Just to let people know, I updated chapter 6 right after chapter 5 so you might have missed it. Last update for the weekend! This is where I may take a bit longer between updates; I'll try for at least one or two a week. As usual, thank you for reading and I do not own Fairy Tail or anything really. I really appreciate those of you who took the time to review or tell me about errors you found. Thank you so much!

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

-Lucy-

We learned three important things in the days we spent travelling well-worn roads in search of a city large enough to contain a library.

First, we did not speak the language. The few people who spoke ours were slaves, confused why we foreigners did not have the scarred brand on our foreheads to mark us as they were.

Second, we were unwelcome in this country. That suited me just fine until I realized that few people would help us and in fact, most would hinder us at any opportunity. Kisa and I had taken to wearing cloaks at all times to hide our faces, just to avoid the critical yet curious stares of the townsfolk.

The third was to always keep Bjorn around as an intimidating animal. He was currently a large wolf, growling menacingly at the three men who drunkenly yelled at us. We had learned this when we encountered two farmers who had attacked us, trying to steal whatever we had. I still hoped that was all they had wanted; the alternative was too terrible to think about. Bjorn had been resting as a mouse, out of sight in my pocket, when he heard our screams of surprise. After chasing the men off as a bear, we knew it would be practical to always have him as a barrier between ourselves and the desperate citizens of this country.

"I hope that old man knew what he was talking about," Bjorn grumbled under his breath.

I hoped so too. He was one of the first kindly people we had found in this nation. A frail and elderly slave, he had invited us to his small hut for tea. We told him stories of Fiore when he asked, eyes glazing over wistfully as we talked. He had said he was stolen from his life years ago as a young man and he pledged to help us in any way he could. We offered to take him with us when he directed us in the direction of the capitol city, but he had sternly refused. He had grown attached to his young master in recent years and was reluctant to leave the young boy to his father, the old man's master. Plus, we would have surely been followed for aiding an escaped slave.

The city was enormous, stone streets littered with debris. People ran around, resuming their normal routine while ignoring the multiple beggars pleading on the street corners. Multiple vendors sold their wares in makeshift stalls, colorful cloth catching my eye.

"That pattern would make a cute top…" I thought longingly. I disliked wearing such plain stuffy clothing. Kisa and I were dressed in similar gray trousers, green shirts, and hooded brown cloaks. They were they clothes Bjorn had stolen for us long ago and were frayed with use by now. I used to think I could look cute in anything, but these clothes were hard for anyone to pull off. "We look like vagrants," I mused. I couldn't wait to get home and pull on a pair of heeled boots and a miniskirt.

"Any ideas on how to look for a library?" Kisa asked quietly, trying to ignore the lewd looks the drunken men were sending us. Again, I was grateful Bjorn was there with us.

"It's usually in a nicer part of the city. They're normally a huge grand building in a town square of sorts," I recounted, thinking back to the library in Magnolia. A rush of homesickness overwhelmed me at the memory but I forcefully pushed it away. It was of no use here, we would be home soon anyway. "I hope…"

"That's in Fiore," Bjorn muttered quietly, careful not to let other people hear. "But it's as good a place as any to start."

We roamed throughout the town for hours, looking for any place that looked as if it could contain a map. It was no question that we would not ask strangers for directions. Even if they could speak our language, it would draw unwanted attention to the fact that there were foreigners looking for a library. After wandering around a nicer part of the city, we finally came across a building that was almost certainly a library. It was a grand white building, a mural engraved with a book adorning the face of the structure. People strolled in and out of the double doors indicating the entrance.

Gulping nervously, I stepped toward the doors. Trying to look inconspicuous, we walked slowly into the library.

"Oi!" A shrill voice called. Looking around, I could see a woman in a navy blue uniform stalking toward us. She was looking pointedly at Bjorn as she wagged her finger in my face. She said something quickly and irritably and though I didn't understand her language, I immediately understood the message: No dogs allowed.

