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Chapter 124

Riding the Train of Thought

The following day, I was walking towards the guild hall feeling tired, thanks to the nightmare I experienced the other night. Because of that, aside from it still making me unnerved, I couldn't help but think about why that dream happened as I walked.

"That dream certainly was like something you'd see from a horror movie, but why did I have that dream in the first place? And... who was that being I saw in it?"

As I thought back to the being, I couldn't help but shudder from just thinking about it. It looked so terrifying despite not really seeing what it was, and to add to that, it seemed to know me and wanted to kill me. It made me think of why I dreamt up something like that, and wondered if it had any connection to my memories. However, I shook my head, deciding to dismiss that theory.

"No, it couldn't be. It was just a dream. Right now, I should be focusing on getting my memories back instead of worrying about nightmares."

Then, as I continued on my way, I happened to take notice of a couple of people that walked past me. A man and a woman of whom I didn't know. As I walked past, I happened to hear them whispering about something that I couldn't make out. At first, I paid no mind, but then I saw a few other people a few feet away, a group of teenage girls. They were also talking about something that I didn't hear very well. Then they all looked back towards my direction, and as soon as they did, they looked away as if they were pretending not to see me.

This made me a bit puzzled as to why they were reacting this way as I kept walking, but I tried to pay no mind. However, I then realized that it wasn't just them who were acting strangely. The other civilians of Magnolia were acting strangely as well, either murmuring to each other or glancing over at me before looking away.

"What the heck is going on with these people? Why are they looking at me and then looking away?"

I eventually saw the guildhall insight and powerwalked straight towards it, hoping to get inside as quickly as possible, feeling uncomfortable. I then pushed open the doors and went inside a bit too hastily. However, I would soon find out that things were just as weird as they were outside.

When I walked into the guildhall, I was welcomed to the sight of a large crowd of Fairy Tail members appearing to be clamoring around something or someone. I could also make out what some of them were saying as I walked in.

"What do you mean, you have no idea where they are?!"

"They can't be gone! They just can't be!"

I then heard Macao's and Wakaba's voices, which tried to speak loud enough so that the others could listen to him.

"Everyone, please!" I heard Macao say. "We don't know for sure just yet, but we're trying to get a search party ready to look for them, so try to calm down."

"How can we be calm after everything we just heard?!" cried a male. "Have you not heard what everyone's been saying about Natsu and the others and Tenrou Island?!"

"They were saying that Tenrou Island's completely wiped out along with everyone else on it!" said a girl. " By something called Acnologia!"

"Tenrou Island? Isn't that what Macao and the others were talking about before when I first woke up? And what's an Acnologia?"

As I began to wonder what they were talking about, all of a sudden, my body tensed up as I started to see images in my mind. First, I saw an island with a large tree in the middle of the ocean. Then I saw a group of people standing in the middle of a circle, the center of it beginning to glow brightly. Finally, I saw a great and demonic-looking being that towered over from above, unleashing a powerful blast from his mouth.

A sharp pain went through my mind causing me to instinctively put a hand to my head, sensing something familiar about the images.

"Those names... why do they sound so familiar? Urgh! Their names mean something to me...! Something... important!"

Then at that moment, when I snapped out of it, I suddenly found myself surrounded by the guild members, all of which now had their attention toward me.

"Willy, please tell us what we heard isn't true?!" asked a female.

"You were the only one who made it out of Tenrou Island alive!" said another male. "If you know what happened, please tell us! We need to know what happened!"

I was utterly at a loss for words having no idea what to say to them as all spoke at once, desperately asking me the same question. I tried to say something to calm them down, but the words just wouldn't come out, not to mention that they all wouldn't listen or hear me. As their questions continued, I began to feel a little claustrophobic as they seemed to circle me and close in. Their voices seemed to echo in my head and started to make me a bit panicked myself.

Everything seemed to spin around as my chest felt like it was tightening, making me feel like I was suffocating. I fell to my knees, covering my ears, wanting it all to stop, not taking this anymore, but then I heard a loud voice shouting in my head.

