Erza felt relieved as she saw the roof tops of Magnolia rising in the distance ahead of them. Makarov, Gray, Natsu, and Lucy all let out exhausted sighs as they too realized that they were finally home after their tiring ordeal. Eleven days ago Erza and her team had left on a mission to prevent the dark guild Eizenwald from enacting their sinister plan to use the deadly lullaby flute to kill the guild masters at their annual conference. It had ended with a confrontation with the demon created by the dark wizard Zeref and in their effort to defeat the evil, the conference hall in clover had been destroyed.

After that, they had spent the week on the road. Erza grimaced as she thought back on how they had become lost in clover canyon and their subsequent involvement with the cursed city that had turned into monstrous eels when they entered the town. She still was not satisfied with Master Makarov's explanation of how he had saving them, simply stating that he would tell her about it someday. She supposed that she would just have to forget about it as the old man was known for being rather stubborn.

"Oh man I am so ready for a nice hot bath." Lucy sighed next to her slumping her shoulders.

Erza smiled at the thought. "I know what you mean. A good soak would feel divine right now."

Lucy smiled back at her and stretched her arms over her head a bit. She was Fairy Tail's newest member, having only joined the guild a few days before Erza had dragged them off on this errand. She was a celestial spirit wizard, summoning spirits to aid her in combat. From what Erza had seen she wasn't overly powerful, but still quite skilled.

"So Erza you were really something back when we fought those goons at the train station." Lucy complimented.

Erza smiled and shifted her grip on her large cart of luggage. "Why thank you Lucy. You showed a good degree of skill in that fight as well."

"Haha yeah but I could never have taken out as many as you did. Your magic is incredible. Where'd you learn to fight like that?" The blonde asked innocently.

A strange silence fell over the men walking in front of them and Gray even glanced back over his shoulder with an unreadable expression. Erza also fell quiet for a moment though she showed no sign that anything was wrong. Lucy began to feel awkward as if there was some big secret she wasn't supposed to ask about. Before the poor girl could worry herself too much, Erza spoke up in a slightly softer tone than she had been previously.

"I learned how to use my requip magic on my own. However I owe nearly all of my skill with the sword and the amount of power I have at my disposal to the training I used to do with someone I haven't seen in a very long time."

When she was done the others seemed to all collectively release their held breath. Lucy could feel the tension dissipate from the situation and was glad that she hadn't somehow annoyed the powerful woman. "Well if that's the case they must have really been incredible seeing how strong you are."

Erza nodded and looked up to the rapidly approaching town. "Yes. He really was."

In front of them Gray scoffed and let out a small chuckle. "Ha that's an understatement. With how hard he used to push himself in training I wouldn't be surprised if he could bench press a mountain by now."

"No way man. He could totally lift a mountain with one hand!" Natsu jumped in. "And he could smash it with one punch from the other." He punctuated his claim by swinging his fists around in the air.

Lucy couldn't understand why those two always had to use the ability to destroy mountains as a measure of strength. Erza chuckled and rolled her eyes as the passed onto the cobblestone streets of Magnolia and turned to head for the guild.

The master quietly hummed at Erza's left. "They may not be all that far from the truth. That boy's ability to increase his power as fast as he did was a little scary. I wonder just how strong he is now wherever he is."

Erza thought on the masters mumblings. It was true that she had never met another wizard who advanced as quickly as Ichigo had started to in those last couple of years before he left. 'And I never did get to see what exactly that new power he had been training for was. Maybe I should pick up a training regimen again so I don't fall behind till he comes back. Whenever that will be.'

She shook the thought from her head before she could dwell on him too much. Instead she turned to continue her conversation with Lucy. "So Lucy do you rent a room at Fairy Hills as well?"

Lucy looked at her confused. "What's that?"

'Well I suppose that answers my question.' She thought.

"Fairy Hills is the girl's dormitory run by the guild." Makarov answered. "I would have told you about it but by the time I thought about it you had already found a cheaper apartment anyway." He said waiving his hand dismissively.

