"Man it's good to be back home!"
Natsu was running around the now small Fairy Tail guild hall, shooting fire out of his mouth in excitement while Happy flew right behind him. He, and the rest of the core members of the guild, had just returned from Tenrou Island after being left asleep for seven years within the spell known as Fairy Sphere; one of the three grand fairy spells that grants absolute protection. In that time, Fairy Tail had become one of the weakest guilds in Fiore since so many members left in the earlier years of the core members' absence.
Everybody had already gotten used to the reality (the fact that they no longer have places to live due to Fairy Hills being demolished and most of the others' rent is behind by seven years) and decided that they will all just catch up with those who stayed behind and find work the following day. So far, after learning of their financial and housing situations, they found out that Alzack and Bisca had married and had a child, Macao and Wakaba had helped out managing the guild and Romeo was now the same age as Wendy.
However, there was one person missing from the guild who had also stayed behind.
"Oh yeah!" Natsu called, catching everyone's attention.
Somehow he just knew that someone was missing and looked around, mentally taking note everyone who was at the guild at the moment. Everyone from who had gone along the S-Class test were definitely present. Romeo... Macao... Wakaba... Jet and Droy... the Connell family... Laki and Kinana... Max... Warren... Reedus and Vijeeter. Everyone was accounted for. All except for the one person he and Happy were the most excited to see.
"Where's Lucy?"
The Tenrou Team all looked around in confusion, noticing the undeniable absence of the beloved celestial mage. The rest of the members who stayed behind just smiled or smirked respectfully at the thought of the blonde girl. Lucy hadn't gone with the others to the S-Class trials and told them that she would eagerly await their return. But now that he and the others took it in... she was not there when they returned to the guild and she certainly wasn't there now.
Makarov turned to Macao, who was snickering along with Wakaba. "What's so funny, Macao?"
"Oh nothing, Master." He replied, he and Wakaba attempting to compose themselves.
"Don't you guys worry about Lucy." Wakaba said, a knowing smirk forming on his and the others' faces while the core members still looked confused. "She had something to do a couple of days back, she should be on her way here soon."
"What did she have to do?" Erza asked, raising her eyebrow in a questioning manner.
"You'll find out when she gets back." Bisca reassured. "I'm sure she'll be excited to see you all again."
"Has she changed as much as all of you?" Happy asked, flying up to Romeo.
The latter crossed his arms, thinking to himself on how to answer the question. His unsure expression making the Tenrou team curious. Could Lucy really change all that much for Romeo to take such a long time to think of a proper description? However, the rest who had stayed behind, they chuckled under their breath at how Romeo was faking to think. They all knew that he was teasing. After all, they knew just how much Lucy had grown and developed. And they knew that it would be a shocker to those who had just came back.
After faking to think for awhile, Romeo just shrugged and held a cheeky smile. "Yeah, don't worry about it." He replied, making everyone somewhat nervous. "If she doesn't show up here at the guild, you'll most likely meet her when you're out on a job."
"Why is that?" Gray asked.
"Well, though we've been brought to the bottom of the strongest guilds, no one would dare to mess with Lucy even if they wanted to try." Droy explained. "She's really brought up a reputation for herself over the years."
"Sounds like Bunny Girl's been busy." Gajeel remarked, chewing on a piece of iron.
"Seems like she's been getting stronger too!" Natsu added excitedly. "Wonder if she'll let me fight her."
Carla just scoffed at his words. "You know Lucy always refuses your requests to fight, right?"
"Actually, you might just get the chance, Natsu." Alzack said, a smirk forming on the faces of everyone who stayed behind while the Tenrou Team didn't expect that. "After all, she's also got seven years worth of hard training on you."
"Ehhh... didn't she say it was technically just around one month's worth of training?" Jet asked, not only surprising the core members but also making them quite confused at the logic.
"Now now, don't go confusing everyone." Kinana said, pushing the subject away. "Just let Lucy take care of it once she gets back."
"Agreed, and look!" Warren said, pointing to the entrance.
