Chapter 4:

In which there is another world

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We stood together silently, waiting for the train. I still felt awkward in the new school uniform, even after Juvia and Wendy had insisted that it complimented the color of my hair.

"Juvia keeps apologizing for this, but she really is sorry," Juvia broke the silence regretfully. "Juvia didn't mean to get you all involved."

"We know it's not your fault," I reassured her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. The blue-haired girl had continuously apologized for the past week, despite the situation being out of her control. It was obvious how guilty she felt, having to call us in for backup at the school, when we should have been focused on finding out what happened to Lisanna.

"Besides," Wendy added, "since the school is in the same town where Lisanna disappeared, Master said we were allowed to investigate after school."

That would be the plan, anyway. I could barely focus even then, standing there, as my mind wandered to Lisanna, hoping and praying that she was safe. I didn't know how I was going to get this job done. She should be our top priority.

Erza and Gray had left an hour before us, as they were both a year older than the third year class, so they had been assigned to work with the school staff instead. I still had a hard time imagining Erza as a teacher, but according to Juvia, she did well.

When the train pulled up we stepped inside, quickly finding a seat near the back, so it would be easier to talk without disturbing anyone. Natsu looked queasy and I sighed to myself, patting the spot on my lap. He wasted no time in resting his head there.

"I don't think I can handle riding the train every day," Natsu whined pitifully. His face nearly looked green and sweat wetted the start of his bangs.

"I hate to tell you this, but we haven't even started moving yet," I said, resisting a sheepish smile.

"Here," Wendy handed Natsu a thermos she had been carrying with her. "This tea is made to help with motion sickness; it usually works for me."

Natsu sat up and gingerly took a sip. He made a face at first, but continued until the thermos was half-empty. Within minutes he started to regain the natural color in his face. When the train started moving, he, to my shock, didn't fall ill. Instead, he spent the duration of the train ride looking out the window in awe.

"So this is what riding a train is really like?" he said as he squished his face against the glass, watching the scenery pass by. I giggled at his reaction. It was rather cute. "Where'd you get this miracle tea, Wendy?" he demanded, turning to the midnight blue-haired girl.

Wendy blushed, a bashful smile lighting up her face. "Well… actually, I made the blend myself."

As humble as she was, she deserved the praise. Wendy was a natural healer; she always knew what to do when one of us was sick or hurt. It was easy to see her being a nurse, or even a doctor, in the future. And she wasn't just good with using medicine—she often came up with her own remedies, like the tea.

I sat back and tried to relax for the last few minutes of the train ride. Still, my mind kept going back to Lisanna. Please be okay.

In the main courtyard of the school, Juvia was showing us to the main entrance. The area surrounding the entrance was empty, aside from two people who were sitting together on the lawn—a shorter girl with shoulder-length auburn hair and a boy with sky blue hair.

They didn't seem to notice us at first, but as we got closer, they looked our way. To my surprise, they both waved and called, "Hey, Juvia!" at the same time, then looked at each other in confusion.

"You made friends already?" I asked, a small smile on my face. "That's our Juvia. You're shy but make new friends pretty easily."

She blushed at that, looking down humbly. Natsu nodded in agreement, a large grin on his face, and Wendy giggled.

"Wait, you know Juvia too?" the girl stared at the boy with eyes wide.

"She's in the same class as me," he explained. He looked back at us and made a motion with his hand for us to come closer, and then turned back to the girl. "How do you know her?"

We met in the courtyard a few days ago. We've been having lunch together."

We followed Juvia as she went to sit next to them. I walked beside Natsu, our shoulders brushing, while Wendy held onto my opposite arm, a nervous habit of hers. "Hello, Nagisa-san, Tomoya-kun, how are you?" asked Juvia. We stood beside her awkwardly, not daring to say a word.

"I'm doing alright," the girl replied, smiling.

The boy turned to look at Natsu, Wendy and I all standing there in silence. I wasn't sure if it was my imagination, but the way his eyes kept darting to us told me he was suspicious.

"Are these your friends, Juvia?" he asked, turning to said girl.

"Yes," the blue-haired girl replied carefully. "They went to my old school with me."

I froze, unsure if she should have said this. It could raise too many questions.

"Lucy-san will be in class with us," Juvia told him, pointing to me. "And I believe Natsu-kun will be in B class with you, Nagisa-san," she said, now pointing at the sakura-haired boy beside me.

Nagisa turned to look at him, a curious smile lighting up her face. "You're named after summer? That's so cute!" she gushed, clasping her hands together.

Natsu's cheeks tinted at that and he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Speaking of class, Juvia should go get Lucy-san settled before everyone else gets there," Juvia said.

"Well, it was nice to meet you," said Nagisa. I'm not sure why, but I felt as though she truly meant it and wasn't just being friendly.

"See you in class," Tomoya added.

I followed Juvia into the school, looking around with interest as we made our way through the halls. I had never been to a real school before, and it all seemed so strange to me.