I leaned toward the spirit, whispering in his ear. "Find someplace to change and sneak in," I told him. He woofed, turned around, and sped off toward an alley.

The woman huffed and walked away, muttering something under her breath. Kisa gave me a sheepish grin and we walked to a less crowded part of the library.

"How are we going to find a map in here?" She wondered. I felt a small tug at my consciousness that I had learnt to associate with Bjorn asking for magic. I complied and turned my attention back to Kisa. "We can't even read in this language," She frowned.

"Well… A map would probably be in a more used section… Why don't we split up and look for anything resembling a map?" I suggested. It was the best I could think of. "You start on that side," I pointed to the far end of the library. "And I'll start here and let Bjorn know when he gets here. Just… pick up a book, flip through it, and put it back if you don't see a map."

She nodded and ran to the back of the library. I sighed. This would take forever. I turned around and looked at the first shelf. It had hundreds of books on it alone and the library had hundreds of identical shelves. I sighed again, picking up the first book that grabbed my attention. How were we going to find a map in all this?

"Miss me?" A voice called from the top of the shelf. Bjorn sat perched on the wooden surface, chirping quietly in amusement at my scowl. He was in the form of a small brown sparrow now, blending in well with all the sepia tones that predominated in the library.

"Yes, now would you mind helping?" I asked sweetly. He cocked his head.

"Help? What can I do to help?" He seemed curious.

"Just fly around, look at what people are reading. If you see a map, grab it or tell me so I can grab it. Sound okay?" I was proud of my idea.

"Sure, good luck!" Bjorn called, flapping his wings to perch on a shocked young boy's head.

I grinned. Bjorn was quite entertaining when he wasn't trying to tease me. I turned back to my task. Flipping absentmindedly through the thick book in my hands, I moved on to the next one. And the next.

Dozens of books later, I was quickly getting irritated. "How is this so freaking difficult?" I mentally screamed. I sat down for a quick break, wanting to clear my mind to start again. I noticed a small rodent scurrying among the books, straight across from me. It was mouse-like with long tufts of fur sticking from its ears and a black tipped thick tail. The long prehensile tail wrapped around a candlestick as it hung upside down to swing to a lower shelf. I giggled at the tiny acrobat, which froze as it heard me.

"Oh! Sorry about that," I told it, using my ability from Bjorn. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"That's alright!" A high-pitched voice in my head chattered excitedly. "I've never heard a human talk before! And I've lived here my whole life!" It squeaked.

"Really?" I asked, a crazy thought occurring to me. "Would you mind helping me then?"

"Sure! Sure!" It jumped excitedly. I grinned at how cute the little guy was.

"I'm looking for a map; do you know what a map is?" It shook its head no. "Oh… Well, it's a picture. Usually with some symbols like this," I drew a kind of compass in the dust next to the little mousey fellow. "They show where places are on paper."

"Oh! Oh!" He performed a neat back flip. "That sounds like the things near my house! I see people looking at things like that all the time from my balcony!"

"Really?" I gasped, barely believing my luck. "Could you take me there?"

"Well…" The mouse shuffled shyly. "Okay!" And he sped off toward the middle of the library. I ran to chase after him, barely seeing him turn left at a certain bookcase. Not wanting to lose him, I barreled around the corner and knocked a small boy down in the process. Quickly shouting an apology, I resumed my chase after the tiny mouse. Rounding another corner, I thought I lost him. Shoulders slumped in defeat; I turned to walk away before, "Yoohoo!" I heard a small voice call.

My head snapped up to see the mouse swinging by his tail from a chandelier. "Hey!" I waved, then realized how foolish I looked to the other guests in the library.

"Those, right?" He chirped excitedly, pointing to the shelf on my left. I grabbed a book, quickly flipping through it before coming upon a map of the city.

I had found the right section! "T-thank you!" I gasped in excitement, vowing to never squeal in terror again at another mouse in my apartment.

"Anytime miss!" He winked before swinging to the top of a shelf and scurrying away. I realized with a laugh that the chandelier must be his balcony.