When everyone turned to look, Virgo had appeared in a glowing golden light. The Tenrou Team immediately went to look behind the celestial spirit, but they saw no sign of the blonde girl whom they missed greatly. So they gloomed. But when Virgo saw the familiar faces of the core members, her eyes widened only slightly. But as soon as she looked shocked, she went back to her emotionless and blank stare state. She bowed and then walked to Warren who already knew, along with the non core members, the reason for her visit.
"This is certainly a surprise." Virgo said as she looked at all of the core members. "If I had known that all of Princess' friends came back, I would have brought her with me."
"It's alright Virgo, Lucy's still pretty busy right?" Max asked, placing a hand on his hip. "How's she holding up?"
"Ah right, she gave me a message concerning her status." Virgo said as she cleared her voice. "Everything is going smoothly as per usual and she should be coming home in a few days or so. She hopes that you all are well and asks for a report back on Twilight Ogre's behaviour and actions."
"Just tell her that we beat them up when we got here!" Cana said. "Those ogres stood no chance against us."
"No wait! I got an idea!" Bisca said. "Tell Lucy that everything is fine, but don't tell her that the others have returned, okay Virgo?"
"Why would you do that, Bisca?" Levy asked.
"Think of it as Lucy's welcome home present." She replied as the other non core members nodded in agreement with her plans. "She's been working hard these last seven years and time has been weird on her so she probably feels like she hasn't seen any of us in awhile. I'm sure she'll be very happy to see you all."
"Oh! We should throw her a party then!" Happy suggested. "A 'Fairy Tail is finally complete again' party!"
"Neat idea, Happy! I'm all fired up now!" Natsu cheered in excitement to see his best friend again.
"So shall I report as I have from before?" Virgo asked, making sure to confirm everything before she leaves. "I'm assuming that I can tell her that you were able to deal with Twilight Ogre and that you all are very well, but I just can't mention that her friends have returned?"
"Yes, Virgo." Carla replied.
The celestial spirit nodded and bowed as she began to fade into golden light, probably to go wherever Lucy was. "Very well, it was very nice to see you all together once again."
Once the celestial spirit was gone, Wendy turned to Laki with a look of confusion on her face. "Does Virgo always come to report on Lucy's activities whenever she's away?"
"Eh, more or less." Laki replied shrugging. "She's been quite busy the last few years, so she sends one of her spirits to check on us."
"She also does it so we don't worry for her when she's gone for an extremely long time." Reedus added.
"Yes yes!" Vijeeter agreed. "The longest time she's been gone on business was about two years and a half!"
"For that long?" Mira asked.
The non-core members nodded while their gazes softened while they looked at the small guild hall. "After we were forced to sit back and watch as the old guild hall was taken from us, Lucy didn't want to just stand there and do nothing." Romeo explained. "She always believed that you all were still alive and wanted to make sure you had a guild to go home to."
"Besides the only reason she left that long was because she travelled kind of... far, I guess." Jet said.
"She shouldn't be gone for long this time since it's been about two or three days since she left on business." Macao added. "Too bad she couldn't have been here when you all returned. But hey, Lucy will be very happy to see you guys again."
"Don't know how she would react to you lot looking as young as you did before you left though." Wakaba noted. "Oh! Obviously not including you and Guildarts, Master."
"I really didn't need the reassurance there, Wakaba." Makarov retorted under his breath.
"Why can't we just go wherever Lucy is now?" Happy asked, kind of sad that he had to wait for the celestial mage to come back. "All this talk about her just makes me miss her more."
"Aw c'mon Happy! Don't think like that!" Natau said with a grin. "The minute she comes back, think of all the pranks and tricks we can play on her now that she's used to not having us around everyday! It'll be like when she first joined the guild!"
At that thought, the blue exceed's eyes sparkled and he began to fly around in excitement. "Aye sir!"
While the Tenrou Team laughed at the two males, joking about how they always got beat by Lucy whenever they had done that prior to the S-Class trials. While they did that, the others just chilled at the thought of Lucy being angered. Though they worried for Natsu and Happy's safety, they decided to keep their mouths shut since they'll all find out why Lucy was not to be messed with. Especially when a certain peached haired kid was involved.
"Those two are so dead..." They thought, praying that Lucy be merciful on her 2 teammates.