1.
Lucy stared at the destruction before her eyes. Her furniture was smashed. Her clothes scattered everywhere and her precious books were ripped to pieces.
"Who?...How did they ...Why?"
She lowered her tired body to the floor.
"Who would do such a thing?"
Tears started to well in her eyes as she hugged herself in an attempt to sooth the hurt.
Everything was gone.
The mage guild known as Fairy Tail was officially disbanded, leaving the citizens of Magnolia to fend off magical attacks by themselves. Not knowing what to do, they fled once the looting and random attacks became too much for them.
The mages of the former guild all seemed to just...vanish. leaving nothing behind but a cold, empty guildhall.
Of course, Lucy Heartfilia, Celestial Spirit mage and former member of Fairy Tail, knew none of this. She had been off on a solo mission that took almost a full year to complete before she returned to find not only her guild disbanded, but her friends those she called family, were nowhere to be found. When she approached her apartment and saw it had been ransacked...it was almost too much for the young woman to handle.
"It's ok Lucy. It will be ok. No matter what happens, you got this..." she said to herself. "You've been on your own before and that wasn't so bad...right?"
Her quivering voice held little hope as she slowly rose from the ground and tried to salvage what was left of her meger belongings.
"Looks like I won't have to worry about rent this month," she tried to chuckle at her own joke, but it fell flat in the awful echo of the lifeless room.
Suddenly, the quiet stillness of the road outside was broken by the sounds of smashing glass bottles and a group of men's voices filling the air.
"Oh no!" Lucy squeaked as she dove for cover under her broken out window. She kept quiet as she listened for the men to pass by, hoping they didn't hear her.
"Hey! Did you hear that?"
"Yeah! That was my fist hitting your face! Ha ha ha!"
"Shut up, stupid! I thought I heard somethin!"
"Like what?"
A cat in a close alley made a screeching sound and Lucy heard it run off into the night.
"Just a dumb cat!"
"Hey! I know what I heard an it ain't no cat!"
"Maybe he heard a different kind of pussy!"
"You mean the imaginary kind? Ha ha ha!"
"Screw you! I heard something!"
"Relax! It's just us here! This place is full of booze and we have the whole run of the city! It's ours for the taking!"
"Yeah! Here! Have another drink!"
Lucy was holding her breath, afraid they could hear the heart racing inside her chest. *Please, please...just pass me by...* She silently begged to any god who was listening to her thoughts.
"Let's get outta here! Find me some women! He he he"
"Pfft! Who would ever kiss your ugly mug?"
"Shut up! Someone might! Just...haven't met 'em yet!"
"Or ever! Ha ha ha!"
"Come on guys! Let's go!"
The sound of the men's voices slowly faded into the distance and Lucy quietly let out the breath she was holding. Barely making a sound, she turned her head slightly up to peer out of her broken apartment window to the street below. Empty. Lucy breathed out a silent thanks to whichever god heard her as she slowly crept through her apartment to gather her things.
Morning came too soon. Lucy spent the night huddled in her old bathtub with the door locked and a rusty knife held in one hand, her whip in the other. She guarded the door and jumped at the slightest sound that jolted her awake every time she dozed off.
"Time to go Lucy," she said to herself, groaning as she got up and out of the bathtub. She stretched and yawned before catching a glimpse of herself in the broken mirror. Her eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep. Her blonde hair unkempt and clothes dirty from days of use. *If I had the time, I'd take care of this, but I need to leave. No telling when those guys might be back.* She nodded to herself, bent down and grabbed her backpack.
She sheathed her knife in a handmade sling on her belt and grabbed her spirit keys, keeping her whip in her free hand as she listened for any hint someone was in the other room. *Sounds like the coast is clear. Better not make any noise just to be safe* she thought, opening the door a little at a time.
CRASH!
The door flew back and knocked Lucy down on the cracked tile floor, her head throbbing from the impact.
"He he he. Well, lookey what we have here!"
"I told you I heard something!"
"Shut up, Clive!"
"Hey! That ain't nice!"
"You do as your told! Now shut up and keep a lookout while I get more... aquatinted with our little friend here."
The men were big, broad chested with burly backs. Their dark hair matted and faces unshaven. They looked to be around 40 years old but that was about all that Lucy could tell, before the first one leaned down over her and she started to panic.
"Now, now, now...we don't want to hurt you. We just want to get to know you a little better. That's all," the man sneered at her, licking his lips.
"Ugh! Your disgusting!"
"Your no prize yourself, sweetheart! Just take a look at ya! Ha!"
Lucy growled at the man as she swiftly moved her hand to her keys. She felt them pulse with magic as she pressed her hand to one, knowing by feel whose it was, and silently called forth the lion spirit.
A flash of gold light blinded the man and Lucy could hear him scream before watching Leo the Lion punch him in the gut.
"Sorry for the delay, Princess. I'll take care of these guys," Loke said, throwing the man out of the bathroom and into the apartment.
"You boys have worn out your welcome. I suggest you leave. Now!"
Loke threw the first man at the second one and the momentum toppled them both over the edge of the busted out window to land on the gravel in front of the second story building.
"That should teach you to ever mess with a mage from Fairy Tail!" Loke yelled at the retreating backs of the two men.
Lucy stilled at hearing Loke's threat. *He doesn't know? How's that possible?*
Loke turned around and stopped at the confusion on Lucy's face.
"Princess? What's wrong? Are you hurt?!" He asked, rushing to her side and checking her body for injury.