Erza picked up where she had been interrupted. "I live there along with many of the younger women of the guild. Where is the apartment you are renting?"

Lucy seemed to perk up at the question. "Oh it's a cozy little place down next to the river bank. It's only 70,000 a month and it's pretty close to the guild. I don't need all that much space so it's perfect for me."

Natsu chuckled a bit in front of them but stopped as soon as Lucy turned to glare at him. "And some people have a nasty habit of showing up unannounced."

"Aww come on we just dropped by to talk about the job." Natsu said innocently.

"Well what you call dropping in I call breaking and entering!" Lucy shouted at the dragon slayer.

Erza was about to lecture Natsu on the inappropriateness of breaking in to a young woman's home uninvited but stopped as something else caught her attention. Everyone around them seemed to be talking rather excitedly about something and though she couldn't make much of the conversations, she would sometimes hear the guild mentioned. The others seemed to notice it one by one too.

"I wonder what's got everyone so excited." Gray mumbled as they slowly got closer to the guild hall.

When they rounded the last corner, they could see a large crowd gathered out front of the doors. On the other side of the crowd, Cana could be seen ushering people away from the doors, shouting "Get out of here you paparazzi!"

"Whoa what the hell's going on at the guild?" Natsu shouted as he raced off toward the doors.

The others quickened their pace to keep up with him. It wasn't often that this kind of crowd would show up at the guild, usually only when there was something the whole town was celebrating. As the group got closer, Cana spotted them and waved them closer. "All right everybody get out of here will ya! Hey guys, you gotta get in here and see this." The brunette girl was clearly ecstatic about whatever was going on so it couldn't be an emergency.

"Why? What's going on?" Erza asked curiously as they finally shoved their way through the throngs of people.

"Just get in here!" Cana shouted, before dashing back inside.

They all exchanged confused glances but followed after her. Erza was the last to enter as she had to drop her luggage off next to the doorway. When she entered, she found Gray and Natsu frozen in place and Lucy looking at them in obvious confusion. Before she could ask what was going on she felt it.

'This pressure…..'

Looking up to the rest of the guild, time seemed to freeze for Erza as her eyes fell on the source of the feeling she was having.

"Who's he?" Lucy asked.

Ichigo and Mystogan walked up the peaceful streets of Magnolia. Neither said a word, though that wasn't very strange for the two of them normally, now there was a clear tension coming off the older of the two.

"Are you nervous?" Mystogan asked in a voice low enough that only Ichigo would hear him.

The soul reaper didn't answer and only looked around. It had been so long since he had walked these streets, but even after only being back for a few minutes, they felt like home. He had thought that people wouldn't recognize him, though it seemed that everyone they walked past went wide eyed and started to whisper excitedly to whoever else was around, occasionally even going so far as to point at the two men. Though it was possible that this could be a reaction to Mystogan, seeing as he was also a powerful Fairy Tail wizard, Ichigo just had a gut feeling that the attention was being directed at him.

"Suppose I was wrong about people not recognizing me." Ichigo said slightly annoyed as a few people even began to follow them on their way to the guild.

"Well you were quite famous in your time and then essentially dropped off the map. I'd imagine they're excited to see a local celebrity return home." Mystogan said with a slight hint of a chuckle.

Ichigo scowled and scratched the back of his head. He was really looking forward to getting off the streets. He took a few more steps then felt a sudden tug on his arm. he looked over to see a young woman staring at him in wonder.

"You're Ichigo Kurosaki right?!"

"Umm yeah."

"Oh my god I am your biggest fan! I've followed your stories since I was a little girl!"

Before he could respond to the girl, a young man jumped in front of him. "Are you really the legendary Ichigo of Team Sunset? We had all thought that you vanished."

Ichigo looked to Mystogan for help as more and more people began to crowd around him. The blue haired man had stepped back and had a mischievous glint in his eye. "Well Ichigo it seems like you're busy. I'll come by the guild in a few days."

"Hey wait!" Ichigo shouted reaching out for the man but he was too late. Mystogan faded away into nothing and he was left alone with the rabid fans.