She led me to a door reading "class D3." As we entered, I noticed Erza sitting at the teacher's desk. She turned to us when she sensed our presence.

"It's good to have you here, Lucy. Hopefully now we can move forward with the job at hand," she said quietly as she shuffled through a stack of papers on her desk.

I gave her a small nod, but deep down I knew I couldn't truly focus on the job when every second was precious time that should have been spent looking for Lisanna.

What if she was in danger? I felt awful at the thought that she could be suffering, but we were here instead. Why wasn't finding her the top priority? I thought once again about the possibility of Master knowing something we didn't—just like last time.

Erza seemed to realize what I was thinking. She sighed deeply. "Trust me, I wish we were out looking for her, too," she said sadly, looking back down at her desk as if to avoid our eyes. "However we can not back out of this now; we'll have to deal with investigating after school for the time being."

"I understand," I replied dubiously, exhaling slowly to calm the swell of emotion that wanted to take over me.

"Umm, Erza-san," Juvia put in, trying to lighten the mood, "do you know what Gray-sama's job here at the school is?"

"I think Master got him into a guidance counselor position," she replied. "It doesn't exactly suit him, but that was probably the point."

Juvia huffed, a cute frown on her face. "Now other students are going to start competing for Gray-sama's attention," she mumbled under her breath.

I giggled a little. If you ever met Juvia casually, you probably wouldn't expect how silly her little crush on Gray could make her act sometimes.

Erza's lips curled into a half-smile at her comment. Then her expression changed and she gave us a much more serious look.

"Before the class arrives, you two should know that some students have been raising concern about a rumour; apparently there's been talk of a serious fight happening later today." She told us, "we can't be certain that these rumours hold any merit, but I'd like you to keep an eye out."

Before we could reply, I felt the air shift around us, and then sound of a door opening. We all turned our attention the classroom door. A girl shyly poked her head in through the crack, before slowly opening it to reveal the rest of her. She was a few inches shorter than myself, with violet hair cut just above her shoulders.

"Ms. Scarlet, is this the new student I heard was joining us?" The girl asked timidly, as if not wanting to be mistaken.

"Yes, this is Lucy." Erza gestured to me. The short-haired girl seemed relieved and she perked up a bit, offering me a smile. "Lucy, this is Fujibayashi Ryou, the class leader."

I bowed politely and reached out to shake the girl's hand once she approached me. "Hello, you can call me Lucy."

The purple-haired girl smiled brightly. "And you can call me Ryou. It's nice to meet you."

"Ryou, would you mind showing Lucy to an available desk?" Erza requested.

She nodded and showed me to the desk next to Juvia's, which thankfully wasn't being used. I felt much more comfortable sitting next to Juvia rather than complete strangers.

I sat down as I noticed more students begin to enter; many looking at me curiously, which I suppose I should have expected since I was new, but it was rather unnerving.

I noticed Juvia's friend from earlier—Tomoya, was it?—start to sit down at his desk, but stopped when his eyes landed on us. He set his bag down in his seat and then approached us.

"Hello Tomoya-kun," Juvia greeted him, smiling. "Is there something Juvia can help you with?"

"Actually, yes," he replied, leaning against Juvia's desk. "I was wondering if either of you knew anything about drama."

We both looked at him, confused. "Drama?" we asked in unison.

"I don't know if you've seen the flyers around the school, but I'm helping Nagisa revive the drama club, and was wondering if you were interested."

"Nagisa-san did say something about that," Juvia said thoughtfully. Her eyes flitted to me, about to ask a silent question, but she turned her attention back to Tomoya.

"Why don't you think about it and talk to us after school today?" he suggested, moving away from Juvia's desk to stand straighter. He looked hopefully at the two of us.

Juvia nodded eagerly. "We'd like to help if we can."

I couldn't help but feel like this was an empty promise, however. After all, we wouldn't have time for simple club activities on top of all the work involved with this job. Even so, maybe we could at least help them revive the club.

Ryou's voice interrupted my thoughts. "Can everyone please take their seats and I'll start taking attendance," she announced, raising her voice just enough for everyone to hear her. She stood at the front of the classroom holding a clipboard and pen.

As everyone sat down in their seats, she began to read off the list of names. A sudden panic hit me when I noticed she was calling the students' last names.

One of the reasons I had joined Fairy Academy was to escape my association with my last name—I wanted nothing to do with my family, or that name. I wished I could have made up a fake one when registering, but Master had said that it could lead to complications when they did the background check, and we didn't have the time to deal with that. I still hadn't assumed that they would call out everyone's last name every morning. I should have known better; what did I know about normal schools?

I was so wrapped up in these thoughts that I didn't notice until it was too late.

"Heartfilia Lucy."

I visibly cringed as I muttered, "Here." Staring down at my desk, I could only hope no one had made the connection.

When I finally dared to look up, Juvia gave me a sympathetic look, a silent way of telling me she was sorry she hadn't warned me about this. I gave her a tight-lipped smile, letting her know she didn't need to blame herself.

