I am very late... and I am very sorry..Oh well! My Beta was at her sister's wedding and I was busy with an AU of mine...( GRUVIA AND MERMAIDS) This was so fun to write! ^ v ^ I am gonna edit my old chapters... fix some things and yeah..I love Ultear.. She is legit a fave. I had always wanted to bring her back...BABIES ALL OF THEM..

The Loss Within Us

."Lu- chan, wake up." Levy whispered loudly, as if she was shouting at her. Lucy didn't even stir. She sighed under her breath… desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Lu-chan, Natsu's reading your novel." She whispered. Lucy jolted up immediately, albeit still half asleep. Her eyes were stuck together. "Natsu, I swear if you even touch my manuscript I will put deadbolts on my window." Lucy stated in a fierce voice. In reply, was silence. And then soft giggles.

She opened her eyes, confused, expecting the bright morning light spilling in from the beautiful window, looking out a view of the street. Her stare was met with the darkness of night and four very mischievous faces.

"What? Where's Natsu?" sitting up, and groaning as her hipbones creaked. The bed was way too comfortable. She looked around the room and fell back onto the bed.

"Guys, it's not even morning yet!" Lucy closed her eyes once again. Erza slapped her and she was instantly knocked awake.

"We're going shopping!" Mira said, excited, clapping her hands together.

"Shopping? At this hour?" Lucy asked. Juvia nodded.

"The princess is going to show us the way!" That was when Lucy noticed the green-haired princess. She was looking a little awkward and out of place. Hair disheveled, the one who had inherited the royal bloodline, looked like she had been dragged out of bed- she probably was. Lucy laughed to herself, who knew what the limits to Erza's persuasive skills, or rather the lack of them?

"The midnight marketplace is open!" Juvia said, her delight was evident.

"It'll be a girl's night out, just the five of us. " Mirajane said. Simultaneously, all the girls gave her the puppy eyes.

Lucy stood up and grinned."Then what are we waiting for?"

The girls sneaked out into the night. It was amazing what a few blankets could do. They scaled the wall slowly, and snickered when they looked through the boy's bedroom window. Evidence of many pillow fights were scattered across the room. Even Laxus, usually the I-am-the-only-mature-one of the group, laid snoring on top of one of the blankets scatter hazardly in the messy room.

"Wait." MIrajane said deviously, as she reached behind her monster-printed pajama bottom to pull out a black marker. The girls giggled, knowing instantly what Mira wanted to do. Hisui opened the window, because she knew all the security measures that were taken to safeguard the room from famous wizards, she disabled them all with a few clicks of her manicured nails. The girls climbed in stealthily; trying to avoid tripping on the scattered pillows, and the boys that laid askewed across the room.

"This is revenge for intruding my room at two in the morning, this was for when you saw me naked that one time, and this…" Lucy muttered in a sing-song voice, gleefully as she drew a french mustache onto Natsu's face. Levy looked at her in a mixture of horror and fascination. Mirajane was busy drawing dark circles on Laxus's face. She hummed as she drew with an expression of utter joy. The beautiful blonde would have looked angelic; if you hadn't noticed the heart she was drawing on Laxus's cheeks.

Of course, Juvia was busy blushing at Gray's sleeping form. He slept naked, and so she hurried to cover him up. He looked so peaceful at the moment, so free, she couldn't bare to draw on him. Yet, Mirajane nudged her into submission. Juvia hesitantly drew a tiny spider onto his biceps.

Erza was laughing maniacally as she drew on the boys strewn across the floor. Levy involuntarily shivered as she doodled giant portraits of the men. Erza added captions with words like, "I swear a blood oath that I will never step on Erza's cake again." or " I hereby swear to give a strawberry cake to Erza for free." She was being a little too obvious. Well, that's Erza for you.

Levy tiptoed over to Gajeel.

He was snoring. Levy gave a little yip as she reached for the strand of hair he had tucked in his mouth. He stirred a little and she froze.

"Shalamaandur shad-uuup..." he mumbled. Levy resisted a growing smirk on her face. Oh, if only she could record this. "Apparently, 'The Great Iron Dragonslayer' sleep talks." She looked at him for a while, and then he turned. Oh no. She stood cemented to the ground as his hand smacked right into her knees. He gave a loud groan.

Levy looked frantically at the others. "Mission abort! Mission abort!" she urgently whispered, fully alert. They nodded in understanding, all simultaneously dropping their playful attitudes in both horror and fear. Erza stood up and climbed out of the window, hanging on to the makeshift-blanket-rope. The others followed a little faster. Sliding down the tower...

Lucy shuddered, trying to catch her breath. That little detour was a little too intense. She then smiled, satisfied. It was totally worth it.

"No way!" Levy thought, wide eyes. She has never seen so much people in her entire life! The crowd overwhelms her. Chattering filled the air. The bright lights blinded her. If she had not known better, she would have thought it was afternoon instead of morning. She would have stared forever if not for the fact that she was pushed along. Levy flailed in a desperate attempt to stay in place. It didn't work; she was smothered. She huddled up into a ball, in an attempt to not become a squished sandwich. The endless chattering of the crowd confuses her. She had never felt any smaller, any more insignificant than she was feeling now.

"LEVYYYYYYY!" She heard distinct yelling. Find me she thought silently, Find me before I get crushed!

"Oh god! This is way too much!" She heard Lucy state as her friends fought to get to her through the noisy crowd.

"No, this is actually normal. The Midnight Marketplace only opens once every two year after all. The goods here cannot be found anywhere else." Hisui said, acting surprising casual in such an overcrowded space. In this place, everybody was too busy to bow to royalty.

