sofa but she thought it would be a decent bed for the night. Heck, she had slept on the ground so she could manage a few crumbs.

"So I guess your options are the couch or the hammock," offered Natsu.

"Oh, I'll take the couch, I don't want put you out anymore than I already have," she said.

"It's no trouble. I wish it was as comfortable as your bed." He scratched his head. "Do you want a t-shirt and shorts to sleep in?"

"No thanks. I'll summon Virgo and get some fresh clothes from the Celestial World." She headed towards the bathroom.

Once the bathroom door was shut, Lucy summoned Virgo and was given a long white gown with lace along the sleeves and trim. It was simple but beautiful. She was also given a set of toiletries so she could wash up before bed. Virgo wished her goodnight and disappeared.

Lucy winced as she looked in the mirror. Her black eye was dark purple and the lid was so swollen it was half closed. Also beginning to show, were blue marks around her neck from where Zeref had strangled her.

There was a knock on the door. "Hey Luce, I was checking that you had everything you needed. Do you need any towels or anything?"

"No, I'm okay. Hey Natsu, could you come in here a second?"

The door opened and Natsu poked his head inside.

"Do you think it's worthwhile to put ice on this? It's more than 24 hours old." Lucy pointed towards her eye.

She watched Natsu's expression in the mirror. Something about the way he was looking at her made her feel self-conscious.

"It couldn't hurt," he said after examining the bruise for a minute. "I'll go get some ice."

He left and came back with some ice wrapped in a dishcloth. "Here," he said, handing her the ice. "Do 15 minutes on and 15 minutes off."

She sat on the sofa and Happy flew over with a blanket in his hands. He draped it over her lap. "You always look so pretty Lucy. Even when you're all black and blue."

"Aw, thanks Happy." She settled into the sofa and began applying the cold cloth to her eye.

Natsu went into the bathroom and re-appeared a moment later wearing nothing but shorts. He walked across the floor in his bare feet and got into his hammock.

"Let's stop by your apartment tomorrow morning," he said before turning off the light. "I have something I want to show you."