THE GIRLS:

"Hey Aunt Lynx, the Grand Magic Games will be held in 4 days in Crocus, right," questioned Kazue, as she munched on her ham and cheese the following morning of their arrival in Clover Town.

"That's right, we'll be leaving in 2 hours to the station and hopefully get to Crocus tomorrow," replied Aunt Lynx as she poured herself a glass of orange juice.

"Where will we be spending tonight," asked Chiyo, reaching for more jam for her toast.

"I already made a reservation for the 8 of us in Hotel Star in Magnolia."

Silence filled the room as realization hit and the all 7 pairs of eyes fell on Lucy, whose hands shook slightly had paused as she stared down at her cereal and milk. Divine tried to speak. "Lucy, I'm so sorry, I completely forgot your old guild was in Magnolia. I'm so sorry. I'll cancel the reservations right away. We'll just stay in some other town."

"No," Lucy smiled at them but they saw right through her fake grin, "It's fine, besides we'll reach there in the evening and then leave early in the morning to get to Crocus as soon as possible anyway so it's fine really."

And so the silence continued until Lynx looked at her sister before they glanced at Lucy and nodded slowly. The girls wore the same outfits as yesterday and at the train station as well as train station, identical reactions.

BACK IN FAIRY TAIL:

"Good Morning Brats! Now listen up. Remember, tomorrow like last year we're sending off 2 teams. Team A will consist of the following members: Erza, Gray, Lisanna, Wendy and Natsu." A cheer rose up from the guild, 'Just like last year, except'…Macao faltered as everyone except Natsu shot him glares which shut him right up.

"Team B," continued Master Makarov, "will consist of Laxus, Mira-Jane, Cana, Juvia and Gajeel. Our reserves for this year are Elf-Man and Levy." Some of the mages fist pumped and cheered. "Again like last year, the entire family is going to support our guild. Fairy Tail! We must protect our title as the strongest guild in all of Fiore!"

The guild did their signature sign with their left hands and for that moment, Lisanna's heart soared as a faint smile appeared on Natsu's lips.

BACK TO THE GIRLS (evening):

"Okay ladies, this is the last stop. Magnolia! The hotel is just around the corner so come on," shouted Divine as she stepped off the train and onto the platform, carrying a bag in each hand. Already exiting off the train and buying their tickets for tomorrow, was Lynx dragging a pair of 4-wheelers.

TIME SKIP: AT THE HOTEL

Lucy gazed out of the room's window, Lynx and Divine had booked 2 family suites, so they had 2 master beds and 4 single beds. The sisters would share one master bed, Lucy and Chiyo would share the other master bed and the other 4 girls would share the 4 single beds.

Despite being away for two years in Draco Realm or one year in Earth-Land, Lucy still knew the path to her old apartment or to her old guild, Fairy Tail. She looked down at the pavement and reminisced the many times she had walked back home from the train station after a long and tiring mission. With Erza and her mountain of luggage, Gray stripping without realizing with Happy flying around and…him.

Tears welled up in her eyes when she remembered, that sad, fateful day…

AROUND ONE YEAR AGO…

"Lucy let's go on another mission together!" A certain pink-haired mage grabbed jumped onto the seat beside his blonde team mate. "Oh come on Natsu, we just came back from a mission like…YESTERDAY!" "Oh come on Lucy," he whined.

"JUST GO ON ONE YOURSELF." "BUT LUCE, you know it's no fun without you!" "Ohh he liiiiiikkkkkkkkeessss her," Happy rolled his tongue.

"Oh come on! Please Lucy, pretty please!"

From across the guild hall, Cana chuckled. There was only one person in the entire guild which could make the arrogant fire-breathing dragon slayer get down on his knees and beg like he was now. And that was Lucy. The brunette shook her head, wondering how much longer that dense idiot would take to confess to her. Because everyone knew that Lucy wasn't going too, she was the more stubborn of the both, and that was saying A LOT.

But what the guild didn't know at the time: was that in fact, Lucy had her eyes and heart set on a different dragon slayer.