AN: This arc was sorta meant to be a filler type of arc. It isn't going to be as long as the rest, hope you don't mind. :) There is a cute Nalu moment coming up soon in this arc though I can't wait to share it with you. :') QOTD: What is the color of your hair? :D I have brown hair but the ends are blondish from dying it a long time ago haha! Also, yay we are at 200 reviews! :D I'll leave a sneak peek of the next chapter as thanks. :')

Chapter 21

Pep Talks

Despite the group's hard efforts, Lucy and the rest found that the woods were still too big to find Mira in one day. In fact, two weeks had passed and there still wasn't any sign of the oldest Strauss sibling. They were growing wary after spending so much time wasted. Lucy in particular felt crummy about the whole situation.

"What kind of savior am I supposed to be if I can't find somebody?" the blonde wondered glumly. The girl was walking through the thick woods, searching for Mira. Her shoes were muddy and she was running out of breadcrumbs and hope. "First there was Simon and now there's Mira. I can't save anyone."

Lucy sighed as she stared at the sack full of bread crumbs she had been hauling around all day. That was their routine: going out with full bags of breadcrumbs and splitting up to cover more ground. When everyone ran out, they would head in for the day, each of them saddened by the fact that they were still not successful.

Just where exactly was Mira?

Feeling the need for a picker-upper, Lucy retrieved a silver key from her key ring and summoned one of her favorite spirits, Plue. In a miniature golden light, the spirit appeared with its usual dopey smile and wobbling legs. The blonde smiled at her companion and gestured for him to follow, which he did happily.

"There's still no sign of Mira," Lucy told Plue, her smile dropping. "None of us have been able to find her and I'm not exactly sure as to what to do. I thought the whole breadcrumb thing would work but now I'm not so sure. Now I'm starting to doubt myself…"

Plue frowned at his owner and gave a sound of what was supposed to be for reassurance. Yet after hearing it for the past two weeks, its effects stopped working for Lucy. The blonde continued to walk, leaving crumbs on the way as she searched for the missing Strauss sibling, her head hanging a little low.

"I hope we find her soon," Lucy murmured. "I'm sure Lisanna doesn't think I notice, but I know she cries every night. And even though Elfman tries to act all big and tough, it's obvious he feels the same as Lisanna. I just feel so useless."

The two continued to walk together in silence, save for their footsteps. But just as the prior days, they ran out of breadcrumbs before being able to find any trace of another living being. With her head hanging even lower, Lucy sent Plue back through his gate and traveled the rest of the way back to the cottage.

When Lucy arrived, she wasn't surprised that it was only Natsu and Happy there. Usually Lisanna and Elfman were out longer, probably searching even after running out of breadcrumbs.

Natsu noticed the disheartened frown on Lucy's lips and the way her golden hair curtained her face. It didn't take him even a second to realize the girl was upset and he didn't have to wonder why. He knew that she took their missions hard and that she blamed herself when something wasn't going right.

Natsu smiled and said, "Don't worry, Lucy! We'll just find her tomorrow!"

"Aye!" Happy agreed.

"You said that yesterday," Lucy mumbled, followed by a heavy sigh. "I know you guys are trying to cheer me up but the only thing that is going to cheer me up is finding Mira."

"Don't stress too much about it!" Natsu persisted. "We've helped Shirotsume and Erza, we'll help Mira too! You're the savior, there's no way we'll fail!"

Lucy's hands formed tight fists as she bit her bottom lip. "I never asked to be the savior," she breathed out. "I never asked for this responsibility. For this pressure!"

Natsu and Happy bit their tongues as they let Lucy vent. The blonde glared at the ground as she voiced the frustrations she held inside of her the moment she wound up in Earthland.

"Do you know how frustrating it is to be sucked up into some other world and told that other people's happiness depends on you?" she spat out. "Oh, and let's not forget that some of these people actually die if I mess up! I can't handle all of that pressure on me!"

Natsu stepped towards the blonde in hopes of dispelling her anger, but she only continued to rage.

"I just want to go home already!" Lucy shouted. "I miss my home, my clothes, and my stuff! I miss not having to travel in the woods every day! I miss not having to fight bad guys and I miss not having everyone rely on me when I wasn't even shown what to do in the first place!"

"So what do you suggest we do?" Natsu asked, his face serious as he stepped in front of the girl.

"Huh?"

"I'm asking what you want to do," the boy elaborated. "Do you want to give up? Do you want to run away from all of this and find your own way back into your world? It's your life, Lucy. If you want to do all of those things then go ahead. Nobody can force you to do something you don't wanna do. But you have to know the truth. If you leave, people will die and we will never get our happy endings. So it's up to you if you wanna let that happen."

Lucy frowned as she loosened her fists until her hands were hanging numbly by her side. She then shook her head and replied in a meek voice, "I don't want to do that."

"What do you want to do then?" Natsu questioned, crossing his arms and studying Lucy.

"I want to help them. I want to bring back everyone's happy endings. I don't want to give up."

The dragon slayer smiled at his friend and nodded, placing his hands on her shoulders. "I thought you would say that. The Lucy I know doesn't give up. She is too stubborn to give up on anything, even if it's just stealing a tiny loaf of bread."

Lucy giggled and replied, "That's because stealing is wrong. Thank you. I guess you know just what to say to make me feel better."

"That's because you and Happy are my best friends!"

"I am?"

