Lucy blinked her eyes open, staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. No, it was familiar, she decided, her brain was just a mess of confusion. But where had she seen the ceiling? She tilted her head, trying to get a better angle on it, only to slap herself when she realized it'd look the same no matter what.

Rustling sounded from somewhere in the room, and that's when Lucy looked around, finally placing her surroundings. She was in her guild. She was in Fairy Tail. And she hadn't recognized it. The memories she didn't want flooded into her mind and she squeezed her eyes shut, more than happy to pretend it was all just a bad dream. But what had even happened to him? Lucy's eyes suddenly shot open and she grinned. Dreams always left you hanging. You never knew what became of the people in nightmares and dreams alike. But life? You always knew their misfortunes. It had been a nightmare. Lucy had passed out in the middle of the guild or something. That had to be it. She pushed herself off the ground with a groan and immediately regretted it.

No, it wasn't something bad she saw. But it wasn't necessarily good either. All members of the guild lay spread around the floor, most sleeping. A few were sitting up, watching over everyone or looking out the windows into the pitch black night. Happy, Gray, Erza, Levy, Wendy and Carla had spread themselves around her, and were mostly all in a deep sleep. The only two that weren't, were Levy and Wendy. Both paid her no mind as they too stared out into the night. They hadn't even seemed to have heard her. They probably hadn't, Lucy thought. They didn't really seem...focused, on anything.

"Levy? Wendy?" Lucy said quietly, drawing the attention of everyone awake. Glancing out of the corner of her eye, she saw Macao and Master Makarov giving her relieved smiles, before she turned back to the two smaller girls.

"Lucy, you're awake!" Levy all but screamed, earning some groans from around the room. Gray, Erza and Carla slowly sat up, leaving a somewhat troubled Happy sleeping.

"What in the world happened?" Lucy asked, looking around at them all. Some part of her mind realized Natsu wasn't there, but the rest was determined to think it had all been a nightmare. Everyone gave her pitiful or sad looks. Levy was the one who spoke.

"After you fainted, Master ran out of here, looking for Natsu. Apparently the dark guild, Shadow Edge, took him. They communicated with us for a while, and it doesn't look good for Natsu. We all decided to stay here until we figure out what to do. Most of us had already passed out on the floor anyway."

So it really wasn't a dream. Lucy sighed, trying to ignore the ache in her chest. The unreasonable part of her wanted to go find Natsu and break him out of wherever it was. Thankfully she realized that was the unreasonable part.

"When everyone wakes up we'll decide what to do," Erza said, patting Lucy on the shoulder.

"Get some more rest." This time it was Gray. He offered her a weak smile, then pointed over her shoulder. "Just before you fainted, Loke appeared. He's been worried about you. I think you should let him know you're okay."

Lucy glanced where he'd pointed and saw the red head, staring right back at her. She stood carefully and made her way over to him, avoiding all hands and feet she could. Loke gave her a soft smile as she sat down next to him. She shivered from the night air coming in through the window and Loke placed an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer. They sat in companionable silence for a while, before Loke broke it.

"Are you doing all right?" The question was so soft, Lucy felt a bit touched, and like she'd cry.

"Everyone's acting like I just lost someone," Lucy replied, a small smile playing on her lips. Loke scoffed.

"You did."

"But he didn't die," she returned, shrugging carefully, so as not to move his arm from around her. An awkward silence stretched between them when Lucy realized that the natural response was to say they weren't sure about that. Natsu could be dead. She shook her head, furious with herself for thinking it; Natsu wouldn't go that easily.

Of course, that was what worried her. The idiot would kill himself trying not to get killed by someone else. Lucy giggled at that and sighed.

"How are you doing?" She asked Loke eventually, wondering how long he'd been out.

"I can manage a bit longer," he answered casually. Lucy yawned and suddenly realized how tired she was. "You should sleep." The blonde looked at her spirit and nodded, agreeing readily. She was exhausted.

"Night, Loke."

"Night, Princess," he returned with a chuckle. And she knew no more, yet again. 

Is it better this way or the other way?