"Ugh hey let go." He said frantically. "I've really got somewhere I need to be!"

His pleas fell on deaf ears as they all asked him question after question and pulled on his sleeves to try and drag him this way or that. He was beginning to lose patience when he felt a hand squeeze his ass. Jumping at the contact he growled and shoved everyone off of him and leapt up into the air.

"Ugh damn. Forgot what it's like sometimes. Well at least I can be pretty confident that the guild won't act like that." He grumbled rubbing his sore butt for a second before flashstepping over the rooftops until he stood before the great wooden doors of the guild.

He could sense all of the energy of the gathered wizards inside. There were several that he didn't recognize and a distinct lack of those who he would most like to see.

'I guess most of them are out on jobs. That's fine, it feels like Cana is at least around.' He thought out as he recognized the girl's signature. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he reached up to the handles and nervously pushed until the doors swung open.

The warm sound of laughter and friendly conversation flowed through his ears and he couldn't help the smile that formed as he stared out over his long lost home. Slowly, attention began to shift towards him and as the older members of the guild began to recognize him, silence fell over the hall. He began to feel a bit self-conscious at all the glances being directed his way. His smile faltered and he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

"Uh hey everyone."

The silence lasted for only a brief second before all hell broke loose.

"Ichigo!" Shouted nearly every member of the guild who recognized him. He was soon dragged to the center of the hall and barraged with happy smiles and people expressing how good it was to see him. He had quickly been shuffled to the bar where Cana caught him in a tight hug.

"Ichigo where the hell have you been?!" She pulled away and slugged him lightly on the arm. "Was starting to think you were never coming back." She teased.

"Heh uh well, I had a lot that I had to get done. But I'm back now." He responded as he started to relax a bit more.

"Jeez the past few years have good to you." Cana spoke with a bit of a smirk as she gave him a once over.

Ichigo blushed a bit and stammered for a second before a large arm was slung over his shoulder. He turned to see Elfman grinning at him.

"All right! Now here's a real man. Back form a dangerous mission that took him across the continent!" The large man shouted to the rest of the members who all simply cheered in response.

"Heh thanks Elfman. You've grown quite a bit while I was gone." Ichigo complimented.

Elfman smirked and flexed his bicep. "Oh yeah. A real man's gotta keep in top shape."

The two men smiled at one another before a familiar voice called for Ichigo from behind the bar.

"It's so good to have you come home to us Ichigo. How was your trip?" A sweet voice asked.

Ichigo turned to look at the girl who had spoken to him. It took a moment for him to recognize the girl as Mirajane.

"Mira! Wow. I hardly recognized you." He offered her an apologetic smile but she only giggled at his embarrassment.

"It's okay. After all you were gone for three years."

As he continued speaking to the barmaid, Ichigo instantly noticed something. 'She doesn't have hardly any magic energy.' He was confused as to what could be the cause. Was she simply suppressing it? Why would she be doing that? As had become the agenda for the afternoon however, his attention was dragged elsewhere as Elfman shouted for someone across the guild.

"Hey Loke this is the guy we told you about. You know the one that looks like you?"

A young man in a big green coat and sunglasses walked up to the group and stood next to Elfman. "Oh yeah? So you're this Ichigo Kurrosaki I've heard so much about." The boy spoke with a bit confidence in his tone. "Well I can certainly see the similarities."

Ichigo looked at the man in front of him. He was a couple inches shorter than Ichigo. His hair was also not as bright of an orange and was slightly shorter, though Ichigo supposed that this was only the case since he had allowed his own hair to grow down over his eyes and to his shoulders. Aside from those minor differences he did have to admit that he saw the similarities.

A loud banging on the doors drew their attention and they all turned to see a swarm of people all clamoring to get inside.

"Damn Ichigo did you bring your entire fan club with you?" Wakaba shouted as he pushed people back out of the door. "Come on people give the man some time to settle in!"

"I'll go help them out." Cana said as she jogged out the doors.

Ichigo sighed and turned to look back at Loke. "So how long have you been a member of Fairy Tail Loke?"