"That's enough! Everyone back away from Willy right now, and calm down! You're freaking him out!"

Everyone immediately went silent, covering their ears, a bit startled. I then opened my eyes to see, as they made their way toward me through the crowd, Warren, Macao, and Wakaba. Wakaba held out his hand to me, offering to help me up, and I took his hand and let him pull me up feeling a bit relieved.

"Listen, you guys, you need to chill out," said Warren. "I don't want to have to use my telepathy magic to yell that loud again."

"Look, we get that all of you are worried, but pressuring Willy for answers isn't the way to go," said Wakaba. "Especially since he doesn't remember anything about what happened."

"We're as worried as you are, but we ain't going to rule out the worst until we know for sure," said Macao. "Until then, we're getting into contact with some of the local guilds to help us search around Tenrou Island. If you got time to panic, then you got time to search, so get to it!"

The other members all looked at Macao, seeming a bit put off guard, seeing him sound so authoritative, then the crowd dispersed all heading outside of the guildhall. Macao then spoke to me.

"You alright there, Willy?" Macao asked.

"Y-Yeah. I'm fine," I replied. "Though I almost freaked out, to be honest. What in the world was that all about?"

"It seems as though the rumors have spread like wildfire," said Wakaba. "Everyone in Magnolia's heard about what happened to Natsu's group, though I'm not sure how."

"Well, that would explain why most of the people were looking at me funny today," I said. "I'm sorry that I couldn't say anything to them. If my memory weren't still messed up, I-"

"There's no need for you to apologize, kid," interrupted Wakaba. "Besides, it's not like you've lost your memory on purpose or anything."

"But still, I wish there's something I could do to help out you guys," I said. "I mean here you all are trying so hard trying to restore my memory, and yet I feel as if I've been doing nothing while everything goes wrong."

"Come on, Willy. You're trying your best to remember. That's all you can do at the moment," said Warren. "But I am a little worried that the people of Magnolia heard about this too. I know that some of them like you and wouldn't think it's your fault, but sadly the rest of them aren't so keen about you. I wouldn't be surprised if they suspected that you're a part of what happened, which technically you are."

"Hey, Warren! Watch it!" scolded Macao. "You make it sound like you're blaming Willy about this whole thing."

"It's alright, Macao," I soothed, shaking my head. "But still... I wish I would hurry up and remember everything. Especially since it appears that I probably remember what happened. I know that it's there, but every time I try to remember, it seems to slip away, like when they were talking about Acnologia and Tenrou Island. I know I've heard those names before, but I can't seem to place where I-"

At that moment, Macao put his arms on my shoulders. "Willy, take it easy. You're freaking out," he said. "You're on the right track, but you ain't going to get anywhere if you start panicking. Just take a breath and calm down. You'll get your memories back. We just need to think of how we can get you to remember. The question is, how though."

Everyone went silent. Then after a good few seconds or so, Wakaba then got an idea.

"Hold on a sec," Wakaba said. "I think I've got an idea that might work! Of course, Might being the big word."

I looked at Wakaba along with everyone else.

"Well then, by all means, tell us," said Macao. "At this point, any idea will work."

NO POV

A few moments later, Willy, Macao, Wakaba, Bisca, and Alzack were all riding the train that was taking them to Hargeon. They were all enjoying the ride, but there was one among them who wasn't so happy to be riding it. That person being Willy himself. He was pale in the face, and appeared to be on the brink of throwing up much to everyone's surprise. There was only one thing that was going on with him based on these symptoms.

"Guys, I'm sorry if I'm complaining... but I don't feel so hot right now," Willy whimpered as he bit back the urge to retch.

"You got to be kidding me!" said Macao. "Willy has motion sickness?! I thought that was only a Natsu thing!"

"Apparently not," said Macao. Then he glared at Wakaba. "So what are we doing riding the train, Wakaba? I thought you said you had an idea on how to restore Willy's memories."

