Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Chapter 14

-Three Weeks Later-

Lucy was meditating with Evergreen, in a small clearing by the guild. Lucy was having trouble clearing her mind that day. They had been out there for thirty minutes before Lucy grabbed her head and started mumbling "leave me alone, please." She started to hyperventilate and didn't hear Evergreen trying to calm her down. When Evergreen touched her shoulder, she started screaming and backing away from her. Evergreen quickly grabbed the lacrima to call Freed.

"Freed, you need to get to the guild now!" Evergreen said.

"I am on my way. Are you in the clearing by the guild?"

"Yes." The call ended. Evergreen sat a couple feet away from Lucy, tears running down her own face. I wish there was more I could do to help her. Evergreen was brought out of her thoughts by Freed coming into the clearing.

"What happened?" He asked.

"We had only been meditating for thirty minutes when she went into a panic attack." Evergreen whispered. Freed slowly walked up and knelt next to Lucy.

"Lucy, can you hear me? It's Freed. You are okay, no one is going to hurt you. It's just Evergreen and I with you." Freed said quietly.

"No… please…. stop… I-I'm not we-weak. S-S-Stop…" Lucy mumbled. She was shaking and tears streamed down her face.

"Lucy, you are okay now. You are at the guild. You are safe." Freed slowly moved a little closer to move into her line of sight. Green hair? Green guild mark on hand? Freed? Lucy's eyes widened as she slowly looked up and seen Freed in front of her. She sobbed as she launched forward into Freed's chest.

"I'm sorry. Sorry I'm such a burden." Lucy sobbed.

"Lucy you are not a burden; you went through something horrific. You are still trying to heal from it. Do you want to take the day off from training? Everyone will understand." Lucy nodded her head.

"Will you walk me home Freed?" Lucy asked.

"Would you like to come back to my place? That room is yours to use."

"I don't want to be alone right now. If you really don't mind, I'll stay with you. Just for tonight, I don't want to-"

"Lucy, I told you that you are welcome anytime. It's no trouble. You can use the guest room for as long as you like." Freed said. Lucy nodded and they started to walk to his house.

"Evergreen, will you call the others and let them know what happened. If you want to come over this afternoon that will be fine." Evergreen nodded.

When Freed and Lucy got to his house, she went right up to the guest room. She needed to be alone for a bit. Lucy closed the door and climbed into bed. I feel so weak, I thought I was getting better. It's been over a week since I've last had a break down. I've even been able to stay in my apartment again, and thanks to Freed no one can enter unless I invite them in. Lucy slowly fell into a dreamless sleep.

Freed had checked on Lucy to make sure she was okay and didn't need anything. He smiled when he saw her sleeping. He quietly shut the door and went downstairs to prepare lunch. Halfway through making lunch he heard a knock on his door. He opened the door to see his team standing there.

"How is Blondie?" Laxus asked as he walked in the door.

"She is sleeping right now. She has been laying down since we got here."

"Freed, would you like me to wake her up for lunch?" Evergreen asked.

"No Evergreen, that's okay. I will go wake her when it's ready. It should be ready in a couple minutes." Everyone nodded and went to sit except for Laxus, he helped Freed finish lunch. Once the table was set, he went to wake up Lucy and see if she wanted to eat.

"Lucy. Lucy, wake up please." Freed said gently. Lucy groaned and slowly opened her eyes.

"Freed, what time is it?" Lucy asked.

"It's a little after one o'clock. The others are here, and lunch is ready. Are you hungry? Do you want to eat up here or downstairs?"

"I'd like to eat downstairs." Lucy got up and they both went downstairs to join the others for lunch.

"How are you feeling Lulu?" Evergreen asked.

"A little better after my nap. Sorry about this morning."

"You don't need to apologize, it's okay."

"I talked to gramps before we came over. The Thunder Legion has been requested for a mission."

"What about Lucy?" Freed asked.

"I tried to get gramps to talk to the client, but he refuses to have anyone else but us. The mission would take us a month."

"We can't leave Lucy! We are the only ones she is mostly comfortable around. She definitely wouldn't be able to handle being in the loud guild hall by herself." Freed argued.

"I know this Freed. I spoke with gramps about our concerns with Lucy. He has agreed she can come, but she can't help on the mission. She would stay in the hotel room. But this way we would still be close to her."

Lucy lowered her head, tears coming to her eyes. I'm a burden to them. They can't stop their lives because of me. I will let them know that I will be okay here by myself.

"G-Guys, I will be o-okay here by myself while you're on the mission. I would just be a burden and in the way, even if it was just me sitting in the hotel room."

"Blondie we are fine with you coming, and gramps already approved it." Laxus said. Lucy shook her head as the tears began to fall. Her bangs hid her eyes, but they could all tell she was crying by the way her shoulders shook. She slowly stood up from the table and ran out of the house. I have to get away from them. I am only complicating things for them. She was running blindly down the road, not watching where she was going. She ran into someone; she almost fell but hands grabbed her arms and kept her from falling.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" Her eyes went wide when she seen Gray standing in front of her.

"Lucy, are you okay? I have missed you and have been wanting to talk to you. I am so sorry about what happened." Gray said.

"I don't blame you or Natsu. I'm sorry I need to go..." Lucy said and ran off. She ran until she got to her apartment. She locked her door and then collapsed on her bed.

-With the Thunder Legion-

"Lucy!" Freed yelled as he got up to run after her. The others followed. They knew she shouldn't be by herself after what happened this morning.

"Bix search for her from the air." Laxus said.

"I'll search from the air as well." Evergreen said. Freed and Laxus ran calling out for Lucy.

Gray heard someone yelling and went to see what was going on. He then saw Laxus and Freed running towards him.

"Are you guys looking for Lucy?" Gray asked. They both nodded.

"I ran into her a couple minutes ago. It looks like she was running to her apartment." They both sighed and thanked Gray. Laxus called the other two on the lacrima, and told them to meet up at Lucy's.

"Blondie's here, I can smell her scent and hear her in there."

Freed knocked on the door, "Lucy please open the door." They waited a couple minutes, but she didn't come to the door.

"Freed can you use your runes to unlock the door and get us in?" Evergreen asked. Freed nodded, and used his runes to unlock, and then rewrote the runes to allow them temporary access. Freed's heart broke at the sight of Lucy curled up on her bed, sobbing and telling herself she is nothing more than a weak burden.

"Lucy, look at me please." Lucy shook her head and tried to curl in on herself more.

"Lucy, you are not weak or a burden. Laxus didn't have to get the okay from master to allow you to come with us. But we all want you with us. We could also continue your training while we are gone. This might be good for you to get out. You know we won't let anything happen to you." Freed told her softly.

"Really -sniffle- you all want me to come?" Lucy whispered.

"Of course, Lulu." Evergreen said.

"Yeah Cosplayer, it will be fun!" Bickslow said.

"Blondie, I wouldn't have said anything to gramps if I didn't want you to come or think it was a good idea."

Lucy thought about it for a couple minutes. Then she nodded and told them she would come too. She said if she couldn't help with the mission, she wanted to at least cook for them while on the mission. They agreed to let her cook. I think this will be good for me. I just hope I don't somehow cause any trouble for them.