"Actually I think I joined not long after you left to do whatever it was you were doing. Just about three years." He said casually sticking his hands in his pockets.

"Well I suppose it's a bit late for me to welcome you to Fairy Tail, but it's always nice to meet new member." Ichigo said.

Mira piped in with a small giggle. "Well that's good to hear cause you'll be meeting quite a few of them. Membership has kind of exploded in recent years. We are starting to run out of room."

"Damn. Yeah I noticed quite a few faces I didn't recognize." He said with a chuckle. He didn't mind though. He hadn't realized just how badly he had missed just being at the guild. Now there were just a few people that he really wanted to see and it would be everything he had been missing.

"That's quiet the weapon you've got there." Loke said as he observed the massive sword on Ichigo's back.

"Hmm? Oh yeah that's Zangetsu. You won't find a sword as fierce as him anywhere." Ichigo spoke proudly.

"Really?" Loki said with a challenging smirk on his face. "I wouldn't mind putting that claim to the test sometime."

Elfman cracked up and Mira could barely hold back a fit of laughter. Loke looked at then incredulously and was shocked to see the strange grin on Ichigo's face.

"Is that so?" He focused a bit of his spiritual pressure on the young man and was satisfied by the reaction he got.

Loke felt as if the weight of an ocean had crashed down on him for the brief moment that Ichigo's power had been directed at him. His eyes were wide with shock and he looked at the man in disbelief.

Ichigo's smile grew to a full grin as he saw he had sent the right message. "Sure you don't wanna change your mind? I may have been gone for a while but ask any of the veterans around here, I'm not one to be challenged lightly." He laughed and clapped a hand on Loke's shoulder. "But I like you're spirit. That's just the way I'd have it in Fairy Tail."

Loke smiled and clasped hands with the man. "Well it's an honor to have been put in my place by such a seasoned member of Fairy Tail."

Everyone around shared a laugh at the lighthearted joke. Drinks were starting to be passed around and several barrels of beer had been brought up from storage. Ichigo was enjoying the light conversation and only faintly heard the sound of the doors opening.

"Who's he?" he heard a feminine voice ask.

The rest of the guild went silent and Ichigo turned to see just what could have caused it. He saw Gray and Natsu looking at him in disbelief but his gaze lingered on them for only an instant before it locked on that brilliant red hair.

"….Erza"

Lucy looked at the man with bright orange hair standing near the bar. At first glance she had thought it to be Loke but she quickly disregarded that as impossible when she noticed the man was actually talking to Loke. "Who's he?"

When she got no response she looked over and noticed that Erza had frozen in place just like Natsu and Gray had. The girl was staring as if she had seen a ghost. She was a bit startled to see Erza lose her composure so badly.

The man must have heard her because he slowly turned around and when his eyes fell on their group they grew to the size of dinner plates.

'Okay what is going on here?' She was really getting confused.

"….Erza" Ichigo spoke in a slightly choked voice.

Erza took a tentative step forward followed by another. Ichigo matched her action but stopped hesitantly. Without saying another word, Erza took off towards the man, requipping out of her armor on the way.

Seeing her coming, Ichigo braced himself just in time to catch the woman as she wrapped her arms tightly around him and buried her head in the crook of his neck.

"Is this real? Are you really here?" She asked in a soft whisper.

Ichigo pulled her a bit closer to him and leaned his head against hers. "Yeah Erza. I'm back."

Erza smiled against his shoulder and gripped a bit tighter to his coat. She could hear several quiet awws from those watching but she just hid her face further as the tears started to form in her eyes.

Ichigo noticed that everyone was starting to stare at them and decided that he'd rather talk with her in private. "We'll be right back guys."

Erza quickly realized his intent and held on to him as tight as she could before the two disappeared with a faint swish.

The reactions around the guild were varied as Ichigo flashstepped Erza and himself out of the guild. Most of the members simply rolled their eyes or mumbled things along the lines of "Guess he wanted some alone time with his lady." Followed some chuckles. A handful of mostly new members were all flabbergasted by how fast Ichigo and Erza had vanished.