I dug through different maps for ten minutes before finding two that would be most useful. I discretely ripped them from the books, whispering a quick apology to the librarian, and tucked them into my shirt. Replacing the damaged books, I casually walked away to find Kisa and Bjorn.

I found Kisa sitting on the floor, a pile of books all around her. She looked up at me hopefully. "Any luck?" She asked.

"Yeah, I got them. Now we just need to find Bjorn," I helped her up and began to put back some of the books she had removed from the shelves. We were just about finished when an earsplitting crash and shriek of fury sounded from the front doors. Kisa and I looked at each other apprehensively before sprinting toward the library entrance. The sight that met our eyes nearly made me collapse in a fit of giggles.

The strict, uptight woman who had kicked Bjorn out as a wolf was screaming furiously at a small brown sparrow. It was cheeping loudly as it fluttered overhead, dodging the broom she held high above her head to knock it out of the air. It was definitely Bjorn, he was laughing so hard he was forgetting to tweet like a bird at times. The library worker looked absolutely livid as she shouted curses toward the small bird.

"Let's leave!" I heard Kisa shout loud enough for Bjorn to hear, and she dragged me out of the library to escape the growing crowd. We walked to a small alleyway, and dissolved into a fit of giggles as soon as we were out of earshot.

Bjorn landed on the ground next to us a few seconds later.

"What did you do?" Kisa gasped between laughs.

He ruffled his feathers. "The old goat was in need of cheering up. She looked just so uptight…" He snickered. "I just… brightened her day a bit. How was I supposed to know she'd hate a present that much?"

"A present?" I questioned.

"Let's just say… It's the kind of presents from birds people hate the most," He snickered again, this time more evilly.

"Oh Bjorn, you didn't…" Kisa laughed weakly.

"Bird shit washes out of hair easily, right?" He cackled as I rolled my eyes.

We quickly left town after that, excited that we would never need to see the squalid city again. Though the area we had found the library was well kept and clean, much of the city was rundown and overcrowded. It was highly apparent how different the rich and poor fared. I spread the maps in front of us, one page depicting the country of Enca in this nation's language, but that wasn't my priority. I was really proud of the two pages that made up the other map, showing this entire section of the world including Fiore, in a language I was slightly familiar with. I had never been happy daddy had made me learn Minscan before this moment.

"I can read this one," I pointed to the larger world map. "But we need to find out where we are in Enca before we can plot a route. That's why I took this one too." I pointed to the smaller map.

Kisa scrunched up her nose and looked at it. "Well, that old man had said this city was the capital. It's probably this symbol here," She gestured at an intricate star shaped symbol on the map. "And that would make sense because it's near a mountain range like we are."

"So, we'd need to head north east to find the coast with the narrowest expanse of ocean between here and the country over the sea…" Bjorn mused.

"Which is…" I looked at the larger map. "The nation of Sin. From there, we could go north." I traced the route on the map with my finger. "It would be a bit roundabout, but we would avoid the desert and not need to cross as many bodies of water."

"I don't mind the desert…" Kisa mumbled. I could tell she wanted to get home as badly as I did. "We could fly over it at night when it's not too hot and rest during the day."

"What about water?" Bjorn pointed out dubiously.

"If we stick to the coastal areas, we can find water. It's the center that we'd have trouble with," I stated. "All in favor of the desert route?" All three of us raised a hand; Bjorn hesitant, but agreeing in the end. "Confirmed!" I shouted joyfully. "So here's our route," I traced a line using a bit of charcoal from our small campfire. "We head northwest and cross the ocean into Sin. From there, we cut across that country to the northwest and fly over another ocean to Desierto. We follow the coastline west until we hit the large inlet of ocean there. Then we fly over to Mins! I know the language there so we can ask for directions from that country. Any questions?" I grinned. It would take a long time, but we would manage. Flying would cut down that time immensely and we could switch between Kisa's Ohju form and Bjorn's Roc form to fly for a lot longer.

