When I woke up the next morning, on top of Laxus with Erza tucked into my side and the blonde dragon slayers arms around us I could help but smile. It had become normal for at least one or more of them to sneak in so I wasn't surprised.
"Morning Lucy" Erza yawned as she sat up.
"Morning, Erza, Laxus. How are you two this morning?" I questioned as I got out of bed, my sleep clothes still on.
"A lot better since I get to see such a beautiful woman this morning" Laxus smirked and it sent a shiver down my spine. Both them must have noticed since they traded grins but I didn't mind. Heading to the bathroom I got ready for the day before heading out to start cooking breakfast. At least that was the plan before I came out and saw Laxus, shirtless with an apron on. Blushing bright red I decided to indulge myself and sat at dining table and watched as he cooked. Erza meanwhile had headed into the bathroom once I came out of it.
"Enjoy the view?" Laxus asked as he turned to me and once again I could tell my face was flushed.
"What can I say, it's a very nice view" I said and he chuckled.
"In that case, feel free to look as long as you want," He said before turning back to the stove. It wasn't long before breakfast was ready and even less time for Erza, Laxus and I to devour it all. After that Laxus borrowed my bathroom to get dressed, since he was still shirtless and wearing yesterday's pants, and then we set off to Fairy Tail. There were sure to be people to talk to and missions to do. I knew that the looming threat of Tartaros was going to hit me soon so for now I just wanted to enjoy the peace and freedom we had.
Before I knew it a few months had passed. I had been taking missions with not only my beloved partners but others as well. From Wendy, Romeo and Carla to Levy, Lily and Gajeel. If they asked me to go on a mission with I made sure that I went on one with them when I had the time. It wasn't all missions either sometimes I would go on dates with my partners and other times I would just hang out with my friends. Just like I told Rogue and Sting, when they were near Magnolia I made time to hang out with them which they were happy about, if Sting's beaming smile and Rogue little smile with a blush was anything to go by. At the moment though I had just gotten back from a mission with Natsu and Gray and was sitting at the bar having a milkshake.
"Love ri...Lucy-san....Would you mind...Juvia means...Could you" Juvia stuttered as she came up to me. She was looking at the floor downhearted and twisting her hands together.
"Come on Juvia, let's go up to the office Master gave me so that we can have some privacy" I smiled as I shot a disappointed look at those that had lent closer once Juvia had approached me. Even though I wasn't Master anymore, Laxus and I each had different offices to Makarov since we helped with his paperwork.
"There now we are alone and don't worry, I have Loke out in the hallway to make sure that no one interferes" I assured her.
"Right, thank you. Juvia isn't really sure how to start or what exactly to say" Juvia said as we sat on the couch next to each other.
"Take your time, no one is going to rush you and we can stay here as long as you need" I smiled, hoping to calm her down a little. It seemed to have worked as Juvia relaxed a little.
"When Juvia was little no one liked being around her because of her powers to create rain. Juvia wasn't able to control it back then and because she was always sad it was always raining no matter where she went. Even when she joined Phatom the closest person to a friend she had was Gajeel and well he wasn't all that nice back then" Juvia said and I got us some water from the mini fridge that I had.
"But then all of that changed when Juvia met Gray-sama, he showed her the sun for the first time in forever. He didn't see Juvia as a gloomy rain woman, he saw Juvia as someone precious enough to save even though we were fight each other. Then Juvia ended up deciding that she wanted to join Fairy tail, not just because it was Gray-sama's guild but because a guild that had helped someone become like Gray-sama must be great. Just like Juvia thought Fairy tail is wonder and she has had so much fun here and even has so many friends she can no longer count them with her fingers. Even still Gray-sama still won't look at Juvia, he is always looking at love rival, at you Lucy-san" Juvia said and my heart gave a painful clench. I knew that this was coming after all it was easy to see Juvia's feelings for Gray. But even still I didn't want to give up my relationship with Gray. It was selfish of me I know that but I love him just as much as I love Natsu, Cobra, Erza, Jellal, Midnight, Laxus and Loke.
"Juvia started to wonder why it is that he loved you but not her. Was it our clothes, attitudes, actions or even just our looks? The more Juvia thought about this the more she started to look not only at Gray-sama but at you as well Lucy-san. And then I realised why it was that he loved you. You are kind, it doesn't matter who the person is, you never look down on them. Even when they try to kill you, even when they beat you and hurt your friends. When Juvia saw you fighting against Future Rogue she knew that it wasn't just about saving the world but it was about saving those dear to you. And that was the most beautiful thing that Juvia had ever seen. Or at least it was until you came out of the sky really injured it nearly made Juvia stop breathing" Juvia said. I could feel the heat in my face from a blush but I couldn't exactly help it, anyone would blush if they were called beautiful.
"Juvia guesses that she should just get to the point already" Juvia said with a blush of her own.
"The more that Juvia thought about it the more she realised that she didn't understand love at all. Love is such a strange thing that no one can truly fully understand it, let alone Juvia understanding it" Juvia started to ramble.
"What I'm trying to say is that....Well Juvia believes that she not only has feelings of deep love for Gray-sama but also deep feelings of love for Lucy-sama as well" Juvia said. My eyes widened as Juvia lent forward and pressed her lips to mine.
"Juvia knows that you are in a poly relationship with the others but she needs to at least tell you about this" She said before getting up and heading to the door.
"Ah hold on, wait" I called out stopping her from leaving.
"I was caught off guard and I wasn't expecting this but Juvia you are beautiful and just as nice as I am but I'm not going to lie to you. I don't have any feelings for you. But that doesn't mean that I won't grow to like you" I smiled as I grabbed her hand.