"Where'd they go?!" Lucy asked in shock.

Natsu and Gray had recovered and both of them had huge grins.

"Oh man Ichigo's back? That's awesome." Gray said walking over to the bar as if he hadn't just watched two people seemingly vanish into thin air.

Natsu followed and left Lucy still confused. "It's about damn time! I can't wait to see how strong he's gotten." He punched his fist into his palm in anticipation.

"Hey wait I still don't know who that was." Lucy said as she caught up with the two.

"Actually he's the guy we were talking about earlier. When you asked Erza how she got so strong and she told you it was thanks to someone she hadn't seen in a long time? Well you just saw him." Gray explained as they all sat at a table.

Lucy nodded for a moment. "Wait so that guy was really that powerful?!" She said glancing at the spot he had been standing with Erza.

"Oh yeah!" Natsu shouted. "His name's Ichigo and he's one of the strongest guys in the guild!"

"He and Erza are tied for the record of youngest wizards to ever become S class, though Ichigo did do it first since he's a year older than she is." Gray continued in.

Lucy nodded getting a bit better of an idea of just who the man was. "Okay. It sounds like he hasn't been around for a while. Where was he?"

Natsu and Gray exchanged looks but Gray nodded so Natsu leaned close to her to explain. "Well, a few years ago we had a couple members of the guild go missing under some really weird circumstances. Ichigo was out looking for them. He must not have found them."

"That's terrible." Lucy said with a bit of a sinking expression. "But Erza seemed really happy to see him." She said trying to lighten the mood.

By this point Cana had walked over to join them with a large mug of beer. "Yeah they've been friends ever since she joined the guild. They were really close. Rumor has it they were about to start dating before he left for his trip."

"Well that explains how she reacted when she saw him. I can't imagine having to be away from someone you care about like that for so long."

"Heh that's probably why he took her away to be alone for a while." Cana finished with a wink.

"Nah he probably just didn't want the whole guild to see her slap him." Happy said matter of factly. The rest of the table laughed at the thought and got themselves a few drinks.

Ichigo and Erza flashed into existence on the roof of the guild hall next to the large golden dome. Ichigo kept his arms wrapped behind Erza's back for a few moments and they stood there in silence.

"Ichigo, I'm still used to your flashstep. You don't have to hold me up." Erza spoke

"I know" Was all Ichigo said, still not taking his arms from her back.

Erza felt warm at the meaning behind his simple reply and was content to stand there holding onto him. 'I' can't believe it. I keep telling myself I'll wake up and this will be a dream, be he's actually here. After so long, he's back.'

She let the embrace for another moment before pulling away and letting her arms fall to her side. She found it hard to look up to meet his eyes. He seemed to be stuck in a similar situation, looking down at their feet. A stifling awkward silence hovered over them, neither one knowing exactly what to say. This continued until Erza couldn't take it anymore.

"I missed yo.."

"I'm so sorry Erza." Ichigo blurted out, silencing her before she could finish. "I promised you I would come home as soon as I could. I'm sorry it took me so long."

Erza watched as he clenched his fists and obvious shame passed through his eyes. She thought hard on how she should respond. As she did, a bit of her old frustration came back up but she pushed it aside. Yelling at him in the first 10 minutes they'd seen each other in 3 years wouldn't be the best of idea.

"Where were you Ichigo?"

Ichigo finally looked back up to her before nodding towards the edge to sit down with his legs dangling over the side. Erza sat down next to him and waited for him to speak.

Ichigo had a distant expression as he looked over the sprawling town in front of him. It had been so long since he had started and there was so much he had experienced. For now though he thought it wise just to simply explain the major reasons for his extended absence.

"Well I suppose I'll start from the town Guildarts had directed me to. When I got there the entire town was empty…" And so he told his tale of battling Yammy and his decision to find a way to stop the portals from opening. He summarized the years spent researching since nothing much really happened and picked back up when he told her of how he met Mystogan and the two formed a team to stop the opening of Anima portals across the entire continent.