"Nope, let's leave first thing tomorrow." Kisa smiled, stretching her arms high over her head. "I've been dying to stretch my wings."

-Kisa-

Flying just felt incredible. The wind lifting my fur and feathers, the way clouds condensed into dew on my eyelashes, it was pure bliss. To not attract attention while we were travelling, I was forbidden to turn into an Ohju while in Enca. We had finally left the dreadful place this morning and I reveled in the knowledge I would be flying as long as I liked. I closed my eyes and let out a contented chirrup, having missed this freedom while traveled on the roads of Enca. I soared even higher, wanting to dive and twist in the air. Of course I wouldn't, considering I had passengers. Lucy gripping tightly to my back, wrapped in a length of rope that coiled around my neck. Bjorn was much more relaxed, lying on his back between my shoulder blades. We had been flying for a few hours, guided by the compass spell Lucy had stolen from a shop in the capitol. Every so often, she would tap one of my sides letting me know to turn a little when she checked the direction.

I was starting to tire; I had never flown for so long. Although I enjoyed this immensely, I was going to need rest soon. I was just about to mention this to Bjorn when I noticed something on the horizon.

"Land!" I called, hoping my friends could hear me over the roar of the wind. I could last until then with no problem. We flew for a few more minutes before the beach was clearly visible. I slowed down and began my descent to earth. I landed as lightly as I could on the sandy bank, but could tell I had jolted Lucy and Bjorn a bit much. I winced as Lucy rolled off my back, dangling from my neck by the rope tied around her waist. Bjorn instantly began laughing as she flailed.

"Bjorn!" She yelled angrily. "Get me down from here! Stop laughing at me!" She was nearly hysteric by now as Bjorn continued to laugh at her predicament. "Stop laughing you jerk and fucking get me down!" I lowered my neck as far as I could, her feet finally able to touch the ground. She was staring furiously at the still laughing spirit as she untied herself from the rope.

"Hahaha, I-I'm sorry!" Bjorn gasped for breath. "I just didn't expect you to be scared of heights!"

"I'm not!" Lucy snapped. "It's just… Flying freaks me out a little! I'm not used to it like you two…"

I changed back to my usual self, rope falling around my feet. "It's true Bjorn," I stated. "Stop laughing at her, it was her first time flying. Anyone would be freaked out their first time."

"Ahh, like a certain someone who obliterated a tree for her first landing?" Bjorn teased. He was in an infuriatingly good mood…

"Yes…" I mumbled embarrassment. "I was hoping they forgot about that…" I thought, heat radiating from my flushed face.

"Well, I'm hungry. What's for lunch?" Lucy interrupted, obviously changing the subject. I smiled at her gratefully.

"Well you two have eaten through almost the rest of our food stores," Bjorn tapped him chin thoughtfully. "Shall I… ah, 'liberate' some more?"

"No!" Lucy yelped. "We have no excuse to steal anything now that we aren't in Enca. Let's just find our own food…" She mumbled.

Bjorn chuckled. "Humans and their morals."

"What were you thinking of doing?" I asked curiously.

"Well…" Lucy began. "I was thinking… Fishing."


"Ha!" I yelled in triumph. I brought another fish to the small pile next to Lucy's campfire. I had turned out to be quite the efficient fisher cat. I sat crouched on a protruding tree trunk, waiting patiently over the river we had set up camp next to. Once I saw a sizeable fish, I would leap into the water and quickly change into a medium sized, golden furred cat with black rosettes Lucy had called an Ocelot. More often than not, I would catch my unsuspecting prey.

"That should be plenty Kisa!" Lucy called as I swam to the river bank. She had given up fishing with her makeshift lure when she saw how well I did and instead tended the fire to cook. Fish were currently sizzling over the fire and I nearly drooled at the appealing smell. I changed back to normal, dripping wet and now completely ravenous.

