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March 26th, X778

It was surprisingly easy to get to the safe zone. Rogue simply had to signal one of the groups working at the docks with a flashlight so they knew to come and fetch them. It took a while for a boat to actually come over, and when it did, the person in the boat was thrilled to see Rogue. He was a little suspicious of the rest of them, but Lucy was unsurprised by that. Regardless, he took them to the docks.

As they were helped out of the boat and onto the docks, her eyes roved the scattering of people working or watching the newcomers with interest. Her stomach flipped nervously. As excited as she was to see so many people alive and safe, it had been a long time since she'd been around so many. Wendy clung to Lucy, as nervous as Lucy was.

Gray, on the other hand, seemed at ease among so many people, almost as awed as Lucy was. He appeared excited to be around so many people. His gaze was a little distant in Lucy's opinion. Perhaps he was remembering another time, when he'd walked among the people of his home town with no idea of the danger he'd soon be sailing into.

Natsu scared her when he murmured in her ear, "I think he misses being human sometimes. He's the newest god. He's only been one for a few decades."

Lucy glanced at him, startled. "What about you?" she asked, not expecting to hear that about Gray. She should have though. "Do you miss being human sometimes, Natsu?"

He cocked his head to the side, watching as a few people stepped forward to greet Rogue warmly, relieved to see him alive and virtually unharmed. "Sometimes," he admitted after a moment. "It's been a long time, so I don't remember too much of it. Just flashes. My family. Igneel's voice." He brushed his fingers against his scarf. "I don't like that I can't see what the world's like when I want to. Mavis throwing us from Valhalla…it's the first time I've seen humans up close in a long, long time. The last time I was here, there weren't things like running water. People had to gather it from the rivers and streams."

Lucy bit her lip, unable to comprehend how long ago that was. At least one hundred years, more than likely more if he'd truly come from some village in the mountains that no longer existed in modern memory. Another reminder of how different they were.

"Rogue!"

Lucy jolted when someone thundered across the deck, a hysterical laugh escaping them. Rogue's eyes lit with amusement just a moment before someone slammed into him, arms thrown tightly around him. Rogue returned the hug tightly, a rare grin gracing his face. Lucy studied the blond newcomer as he pulled back, hands on Rogue's shoulders. "We thought the undead had gotten you," he said.

"Not quite," answered Rogue.

Lucy presumed this to be Rogue's friend Sting. He was on the taller, leaner side with hair a few shades lighter than her own and mischievous blue eyes. An earring sparkled from one of his ears, and there was a barely visible scar over one of his eyes. Hooking his arm around Rogue's neck, Sting turned his attention onto the group Rogue had brought with him. "You found people," he said, startled.

"They found me," Rogue amended, grimacing. "This is Sting. Sting, these are Wendy, Gray, Natsu, and Lucy." He pointed to each of them as he spoke their name, and Lucy lifted her good side's hand in a faint greeting, her lips trembling as something shifted in their shadows.

Sting swept his gaze over each of them. "You guys aren't going to try anything, are you? Last time people came through, they tried to rob us. We don't like it very much when people do that." It sounded nonchalant, but Lucy could hear the hard edge in his voice. It was a warning, a question, and a threat, all in one.

Natsu shook his head. "No one's stealing anything."

Sting beamed. "Good."

Shaking free of Sting, Rogue waved for the group to follow him. "Let's get Lucy to Yukino. She can patch up her arm."

Lucy perked up. Rogue had mentioned there was a nurse in town, but she hadn't expected it to be one of the friends he clearly treasured so dearly. "That'd be great," she said, hoping they had something to alleviate the pain that was still throbbing in her arm. "Thanks."

As they set off, ignoring the curious looks from the other residents of the town, Sting stuck close to Rogue, muttering to him. Lucy walked beside Natsu, uncomfortable with the staring. Wendy skipped ahead of them, and Gray trailed behind. "Juvia's done a good job at defending this place," commented Gray, just loud enough for Natsu and Lucy to hear them.

Natsu nodded, and Lucy inclined her head, not necessarily disagreeing. She felt like she was in a dream. There was no fear here. Children could be heard giggling a street over in the small village. They passed a pair of older women, who eyed the newcomers worriedly, as if they expected them to attack them for some reason. Lucy offered them a small, friendly smile. They didn't return it.