"Why don't we talk to the others about this and we can find something that we can do. Maybe we can go on a few dates and see how things go. I'm sure that the others won't mind so let's go and talk to them" I said.
"B-but" Juvia started.
"It's fine they won't be upset at you and if they are I will make sure they pay for it" I promised.
"Then you should probably offer the same thing to Gajeel and Levy," Juvia said.
"Levy-chan and Gajeel? Why?" I questioned my head tilted. Juvia looked at me, her eyes wide and her mouth parted in shock.
"You haven't realised?" Juvia asked.
"Realised what?" I asked and she turned away covering her mouth as she began to laugh.
"Come on let's go, it's no wonder that Sting and Rogue have been pouting," Juvia said as we left the office.
One long conversation later I was bright red and wished that I could sink into the floor. I never realised that I was so oblivious. I had never known that Levy, Gajeel and Juvia had fallen in love with me. Even worse was that I never realised that Sting and Rogue had started to fall in love with me as well. It made me feel awful but all of them were accepting and said about how they understood why I didn't realise since they didn't exactly let on about it.
"Still worried about how you didn't realise more people love you then you thought?" Midnight asked as Loke gently brushed my hair.
"I just can't believe that I didn't realise, I mean I realised that Loke was in love with me and I sort of knew you two were in love with me so why didn't I realise about them?" I sighed as I closed my eyes as Cobra moved Loke over to the side and took over as he parted my hair and started to plait it into twelve different plaits.
"I hate to be the one to point this out Princess but I'm really obvious about my feelings, everyone realised I was in love with you ever since you saved me" Loke chuckled.
"And we were the ones that confessed to you little starlight" Midnight said.
"Don't worry, you being oblivious is just one of the many things we love about you" Laxus who was passing said as he lent down and kissed me.
"Oi hands off, I've only just got this perfect" Cobra glared while Cubelious hissed as Laxus put his hand on my head.
"Sorry, sorry" Laxus smirked before walking off.
"There we go, all done and ready for your mission" Cobra said and I grinned getting up. Looking at the mirror that Angel passed me I smiled. My hair was in twelve different plaits with pins at the end of them and my fringe was left free. Ten of them were golden zodiac signs, one was the platinum sign of Ladon and another was a crystal pin that was a sign that no one but Loke and I knew about.
"Thanks, you guys are the best. I'll see you when you get back from my mission" I smiled.
"Hang on a moment, you sure you want to go on this mission by yourself bunny-girl?" Gajeel asked.
"Yeah don't worry about it, I can handle this for myself. Plus it's for a celestial key so I'll be done in a jiffy" I said before I turned heading to the door.
"I'm heading out now" I called out and got calls back saying goodbye.
"Princess, are you sure you want to do this?" Loke asked as the doors shut behind us.
"Yes, I'll do anything and everything to protect my family. Even if it means meeting the devil itself" I said my eyes narrowed.
"In that case, let's go" Loke smiled and I nodded.
A six hour train ride later I got off at the station alone, Loke had gone back to the celestial world and it was for the best that I did this alone. I was wearing the normal clothes that I wore, bandages around my bust, one of Natsu's old vests though this one went down to my knees, long cotton pants, no shoes and Gray's necklace. Making sure that I had my keys on my belt I headed to the beach where I knew I would find who I was looking for.
"Aren't you a long way from home, Little Fairy?" A voice said and I didn't bother to turn around, I continued to look at the sunset.
"I guess I am a little ways away but I know that you would never come to me so I came to you. You should be thankful" I said and I turned as he tried to grab me.
"Careful there, someone might think you are jumpy" Zeref said and I rolled my eyes.
"I'm not jumpy, I'm cautious. But anyway you probably don't want to be here longer than needed and frankly neither do I, so shall we get down to business?" I asked.
"That's the one thing that I like about you. You get straight down to busi-" Zeref started as he placed his hand on the right side of the face and moved my fringe. He saw the scar on my closed eye but I knew that wasn't what stopped him.
"I see....You have been marked" Zeref whispered before looking away, his eyes filled with pain.
"Yeah I know, and I also know what I was getting into when I accepted it" I said.
"You fully understand what you are getting into?" Zeref asked.
"Yes and I am fine with it after all, what I done was done so that I could protect my friends and family. Which brings us to what I am here for" I said. Instantly I grabbed Zeref's throat and slammed him into the beach sand and glared, my mouth pulled back in a sneer.
"W-whoa" Zeref gasped but didn't try to fight against me.
"Your little library of demons are starting to stir and seems like they are looking into Face. I decided to give you good warning that if they try and hurt my friends, my family, my loved ones, I'll destroy everyone of them. And it won't be just me coming for them so give them this message if you bother to contact them. You know what being marked means so you know what I can do. Now you've got my warning so I'm going to leave" I said before I let him go and started to walk away.
"Tell me something, you know that I could have easily killed you and yet you didn't even hesitate to attack me, why?" Zeref enquired.
"There are three reasons. One because even though you could kill me I'm not afraid of you. Two I know that you don't want to kill. Thirdly and finally, I wouldn't care if you killed me. I lost most of my family once, for seven years they were gone and I'm not losing them again. It nearly killed me last time and if I lose them again it will kill me" I said and Zeref's eyes widened.
"No," He whispered.
"Even the brightest of stars have their dark days but I had people to help me. I may have had known what I was getting into but at the same time, let's say I was stupid. But don't think that makes me any weaker" I said before turning and fully leaving, I wasn't turning back this time.
"You know, that woman may just be the one to save me" Zeref whispered with a soft smile.