"Here," Lucy handed me the first fish, smiling. I dug in quickly, almost swallowing a small pin bone in my haste. I nearly missed the forlorn look on Lucy's face as she stared into the fire. "What's wrong?" I asked, concerned.

She jumped slightly. "I was just thinking…" She paused for a second. "Natsu and Happy would have loved this. Happy would love the fish and Natsu would probably eat the fire even if I told him not to…" She trailed off sadly. I patted her shoulder, reassuring her she would see them again soon. I don't think she noticed, but I had and Bjorn had picked up on it too. She was constantly talking about Natsu, thinking about Natsu, missing Natsu; she talked about him more than anyone else in her guild. No matter how much she called him an idiot, it was clear she cared deeply for this person I had never met. I wondered if she was as oblivious to this as she seemed but decided to not press the issue. We both were homesick enough without adding more confusion to her relationships.

We had finished eating by this point, Lucy staring at the small campfire watching it fizzle out.

"Come on," Bjorn interrupted her musing. "Time to travel. Lucy, if you please?"

He immediately blurred and grew larger, growing wings and talons. Feathers sprouted and a cruel beak formed on his face. Red plumes sprouted from his forehead and tail and the transformation was complete. In his Roc form, Bjorn leaned down and allowed Lucy and I to clamber to his back, tying ourselves to his neck so we wouldn't fall off. "You two get some rest," Bjorn rumbled tenderly, flapping his wings and taking to the air. Full and sleepy, I complied.


The next couple months passed in a similar way. We switched traveling duties, following the route Lucy had mapped out back in Enca. We stopped often for water and to forage for food. Our diet was predominantly fish and plants as I refused to eat meat. Lucy and Bjorn had snorted in disbelief at that ('A vegetarian cat!' they had laughed). It was much slower than traveling by ship which would be constantly moving as long as the weather was favorable. We had to rest, find food and water, and make sure we were going in the right direction. These things took time unfortunately, and though we were constantly on the move it was winter by the time we were ready to cross the last ocean between us and home. Nearly seven months after our kidnapping took place. Now we were almost home.

"You ready?" I asked elatedly over the howling wind as we sped over the ocean.

"Of course!" Lucy cried happily. We were so close it was intoxicating. Even Bjorn was humming in content, caught up in our good mood.

We had been flying for hours, passing over islands as we flew north towards Fiore. My stamina when flying had increased dramatically, as had Lucy's ability to keep Bjorn in larger forms. I had to admit, we were both quite powerful by this point. "I wonder if Alan will be surprised?" I thought wistfully. I was so excited to see him again it hurt.

"Kisa, wait!" I heard Lucy yell. I stopped flying forward and hovered, flapping my wings to keep us airborne. "I know that island!" She continued, gesturing towards a crescent shaped island below us. "Let's take a quick stop there; I want to see some people I know."

I grunted in agreement and glided down to the beach. We landed, a lot more smoothly than our first flight together I was happy to point out to the others, and I changed back to a human. Lucy ran ahead, leading us to an overgrown path and we jogged to keep up with her.

"Where are we Lucy?" Bjorn called ahead.

She turned around briefly and answered, "Galuna Island! I've been here before on a mission!"

We kept running and came to a large fenced enclosure. The gate looked intimidating as two demons were guarding it with bored looks on their faces. Until one of them saw Lucy.

"Lucy!" The purple one gasped. "Is it really you?"

"Bobo!" Lucy ran up to him, panting. "It's been a long time! How have you been? How is your father?"

"Fine, fine. We're all fine…" He looked like he was looking at a ghost. "But Lucy… What happened to you?"

"Huh?" She blanched. "What do you mean?"

"You don't know?" Bobo continued in shock. "Come on in. Guard the gate for me Lola?" He directed at the green demon next to him who nodded. "Your friends can come in too."

Bjorn in his wolf form and I followed them inside and the large wooden gates closed with a crash. I looked around nervously. There were a lot of people in this village, all of them demons. Lucy had told us about them before, but it was still an intriguing experience. As I looked around in awe, the demon called Bobo knocked on the door of an intricate hut.

