"Lucy! Are you here?"
Natsu vaulted through the open second-story window, landing with a heavy thud on the wooden floor.
He looked around the empty apartment, grinning as if he owned the place.
A moment later, a pile of soot shifted in the fireplace.
Gray emerged from the chimney, brushing ash off his shoulders and—for some reason—already shirtless.
"Lucy, where are you?" Gray called out casually, stepping onto the rug.
They looked around, expecting the usual noise. Instead, they found Erza sitting elegantly at the small dining table. She was sipping a cup of tea she had brewed for herself, looking as calm as a queen holding court.
"Couldn't you two use the door?" Erza asked, placing her teacup down with a soft clink. "You're getting dirt everywhere."
Natsu and Gray stared at her, speechless.
Then they looked at the empty room.
"Then what are you doing here?" Natsu asked.
"Waiting," Erza replied simply.
Natsu scratched his spiky pink hair, a frown creasing his forehead.
"So strange..."
Gray nodded, crossing his arms. "Yeah. Usually, by now..."
In their collective memory, there should have been an ear-splitting shriek of "This is my room! Get out!", followed swiftly by a heavy object—a book, a suitcase, or a cat—being thrown violently at their faces.
That was the proper way things should start!
Gray pondered this, stroking his chin thoughtfully.
'If she's not in the living room screaming at us, she must be in the bathroom.'
His imagination immediately conjured a scenario: A naked Lucy wrapped only in a towel, seeing Gray barging into the bathroom, would turn red and angrily yell: "Gray, you pervert! Die!"
'Yeah...' Gray thought, nodding to himself. 'That's definitely how it would go. It's the natural order of things.'
Putting on a righteous, serious expression, Gray marched toward the bathroom.
He gripped the handle and resolutely pulled open the door while shouting loudly.
"Sorry to disturb!"
In the bathroom, however, he didn't see a screaming blonde.
All he saw was thick white mist.
"Yo."
Ankh was sitting cross-legged in the bathtub, the water up to his chest. He waved dismissively at Gray.
"Nope, not here," Ankh said, looking relaxed. "I already checked."
"You're too fast!" Gray stared in amazement at Ankh's full-speed action power. "When did you even get in here?!"
Before Gray could process this, Erza walked past him, pushing him out of the doorway. She was already changing into a bathrobe she had found in Lucy's closet.
The two boys were kicked out of the bathroom and the door slammed shut.
Gray stood in the hallway, blinking helplessly.
"What did she even come here for..." Gray muttered. "To steal Lucy's bathwater?"
Happy flew over, landing on the table with a heavy sigh.
"Without Lucy here, the tsukkomi rhythm is all off..."
Gray facepalmed. "Why complain about that? Shouldn't the question be, where is Lucy? Not 'what does it matter if there's no straight man to yell at our jokes'..."
With Lucy absent, the role of the rational thinker temporarily fell to the relatively normal-thinking Gray.
They continued searching the apartment for traces of their friend.
While Natsu looked under the rug, Ankh—fresh from his bath and fully clothed again—wandered over to the corner.
He casually lifted the lid of a wooden chest.
His eyes widened as he couldn't look away.
"Amazing!"
The chest was filled with various bold, lacy, and revealing lingerie. It was a treasure trove of silk and ribbons.
Seeing the contents, even a thick-skinned, battle-hardened mage like Ankh felt a blush creep up his neck.
"When would someone even wear these..." Erza, who had also finished her bath, leaned over Ankh's shoulder.
Steam was practically rising from her head as she looked inside.
"They offer zero defensive capabilities."
Ankh's mouth twitched. He picked up a particularly skimpy piece of black lace with two fingers.
"This is... a bit too revealing...."
Natsu walked over, squinting at the garments. He picked up a frilly red piece.
"Maybe they're for eating!" Natsu analyzed with his carefree, single-celled nerve.
"Like fancy napkins!"
"NO, NO, NO..."
Everyone shook their heads in unison.
"This isn't good. Let's close it before we get arrested." Finally, the relatively honest Gray slammed the lid shut, sealing the treasure chest away from prying eyes.
Just then, Happy stumbled over his own feet and knocked over a cardboard box sitting on the desk.
Crash!
The box fell, scattering dozens of envelopes across the floor.
"Oops," Happy said.
They hurried to gather the letters. Natsu picked up one that had fallen out of its envelope and began to read aloud without hesitation.
"Mom, I finally joined the Fairy Tail I've always dreamed of..."
Gray paused, freezing with a stack of papers in his hand. "I see... these are letters to her mother?"
Happy scratched his big head, puzzled. "But why weren't they sent? They're all still here."
No one answered Happy's question. The atmosphere in the room shifted from chaotic to somber. Natsu continued reading, his voice unusually soft.
"Today I met a girl named Erza. She's really cool and beautiful, and she's really strong! People call her the Titania!"
Erza listened, her cheeks flushing pink with a mixture of pride and embarrassment.
