Lucy had always harboured a secret love for Hargeon. If it hadn't been for her guild and the family she had built in Magnolia, she would have no doubt taken up residence here. It was small and peaceful, the people were kind and life was simple. It was a port town, so many different kinds of things and people passed through here, but so few stayed. The town as a whole had grown tremendously in their trust of it's magic wielding occupants.

When she had first visited, so many years ago now, there had only been a single magical shop full of knock-offs and party tricks. Now, there were dozens popping up all over the place with real magical objects, artifacts, and books and people flocked to them with true interest and excitement; it warmed her heart.

She quickly walked through the streets, keeping her head down, trying not to draw attention to herself. The less people that saw her here, the better. She didn't want word to spread that she had passed through here, even though she knew her efforts would likely be in vain. It didn't matter if she'd just up and quit the guild, that she'd just thrown the past decade in everyone's faces like it meant nothing, she knew someone would be coming after her to bring her back. If Erza didn't come herself, then Fairy Tail's Seventh Master would likely be calling Laxus right about now, pulling him from his vacation - that she had finally convinced him to take - to track her down and drag her back for reinstatement and then some kind of humiliating punishment.

If for some reason Laxus couldn't do it, she knew the next people Erza would recruit would be Natsu and Gray. They were both off on a mission that had requested the both of them up in Iceberg. Even though that was nearly a week"s worth of travel away from Hargeon, Lucy knew that they'd raise hell when they got here and she expected no less. Add to that Natsu's mythically astute sense of smell and Gray's tenacity in getting whatever he sets his mind to and she just knew they would find her wherever she went - tearing town after town apart. So it was best to get the biggest head start she could and move onto the next stage of her mission as soon as possible.

...But that was proving to be a challenge.

Over the many years she'd been a working mage, she had come to Hargeon many times with her guildmates. She had to force herself not to stop and walk into some of the shops along the way - there were some that held precious memories for her that she wanted to relive for what could be the last time. This place, it wasn't home, but it was close.

She walked past the cute little cafe, decorated in soft blue and yellow swirls - plants of all kinds on every available surface. Wendy just absolutely loved this place to pieces. She didn't stop, but oh, how she wanted to. She cherished every memory she'd ever crafted with the beautiful young Sky Maiden. She had loved watching her grow into the fierce dragoness she was now and wanted nothing more than to continue watching her thrive.

She successfully kept walking as she passed between an armory and a high-end bakery - parallel to each other - that Team Natsu would lose Erza to every time they visited. Many memories of having to drag Titania by the tips of her armored boots to get her to leave, threatened to lure her in once more - just for a quick peek...

The Koi Pond in the town square was where she'd eaten lunch with Happy on numerous occasions. The Blue Exceed had completely wormed his way into her heart and curled himself around it. She'd likely never again get to chase him around the guild hall in jest as retribution for his playful taunting - it wasn't fair.

She wondered if she would ever get to browse the stores in the shopping district again, attempting - and failing - to take Gray clothes shopping to find something he wouldn't shed at any given opportunity. The naked stranger who had once asked to borrow her underwear had become her brother-in-arms and in life. She would miss their late night talks, their ice skating practice in the winter...so many other things she'd seemingly taken for granted.

There was the diner that she'd sat in with Evergreen late into the night, getting to know her better over a few cups of tea. The Fairy Mage declaring that if she was good enough to be Laxus' sister than she was worth the effort to befriend.

The little dive bar where Cana frequently drank her under the table smelled the same as she ambled around it. It was at that bar that they had entrusted the few precious memories of their mothers to each other, deepening their bond and their camaraderie.

The bookstores that were peppered here and there, throughout different shopping districts, called to her. Often, she'd ventured to them with Levy as Gajeel and Pantherlily trailed behind closely - pretending to be inconvenienced.

But it was the hardest of all not to stop and stare at the place where her journey with Fairy Tail had officially begun. Where she'd first encountered Natsu and he'd unintentionally saved her life by braking the love charm Bora had placed over her - merely with his boorish personality.

After all this time, after all the trials and conflict they had endured, Natsu was still her most dear friend. She didn't even say goodbye to him, not that she had said goodbye to anyone really, but she felt the most guilty for leaving him without an explanation. If she ever made it back home, or even if she never did, she hoped he would find it in himself to forgive her.

Despite all of those places calling to her with a siren's promise of comfort, she managed to find her way down to the docks, to a boat she knew could get her where she needed to be.

She took quick stock of her person. She was a reminiscent catastrophe on legs.

Sure, she'd nearly been abducted by Bora that first night and, yes, plenty of bad things had happened to her since then, but so many wonderful things did as well. Fairy Tail had been the home she'd always wanted; lively, vibrant, and warm. The people there, her team in particular, truly cared for her and she loved them all so much. It had never once been just a job.

Now...now it was all out of her reach and there was truly no one to blame; this was just the way things had to be.

She could just imagine the confused expressions of her family at Fairy Tail, right now.

She'd taken great caution in making sure nobody knew about the purpose of her trip, left no clues that she would be leaving at all, up until today. So she knew nobody would understand this.