As they passed a home that was shuttered and closed off, Gray suddenly dragged behind. "I'll catch up," he said without looking at them when Lucy and Natsu paused to make sure he was okay. "I have work to do here. If I catch them quickly enough, I can help this one, Natsu."

Lucy's face paled. Someone was dying in that home.

Natsu didn't hesitate to usher Lucy away from the house, towards where Wendy, Sting, and Rogue had stopped to wait. "We need to keep going," he told them hastily, looking nervously back at the house. Under his breath, he added to Lucy, "Erza's in there. I wouldn't be surprised if she was waiting for us to come before she helped them."

Wisely, Lucy picked up her pace. She didn't want to run into Erza again.

When Lucy looked back, Gray was gone, as if he'd never existed at all.

Shrugging off the strangeness of the newcomers, Sting and Rogue guided them through twisted cobbled roads until they finally reached a small, neatly kept townhouse on the southern edge of Hyacinth. Sting didn't bother to knock on the white wooden door, instead barging right in and hollering, "Yukino! We've got company!"

The townhouse was smaller, but it seemed cozy from where they came to stand in the entryway. If one didn't know better, Lucy was sure they wouldn't have even known the world had ended outside if they didn't leave this house. To their left was a small living room, with neatly arranged leather furniture that was a little on the shabbier side. There was a flight of stairs that led upstairs straight ahead of them, running alongside a small hallway that led to what might have been a kitchen and dining room. A room to their right was left open, containing a few chairs and a few shelves filled with dozens of medical supplies ready for use.

A woman descended the flight of stairs, her dark eyes bewildered and her short silver hair floating around her ears. She stopped halfway down when she saw Rogue – and then flung herself down the rest of the stairs with a shriek of his name. She threw her arms around him in a big hug that Rogue returned immediately. Sting watched on with a fond look. The three of them were clearly very close, and the woman who had to be Yukino scolded Rogue sharply as she pulled away. "I told you to stop scouting, that the undead were getting–"

"I know, I know," Rogue answered, shrugging. He indicated his heavy bag. "I brought some of the supplies you needed though, and there's someone who needs help with a bite."

Yukino's pun on her heel to study Lucy, Wendy, and Natsu. She put her hands on her hips, amused with how they awkwardly stood in the foyer. Wendy offered her a tentative, nervous smile. "Hi," said Wendy softly.

"Hi," echoed Yukino, a smile dancing over her lips. "I'm Yukino Auguria."

"Lucy Heartfilia," offered Lucy, then gestured to Wendy and Natsu respectively as she added, "And these are Wendy and Natsu."

Yukino murmured another greeting, and then tipped her head. "Which of you has the bite?" Lucy lifted her hand with a grimace. She stepped forward, gesturing for Lucy to remove her coat, and Lucy did so. She shrugged Natsu's coat off and Natsu gingerly helped her peel the sleeve away from her arm. It had bled through the bandages they'd used, though when it had reopened was beyond Lucy. Yukino didn't bother to remove the bandages yet. "How long ago were you bit?"

"A few days ago, when we helped Rogue," Lucy said.

"Oh?" Yukino threw her friend a dirty look over her shoulder, and Rogue didn't respond, looking as if this was an everyday occurrence. Lucy hid a smile. She liked Yukino, she thought as Yukino clucked her tongue and pointed to the room on their right. "Go ahead and find a chair. I'll clean it up and maybe do a few sutures." She patted Lucy's shoulder sympathetically when Lucy's face twisted in irritation. "You'll have to wait out the hallucinations though. Cleaning it out should speed the process up, but…"

"Thank you," Lucy told her sincerely.

Wendy bounced on the balls of her feet. "Can I watch?" she asked hopefully. "I know a little bit, but I really want to learn more."

"Of course." Yukino seemed pleasantly surprised. "Sting, Rogue, why don't you two help Natsu find a place for them to stay this evening? There should be some empty houses on the eastern side of town." Her face darkened with grief. "A couple of the people staying over there went out to scavenge some supplies from Hargeon and didn't come back."

Lucy shivered at the thought of staying anywhere near homes that had been only recently vacated by people who would probably hunt others now. Even so, she said nothing as Natsu glanced over to see if she was okay with that. She smiled faintly at him, and he didn't hesitate to step close and unwrap his scarf from around his neck. "Here, Luce," he said, wrapping it around hers with gentle fingers, knuckles bumping her chin in the process.

