Today was the first day of April's Camp Nanowrimo! I'll be pretty much be incommunicado for most of this month, just a head's up. Also the CoLu Week 2019 details are up on my profile page.

I hope you enjoy this new chapter.

It was fortunate that the Love And Lucky Guild had thought to send a second notice to Lucy, as by the time it had arrived, she had completely forgotten about the first. In her defense, the final touches on Fairy Tail's final resting place had taken a good deal out of her, an additional week longer than she had anticipated. The monument, in particular, had been brutal to decide upon. To her surprise, she discovered afterward that it had been Macao and Wakaba who had dealt with the inscription for it. It made sense in hindsight. They were part of the few that had stuck around, and they had been with the guild for a very long time, after all. But it had seemed almost out of character for them despite that. It didn't completely mesh with the mental image that Lucy had of them.

Really, though, it only drove home the point that Lucy hardly knew the others at the guild at all. The only people she'd really known were the members of her own team.

But then again, Natsu had proven to her just how untrue that assumption had been, hadn't he? If she didn't know her first friend at the guild well enough to predict how he would react to Igneel's death, then she couldn't claim to know anyone at all, could she?

Things that she would have liked to have known, or asked them, occurred to her almost hourly. She wondered if Gajeel had a preferred metal that he liked to eat – like Natsu with flames – or if it all tasted the same to him. She wanted to know the story of how Levy, Jet, and Droy became a team. She didn't know what type of magic Kinana used, for goodness' sake! Or if Bickslow and Evergreen even had last names!

It was a persistent sort of hurt, the kind she couldn't begin to recover from because as soon as it left her mind for a moment, something would happen, or her thoughts would stray, and then she'd be hit by it all over again. It was akin to being repeatedly sucker punched multiple times a day with no forewarning.

Probably didn't help that Magnolia was full of memories with her friends, either.

So getting out of town for a day sounded exactly like the thing Lucy needed most right now.

That, and her rent was coming due in a day or two and Lucy was mildly terrified of facing her landlady after promising to have it ready in time, and then… not having it after all. It hurt to think of breaking another promise. Especially to someone that had been very kind to her, all things considered. Hopefully there would be a little money left amongst her father's things or a valuable that she could sell to help her squeak by until she found a proper job. If push came to shove, she would pay what she could, and dig out her fishing rod so that she would be able to eat afterward.

Scraping together her pocket change, Lucy took the early morning train to Acalypha.

It wasn't a particularly long train ride. Just a couple of hours. As the scenery flew past the window, Lucy wondered which direction Natsu had taken in his journey. He would have gone on foot, of course. No public transportation for him. Lucy snorted. If she had known which direction he had taken, she could have taken the train and headed him off along the way. Then again… maybe not. He had Happy along with him. And Natsu's stamina was something altogether terrifying. Besides which, it didn't seem like her company was wanted.

Hadn't been wanted by anyone, at all, as it turned out.

Why hadn't she gone with someone? It was a question that Lucy had asked herself repeatedly over the past few weeks, and yet she was no closer to an answer. She didn't know why she didn't ask one of her teammates if she could tag along to wherever their paths took them. They probably wouldn't have begrudged such a request. And yet she'd been unable to make it. Not to a single person.

Instead, she'd stayed, near the wreckage of the guild. Refused to go anywhere else.

Ah, no. It was a lie to say that she didn't know why. Lucy did know. All too well.

If her best friend hadn't wanted her around, why would anyone else?

It was far easier to stay near the place that had made her feel like she was loved, rather than test the actual strength of those bonds. In Lucy's experience, such things always came up short to her expectations and hopes. So it was better to not be disappointed, and cling to her illusions.

When the train pulled into the Acalypha Station, it startled Lucy something bad. So wrapped up in her thoughts, she had somehow missed the announcement for it. That was embarrassing. Grabbing her wallet – the only thing she'd chosen to bring with her aside from the letter from Love And Lucky and her keys – Lucy disembarked the train. Stepping out of the station and into the morning light, Lucy squinted at how bright it was. Summer was at its height now, and the heat was already starting to bore down upon her. With any luck, the guild would be air conditioned. Or so Lucy told herself as she started off in the general direction of the place.

It was located just off the main thoroughfare, if she recalled correctly. Acalypha was a busy place, with the streets already packed full of people. Lucy wondered if that was normal for a weekday, or…

Lucy stopped in her tracks, the other pedestrians parting around her like river water around a rock.

What day of the week was it?

This was something she should have known. Something she should never have had to question. Lucy was meticulous about keeping track of the days. Her contract with her spirits, and especially Aquarius depended on-

Oh. Right.

Her legs felt too heavy to move, and a similar weight pressed upon her chest, choking off her airflow.

She wouldn't get to see Aquarius ever again.

It wasn't as if the spirit had ever been nice to her. On the contrary. She'd been downright cruel at times. But the mermaid had been one of the few reminders that Lucy had had left of her mother, and Lucy had depended on her for a very long time. Since childhood, in fact. The spirit had had a place in Lucy's heart, all the same. And now that place lay vacant, and the edges tender.

Lucy had loved her. Still loved her.

Forcing her feet to move once more, Lucy kept her eyes on the ground. She could feel the press of people around her, even with as much breathing room as there actually was. Their eyes were on her, surely. The strange girl that had stopped in the middle of the road, blocking foot traffic. Her cheeks burned with shame, and she hurried as best she could through the crowd. The sooner she got to Love & Lucky, the better.

Despite the yet still early hour, the guild was already a center of activity – a far cry from when she'd visited it a few months ago. A steady stream of people were filtering in and out of the guild, and standing around wagons parked along the side with work orders in hand. There was a hustle and bustle about the place that appealed to Lucy, and noises from the wagon beasts and from the merchants talking were soothing to her ears. She felt something inside of her finally unwind its tight coils from around her heart.

It seemed like a good guild, she decided.

After all, it was the place where her parents had met, and where her name came from.