HI FRIENDS! WOW it has been a while since I have posted! Well I'm sorry for making you guys wait so long for another chapter! I was absolutely booked this school year with dance and theater! I'm sorry! But it's summer now and I am ready to update, update, update! ENJOY!

Natsu singing- Bold

Erza singing- Italic

Both singing- Bold and italic

Chapter 5

It had been three years since Lucy had first arrived in Hargeon. After sleeping over at Swifty's the next day the two went out to shop for furniture for her new apartment. Lucy had some money from different missions and had payed for some of it but Swifty paid for most. By the end of the day she had an apartment filled with new furniture and a closet with a whole new wardrobe. Since then she had grown close to not only Swifty but also Janie, James, and Gina. James was tall, tan, and built with straight short brown hair and hazel eyes. She had a small crush on him but wouldn't ever tell him. She was still moving on from Natsu. Gina was a somewhat tall girl with a wicked tan. She had long blonde hair and eyes as blue as the ocean. She was absolutely gorgeous and had plenty of pageant trophies to prove it.

The four would go out a lot and eat or go to the arcade. Swifty had helped her through her pregnancy and even helped after, babysitting when Lucy needed a night out and even helping her pay for daycare so her daughter had a place to be while she was at work. Lucy named her daughter Summer after Natsu. Summer was now three with long pink wavy hair and chocolate brown eyes that resembled Lucy's. Lucy hadn't started training her in magic but wondered if her daughter had the same magic Natsu had. Summer was just like her dad. She was reckless and crazy but she was also passionate and loving. She did things without thinking about the consequences which most of the time got her in trouble but Lucy always forgave her. Lucy missed the guild but wanted to wait longer before going back. She didn't feel ready.

It was a normal work day and everything was going fine when they heard a loud explosion. Lucy looked over at Swift and the two headed towards the back of the cafe. They walked down a hall and walked out of the back doors that led out to the woods. The woods were so heavy they couldn't see much so Lucy started to walk out further, "wait! Eva! It could be dangerous," Lucy turned back and smiled reassuringly, "don't you remember? I am a mage. I have my keys with me. I am sure it isn't much I will be back in a few!" Lucy turned away and ran into the forest.

She didn't have to go far before she came upon what looked like an abandoned warehouse. it obviously wasn't abandoned considering she could hear intense fighting inside. She ran inside and up a flight of stairs coming up to a big room. She looked inside and her eyes widened. Standing in the middle of the room were five mages she could never forget. Natsu, Erza, Gray, Mira, and Wendy were standing in a circle fighting three mages. Natsu was fighting one on his own and he looked like he was doing pretty fine which didn't surprise Lucy at all. Erza and Mira were fighting another mage and Gray and Wendy were fighting the last. Minus the eight fighting there were tons of other people sprawled across the floor. The five were doing fine on their own but Lucy stayed and watched to make sure they were okay.

Multiple times she had to hold herself back from intervening every time Natsu or anyone else took a fall. She constantly reminded herself that if they saw her magic they would know it was her. Watching them fight was nostalgic and she tried to hold back the many tears fighting to leak out of her eyes. The fight was soon finished and Lucy released a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. Bad choice, "who's there?! Come out and fight me!" Natsu called out, everyone got into their fighting stance and Lucy knew she was screwed. She slowly stepped into the light with her hands up and cleared her throat. She made sure to change her voice and used a southern accent she had picked up from Swifty, "I-I'm sorry. Please don't hurt me I'm n-not even a mage. I heard an explosion and went to check it out. I work at Swifty's. Please don't hurt me," everyone visibly relaxed and stood up straight. Mira stepped forward and held her hand out, "hi. I'm Mira. These are my friends Gray, Erza, Natsu, and Wendy."

"I'm Eva. It's nice to meet you!" Lucy said with her best fake smile spread across her face, "so you guys are mages? That's cool. I have never seen a mage in person before," Lucy wasn't sure where she had learned to be such a good liar or how she was holding it together so well but she was and they didn't suspect a thing. She shook everyone's hand and when she reached Natsu she got a weird look. She internally freaked out but kept her cool and tilted her head to the side, "something wrong?" Natsu looked at her and she saw him sniff. Shit. Of all the things she did to change herself she forgot to get new shampoo to change her scent.

