As the sun began to dip below the horizon, the world was painted in shades of burning orange and deep violet.
The fiery red hues draped like a heavy velvet curtain across the sky, signaling the end of a long, emotional day.
In the beautiful, warm twilight of the estate grounds, Lucy Heartfilia stood alone.
She held a bouquet of fresh white lilies in her hands, their petals stark against the colorful sunset.
With a gentle motion, she placed the flowers before a pristine marble tombstone.
Flowers bloomed abundantly around the grave, a testament to the care the servants still took of this sacred spot.
Behind the stone stood a statue of a gentle-faced female angel, her wings spread as if to shelter the soul resting beneath.
Lucy's brown eyes softened as she looked past the cold stone and up at the statue.
For a moment, the stone face seemed to shift, and she felt as if she were looking at the person from years past.
Layla Heartfilia.
X748 — X777.
This was the final resting place of Lucy's mother, the woman who had influenced her life more than anyone else. She was the source of Lucy's kindness, her spirit, and her celestial magic.
When Jude had tried to dictate Lucy's future in that cold study, threatening to cage her in a loveless marriage, Lucy hadn't considered simply giving in for even a second.
Every time she remembered the loving, warm way her mother had looked at her, she resolved to defy her father's cold plans.
Layla had lived with grace and love, not control and greed.
"I want to become someone like you, Mother," Lucy whispered to the wind. "So, I am destined for freedom. I won't let him clip my wings."
After gazing at the angel statue for a long time, letting the silence of the garden wash over her, Lucy let out a long sigh.
She wiped a stray tear from her cheek and revealed a faint, relieved smile.
"Alright, Mother... I'm going back to my real home now."
"LUCY!!"
Just as Lucy took her first step, several noisy, chaotic shouts suddenly erupted from the distance, shattering the peaceful atmosphere.
"Eh?!"
Lucy turned around in surprise, her hand going to her keys out of instinct.
Down the garden path, a cloud of dust was approaching.
Emerging from the dust were Natsu, Gray, Erza, and Happy.
They were sprinting toward her with comical desperation, tears and snot streaming down their faces as they screamed her name.
"LUCYYYY! YOU'RE ALIVE!"
"What are you all doing here?" Lucy gasped, startled. "Wait, stop! Don't tackle me—"
Too late.
"Aye! Lucy!"
A blue blur launched itself through the air.
Tearful Happy threw himself into Lucy's arms, burying his face in her chest.
"Happy?" Lucy softened, catching the cat.
"I thought you were gone forever!" Happy wailed.
Although Happy usually loved bickering with Lucy the most—teasing her about her weight—aside from Natsu and Lisanna, who were like parents to him, Lucy was the person Happy adored most in the guild.
After all, Happy was essentially just a six-year-old cat—willful, mischievous, and innocent.
Only someone as easygoing and maternal as Lucy could spend all day bickering and joking with him without taking real offense.
Her leaving had terrified him.
Natsu and Gray rushed anxiously to Lucy's side, skidding to a halt.
"Why did you leave just a note?!" Natsu yelled, wiping his nose. "We thought you were quitting!"
"Yeah!" Gray added, panting. "We came to bust you out!"
They chattered incessantly, their voices overlapping until Lucy finally understood why they had come all this way.
Ultimately, it was because she hadn't made herself clear
Her note had been too brief, too ominous.
Holding the crying Happy in her arms, Lucy awkwardly scratched her cheek. "I'm sorry, guys. I didn't mean to scare you. I just... had to settle things."
She explained everything to them—the note, her intentions, and the confrontation she had just finished.
Only then did Natsu and the others feel the tension leave their bodies.
Incidentally, Lucy also told everyone about her complete break with her father. She didn't hide the ugly details of his threats or the arranged marriage.
Hearing Lucy's decision, Natsu and the others were truly shocked.
The atmosphere shifted from relief to indignation.
Erza nodded slowly, crossing her arms. She admired Lucy's decisiveness. "You did the right thing. Casting aside wealth for freedom... that is the spirit of Fairy Tail."
