A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in forever. I could give you excuses but the real reason is life. My hometown was recently featured in the news, you might have seen it. We had the KKK and the Nazis show up over a feckin' statue. Glorious right? To get away from the news I got back into reading an remembered I needed to write. Anyway, thank you for those who have favorited and followed. Also, big thanks to TitanXyz, Rakuen91, and BlackDove WhiteDove for your reviews/questions/comments. I love hearing feedback.

Disclaimer: Standard I own nothing and everything belongs to the wonderful (TROLL) Hiro Mashima...That was a dirty trick with Natsu and Lucy and I'm still burning over it.

Light shined brightly through the glass panes of the room Freed shared with Willow, waking him slowly. He blinked a few times, a smile appearing on his face as he remembered Willow was right there beside him.

That was, before his eyes adjusted and he realized she was no longer in the bed beside him. He sat up slowly, looking around the room for her, his tousled green hair falling gracefully over his shoulders. He blinked even more at the bright light that filled every corner of the room; the very empty room. Freed sat up further and swung his legs over the bed, searching for sleeping pants so he could exit the room.

After checking the restroom down the hall, Freed went back to the room to dress, thinking Willow might have gone downstairs without him. As he pulled on his coat his eyes glanced over her clothing and his heart stuttered to a stop. Willow wouldn't have gone downstairs to the main area in only her night clothes, would she?

Freed raced down the stairs, taking them two at a time as he buckled his rapier to his side. He looked around the common area quickly, spotting the girls in a group near one of the windows.

"Mirajane, have you seen Willow at all this morning?" he asked frantically, his fear rising with every passing second. Going back to her own realm wasn't out of the question as they still didn't know what triggered it, but it had taken weeks for her to get back last time. His heart couldn't much more of that, it had just started falling for her.

The white-haired barmaid shook her head, her expression filling with worry as she looked at the man, desperation rolling off him in waves. She felt for him, it wasn't often the man let others get as close as Willow had in such a short period of time.

Freed visibly collapsed into himself as reality hit. Willow had been taken back. He had no way of knowing when she would be back or if she would even come back at all. His eyes started to well with unshed emotion and his knees started to give. Thankfully, someone caught him from behind and hauled him upright.

"Alright now, none of that. What Willow think of you giving up that easily?" Bickslow said calmly from behind Freed as he helped the man regain his footing. Freed brought up an arm to dash away the tears, mentally locking his knees to make sure he would stay up of his own power.

"You're right," he said softly, "I need to figure out what is making her come and go so randomly so that I can stabilize it and she can stay here."

"Or in her own realm," Lisanna said from beside her sister, ever the voice of realism.

Bickslow grimaced, "Liz, I don't think that's something he wants to hear now."

Freed shook his head and waved the comment away. "No, she's right. Willow might very well want to stay in her own realm and if that's the case then I will begrudgingly accept it. But I will do everything in my power to make sure she wants to stay here in Earthland, at Fairy Tail. To make sure she wants to stay with me." His eyes were hard as he stared straight ahead at an invisible goal, his stride confident as he walked out of the Inn and down towards the Library of Crocus, leaving the rest of the guild to look after him with mixed emotions of pride and pity.

Willow woke with a large yawn that she tried and failed to hide behind her hand. She didn't want Freed to see her huge mouth, or heaven forbid, smell her morning breath. She blinked sleepily as she pushed her glasses back up onto her nose as she registered her surroundings.

There was no fireplace, no big open window, no old-style furnishings of the Inn. And no Freed.

Willow cried out, her eyes instantly welling with tears as a sob tore through her chest. "No!" she whispered, before crying it again louder, "NO!"

She flung her face back into the pillow to cry, great sobs wracking her small frame. When she had exhausted her grief for the moment she rolled onto her side and looked listlessly around her room. She hated this place now; it meant she was worlds away from Freed.

The house must have been empty, otherwise someone would have come running when she had cried out.

Slowly, Willow sat up and made her way out of her room and made her way to the kitchen, glancing around the room with eyes glazed over. She wasn't hungry but she knew she had to eat. If she was ever to get back to Earthland, she would need her strength. And Freed would be none too happy that she wasn't eating right.

At the very thought of him fresh tears came to her eyes and she lifted her glasses to brush them away. "I can't, I have to keep going. Freed will figure out how to get me back," she said aloud out of desperation.

She reached for the bag of bread to make herself some toast, the knowledge that Freed felt the same about her and that he wouldn't stop till she was back keeping her going for the moment.