She waited patiently hoping he wouldn't recognize her, "Natsu...something wrong?" Erza asked skeptically. Natsu snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Lucy, "no. You just smell a lot like an old friend of mine," Lucy was used to him saying things like that but she knew as a "stranger" she had to act differently. She stepped back and gave him a weird look, "pardon me?" Erza shot a glare at Natsu before saying, "I'm sorry. My friend here is a dragon slayer and they have enhanced smell. He was completely out of line I sincerely apologize," Lucy wanted to laugh and tell Erza it was fine. That it was just her.

She wanted to run out of the room and cry in her room. She couldn't stand having to lie to the people that meant the most to her. She wanted so badly to tell them it was her and that she was sorry for leaving. But she knew she couldn't. Natsu was happy with Lisanna and she didn't want to ruin that. Lucy smiled at Erza and said, "it's no problem. I am just not used to people smelling me," Erza nodded and all was silent for a while. Lucy stepped back and sighed, "well I better get back to work. I hope you enjoy the rest of your time in Hargeon!"

"Wait!" Lucy jumped at the command and slowly turned, "yes?" Erza smiled at her and said, "you said you worked at a cafe? Do you happen to sell strawberry cake?" Lucy wanted to say no. She wanted to tell them they couldn't come but she couldn't turn away customers, plus it would be suspicious if she told them they couldn't come eat at her cafe. She just couldn't, "yes we do."

"Then it's settled. We will come have a bite to eat for dinner. We are starved. Lead us there?" Lucy plastered on a fake smile and slightly nodded. Fear was coursing through her veins and she prayed that no one would realize it was her. She led them back through the forest to the small cafe. When she got back she saw Swifty still standing where she had left her on the back porch of the cafe. Swifty visibly relaxed at the sight of a safe Lucy and stood up with a smile. When she saw the mages trailing behind Lucy she gave her a questioning look but Lucy shook it off, "Swifty why did you wait for me? I told you I would be fine!"

"I can't help but worry! I am glad you are safe though. Who are these nice looking people?" Lucy looked back at the five and gestured towards them pointing to each one, "this is Natsu, Erza, Mira, Gray, and Wendy. They are mages," Swifty eyes widened as the name "Natsu" registered in her head. She looked him up and down and finally understood where Summer's hair came from. Tears welled in her eyes for Lucy realizing these were her old friends. She would never understand but she knew Lucy was hurting a lot right now. She opened the door to let the group in and waited for Lucy before whispering, "are you okay?" Lucy frowned and turned towards her, "I don't know. But I don't know if you have noticed but I am using a southern accent. I can't let them know it's me and if they ask, I am not a mage." Swifty nodded and hugged her.

The two returned and found the group already seated and talking. Erza looked over and waved Lucy to come over. Swifty looked at Lucy worriedly but Lucy smiled reassuringly and went to talk to the group. She walked over hearing the end of a conversation, "I wish Happy could have come," Natsu said. Erza gave him a stern look, "Natsu you know why Happy couldn't come. He understood and is staying with Charla at Wendy's," Lucy suddenly realized that Happy wasn't there and silently wondered why.

Mira looked over at Lucy standing patiently at their table, "Eva! Are you able to sit?" Eva looked anxiously back and found Swifty behind her, "sure she can!" Lucy looked at Swifty shocked. Didn't she know she didn't want to talk to them?! Swifty whispered in her ear, "you haven't spoken to them in three years. Let yourself take a trip back in the past before you left," Lucy sighed and sat down next to Natsu and Mira. Swifty took their orders and walked away.

Erza turned towards Lucy, "so Eva. How long have you lived here?" Lucy hesitated before replying, "most of my life. I haven't really left this town," Erza nodded. To get the subject off of her Lucy asked them a question, "so what were you guys doing in that warehouse?"