"Juvia found Levy-chan everyone!" A hand reached across the sea of writhing bodies and humidity. Levy thankfully grabbed the lifeline. She was soon pulled along with the force of a very determined water mage.

Juvia planted Levy in a stall. Her friends crowded around her.

"Levy-chan are you okay?" Juvia had asked. Levy took a deep breath.

"Well, that was horrifying." Mirajane panted, she looked concerned. Levy just nodded, a sheen of sweat had covered her entire body. The cool sea air in Walet was suppressed by the body heat of the mass. Everybody was sweating.

"Don't worry, the crowds will thin out as we walk on." Hisui stated knowledgeably. The girls sighed in relief, and continued to tread. They shuffled along, holding on to each other tightly. The crowd thinned out gradually, as per said by Hisui. And soon they had space to walk around instead of being packed together like sardines.

"Wait!" Mirajane commanded as she stopped in front of a stall. It's more like a small store than a stall. The charming little shelter has rotating doors and floor-to-ceiling windows. A large sign read "Arc of Time".

"NO WAY! Is this THE Arc of Time!?" Lucy gasped in recognition.

"What's Arc of Time?" Erza asked. Mirajane smiled.

"It's one of the most famous formal clothing store in Fiore! It had climbed through the ranks, even though it made it debut just a month ago! The fabric is legendary and no one has ever seen the founder. It's a very mysterious place. One yukata was insured for 1.7 billion Jewels!" Lucy looked through the window and gasped.

The intricately decorated kimonos was not just beautiful, but the very meaning of perfection in itself. It glowed internally as if the sunlight was inside. Every single one of them was a masterpiece. One had brilliant puff of clouds cascading down, another had watercolor koi fish. Yet another has the colors reminiscent to sunlight filtering through a thick foliage of a forest canopy. There was unspeakable feelings in every single one of them. Lucy stopped and stared, mesmerized, by the dancing light. They were not clothes, they were emotion, pure in its true form.

"Shall we go in?" Mirajane winked. She walked towards the rotating door. Lucy took a breath- she had no idea what will come next.

Wood, rocks, water. That was the first thing that came in mind. The walls were a decorated whitish wood. There was a small waterfall lazily sweeping down a magnificently decorated cliff. Artistically placed light illuminated the entire room. It was medium-sized, and the clothes were all the art pieces one needed to look at. A wooden door slid open.

Welcome to Arc of Time, How may I be of service?" A pinked hair girl bowed her head, dressed in a pure white kimono. They recognized her instantly.

"MEREDY!" The Fairy Tail girls squealed. Meredy was soon trapped in a torrent of hugs and greetings. Hisui stands awkwardly to the side, as she looked on at the warm reunion, that is until Erza pulled her into the conversation.

"You are one of us now." Mirajane whispered with a twinkle in her eyes. Hisui gave a small smile. Her gratitude and relief conveyed through her shining her eyes.

"Meredy, what are you doing here?" Erza asked happily.

Meredy smiled, "I was here to help a friend. is going to be very happy when he sees you, Erza!" She blurted it out without realizing it. Erza's face turned the same shade of pink as her hair. Juvia gave a little giggle at the blunder.

"Anyway, Meredy, I thought you were on a mission?" Hisui asked, saving both victims of the accidental exclamation. When Lucy heard that, she saw the dark circles under Meredy's eyes- she looked mentally and physically exhausted. Her smile was wobbly and her eyes downturned.

Erza noticed it, too. "Meredy, what happened?" She asked gently. She sat her on a wood bench… gentle for once.

"Nothing's wrong. Just a little tired that's all." Yet, they could tell she was lying. Her eyes were bright, full of unshed tears in a dimly lit room. She gave a questioning look to Hisui, and Hisui nodded once. Lucy wondered, how did these two know each other so well?

"I was on a mission. I, like you, were also summoned to the palace. The king tasked me on finding the crown's possible disappearance and the various suspects. We narrowed the list down easily. As you can probably tell, finding them was like finding a needle in a haystack." She gave a bitter laugh.

"But we found them. They were horrifying, mere children, reducing grown women into sobbing insane messes." Lucy shivered. She swore she could see the terror in Meredy's eyes.

"I have never ever seen anything like that. It's a forbidden magic, creating demons. It is ancient magic, it should have been sealed away." She looked away and swallowed. Hisui lay a comforting arm on Meredy's shoulder, as if she could understand. Meredy wiped away the tears, her expression one that of renewed strength.

"I worked undercover in this shop. The owner is someone- I am most familiar with." Her eyes brightened and a little smile graced her face. All evil forgotten. A startling contrast between the expression a couple of minutes before.

"Meredy who's out there?" Someone asked squeezing around the wooden door. Her voice weathered by age, but there was a familiar vocal that Lucy could almost place.

"Coming!" Meredy answered happily, bouncing away towards the door.

"I have a couple of guest I want you to meet." The group gave questioning looks to each other. The door creaked and a lady around eighty came out. She also wore a pure white kimono. Her features are etched with history, but is familiar, a little too familiar. She is short, even shorter than Levy. When looking at her, Lucy had a warm- almost fuzzy feeling, as if she had met a childhood friend. Lucy found herself quirking up to a smile. This felt like a reunion.

"My my, we've got a large group out here!" The lady smiled. Meredy led her carefully, as if she was a glass vase waiting to break. The herd stands in anticipation, there was a tension in the air, heavied by curiosity. Meredy grinned. The woman's eyes twinkled. She dropped the bomb onto the minefield.

"Girls. Meet my mother, Ultear."