She knew what the scarf meant: he'd be back. He wasn't going to disappear on her.

Reassured, Lucy bumped him gently with her shoulder before heading for the little medical room. "See you later, Natsu."

As evening crept into the world on chilly claws, Lucy was surprised when Gray decided to show up. Wendy was inside the townhouse with Yukino, learning about the different things Yukino did as Hyacinth's unofficial doctor. Lucy had elected to wait outside on the front steps for Natsu to come back. Her arm didn't feel nearly as bad as it had with the pain medications Yukino had given her, and Lucy was even feeling better about being in Hyacinth in general when, much to her surprise, Gray appeared, walking down the street briskly. His hands were pushed into the pockets of the coat he didn't need.

He paused a few feet away when he realized it was Lucy rather than Natsu wearing Natsu's diale around her throat. "Where's Natsu?" he demanded, frowning.

"Good to see you, too," Lucy muttered sarcastically. "My arm's a lot better. Thanks for asking."

Gray's lips twitched as if he was fighting a smile. Running a hand through his hair and sprinkling large flakes of hoarfrost in every direction, he said, "Erza wants to talk with Natsu."

Lucy nearly rolled her eyes, having a good guess as to what – or who – Erza wanted to talk to Natsu about. "You know," she said almost defensively, "Natsu's his own person, Gray. I don't know what it is all of you have against me being friends with him, but it's not up to you guys to make those decisions. I don't care if Natsu's the sun god or just some crazy guy who thinks he is, he doesn't need to listen to any of you."

Gray gawked at her for a few moments, and then sputtered out a short, humorless bark of laughter. Lucy narrowed her eyes at him in response, irritated even more, but Gray flashed her a grin and said, "Lucy, we don't have a problem with you. It's got nothing to do with you in particular at all. We think you're just fine. I mean, I think sometimes you could use some better judgment, but I know Erza likes you. I don't think you're so bad either."

Lucy was taken aback by that. Erza liked her? Death, who'd looked at her with such disapproval, was okay with her being around? She didn't necessarily believe that, but she was happy to hear it. Making enemies of the gods of death didn't seem like a good idea. In fact, Lucy didn't want to even dip a toe into that water. "You…you don't act like it," she pointed out. "All I hear is you scolding Natsu for it."

Gray grinned then, surprising Lucy further when he decided to drop and sit beside her. "If we were more like you, I'd say he found a really good friend, but we're not, Lucy. We're gods, and you're not. Mavis put rules in place only a few centuries ago because of situations like this. Did he bother to tell you anything about why we have rules that say we can't get close to people like you?"

Lucy shook her head, and Gray sighed. Rocking backwards and propping himself on his hands, Gray looked skyward and said carefully, "Like I said, Mavis created rules only four to five hundred years ago. That's not long, considering how long some of the gods have been around. Levy was our oldest, and she's been around since time was only measured in the change of weather. But it's because of Erza."

Lucy jolted, unprepared. She'd not expected Erza's name, even though she was pretty sure she'd heard something about it before.

"She said it was because he didn't fear her," said Gray, "He had an almost second sense when it came to Death. He could sense her coming, and he would comfort the dying until she took them. It didn't take long for him to become one of her Favored because of it. He was a doctor, so when a plague started creeping through the poorer areas of his city, he chose to treat them. He was one of only a handful of doctors who would do it. He would sit with the dying until Erza came, and then he'd move on to start treating others.

"In the end, he caught the plague, too. But Erza couldn't bring herself to give him the peace he deserved. She refused to take him like she'd taken all the others." Gray glanced briefly at Lucy. "She wouldn't say it, but a few of the other gods told me they knew she'd fallen in love with him long before then. She refused to take his life, even when he suffered. Because of it, the balance began to tip. The plagues grew worse, in a way they weren't supposed to. Millions died. Souls lingered instead of moving on like they were supposed to before I came along. A few monsters were said to be roving the shadows.

"And then the plague took a few of the other gods' Favored. Mirajane lost a good number of hers, and she was the one who decided to go to Mavis. She told Mavis what was happening, and Mavis had to step in. Even then, Erza refused to do what she was supposed to." He laughed humorlessly. "She's usually really strict about sticking to the rules, so it was apparently weird. Since she wouldn't, Mavis came up with a solution.