"That warehouse was holding a dark guild. They have been hiding for years and someone finally found out their location so we went to get rid of them. Which we did," Lucy smiled. Swifty came back handing everyone their order and walking away to take more orders.

"That's awesome. Do you get a reward?"

"Yeah! But right now we are mostly taking jobs to look for a lost friend"

"Who's your friend?"

"Her name is Lucy. She is a celestial mage. She left the guild three years ago. We don't know why she left but we are constantly keeping an eye out for her."

"Wow...she must mean a lot to you," Lucy choked out, desperately trying to contain her emotions. She couldn't break down. Not right now, "She is. She loved everyone even her enemies and was willing to forgive anyone. She was so compassionate. We need her to understand that without her nothing is the same. Hopefully she will come back," Lucy felt hope rise up in her. Maybe Natsu had broken up with Lisanna. Maybe she could come back, "was she your girlfriend?"

"No. I have one. Her name is Lisanna," Lucy shrugged. So he hadn't broken up with her. She felt her hope shatter and she no longer wanted to talk to them. She would only hurt herself more if she stayed, "well I need to leave early. My daughter's at daycare and they had to end early tonight," Lucy stood up. Everyone looked over at her and smiled, "well it was nice to meet you Eva," Erza spoke, Lucy smiled and nodded before running off to tell Swifty she had to leave and heading out.

She walked out of the cafe and broke down. It was heart wrenching to have her friends right in front of her yet out of reach at the same time. She wanted to tell Natsu it was her and that it would be okay. She wanted to hug him close and tell him that she loved him. Just talking to them she saw the pain in their eyes. They were looking for someone who was right in front of them but they didn't know that. She didn't try to stop the tears this time as they freely streamed down her cheeks. Her heart felt like it had been ripped out of her chest and stomped on repeatedly.

She finally reached the daycare and wiped her face to make sure Summer didn't see that she had been crying. She composed herself and walked into the daycare center. She walked into the room and Summer jumped on her, "momma! I missed you so much today!" Lucy giggled, "I missed you too! How was daycare?"

"It was fun! I made you a flower drawing!" the little girl handed her a piece of paper with a pink flower drawn and a sun in the corner, "it's beautiful. When did you become such a great artist?" Lucy poked her daughter's nose as the little girl giggled, "momma let's go home! I wanna hear the fairy tale again!" Lucy smiled and stood up with her daughter, "let's go home then," the two left and walked home.

~time skip~

Three hours later and Summer still couldn't fall asleep. None of Lucy's stories were putting her to sleep like they usually did so Lucy went to her last resort. She got the stroller ready and put Summer in it and left. Summer was always comforted by the outside and on nights she had trouble falling asleep, a walk around town put her down pretty quick. Not even ten minutes and the pinkette was out. Lucy breathed in the warm night air and smiled. She had always been a bit of an outdoors girl.

As she was walking home she saw someone walking down the street. As she got closer she recognized Natsu and panicked. She tried to dodge out of view but it was too late, "Eva! Hey! Eva it's me! Natsu!" Lucy cringed and slowly turned around. Once Natsu saw the little girl he quieted down and smiled. He immediately felt drawn to the little girl wondering why he shrugged it off, "what are you doing out this late?" Natsu asked, "just putting her to sleep. She has a hard time sleeping sometimes. Walks help her."

"Same here! I have trouble sleeping sometimes so I go out and get some air and by the time I get home I can fall asleep within two minutes!" Lucy let out an uneasy chuckle. They stood in silence for a while when Natsu broke it, "you know, I don't know why but I am drawn to you. You remind me of Lucy. A lot. it feels nice but at the same time it hurts knowing you're not Lucy nor will you ever be ya know?" Lucy was shocked. Natsu was never one to just share his feelings. But here he was spilling his heart out to her, "I know how you feel," Natsu nodded and smiled.