However, Natsu and Gray grew furious upon learning about Jude's plans for Lucy.
"He tried to sell you off?!" Natsu roared, flames igniting on his fists. "That bastard! I'm gonna go burn his eyebrows off!"
"Arranged marriage to the Cureniar family?" Gray cracked his knuckles, ice spreading on the ground.
"Does he think people are merchandise? Let's go storm upstairs and give him a beating he won't forget!"
Most members of Fairy Tail's new generation were orphans.
Natsu, Gray, Erza—they were accustomed to independence and relying on themselves and their friends for everything.
They viewed the guild as their true parents.
Thus, they couldn't understand Jude's actions. The idea of a father unilaterally arranging his daughter's life without consulting her, using her as a political tool to build his business empire, was repugnant to them.
"Stop it, you two," Erza commanded, though her eyes flashed with anger too.
She restrained the two fuming boys, grabbing them by their collars.
She turned to Lucy and offered a rational, comforting smile. "Since you've made your decision, we'll all support you. You are Lucy of Fairy Tail, not just a Heartfilia."
Lucy smiled, her heart feeling lighter than it had in years.
She nodded. "Thank you."
She had known from the start that her companions would understand her, so she wasn't surprised.
She was just grateful.
Just then, the bushes behind the tombstone shook.
"Man, that was a long pee."
Ankh's voice suddenly sounded behind them, startling the unprepared Lucy once again.
"KYAA!" Lucy jumped. "Ankh?! You came too?"
She looked at the bushes where Ankh was emerging.
Erza shrugged helplessly and explained, "Brother said he had to pee urgently about ten minutes ago and went to find a bush. We told him to hold it, but he vanished."
Lucy was instantly speechless.
Her face went blank.
'You're a national idol! You're a Wizard Saint! Couldn't you pay a little more attention to your image? Peeing in my mother's garden of all things?!'
Lucy, being easygoing, didn't actually mind Ankh messing around in her family's bushes—it was just the principle of the thing.
Little did she know, of course, that Ankh hadn't been relieving himself at all.
He had just slipped out of her father's study via the window after leaving a terrifying threat pinned to the desk to back her up.
Ankh ignored the looks and walked over to the grave.
He was now carefully examining the text on the tombstone, his expression shifting from casual to analytical.
"Um, Lucy..." Ankh asked, his voice losing its playful edge. "If I may ask... what was the cause of your mother's passing?"
Lucy thought for a moment, surprised by the question.
She shook her head sadly. "I... I'm not entirely sure. Mother's health suddenly deteriorated over a period of time. She was fine one month, and then weak the next. She passed away from illness not long after..."
"I'm sorry for asking," Ankh murmured, placing a hand on the stone. "May she rest in peace."
However, internally, Ankh's mind was racing. He keenly picked up on two specific words in Lucy's explanation—"suddenly."
He didn't know much about Layla's Magic abilities during her lifetime, as the history books were vague, but he assumed they must have been formidable.
At the very least, in the path of a Celestial Spirit Mage, she was undoubtedly a top-tier.
To be able to call the Celestial Spirit King a "friend," and for this bond to be so strong it extended to her daughter Lucy years later—Layla's abilities in the celestial arts were certainly nothing small.
She likely had immense magic.
'Yet, such a powerful Mage actually passed away suddenly due to illness... How absurd...' Ankh thought, narrowing his eyes.
In this world, a powerful Mage possessed a vitality far beyond that of a normal human.
While not entirely immune to illness, their bodies were resilient.
Layla was barely thirty when she passed away. For a mage of her caliber to be taken by a "sudden illness" with no prior symptoms was incredibly suspicious.
'And look at the date,' Ankh noted.
Year X777.
It was a rather special year.
Ankh couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
The year X777 was the year Natsu's dragon, Igneel, and all the other dragons disappeared from the world. It was the same year Layla Heartfilia passed away.
'Was this merely a coincidence? Or is there a connection between the death of the greatest Celestial Spirit Mage and the disappearance of the Dragons?'
For now, Ankh had no answer to this question. It was just a hunch. And this wasn't the time to bring up conspiracy theories.