"I did. Just hear me out on this one," said Wakaba. "Look, those Magic Council guys found Willy over at Tenrou Island, which means that Willy had to get over there somehow. So I say, he had to have followed Natsu and the others to Hargeon, and somehow snuck aboard on a ship or something. So maybe seeing Hargeon port will jumpstart Willy's memories."

"That is a pretty good idea," said Bisca. "Not to mention that Willy loves the ocean, so maybe seeing that will help too, and we should take advantage to look around for clues. I only hope Willy lasts until we get there."

"I would never have guessed that Willy of all people would get motion sickness," said Wakaba. "I've always thought that Natsu got it because... well, he's Natsu. Maybe Willy's mind is more scrambled than I thought."

"Maybe it's something that all dragon slayers experience," suggested Alzack. "Then again, we hardly ever see them because we're out on missions, so we wouldn't know."

"Wendy or Gajeel have motion sickness," said Bisca. "At least I don't think that they do."

"Guys... please tell me that we're there," Willy choked out, interrupting their conversation. "I don't know how much longer I can last without throwing up."

"Just hang in there, Willy," Bisca said, while rubbing his back. "We'll be off this train in a few minutes, so try to bear with it."

Willy could only let out a sickly moan in response as he continued to ride through the pain of his sickness as the train rumbled on.

WILLY'S POV

A little while later, after going through what seemed to be hell on Earth, we arrived at our destination. The place we were in was a port that was close to the sea where there were lots of boats and people. I couldn't help but let out a sound of amazement as my eyes sparkled as I grew a bit excited.

"This place...! This is..." I began to say before trailing off.

"This is Hargeon, a port not too far away from Magnolia," said Bisca. "This was the place were Natsu and the others last were seen before they left for Tenrou Island."

"Does this make you remember anything?" asked Macao. "Anything at all?"

"This place does seem familiar," I said. "I know this place... somehow, but nothing seems to be coming up yet. Although, I really like this place."

"In that case, why /don't we all take a look around?" asked Wakaba. "We need to find some clues anyway, so why don't we split up? Wakaba and I will go one way, while Bisca and Alzack go another way."

"You sure that's a good idea?" Macao asked, raising a brow. "If split up this way, Alzack and Bisca will end up flirting each other."

"N-No, we wouldn't!" Bisca and Alzack spoke with flushed cheeks.

As they continued to converse with one another, I looked around the port and couldn't help but feel mesmerized by the view of it, the blue ocean, the smell of the salty air, and the cool breeze of the wind. I didn't know why, but for some reason, I felt very much at peace and so calm, as if I had finally come home. I couldn't help but wander around, wanting to see why this port made me feel this way.

Then as I looked around, I saw something that made me stop. It was a stack of large crates. They weren't anything special, but I was getting that sense again as I went over to inspect them.

"This place... I've been here before," I murmured to myself. "It seems familiar to me. I'm sure of it. I was... hiding for some reason."

I went behind the crates and then crouched down so it would seem that I was hiding from them.

At that moment, something triggered in my mind. In my mind, I saw myself hiding from behind the crates carefully peering out from them, keeping a close eye on a crowd of people who were boarding a ship with the Fairy Tail logo on it. As soon as they were on board, I silently came out of my hiding place and then dove into the ocean.

"What was that?! Was that... a memory?"

I came out from behind the crates and then walked over towards the edge of the dock, which was the place where I dove into the water as I saw in my head. As I stared into the water, I could feel some of the fog clear up in my head as some memories began to bubble up in my head.

"I'm... starting to remember. I came here because I was following those guys that went on the boat. And the boat also had the Fairy Tail emblem, so those people must have been Natsu and the others I saw. I was following them for some reason, but... what was that reason? Why did I..."

I stared into the water, hoping to keep my train of thought focused on remembering, but as quickly as I started to remember, the fog in my mind returned, and I couldn't remember anything else.