The two chatted for a while longer when suddenly Summer started to stir, "momma?" She said groggily. Lucy panicked and said, "well I better go! It was nice talking to you" Natsu smiled, "this was nice Eva. You may not be Lucy but you are a lot like her. Thanks for this," Lucy smiled as tears welled in her eyes and she quickly finished her walk home. She put Summer to bed and went to her room. As soon as she hit the mattress she started crying. It was so hard knowing how much she was hurting her friends. She didn't want to have to do this. She fell asleep crying that night.

The next morning Lucy woke up and rubbed her head. She always got headaches after crying. She looked at the clock and jumped. She was running late. She quickly got up, showered, and got Summer dressed and fed before dressing herself. She hurried out of the house and quickly dropped Summer off at daycare before hurrying to work. She got to work just on time and started her day.

The day went by pretty quickly and thankfully no more Fairy Tail wizards came knocking. At the end of the day she was getting ready to leave when Swifty stopped her, "hey there is something going on in the town's square tonight. Wanna go?" Lucy smiled and nodded. She needed a night out, "who will babysit Summer?"

"Bring her! I hear it's nothing bad. I am sure she can come. Besides she should start getting out of the house too."

"She does get out of the house!"

"Eva, walking her around town and walking her to daycare is not getting out of the house," Lucy sighed in defeat and smiled, "alright I will bring her," Swifty squealed, "Yayy! Alright Janie will go with you to pick up Summer. Meet James, Gina, and I in the square okay?" Lucy nodded as Janie walked up, "ready to go?" Lucy nodded and the two left. They went to pick up Summer and told her about the plans. Summer squealed. She could barely contain her excitement as she ran through the streets dragging her mom and Janie with her.

Once they got to the square they met up with Swifty, James, and Gina and joined the crowd. There was a stage in the middle of the square and everyone was gathered around. From the looks it seemed as though no one knew what was going on. Suddenly the mayor walked out onto the stage and everyone quieted down, "welcome! I know this may come as a surprise to you but we have a very special surprise for you all. Please help me welcome the Fairy Tail mages!"

Erza, Natsu, and Mira walked out on to the stage. Lucy's eyes widened. What were they doing? She looked over and saw Gray and Wendy on the side of the stage cheering them on. Natsu hesitantly walked up to the mic and poked it to make sure it worked. Lucy almost laughed at his stupidity but was too shocked. Summer tugged on her dress and she looked down. Realizing Summer couldn't see, James walked over and hoisted the little girl up on his shoulders.

Lucy smiled and turned her attention back to the stage as Natsu started talking, "three years ago my guild lost one if its most precious members. We don't know why she left and we can only guess she thought it was what's best for us. We are here to tell her she is wrong. She is super smart but being super smart doesn't mean you know it all. Lucy if you are here this is our request that you come home. We love you. We miss you. We need you," Swifty glanced at the brunette and saw the tears in her eyes. She shuffled closer and put her arm around her to reassure her that she wasn't alone, "so we wrote a song for you. I hope you like it. Fairy Tail misses you," Natsu stood still and Erza moved up to the mic next to him and Mira walked back to the black piano on the side of the stage.

Lucy waited and as the song started to play she stopped holding back the tears. Not caring who saw or wondered why.

Hello world, hope you're listening.

Forgive me if I'm young or speaking out of turn

There's someone I've been missing.

I think that they could be the better half of me.

They're in the wrong place trying to make it right but I'm tired of justifying

So I say to you…

Come home

Come home

Cause I've been waiting for you for so long

for so long

Right now there's a war between the vanities

But all I see is you and me

The fight for you is all I've ever known

So come home

Oh

Lucy started balling as the song continued. She looked up and saw tears in Natsu and Erza's eyes. She didn't want to do this but she knew she needed to. Erza started to sing and Lucy tried not to fall to the ground.