"Mavis told Erza she'd ascend the doctor, but he'd never be welcome in Valhalla. He would have to endure the struggles of humans, like hunger and cold, and he would protect the souls in their home in Hel. In return, Erza would make a vow to never mark another person as her Favored, and that she would never again refuse to complete her work. They sealed the vow in blood, and it became a permanent reminder on the doctor's skin. After all that, Mavis made it law that we weren't allowed to get too close with the humans we were meant to help. She thought it was too dangerous. I don't think she's wrong."

"Jellal," realized Lucy aloud, recalling the odd red marking on his face and the thick clothing he'd worn even as his companions seemed unaffected by the cold. "Jellal was the doctor."

Gray nodded. "Like I said, Lucy," he said quietly. "We don't dislike you. We're just worried that something like that will happen again. I've known Natsu for a while. He's not someone who makes superficial connections with others."

Lucy believed it. Natsu had been fiercely loyal since they'd met, easily offended when she thought otherwise. Even when it meant going against what he was supposed to be, Natsu had downright refused to turn on his friends. "Even so," she said softly, resting her chin in her hand, "I think he understands the reality of things. He's more worried about the lost souls than he is about anything else."

Gray nodded and they sat there in peaceful silence for a while, enjoying the lack of stress that came with not having to fear for your life at every second. It wasn't long, however, before there was a holler of Lucy's name. Lucy looked over and caught sight of Natsu sprinting up the street, his eyes gleaming mischievously when he came to a stop before them. He rocked back on his heels, hands clasped behind his back.

"I found a house you'll like," he told Lucy with confidence. "I made sure it has running water and all the other stuff you like me to look for."

He was so excited about it, he reminded Lucy of a small child who couldn't wait to tell their parents of something they'd done successfully for the first time. Lucy couldn't help her smile. "Let's go look then," she said, "and I can come back and grab Wendy later."

"Actually," interrupted the very girl they'd been discussing, making Lucy jump and snap her head around. Wendy had leaned halfway out the door, her gaze pleading. "Can I come with you tomorrow? Yukino said I could help her with some things."

Lucy was taken aback. "Oh," she said after a startled moment. "Of course. Tomorrow then." Her smile became forced then. Wendy beamed back at her, and then vanished back into the house as she called for Yukino.

For some reason, a vicious, brutal stab of panicked loneliness shot through Lucy. She instinctively wrapped her good arm around herself as if it would make her feel better, though she knew nothing would. It was a selfish thought, the irritation that Wendy would choose to be with other people. And Natsu had begun to think about leaving. If he chose to go with the other gods–

Lucy realized Natsu was watching her and hastily pushed it all away. Natsu wasn't going anywhere; he'd said as much. At least, he wouldn't for a little while. She swallowed thickly, doing her best to steady the anxious hitch in her breath.

"Leaves more for you to explore," said Natsu after a moment, offering a sunny grin. He playfully nudged her. "Come on, I'll show you where it is." He offered Lucy a hand that she willingly took. He pulled her to her feet, squeezing her hand reassuringly.

Lucy smiled faintly at him in return. "Okay," she agreed.

"Erza wants to talk with you, Natsu," said Gray, glancing between them. "She said she'd be waiting by the water."

Natsu scowled then, casting Gray an irritated glare. "And she can wait another hour. I'll go see her when I'm ready to." There was a hint of a hum in the air, but it faded quickly enough. He turned away from Gray entirely, focusing all of his attention onto Lucy. Gray shrugged, gave a mocking salute, and then rocked to his feet, too.

When Gray had wandered away and left Lucy alone with Natsu, Lucy considered telling Natsu what Gray had told her regarding Jellal and Erza. She chose otherwise. Natsu didn't seem in the mood to hear more about the people that were clearly annoying him. Lucy kept her thoughts to herself. Instead, she squeezed his hand back and prompted, "Well? Let's go see this house. It better have a good kitchen."

And we have the story behind Jellal and Erza! Like I said, I have a prequel piece mostly written for them. I'll release it as soon as I finish it. ;)

OOFTA keeping up with writing is hard. Might take a week off soon, but I'll warn you guys first.

AND I FORGOT TO MENTION BEFORE! WE HIT 100 REVIEWS! THANKS, YOU GUYS!

Thank you so, so much for the reviews (Sele de la Luna, SheWhoLeavesCrappyReviews, Unnamed One, Nami4Life, and galactiaconstella!) as well as those who favorited and followed!