"Come in!" A croaking voice barked and we obeyed the command.

I had a glimpse of a stooped old figure before the village headman burst into excited tears at the sight of Lucy. "Lucy my girl! You've returned!" He went over to hug her. She looked pleased but confused.

"It's good to see you too Moka…" She started. "But how did you know I was gone? No offense, but we didn't exactly keep in touch often."

"Ah, yes. Of course you wouldn't know," The old demon croaked. He simply pointed to a piece of paper on the table. The three of us walked over to it curiously before Bjorn and I burst into laughter.

It was a wanted poster. Or a reward poster. It had a picture of Lucy in a bikini, winking at the camera. Under it, the words said 'Lost stellar spirit mage! Name is Lucy Heartfilia, favorite color is blue! Huge reward if any clues about her! Please direct all information to Fairy Tail guild!'

As Lucy stared at the poster, Moka continued. "Yes, that young fire mage and his cat friend have been spreading these everywhere looking for you. Your whole guild has been scouring this side of Fiore trying to find out where you had gone." I looked at Lucy. Her eyes were filled with happy tears and she had a half grin on her face. It was touching to see how far her friends would go to find her.

"I-I-I can't…" She stuttered. "Th-they're such…" And she promptly burst into tears.

We let her cry. She held on to Bjorn and sobbed for a bit into his neck. She looked up, embarrassed, eyes puffy and red. But she looked ecstatic.

She jumped to her feet, complex emotions darting across her face. "Sorry Moka, Bobo. We've got to go now." They nodded in understanding. We ran, villagers waving as we passed. "I don't want to scare them!" Lucy gasped. "They're easily suspicious. Let's fly from the ruins that way!" She gestured toward a pyramid type structure peeking out from the dense jungle.

We kept running until we reached the pyramid. "I'll fly us this time," Bjorn offered once we caught our breath. "Lucy?" He asked.

We waited. Bjorn stayed the same. "Lucy?" He asked again. She didn't answer.

I walked around to look at her face. Her eyes were blank as she stared at the temple.

"Lucy?" I asked, starting to become frantic at her lack of response.

She finally blinked. "Something's… calling me," She supplied after what seemed like an eternity.

"Calling you?" Bjorn asked hopefully. "What do you mean?"

"I-I can't explain it," She admitted. "It's like… My instincts are telling me to go in…"

"Never ignore your instincts," Bjorn quipped. "We should look around for a bit."

"I've already been here before," Lucy protested, though she was walking into the temple already. "It's the place Lyon tried to free Deliora with Moon Drip-"

"Moon Drip!" Bjorn exclaimed, cutting her off. "Lucy, your instincts are amazing. I'm never doubting you again. Now where is she?" He trailed off, looking around expectantly.

"Who is she?" I asked before stopping in my tracks. I smelled… something. It smelled similar to Bjorn actually… I followed it, pressing my nose to a solid wall as Lucy and Bjorn stared at me curiously. "Something's here…" I frowned.

Bjorn took the shape of a Vulcan. Walking up to the wall, he wound back his fist and punched a hole straight through it. Lucy crawled through first as Bjorn changed back, I clambered in after her. A small pedestal rose out of the floor in the otherwise plain room. Lucy cautiously walked over to it, reaching for something on the stone pillar. Light exploded from whatever Lucy had tried to touch. I shielded my eyes from the aurora streaming from the pedestal, wondering what the hell was going on.

"Why hello Bjorn," A peculiar voice said. It seemed to echo in a strange manner with every word she spoke. "It's been a long time."

"So it has," Bjorn purred in content. "I thought we'd find you here, Chrona the Temporal Witch."

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

Finally back to Fiore! And a new character too! I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. All country names and the map I used were taken from Hiro Mashima himself so as usual, I own nothing. The map is available online if you google it in case you're curious. Thank you for reading as usual! I hope this isn't moving too quickly, slowly, or if I skipped over portions you would have liked to read about.