The bonds of the soul

Chapter 3: Zeref appears

Just as Natsu had told Gray he went by his own place and then Gray's apartment packing up everything that the ice mage had listed for him to get. While doing this Natsu told Happy about what happened as well as what they were going to do now and wasn't surprised when the blue exceed also showed his disgust at Lisanna's actions. When they got to Lucy's house came the problem though since they knew that she would want all of her stuff and unlike Natsu and Gray, Lucy had quite the collection of things she owned. 
"Well I hope you are feeling strong, Happy after all we aren't gonna let Lucy lose any of her stuff as well as what has already happened" Natsu said and Happy nodded. 
"I'll go ask the landlady if she has some boxes to pack all of this up" said Happy as he flew out of the room and Natsu walked over to Lucy's desk. Seeing the picture of Lucy smiling with Natsu and Gray on either side of her and Happy sitting on her lap made Natsu smile slightly before it faded. Would Lucy ever smile like that again? Would she ever be the shining star that Natsu and Gray knew or would the shock and fear make her lose her smile. With those thoughts racing through his head Natsu started to gather everything for Lucy including her clothes and the letters she had written to her mother. 
"I got as many as I could Natsu" Happy said as he flew back into the room with some flat packed boxes making Natsu smile before he put them together and began to put Lucy's stuff in them with Happy helping as well. In the end they had ten boxes and they still weren't sure how they were going to transport this stuff but they were both dead set on not leaving anything behind. That was when a golden light appeared and they had to shield their eyes before opening them and seeing Loke had appeared in front of them but he looked pretty bad. His skin was whiter than normal, there were large bags under his eyes and his normally pressed suit looked like it had been scrunched up in a ball before he had put it on. 
"I can take them to the celestial world until you have settled, I'll have Virgo deliver clothes for Lucy each day until then" Loke whispered, his voice nearly cracking like he had been crying. 
"You okay Loke?" Natsu asked, eyeing the spirit unsure what was wrong. 
"It was my fault, I should have sensed something was wrong. I should have been there for Lucy but something was stopping me from getting out of the celestial world, none of us spirits could get out and even the celestial King didn't know what was going on. I promised to protect her and I couldn't even do that" Loke said as he broke down in tears as he collapsed to his knees, his feet not being able to hold himself up anymore. 
"Idiot, Lucy wouldn't want you to blame yourself so pull yourself together. Lucy is going to need her spirit's to help her heal from this whole thing so take Lucy's things back to the celestial world and clean yourself up so that when Lucy summons you she won't worry about you" Natsu growled and Loke's tears stopped as he nodded while Natsu helped him up and patting his shoulder. 
"Yeah, yeah I can do that" Loke whispered before gathering the boxes and disappearing. 
"Is he gonna be okay?" Happy asked as they left Lucy's apartment building after returning the keys to the landlady and telling her that Lucy wouldn't be coming back. 
"Yeah they will all be fine but they need time to deal with what has happened, being back with Lucy will hopefully help them out a lot as well" Natsu said as they started to walk towards the town that Lucy and Gray were in. 

When Natsu finally got to the inn that he was sure that his two sworn siblings had checked into he got directed to the room having been told that Gray had already warned the staff that he would be coming. 
"How is she?" Natsu asked as he walked over to the bed that Gray was sitting on with Lucy curled up next to him, her head in his lap. 
"She slept for a while before she woke up from a nightmare and refused to let me go other than that everything has been quiet. I contacted Lahar and Dorenbolt and they said that they would clean up what is left of the bandits and we would hold no blame seeing as reacted in defense as well as them being wanted criminals" Gray said as Natsu sat down on the same bed but at the foot and gently reached up and placed Lucy's keys in her hand which instantly curled around them in a death grip. 
"I told Gramps that we would never go back to Fairy tail, Lucy wouldn't be able to handle it at the moment and there is no telling what exactly is going to happen in the future so your guild marks should have faded by now since mine is already gone" Natsu explained as Gray looked at his shoulder seeing the fairy tail mark was gone. 
"It was a good choice since there is no way that we would allow Lucy to go back there and we weren't about to let her go off by herself. We will just have to find a different place that we belong, one that won't turn on us just because of some stupid rumors" Gray said and Natsu hummed in agreement. 
"No idea where to start but I think we should go in the opposite direction of Magnolia" Happy piped up from where he had sat next to Natsu. 
"I think the first thing that we should do is go to Lucy's parents grave so that she can visit them and then maybe just travel around finding jobs here and there to get enough money to survive" Gray said. 
"For now though we should rest, it's been a long day and Luce is probably gonna be haunted by nightmares so we are going to be up with her threw out the night" Natsu said before calling first dibs on a shower. Once he was finished Gray took a shower and then both boys collapsed into their beds with Happy curling up with Lucy so that she wouldn't be uncomfortable if she woke up and didn't realise who was with her. Just as Natsu thought Lucy woke up with nightmares threw out the night but every time she did the two boys and Happy were there to calm her down and reassure her that she was safe and that they would stay next to her until she fell asleep again. The next morning all four of them woke up still exhausted but ready to face the day so while Gray cooked breakfast Natsu went out and brought them each a cloak that would hide who they were from everyone around them so that no one would know who they were as well as deter anyone from speaking to them. Once Lucy had a shower which the boys had to pull her out of when she started to try and scrub her skin off, they put on their cloaks, Happy hiding in Natsu's before heading off to the nearest train station which was a town away. When they got onto the train Natsu didn't even put up a fuss and held himself together a lot more than normal as they headed to Lucy's old house and her parent's graves. 

"We'll wait here okay Lushee?" Happy asked with a smile. 
"Okay" Lucy nodded before she turned and approached her parent's graves by herself looking back every now and then to make sure she could still see the two boys and exceed. When she got to the two graves she placed the bouquet of flowers they had picked up at the last town and placed it between the graves. 
"Hey Mama, Papa it's been a long time since my last visit and so much has happened" Lucy whispered, not brave enough to speak louder. Soon enough Lucy was spilling out everything, about having been trapped on Tenrou island for seven years, apologising to her father for not making it back in time to see him again and make up to him, about the infinity clock and finally about the rumors that Lisanna had spread and what she had done to Lucy or tried to have done to her. 
"I don't know what to do Mama and Papa, I thought that they were a family, I thought that I could trust them but then they....They didn't even try and stay by my side. All I have now is Natsu, Gray, Happy, Master, Laxus, Freed, Bixlow, Evergreen, Gajeel, Patherlilly and Carla. I know I shouldn't be greedy after all I still have some friends but I just don't know what I should do now" whispered Lucy as a few tears trickled down her face. 
"Perhaps I can help you with that" said a voice and Lucy turned to see the person that had spoken. Upon seeing who it was Lucy let out a shriek that had both wizards bolting towards her with murderous looks on their faces while Happy flew towards Lucy throwing himself in front of her. 
"Don't you dare try and touch Lushee" yelled Happy his fur and tail puffed up, trying to look as intimidating as he possibly could. 
"Who the hell are you" snarled Natsu as the marks on his arms and face started to darken and the person's eyes widened. 
"I know who he is, he is Zeref, the dark wizard. What are you doing here?" Gray demanded as frost started to roll off him while he hid Lucy behind him who was shaking and holding her hands to his back since his shirt had been discarded. The only thing going through both boy's heads was the fact that they weren't going to allow Zeref to touch a single hair on Lucy's head.