Chapter Text
The days following the disbandment of Fairy Tail were among the hardest in Lucy’s life. Natsu and Happy were gone, leaving behind only a letter to say goodbye. Then Makarov’s heartbreaking announcement had happened. And in the span of less than a week, Lucy was left all alone in Magnolia with no friends, no family to help her or cheer her up.
She was conscious the events of Tartaros had not let any of her friends unscathed, many hearts had been broken and way too many tears had been shed. That day, when they all had been fighting to destroy the last dark guild of the Balam Alliance and protect the whole continent from losing its magic, sacrifices had to be made.
The heartbreak that came with breaking Aquarius’ key – resulting in Lucy losing her first friend – consumed her. She spent her nights curled into a ball, holding the broken key against her chest, letting her tears flow uncontrollably. Grief and loneliness were ripping her apart.
Accepting that Fairy Tail was disbanded, that Aquarius was gone and that all of her friends had gone their own way was a hard task. Lucy wished she could have done like all the other members of the guild and see the disbandment of Fairy Tail as an opportunity to make a fresh start. All her friends had walked towards the unknown with an unexpected optimism, but she hadn't.
How could she when the only thing she felt was loss and loneliness? The world had lost its colors, leaving her in a grey and void space where she did not find any joy.
As the days went by, it was getting harder and harder for Lucy to get up and find pleasure in the simple things of her life. And it was only when she noticed the plummet of her own mental state that she knew she had to make a hard choice.
She had to leave Magnolia.
Staying here, only reminded her of every wonderful moment she had spent with her friends and how much she missed them. The simplest things like getting her groceries had become a torture. She constantly ended up scouring the streets for her friends as if the disbandment was just an illusion and everything was back to how it had always been. She hoped to see Erza and Wendy at the little bakery next to the guild, buying strawberry cakes, or Gray and Natsu fighting in front of the guild, or maybe even Levy reading a book while Gajeel played the guitar beside her.
But all these little moments were no more, Fairy Tail was a ruin in the middle of the town and it no longer existed.
So, Lucy decided to move to Crocus, tired of walking next to the remnants of the guild every day and confusing every pink head for Natsu — not that changing town would stop her from mistaking every pink head for the Dragon Slayer. Leaving Magnolia was not an easy task, she loved her small apartment, and the plethora of good memories linked to this place.
Deep down, even if it hurt to leave the place she called home, she knew coming to Crocus was a good idea to start moving on and slowly start healing.
And she had been right to do so because only two weeks after moving to the capital, she had received a letter from Jason – the reporter from Sorcerer Magazine – offering her a job. Lucy had accepted his offer, not wanting to refuse an opportunity to work for her favorite magazine, but she was rapidly disillusioned by the fact it was a job as a gravure model and not as a reporter. Needing to earn some money, and not able to go on missions anymore since she didn’t belong to an existing guild — meaning she didn’t have access to a request board — she had agreed to do occasional photoshoots for the magazine.
Except being a gravure model didn’t suit Lucy’s fancy, and her patience had run out after a photoshoot on the beach where she had been forced to take pictures with a way too-cuddly octopus. Right after this photoshoot, Jason had asked her if she wanted to become a recurrent model and Lucy had jumped on the opportunity to be honest with the man. She had told him she wanted to write and become a reporter.
The day she successfully convinced Jason to take her as a reporter apprentice felt like it was the start of a new adventure.
Life as a reporter apprentice was fun and also exhausting.
Lucy was working full-time and non-stop, writing articles about guilds and their members by day and looking for news of her friends by night. Being a reporter was a good way to gather intel about the members of Fairy Tail. It had allowed her to successfully pinpoint where some had gone while others were still nowhere to be seen almost as if they had completely vanished from the surface of the world. Except working all day and night turned out to be more exhausting than she thought, and noticing her state, Jason had given her a couple of days off to relax.
To relax like Jason had asked her to do, Lucy had decided to go to a book fair in Malba City, a small town located north of Crocus. She knew it was far from the capital and that she had not a lot of time to stay there, but a change in scenery and discovering a new town would be nice — even if her main reason for going was the books.
Her little stay in Malba City was fun, she enjoyed the specialties of the town, the book fair was wonderful, and she bought way too many books. Of course, going to another town was also the opportunity to hear echoes or rumors about her friends’ whereabouts. Even if she should accept that the guild was gone, Lucy still held the small possibility in her heart that Fairy Tail would be reborn one day, and for that to happen, she needed to know where its members were.
It was true that when she had heard about the book fair, she had thought that there might have been a chance for Levy to be there since she loved books as much as Lucy did. But she should have known that her best friend would not be present. After all, Levy had joined the Magic Council with Gajeel and Pantherlily, and they were extremely short-staffed and too busy trying to capture the criminals that had escaped prison after the destruction of the Magic Council.
Her little holiday rapidly came to an end. Lucy took the train to go back to Crocus except the vehicle broke down at the town right before the capital. Lucy decided to walk for the rest of the trip since it was only a few hours walk from where she was to the capital.
She was humming happily, walking and thinking about the book fair and the rumors she had heard about Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe having joined Blue Pegasus.
After a while, the capital finally came into view, and the idea of lying in her bed and rest before going back to work in a couple of days sounded amazing. But before she could reach the city, she heard a branch crack from behind her and without having enough time to turn and see what it was, the world went dark.