When everyone was called, Ryou sat down at her own desk as Erza began teaching. She was, as Juvia had said, a skilled teacher, even if she must have been rather intimidating to the students who didn't know her well.

The class worked in complete silence, too afraid to interrupt Erza, and before I knew it the bell rang to dismiss us for a break. I was glad for it; I needed to clear my head a bit.

Juvia showed me around the school, and even began drawing a map so I could find my way around if something came up and she wasn't there. I assumed it wouldn't take me long to get used to the layout of the building, but having the map was still reassuring.

Eventually, we made it out to the front of the school where we met Natsu and Wendy. We found a place to sit on the lawn, where there weren't other students within earshot.

"I don't get why we have to sit through boring classes about things we already know," Natsu grumbled. "It's not like it helps with the job."

"We have to blend in as much as possible. Not even the faculty know what we're really here for; they just think we're here to set an example for the other students," I pointed out.

"That's right, Lucy," a voice said from behind me. I turned my head to see Erza had come to join us, along with Gray. I wondered if that was a good idea—it would look suspicious if anyone saw us talking so casually with people who they thought were just school staff.

"We must do our best not to worry the students by standing around watching every move they make," she chided as she found a spot on the grass by me and sat down.

Gray sat down next to Juvia. She wasted no time in resting her head on his shoulder. The raven haired boy didn't seem fazed by this. After knowing her for so long he was used to how forward she could be about her feelings sometimes, and he clearly didn't mind all that much.

"Never mind that." Natsu had turned to address Erza. "Right now we need to focus on how we're going to find Lisanna."

At this we all fell silent. So far we hadn't found any information whatsoever, but now we had an opportunity to fully investigate where she disappeared. Part of me was scared to do this; I was too afraid of finding nothing, or worse, finding that this really was a murder. After a long moment, I found myself saying as much, although I hadn't meant to say it out loud.

Then, Natsu placed his hand comfortingly on my shoulder.

"Believe me, I just know she's out there somewhere. I can feel it."

I sighed, trying to calm my thoughts. There was something about Natsu that made you inclined to believe him even when it seemed like all hope was lost.

I looked up and caught him staring at me, his expression firm. When our eyes locked, he softened, the fiery look in his irises subduing. He kept his hand on my shoulder, hesitating before lowering his head and placing a gentle kiss above my right eyebrow. He lingered there for a moment and then pulled away, grinning at me.

My heart warmed. It was his way of comforting others. He wasn't the best at telling how he felt, but he could certainly show it.

I felt much better now than I had since this whole situation began. I knew it was foolish trying to hide what I was thinking from my friends—perhaps I hadn't wanted them to worry or lose hope. In the end however, they would always be there.

I wasn't alone.

After classes were dismissed for the day, we decided to explore the library before we left. The shelves held a large amount of reading books for the students as well as spare textbooks and many reference materials. Master had suggested that we look in the library for information on the history of the school. We still had yet to find what we were searching for, but it felt almost soothing to be in the library. The quiet peacefulness of the room compared to the rest of the school was a welcome change.

As I perused through the fiction shelves, I couldn't stop myself from taking several books that I wanted to check out and read. In the end I narrowed it down to only two; there wouldn't be much time to waste on reading when we had two important jobs to focus on.

I found the others sitting at one of the round study tables at the front of the room.

"There you are," Natsu said as I sat down in the chair on his left. His eyes landed on the books I was carrying. "You're as bad as Levy," he chuckled.

I smirked. "Well there are definitely worse things to be addicted to."

I looked over at the others and noticed that they were all examining the same book.

"Lucy, you should look at this," Wendy said, sliding the book across the table to me.

"Is this what we were looking for?" I asked.

"Not exactly—we couldn't find anything about the school's history." she replied. I picked up the book, reading the title.

The Edolas Theory — Is there another world?

I raised my eyebrows. looking back and forth between Wendy and Juvia, trying to read their expressions.

Wendy got up from her seat and came to stand next to me. She opened the book and flipped through the pages until she found the one she wanted, before setting it back down on the table.

"It says here that there have been several other mysterious disappearances in this town," she said.

"And you think they disappeared into another world?" I asked skeptically.

"No, of course not, but we thought that these disappearances were similar to the way Lisanna seemed to have vanished out of thin air. So it's possible they might be connected somehow," she explained.

"And not only that but these disappearances have been recorded over a hundred years apart," Juvia said. "That means that this isn't a serial kidnapper or killer."

I looked at them warily. "Do you really think this could be connected to Lisanna?"

"We're not sure, but it's all we have to go on right now." Wendy said.

I was good that we had something to get us started in our investigation, but we couldn't even be sure that it had anything to do with the situation.

The idea of there being another world wasn't really something I could wrap my head around, much less that people magically disappeared and ended up in this other world. We couldn't write it off as a possibility, though, until we had proof that such a thing existed or not.

We were getting nowhere.

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Once again I'm sorry for taking so long to update this story. I guess I still have some improving to do in my writing, but I'm going to try to update more frequently. I hope you're enjoying the story. :)