It's not what she wanted, but its how it needed to be.

"...'am. Excuse me, Ma'am? Can I help you?" a rough, weathered voice called out.

"What? Oh! I'm so sorry, my thoughts have been...wandering."

The short old man who stood in front of her on the dock slightly narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"Some would say, be it unwise, wandering by the ocean without your wits about you. The Deep is not a forgiving place."

"I assure you," Lucy stated firmly, subconsciously reaching up to run her finger tips over her covered Aquarius mark, "the ocean will do no harm to me. But you're right, I should be paying attention."

He waited expectantly through the following silence.

She cleared her throat and spoke to him quietly, "I've been told you can get me out of Fiore and keep it quiet."

"I'm not sure I understand what you're implying…" he glanced around nervously, eyeing the people passing by.

"I need to go far North. It doesn't matter where. I just need to do it soon and I need extreme discretion."

She dug through her bag for a moment and then handed the man a thick envelope, "Can you help me, or not?"

Deftly, the old man peered into the envelop and ran his fingers over the nearly 500,000 Jewel that he found. He glanced around once more for potential danger or a set-up. He deemed the payment acceptable and the baggage it came with, low-threat. Even if she did seem to be acting strange, it wasn't his business. He tried to keep out of his passengers' personal lives. A lot of people found their way onto his vessel when they were looking to escape the lives they were in. His ship made quite a few cargo stops to many different countries and some people would use that as an opportunity to smuggle themselves out of the country that they were in. But really it wasn't his business, he'd been an immigrant himself many years ago - looking for a new start and a better shot at life. All of the people that found their way to his boat would have just found a different way to get where they were going if he refused to take them. At least this way he could help to provide safe passage with minimal question. He figured that perhaps the beautiful young blonde woman got caught up running with the wrong people or was perhaps fleeing an abusive relationship. He'd seen it before, but it wasn't his business, so he let her pass.

Speaking in a low voice, he ordered, "Quickly, get on board. Find a crew member and they will show you where you can hide until we get far enough from the port."

She nodded, thanked the wise-eye man and did as told - wasting no time in finding her way onto the ship.

A gruff crew member led her below the deck to a cramped hidden room. There were five other people already stowed there - a young man in his early twenties, an elderly woman, another woman close to Lucy's age and two small children. They were all huddled together in a corner, trying to be as small and invisible as possible. She couldn't help but wonder why there were all here. She was curious to know if they thought the same about her.

Before the crew member, a weathered middle aged man with sun hardened skin, closed the door to the secret compartment, Lucy asked, "How long until we are far enough from the port to walk around freely?"

He responded to her query as if it meant nothing, "Don't worry about it, Lady. You can stretch your legs if we find the time."

He moved to close the door but Lucy halted it with a firm grip on the edge, "Not good enough," she challenged with a stare that would have made him cower internally if he were a smart man - alas, that didn't seem to be the case, "I want a time frame."

They stared each other down for many moments until the man relented, deciding there were better ways to spend his time, "It should be about two hours."

She nodded and released the door as he moved to leave again. Feeling a small blow to his pride, the man attempted to taunt her before sealing her in a dark and confined space.

"I know exactly who you are." he spoke clearly, for the others in the room to hear also.

She wasn't surprised that he recognized her. She was a fairly famous mage to those who kept tabs on the magical world. There was a hidden threat somewhere within his statement, but Lucy wasn't surprised about that either. She tended to make men who were insecure feel uncomfortable, sometimes it was fun, but now, she was willingly allowing this man to put her in a box of a room. She needed him to know she wasn't going to deal with any tricks or mistreatment. She'd been held captive too many times not to be weary of a situation such as this one.

"Then you should know that I will break down this door if I don't hear any updates when two hours is up and I will personally seek you out for the answers I want. You should also know, that is a promise." She glared and he only grunted in response before he rolled his dull eyes and quickly sealed the door, his heavy boot steps melding with the noise of the ship as he went above deck.

"Mama," she heard one of the children call out in the thick darkness of the room, "it's too dark, I'm scared."

"Hush now," the young woman soothed, the wood beneath her groaning as she rocked in place, "its okay. It's all going to be okay."

Lucy heard the two children begin to sniffle and could tell they were trying to hold back their tears - trying their hardest to be brave for their mother. She understood why they were afraid. They were so young, hiding in the darkness, on a ship to who knows where - fleeing a situation they likely didn't understand.

Feeling empathetic, Lucy allowed for a small amount of her magic to flow through her and down her arm. As she concentrated, she formed her raw golden energy into a soft-hued shimmering orb and tossed it gently into the air, allowing for its light to encase the small room as it bobbed and hovered in the middle of the small space.

She'd learned how to materialize her magic outside of her summonings a long time ago, it had been a difficult concept for her to wrap her head around as a holder mage, but now, it required very little effort.

The sniffling children opened their eyes to stare at the warm glowing orb and their mother and the young man looked toward her, "Thank you, ma'am. That's very kind of you." the mother spoke genuinely.

"It isn't a problem," Lucy assured, smiling at the little boy in his mother's lap, "besides, he's right, it was much too dark in here. We can't have that."