"Duh. Even though you're weird and annoying. And loud. And-"

"Alright I get it!" Lucy interrupted, crossing her arms while she narrowed her eyes at the cackling boy in front of her. Her gaze then softened as she giggled and added, "You two are my best friends too. Like I said before, you are actually my first friends."

"How lucky for you to have such awesome first friends like us!" Natsu exclaimed, gesturing towards himself.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't get ahead of yourself, dragon boy."

"Stop flirting in front of me!" Happy shouted as he rocketed himself into Lucy's chest. "It's gross!"

"WE AREN'T FLIRTING!" the other two yelled.

"I have to agree with Happy," a sudden voice called out. Lisanna approached them with a warm smile on her face. "You two were definitely flirting. Except I don't think it's gross, I think it's cute!"

"Not you too, Lisanna!" Lucy groaned.

"Flirting is manly!" Elfman added.

"You say that about everything," Happy pointed out.

"Because everything is manly!"

The group laughed as they entered the small, worn down cottage, each trying to forget their disappointment of that day.

Later that night, Lisanna sighed as she sat outside of the small home, needing a breath of fresh air. Though the company was nice, their home definitely wasn't big enough for all of them. Light twinkled from the stars and shone over the girl's fair skin as she stared at the moon, reminded of her sister's hair.

"The nights sure are getting chillier," Lisanna murmured. Sure enough, the silver-haired girl could see her own breath. "It's definitely too cold for somebody to be living in the woods. You're probably going to have a cold once we find you, huh Mira-nee?"

"Nee-chan can handle a cold," a sudden yet familiar voice said. Lisanna didn't need to face the other person to know it was her brother. "Nee-chan is a man!"

"Anyone would get sick being left out for a year in the cold," the girl persisted with a sad smile on her face. "What if we never find her, Elf-nii?"

"Have faith, Lisanna. We will find her," Elfman assured as he sat beside his younger sister. "We need to have faith."

"How can we? We've been looking for over a month and we haven't gotten any clues or anything as to where Mira-nee could be. Even Lucy, who is supposed to be the savior, temporarily lost hope earlier today. You heard her."

"But she was reminded that she needed to have hope, which is what I'm going to do with you. Right now, Lucy's faith isn't important."

Lisanna arched a brow as she tore her gaze away from the moon and stared at her brother. "What do you mean? She's the savior, of course it is."

Elfman sighed as he shook his head. "It is, but our faith is more important."

"Elf-nii, is there something you aren't telling me?"

The boy sighed as he replied, "Remember the day Lucy and the others first showed up? They showed me the book as proof that she was the savior and that they were trying to help us."

"And?" Lisanna questioned.

"Well, the book had our story in it, but it was different. It talked about how we grew up poor with Mira-nee and how much we loved her and how she was taken, but there were some differences in it."

"Like what?"

"For starters, the book said that we slept through Ivan's raid of our home while he took Nee-chan. And our names were Hansel and Gretel, but I'm still not sure which one we're supposed to be. Anyways, those are the small things. There's something else…"

"Elf-nii, just tell me," Lisanna ordered. "If it helps us find Mira-nee, you need to let me know."

Elfman shook his head again and replied, "It doesn't help us find her. But it gives an ending to our story."

"An ending? So we find her!?"

"That's the thing, Lisanna… We don't. The book says that we both give up and separate because it's too much pain to be around each other. That is why we need to have faith! The moment we start doubting ourselves, we'll never be able to find Nee-chan and this story will come true!"

Lisanna sat, shocked at the revelation. "We give up? I lose Elf-nii too? I can't let that happen." The girl stood up and stared into the moon. "We will find you, Mira-nee! We won't ever give up no matter how long it takes!"

Elfman grinned and stood up as well, shouting, "You just wait, Nee-chan! We're gonna bring you home soon!"

The two siblings continued to shout their determination into the sky, hoping that their cries could be heard by their dear sister. Back in the cottage, Lucy, Natsu, and Happy grinned as they watched Lisanna and Elfman regain their lost hope. All of them had rekindled faith in their hearts, leading them to believe they were going to find Mira soon. None of them believed they were going to give up.

But little did they know that doubt was sometimes a too powerful thing.

AN: Got some insight as to what Lucy thinks of her whole situation. If I was in that situation, I would be pretty pissed if people relied on me and I had to deal with all of that pressure haha. :') And the chapters in this story are definitely shorter than my other stories, but I have SOOO many that I think it makes up for it. Hope you liked it! :D

ThayetJade: Hello! :D Actually, Rapunzel isn't the traditional fairy tale I was talking about since there is Tangled! There is another story that I don't think anyone has picked up on! If they did, they haven't said anything about it. ;D

As promised, here is the sneak peek:

"Still should've since he was with Nee-chan. She doesn't need him, she can just stay with us!" Elfman joked again.

"Well she's not with us either, is she?" Lisanna asked in a harsher tone than she meant. Everyone at the table stayed quiet and stared at the girl with widened eyes. "I-I'm sorry, Elf-nii. I didn't mean to say that, I promise! It just slipped out."

"I-It's okay," the boy replied.

Though the awkwardness didn't disappear for that night.

Thank you to the reviewers: Nalulove, TheDigitalDork, Alexa60765, Soul Eater Maka, MuffinMalonez, Hsdust, Flire and Ice, ThayetJade. You guys are awesome! :D