"After we sealed the last one he gave me this." Ichigo said pulling out the small glass orb. "It can detect when portals open so I'll always know."

Erza was a bit thrown off by Ichigo's description of Anima and this land of Edolas, but she recovered quickly. 'Wow. He spent years researching and travelled all over the continent to protect people from the dangers of other worlds. I have to admit he accomplished a lot.' She took a sideways glance at him from the corner of her eye. 'And he's really grown up.'

"That's all incredible Ichigo. I suppose I can understand why you chose to be gone for as long as you were. You never could resist the urge to protect people." She smiled when he rubbed the back of his head in the same way he always had. "I really missed you. The guild just wasn't the same without you."

The silence that followed was a good deal less awkward than it had been before. They sat quietly, sometimes glancing over at each other. The quiet continued until Erza released a small chuckle. Ichigo looked over at her curiously. "What is it?"

Erza sighed and looked up at his face. "I can't get over how long your hair is."

Ichigo groaned and pushed his bangs up out of his face. "Yeah me either. The opportunity to get it cut just never came up." He let the hair fall back down and turned to Erza. "I have been keeping it a little longer than I used to though."

Erza studied his hair for a moment, trying to guess how long he had meant but gave up. "Well so long as I can still see your eyes then I'll be fine with it." She teased lightly.

Ichigo nodded and watched her stand up. "Listen, I know there are some… things, that we need to talk about," Ichigo had known there would be more than just catching up in their reunion so he didn't object and let her say what she needed to. "But it's not fair to the others for me to keep you up here all to myself. For now I'll just say, that I'm so happy that you're back. Welcome home Ichigo."

She offered Ichigo a hand and he took it and let her help him rise. Neither of them let go when he got to his feet and Erza laced her fingers in between his. She found that she was only just noticing how much he had grown. She knew she was tall for a girl but Ichigo was still several inches taller than her, and his build clearly showed he had developed a bit more muscle. He still wasn't quite as large as Laxus or Gildarts, but it was clear he'd bulked up.

'Was he always so handsome?' Erza blushed as she realized she'd been staring.

Meanwhile Ichigo was fighting a similar battle in his own mind.

'Wow. She's really grown into a beautiful woman.'

'Well duh. She was smokin hot before so it only makes sense. What, did you think she'd be a troll when you got back?' Shiro griped sarcastically.

I believe Ichigo is simply is stunned by how our dear Erza has grown from a pretty girl into a beautiful young woman.'Zangetsu came to his defense.

'Uh yeah what he said.' Ichigo mumbled. Maybe it was just from not having seen her in so long, but he felt butterflies in his stomach just looking at her. He had to fight to keep his arm from shaking as he held her hand. Despite how nervous it made him however, it felt right.

'God I missed her.' He thought.

"Alright I suppose you're right. We can have some one on one time to really talk later. For now we probably shouldn't keep them waiting." Ichigo said with a smile.

Erza nodded and clung to him so he could take them down to the doors of the guild. She felt him squeeze her hand a bit. "Well Ichigo, I hope you didn't forget how we party here at Fairy Tail."

Ichigo chuckled and started to push the doors open. "That's the part I've been looking forward to." Roaring laughter and shouting greeted them as the two made their way to join in the celebration.

A/N: Okay so I know I said it would be a while before I released a new chapter, but I decided that rather than make you wait, I would just put out a short chapter. I promise that this will stop and that next chapter will be back up to 10,000 words again. I don't really have much to explain for this chapter but there are a couple things.

1. Erza doesn't know what Mystogan's true identity is as Ichigo did promise to keep that much a secret, however she does now know about the existence of Edolas.

2. Ichigo and Erza are going to have a more in depth talk about where they stand and where they are headed next in their relationship, but as they said the others wanted to be able to welcome Ichigo back and it wouldn't be good to rush the talk because the guild was waiting on them.

That's about it. Up next will be the fallout from the Aizenwald incident, and the lead up to the Galluna Island arc.

Sincrely,

Bruised Memory