Then as I turned around about to head back to the others, I bumped into something that seemed like a wall, which made me step back a bit. But it wasn't a wall at all, as I soon found out when I looked up. It was a man who was a few inches taller than me, skinny, muscular, and had a large, long mace on his back, making him look very much unfriendly. He also had four other people with him that looked as mean looking as he did.

"Well, well. Lookie what we have here," said the man with the mace. "Is this the guy?"

"Yeah! That's him," said one of his lackeys, who looked very fat. "That's him, alright!"

"I'm sorry, but... do I know you guys?" I asked, trying to be polite.

The fat one then scowled. "You think that you could play dumb with us?! We know it's you!"

"Yeah! We could never forget your face!" said another lackey. "You're the one that bullied us back at the pub!"

"Wait. Me? Surely, you must be mistaken," I said. "I've never seen you guys before in my life, unless we've met somewhere before."

"Is this kid messing with us?!" demanded a second lackey. "That makes me want to see him get beat up even more! Thibault, let's get this guy!"

"Yeah! We owe him for some payback after what he did!" said a third one. "Let's beat him up right here and now!"

The man with the mace who was identified at Thibault then smirked. "Now boys, let's not be too hasty here. Since he doesn't seem to know us, why don't we take this chance to reintroduce ourselves? After all, we're just trying to be friendly, right?"

Thibault's friends were a bit confused at first, but then they started to understand and smirked ominously at me while chuckling maliciously. I took a small step back, only to realize that I was trapped between them and the water behind me. I didn't have anywhere else to go.

"Hey. Why don't you guys got a problem? That's our guildmate you're messing with."

Thibault and his friends looked behind them, and I could see, Macao, Wakaba, Bisca, and Alzack. When I saw them, I immediately went over to them, feeling relieved that they came to my rescue.

Thibault scowled for a fraction of a second, but then he smiled coolly. "Sorry about that," said Thibault. "We noticed your friend was looking a bit lost, and we were just about to help him."

"Didn't seem that way to me," said Macao. "Why don't you guys take a hike, unless you'd want to cause a scene in the open like this?"

Thibault and Macao stared at each other, a cold tension being felt in the air. Then Thibault smiled.

"Alright then, whatever you say," Thibault said as he walked off. "We're leaving boys."

The fat lackey was about to protest, but Thibault gave him a look at showed that he was standing no nonsense, and they all walked away.

"Who were those guys?" I wondered. "They didn't seem to be too friendly."

"That was Thibault and a couple of his goons," said Wakaba. "They're from a guild called Twilight Orge, a legal guild stationed somewhere in Magnolia, but they're a group of thugs to me."

"They didn't give you much trouble, did they Willy?" asked Alzack.

I shook my head in response.

"In any case, I'd stay away from those guys," said Macao. "They may be legal, but those guys are shady like a cat next to a birdcage."

"No kidding," agreed Alzack. "Anyway, where'd you go, Willy? You just randomly disappeared on us."

I then suddenly remembered. "Oh yeah! Guys, I just remembered something, while I was looking around!"

Macao and the others were surprised.

"You did?!" gasped Macao. "Well, what did you remember?!"

"I was here in Hargeon the day that everyone else left for Tenrou Island," I said, pointing at the crates. "I was hiding over there at those crates, and when the ship that would take them there left the port, I dove into the water after them. Sadly, I don't remember why or what reason I followed them, but I know it was something important."

"That's very good, Willy!" said Wakaba happily. He then turned to Macao, smirking snootily. "I told you it was a good idea to bring him to Hargeon!"

"You idiot. He only remembers why he was here in Hargeon in the first place," said Macao. "It doesn't tell us what happened to the others."

"But, should you guys already know where Tenrou Island is?" I asked. "I mean, you all know about it, so you should know where it's located, right?"

"Sadly, we only know so much about it," said Alzack. "All we know that it's an island that's got some powerful magic protecting it, so that one can find it. Even the members of Fairy Tail hardly know anything about it."