"No, no! Loke! I'm fine. Thank you for saving me," Lucy said, using her hands to motion for him to sit down next to her. "It's, just...you yelled at them to not mess with Fairy Tail and now...now, there is no more Fairy Tail."
Loke looked dumbfounded. "No Fairy Tail? What do you mean Lucy?" He asked, using her real name.
"I mean I've been gone for almost a year now, and in that time...Fairy Tail was officially disbanded and the citizens of Magnolia were forced to flee. I mean, just look at my apartment!" She said, indicating the chaos that once was her home.
"But...I, we would have known if something like that had happened, right? Someone would have told you? Fairy Tail is the number one mage guild in all of Fiore! It can't just be gone! What about Natsu? And Erza! And Grey! Surely they wouldn't leave you behind?"
Lucy smiled a sad smile that almost had him in tears at the truely lost look in her chocolate eyes.
"When I got back, I heard from a few people fleeing the city that all the mages had up and vanished months ago," Lucy told him, trying her best to keep the tears in her eyes from falling.
"No one I spoke to knew anything about the guild, the mages or even where they were all headed. They were just...gone." Lucy's head fell and she let the tears cascade down her cheeks, leaving tracks in her porcelain skin.
"Oh Lucy!" Loke engulfed the poor girl in a warm hug, rocking back and forth to further console his weary master.
"I-I don't know wha-what to d-do now L-Loke!" Lucy cried, allowing her friend to comfort her. "The-they a-all-l-l v-v-van-i-ish-ed-d an-and I-I-I..."
"Shhhh it's ok, Lucy. I've got you and I won't let anything else happen to you," Loke said, making soothing sounds as he continued to rock. Lucy cried and cried until her tears dried up and her magic energy was almost drained.
Slowly, Loke pulled the young woman to a standing position, rubbing circles on her tired arms.
"Lucy, I'm going to go back to the Spirit World and I'll return on my own power to watch over you. I'll make sure your safe. Here, try to get some sleep on this bed," Lucy sobbed and looked over at the mattress on the ground. Apart from a few loose feathers, the material was sound. "I'll let Virgo know you might need her assistance," Loke said before giving a short bow and leaving in a flash of golden light.
If Lucy wasn't scared out of her mind last night, she would have thought to ask Virgo or Loke to watch her back while she slept. *Then those guys would never have gotten the drop on me* she thought.
In the next moment, another flash of light told Lucy that Virgo had arrived.
"Punishment, Princess?" She asked, her pink head bowed awaiting instructions.
Lucy smiled and replied "Not tonight, Virgo. But, could you please maybe make a bed in here? And could you please repair and lock the window and the front door so that it looks like no one lives here from the outside? Maybe make them appear boarded up or even black?"
"Leave it to me, Princess. I shall even draw you a hot bath and bring you clean clothes from the Spirit World."
"That would be wonderful, Virgo! Thank you so much!"
"My pleasure, Princess," Virgo bowed again before disappearing into a flash of light.
In no time at all, Virgo had done all the repairs, cleaned up the apartment a bit, made a new bed for Lucy and even got her bath ready with new clothes and toiletries from the Spirit World.
"I will leave you to it, Princess. Big brother will return once I have gone."
"Goodnight Virgo! And thank you so much for all your help." With another bow, the pink haired maid was gone.
After Lucy was bathed and clothed, Loke returned holding long stemed red roses.
"Ha! Loke! Now is definitely not the time for flowers!" Lucy said, crossing her arms over her chest and smiling at the playful lion spirit.
"But my love! My sweet! I need to present you with these lovely roses just to prove that they pale in comparison to the radiant light of your beauty!"
Lucy laughed and smiled at her good friend who always knew how to bring her out of a bad mood.
"Thank you, Loke. They truly are beautiful."
"Not half as beautiful as you, Lucy."
She blushed and looked at him then, a little stunned at the use of her name.
"Are you feeling alright?"
"What do you mean?"
"That's twice you've called me by my name."
It was his turn to blush and look away, but when Loke turned back, all joking had left his face and he was all seriousness.
"Lucy, I'm sorry about everything..." he started when she put up her hand to stop him.
"No. Loke. You have nothing to be sorry for," Lucy stated.
"No, no...you don't understand. We could have done something. I could have done something. Anything. To make sure someone knew where you were. So that you wouldn't be so lost right now. This! All of this just feels so...wrong somehow. Almost like it's a dream or a spell! Or..." Loke stopped when he heard Lucy sigh and step in front of him. She lifted her hand and placed it gently on the side of his face.
"There's nothing that we could have done to prevent this, Loke," Lucy said, gently guiding his face to look at her.
"I'll be alright. I'm already feeling 100 times better now that I'm clean and you're here, watching over me," she gave him a warm smile. "And besides, if it's spell of some kind, or even a dream...I'm sure we'll figure something out. In the meantime," Lucy leaned up and gave Loke a kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you always being my friend, Loke," she said, wrapping her arms around him. Stunned at her response, he slowly wrapped his arms loosely around her.
"Now I know I'm dreaming," Loke whispered, returning Lucy's hug with one of his own.
"Why do you say that?"
Loke started to sway a little, almost like he was leading them in a dance to music only they could hear.
"Because you're in my arms," he said quietly, bringing her gently closer into his embrace.
Lucy closed her eyes, breathing in the familiar scent of the Zodiac leader. It was something she always did when she was close enough to him. His warm scent of wild lands, stardust and something else that was unique only to him, making her feel calm and relaxed. She reveled in that scent, knowing in her heart that he would always keep her safe.