I get lost in the beauty of everything I see

The world ain't half as bad as they paint it to be

If all the sons, all the daughters stopped to take it in

well hopefully the hate subsides and the love can begin

It might start now, yeah

well maybe I'm just dreaming out loud

Until then…

Come home

Come home

Cause I've been waiting for you for so long

for so long

Right now there's a war between the vanities

But all I see is you and me

The fight for you is all I've ever known

Ever known

So come home

Oh

Everything I can't be

Is everything you should be and that's why I need you here

Everything I can't be

Is everything you should be and that's why I need you here

So hear this now…

Come home

Come home

Cause I've been waiting for you for so long

for so long

Right now there's a war between the vanities but all I see is you and me

The fight for you is all I've ever known

Ever known

So come home

Come home

Come home, come home

I've been waiting for you

Come home

Cheers were heard throughout the crowd. Everyone thought they were amazing. Lucy stood in one spot crying. She felt her whole world crashing down. She felt the air being sucked out from her lungs. She couldn't hear anyone or anything. Everything was like slow motion. She saw the desperate look in Natsu's eyes. He wanted, no, needed to know she heard the song and saw them. Erza and Mira were also searching the crowd for her and Gray and Wendy seemed to join too.

Natsu saw a hood out of the corner of his eye and saw someone leaving. Hope rose in his chest and he jumped into the crowd and pushed anyone who got in his way aside. His heart was pounding a thousand miles a minute. He just knew it had to be her. Of all of their performances, no one had ever abruptly left the crowd. He saw the hooded figure and ran at them full speed. As he approached them he realized he wouldn't be able to stop, "watch out!"" but it was too late. Him and the stranger tumbled down, ending up with him on top. He looked down and met bright blue eyes, "Eva?" Lucy's eyes widened. Of all the people to run into her it had to be him, "are you okay? Your face is all red? Why did you leave early?"

Natsu got off of Lucy and handed her his hand to help her up. Lucy took it and let a small smile crawl up her face, "sorry I left early. I feel sick. I think I might be getting something," she coughed as if to prove she was coming down with something. If her heart hadn't been broken enough now it was completely shattered when she saw the disappointment that flashed across his face. He looked completely broken, "oh. Well sorry for bumping into ya. I thought you were someone else. See ya later," Natsu walked away dragging his feet.

Lucy wanted him to know that she did love them and miss them so she took a chance and called after him, "wait. Natsu…I didn't recognize her at first but I remember a Lucy that came through town a couple months ago," Natsu spun around grinning from ear to ear, "well what did she say? Is she still here?! Where is she?!"

"She's not here anymore…I was making small talk with her and she told me about how she had to leave some people very close to her. She told me if I ever came across you guys to tell you that she loved you and missed you a lot," the blonde tried desperately to hold the tears back. He couldn't see her cry. Not now, "she started crying at one point. I calmed her down. She told me she would come back once she figured things out."

"What things?"

"She didn't say," Natsu suddenly became very angry, "well I'm done looking for her. She wants to stay gone, then let her stay gone. I don't care anymore," Natsu spat at Lucy. Lucy couldn't speak or she knew she would lose it. Her self control was wavering and it hurt her so much to see him this upset. She nodded at him and turned to leave.

Lucy ran the rest of the way home and opened her door to her friends. James stepped forward with Summer, "what happened back there?" Lucy fell to her knees and broke down. Swifty and Janie ran to her side to comfort her. James put Summer to bed and walked back out. With James help they carried her to the couch and set her down, "I need to go back," it was a barely a whisper but everyone heard. Swifty's eyes widened while everyone else was completely lost, "what do you mean you need to go back? Go back where?" James said. Lucy sighed and sat up looking at the three of her friends that didn't know the truth, "I think it's time I tell you guys a secret of mine-" Swifty stopped her, "are you sure you want to tell them?" Lucy smiled and nodded.

She sighed and said, "My name isn't Eva Heartfield. My real name is Lucy Heartfilia. I knew those mages up there. In fact I am who they are looking for," She spent the rest of the night telling them her story. Once they left she started packing for Magnolia. she wouldn't stay long but she needed a break. She packed a bag to bring for Summer and got some rest. She was going to visit her home.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL NOR DO I OWN THE CHARACTERS OR THE AMAZING SONG WHICH IS Come Home BY One Republic. Let me know what you think!