"Damn it. I suppose we're back to square one again," groaned Wakaba. "Guess my idea wasn't so great after all."

"I'm sorry, you guys," I apologized. "I wish that there was something else I could have remembered."

"Well, at least you remembered something," said Bisca. "Give yourself a little bit of credit."

"So what do we do now?" wondered Alzack. "Do we get a ship and try to search for the island?"

"If we did, it would take forever. I mean, the sea's pretty huge," said Macao. "So I say we head back to Magnolia, and get some of the local guilds to help us."

"We should get into contact with Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale," Bisca said. "They'll be more than willing to help us search. In the meantime, let's head back to the train."

As soon as I heard the mention of us going on the train, I could feel my stomach instinctively start to feel bad.

"Wait, we have to ride the train again?!" I cried. "Couldn't we just walk back to Magnolia or something?!"

"Sorry, Willy, but the train's the fastest way to get back to Magnolia," said Wakaba. "If you want to walk, that's fine, but you're going to be walking for a couple of days."

"It's better than having to go through that hellish thing again!" I squeaked. "Please don't make me ride it!"

"Come on; it's just one more train ride, said Bisca. "After that, then you won't have to ride it again."

And so, despite my pleas, we all left Hargeon heading back to the train station.

NO POV

As Willy and the others went away, Thibault and his gang, who weren't too far away, watched them as they left. The fat thug was beside himself with anger.

"Why the hell are we waiting around like this?!" he complained. "We had the perfect opportunity to get some payback, and we just let him go!"

"Hey! Have a little patience, will you?!" Thibault barked glaring. "Besides, those Fairy Tail punks were right about one thing. We can't just go and get payback in broad daylight. If we ended up fighting those Fairy Tail punks, not only would we cause a scene, but we'd also get the Magic Council breathing down our necks. Phantom learned that the hard way, remember?" He then turned his attention back towards Willy's group as they walked away. "All we have to do is wait it out some more; then when the kid's by himself, we'll catch him and take our time with him. Until then, we keep our distance and keep following them, while staying out of sight."

Then a couple of people happened to be walking by speaking to one another — two men who were lifting crates of fish.

"Man, we sure got a big haul of fish today," one said.

"Yeah, no kidding. Especially since we were shorthanded," said the other. "Maybe we should have posted a job to a guild or something. Hey, maybe that one kid from Fairy Tail who helped out a while back. What was his name? Billy or something?"

The first man then frowned. "Now hold on, you don't mean that Willy Falconer guy. I don't think that you should call that guy," he said. "Especially since there's been a lot of rumors going around about him."

"You mean the rumors about him being a member of a dark guild?" asked the second man. "Please. That's old news. Besides, he seems to be a good kid to me."

"Not what I just heard," said the first. "There's a new rumor about that guy that's been spreading around like wildfire."

"What kind of rumors?" puzzled the second.

The first man set his crate of fish down and looked around. Then he spoke so only the second man could hear him.

"Well, they say that the strongest members of Fairy Tail went out on some secret mission along with that Willy guy," the first man said. "During the mission, they were attacked by Acnologia and were wiped out with a single hit."

"Acnologia?! You mean the black dragon of the apocalypse?!" the second one gulped. "I thought that was just a myth!"

"It should be, but as it turned out, Willy was the only one to make it out of there alive," went on the first. "Which is why people say that because that and the fact Willy used to be a dark mage, they're saying that he was the one that took them out."

Now the second man was skeptical. "You've got to be kidding. There's no way that kid could have done that," he said, shaking his head. "I mean come on, how would he be able to take on all those members by himself?"

"You never know," said the first. "That kid's not like any other wizard, that's for sure."

As they walked away, Thibault and his followers, who had happened to hear everything that they said, all had malicious smiles that had a peaked interest as they left heading back to Magnolia, while keeping their distance from Willy's group.

If you liked what you read or want to give me any pointers, feel free to leave a review!

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Until then, Dragoman signing off!