Lucy and the others weren't planning to stay here for long either.
"Let's go home," Natsu grinned. "To the guild!"
"Aye!"
After waving goodbye to the reluctant tearful maids who had gathered at the back gate, Lucy led her companions away from the mansion.
They set off once again on the road back to the guild.
Having successfully retrieved their friend, Erza, Natsu, Gray, and Happy were in high spirits. They strolled leisurely down the long, winding path that cut through the green fields.
Lucy walked in the middle, feeling a sense of peace she hadn't felt in a long time.
"I'm really sorry for making everyone worry so much," she said again.
Erza smiled understandingly. "We were too impatient. Don't dwell on it."
Natsu, resting his arms behind his head as he walked, teased playfully, "Happy was crying nonstop, you know! He soaked my vest!"
"Hey!" Happy, having returned to his usual cheeky self, retorted without backing down. "Natsu and Gray were so anxious they came running over too! Natsu tripped three times!"
"I did not!" Natsu yelled.
Gray looked at the cat speechlessly. "Why drag me into it? I was just making sure Natsu didn't get lost."
Then, Gray stopped walking. He gazed out at the endless wilderness surrounding them.
Green hills rolled on for miles, the road, and forests dotted the landscape.
"Speaking of which," Gray complained, wiping sweat from his forehead. "We've been walking for twenty minutes. This town is way too big, isn't it? Where does the estate end and the town begin?"
Erza, thoroughly enjoying the distant scenery and fresh air, took a deep breath.
"Isn't this kind of scenery is wonderful? It's a nice change from Magnolia."
Lucy blinked, realizing their confusion.
She laughed.
"No, guys," Lucy explained, pointing around her. "This is actually our family's garden. We aren't in a town yet."
"HUUUHH?" Gray froze.
Lucy turned and pointed a finger toward a misty mountain peak barely visible in the far, far distance.
"See that mountain?" Lucy asked. "Everything up to that mountain over there belongs to the Heartfilia family. The property line is the river behind it."
'Go ahead, young lady, mark out the boundaries for us.'
Upon hearing Lucy's words, the scene suddenly fell into a deathly silence and the wind blew, carrying the sound of crickets.
Natsu and Gray, their expressions growing increasingly dumbfounded, stood like statues.
Their jaws dropped.
'Everything... to the mountain?'
Abruptly, they shifted their demeanor.
They looked at each other, then at Lucy. Comically raising their hands above their heads in a synchronized salute, they exclaimed in perfect unison.
"AS EXPECTED OF A YOUNG LADY FROM A WEALTHY FAMILY!"
"SUCH A CASUAL FLEX!"
It was too much for their poor, job-hunting brains to comprehend.
Natsu and Gray, acting like a pair of foolish youths whose minds had snapped under the weight of the wealth gap, locked arms.
They began to lift their legs high, performing a ridiculous can-can dance, spinning around on the spot.
"We are broke! We are broke!" they chanted.
Happy, flustered by their insanity, ran over to Erza's side and cried out in panic.
"Captain Erza! Gray and Natsu have fallen in battle! The reality of poverty has crushed their minds! Please give your assessment!"
Erza didn't answer.
Happy looked up. Erza, her gaze profound and unfocused, stared at the seemingly endless "village" that was actually just a backyard.
She had a dazed, almost brain-dead expression on her face.
"Ah..." Erza drooled slightly. "The sky is so blue... the land is so big... one strawberry cake costs 500 jewels..."
Assessment complete—Erza's brain has short-circuited from financial shock!
Lucy looked helplessly at her clowning companions.
She let out a relieved, happy laugh.
"You guys are hopeless."
Standing a bit further back, Ankh watched the scene with his hands in his pockets.
Having long been aware of Lucy's family background, he wasn't surprised by any of this.
'Just kidding,' Ankh thought, a tear running down his cheek internally.
'My heart has long gone numb!'
'A family that counts mountain peaks as lawn ornaments and drives a carriage just to find their own front gate... we simply can't imagine it! Rich people are scary!'
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