"And Erza's brother is Ankh! And mom, guess what? Ankh is also a Celestial Spirit Mage! He has the key to the 13th Zodiac spirit! He's really strong, even if he is a bit scary sometimes. Along with them, and Natsu who I mentioned before, and the slightly perverted exhibitionist Gray, we formed Fairy Tail's strongest team! It's both nerve-wracking and exciting..."
The "pervert" from the letter looked at the scattered envelopes in amazement.
"Are all these meant for her mom? There are so many!" Gray said. "She writes one every week?"
Happy nodded. "Seems like it. Lucy really loves her mom. She wants to share everything with her."
"Hey... there's a note from Lucy here."
Erza was standing by Lucy's usual writing desk. She picked up a single, small piece of paper that had been left prominently in the center.
But her hand holding the paper trembled slightly.
"'I went home,' it says."
"WHY!"
Their expressions instantly collapsed. Three simultaneous shouts of panic filled the small apartment, nearly making Ankh jump off the bed where he had been lounging.
Happy tearfully exclaimed, flailing his paws like a child. "Lucy was called back by her father! I remember! What if she doesn't come back?! What if she's locked up?!"
Natsu angrily slammed his fist onto the table, setting it ablaze for a second before patting it out.
"No way! I won't accept it! Let's go get Lucy back!"
Gray had already climbed back into the fireplace chimney, ready to depart via the roof.
"Let's go!"
Ankh was speechless.
He clapped his hands loudly to get their attention.
CLAP!
"Calm down, you idiots," Ankh said. "You know Lucy. Think about her personality. She's stubborn. She'd never willingly yield to her father's pressure just because he asked."
Happy sniffled, wiping his eyes with his tail. "But Lucy only left a tiny note. What if she doesn't want to stay in the guild anymore?"
Ankh walked over and rubbed Happy's head comfortingly.
"This is Lucy's family matter. It's complicated. She couldn't explain everything in a note," Ankh reasoned.
"Don't worry. Even if she quit, Lucy is the type who would say goodbye properly to our faces. She wouldn't just vanish like a ghost."
Everyone thought for a moment and realized it made sense. Lucy's cheerful, responsible personality meshed perfectly with the guild, and she'd formed deep bonds with her comrades in a short time.
She wouldn't leave them hanging.
Ankh thought further, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"But... Lucy probably went back to confront her father about the war," Ankh added. "That man hired Phantom Lord to attack us. She's going to face him."
He stood up, grabbing his coat.
"We should go pick her up. Not to force her back, but to let Jude Heartfilia see that Lucy has our guild's protection. We need to show him that if he messes with her, he messes with all of us."
Erza, Natsu, and Gray immediately agreed, their eyes burning with determination.
"Let's go!"
...
Meanwhile, miles away at the Heartfilia family's luxurious estate.
The estate was massive, a sprawling landscape of manicured gardens and a mansion that looked more like a castle.
In the front courtyard, an elderly maid in a traditional uniform was sweeping the fallen leaves.
"Mrs. Spetto."
A gentle, familiar voice called out from the gate.
The old maid froze upon hearing the sound. She turned slowly, her broom clattering to the cobblestones.
In an instant, tears poured from Mrs. Spetto's eyes like a fountain.
"L-Lady Lucy?!"
Within seconds, the quiet estate erupted into chaos.
A crowd of staff seemed to materialize from nowhere—gardeners, chefs, maids—all excitedly emerging from the bushes and doorways upon hearing the voice.
They shouted in unison, their voices echoing off the mansion walls.
"WELCOME HOME, LADY LUCY!"
Lucy stood at the gate, immediately surrounded by servants and stewards she hadn't seen in years.
They were all chattering excitedly, crying, and telling her how much they'd missed her.
These were all servants who had served her late mother, Layla, from early on.
Having watched over and cared for Lucy since she was a toddler, they practically regarded her as their own daughter.
Moreover, Lucy's inherently kind nature and her genuine kindness toward everyone regardless of status made the old servants here particularly heartbroken when she ran away from home back then.
Looking at Mrs. Spetto, who was currently clinging to her leg and crying into her boots, Lucy sighed inwardly.
'Everyone really hasn't changed at all...'
While Lucy didn't feel even an ounce of guilt toward her father for running away, she did feel deeply sorry for these servants who treated her as family.
She felt a pang of regret for making them worry.
"I'm home, everyone," Lucy said softly.
Just as everyone was sharing their emotions, the massive oak doors of the villa opened.
A stern-looking servant emerged, cutting through the warm atmosphere. She looked somewhat troubled as she bowed stiffly.
"Young Miss," the servant said, her voice devoid of the warmth the others had shown. "The Master requests your presence in his study immediately."
Hearing this, the smile slowly faded from Lucy's face.
The warmth of the reunion evaporated instantly.
She lifted her head to gaze at the massive, imposing villa before her.
It didn't look like a home... it looked like a prison.
Her own father's response to his daughter's return after a year of silence was merely, "I'm waiting for you in the study."
No welcome. No hug.
Just an order.
'That man truly hasn't changed at all...'