I stared up at the stars, feeling restless like most other nights I've tried to fall sleep recently. Sleeping hasn't been an easy feat over the last couple weeks and has only grown progressively worse each night. I turn over to see my partner, Wendy Marvell, with a look of discomfort on her face. She's at least asleep, but the sky dragon slayer looks as if she is being plagued with her own intrusive dreams.

We are currently lying outside, having just completed a mission, but we have no intention of returning to the guild anytime soon. Carla has been the only guild member in contact, being the one picking up missions for us and bringing them out to wherever we happen to be camped out. I figure we will see the white exceed sometime around noon tomorrow. Master Makarov had initially been hesitant over the arrangement but had finally relented over mine and Wendy's determination. We both felt we had something to prove…

I turned over to my other side and pulled up the blanket that had been loosely hanging over my body. It wasn't helping that we were lying on some rocky terrain, seeing as we had just finished a job in a small mountain village. I sighed, knowing that I would be as quick-tempered in the morning as I had been lately. Of course, Wendy was always understanding and didn't take my short fuse personally. We had actually grown closer than we ever had been during our time with Team Natsu, having now been solo partners over the past several months and bonding over our own insecurities and newfound purpose.

But it wasn't the stony landscape or the night's chill that had me out of sorts, it was my racing thoughts and thundering heartbeat—I was almost surprised it hadn't awakened Wendy with her dragon-senses. It felt like something was missing from my body—or was it my soul? Of course not, that sounded ridiculous. This sleep deprivation was really becoming a giant pain.

Then, as it always happens, the image that used to bring tears to my eyes flashed across my mind. The moment I had left Natsu; when Wendy and I were no longer his teammates.

"But why Lucy?" he had asked with a pained expression.

"You have no right to ask me that after leaving with Happy for a year!" I retorted, feeling my anger towards him—no I had just become angry with myself by that point.

Natsu's frown deepened, causing me to internally sigh and feel guilty over leaving my best friend behind, even though he had done it to me first.

"Fine!" he retorted with his own angry impulse flaring. "Just leave Fairy Tail behind why don't you?!"

Natsu stormed off, despite Erza and Gray both giving him death stares. Of course, they both already knew about Wendy's and mine decision to take time away from the guild and more or less understood our reasoning, despite not fully agreeing with it. But they also knew we weren't truly separating from Fairy Tail, we just needed time to prove ourselves.

"Ready Lucy?" Wendy's voice chimed from the front entrance of the guild.

I already had my suitcase beside me and had just been waiting here for Wendy to show up.

"LUCY!" Happy cried as he flew into me from where he had been standing worriedly with Carla.

Trying to convince Carla to stay behind had proven an almost impossible task, but she had finally relented on the compromise that she was to be our messenger for having contact with Fairy Tail. I looked over to see that she was having her last private moment with Wendy as the bluenette crushed Carla against her chest in a hug.

"Don't worry Happy, I'll be back before you know it," I said, but the smile I cracked was mostly out of humour for the blue exceed.

We both knew I would be gone a lot longer that I had ever been before.

"I'll miss you Lucy!" Happy cried, still wrapping his little paws around me.

I buried my face into the top of his head and sighed, I had known leaving was never going to be easy.

"Keep an eye on him, will you?" I asked, knowing he understood my meaning.

"Aye, sir," Happy replied, still emotional but was now being led away by Lily who also had Carla in tow.

"We'll be here waiting for you when you get back. Can't wait to see how much stronger your magic powers get," Gray said, being the most understanding out of everyone.

I could always count on Gray to be the most accommodating, at least when Natsu wasn't involved. I hugged him and was thankful that he was still wearing a shirt, but that was probably because it was still fairly early in the morning.

"Love rival!" Juvia shrieked, pulling me out of Gray's embrace.

I was surprised at how forward she was being but was completely shocked when instead of trying to initiate some sort of confrontation, she gave me her own farewell embrace.

"Good luck Lucy," she whispered in a solemn voice.

I nodded, not trusting my reaction to this surprise display of affection from the water mage.

"Oh Lu, I still can't believe you and Wendy are leaving!" Levy came up from behind me and flung herself into my arms that were still open from where Juvia had just been standing.

"It's only for a little while," I tried to reassure her in a comforting tone.

Levy had become such a dear friend in the time I had been at Fairy Tail, it was really difficult to leave her and the others behind.

"Take care of yourself," Erza said, who was now standing beside Levy.

Erza had an authoritative voice that told me she would be worried—but that was the entire point Wendy and I were leaving.

But, as intimidating as Erza was being, I knew her well enough to assume it was an act to hide her real emotions. This was further confirmed when she placed a small parcel into my hand, laying her hand on top of mine for a moment before standing back and waving me goodbye. I then turned around and headed towards Wendy who was quickly brushing off tears from her eyes, trying to put on a brave face. It looked like Romeo had just told her good-bye and was also trying to keep his emotions in check. I turned around one last time with my suitcase in hand, waving at everyone and was disappointed when I didn't see any trace of pink hair.

"We better be on our way," Wendy said, grabbing my hand into hers and leading me outside the guildhall.

She kept her hand in mine in a friendly gesture all the way to the train station. I let the gesture give me some form a reassurance that we were doing the right thing. I only hoped I was giving Wendy the same amount of comfort.

That had been nine months ago.