This is the second curse. Completely not related to the previous one. There's might be some confusion. I tried to make the story as simple as possible. I didn't state what kind of curse it is, but the way of lifting it. I hope that you enjoy this story.

The once empty field crowded with people. They surrounded the field, waiting for a ceremony to start. Some were whispering to each other. The others waited. In the middle of the field, a few young women stood in circle with their faces masked. In the middle of the circle, there was a young woman with a thick book in her hand. Her face didn't mask, but she wore cloak that her head half-covered by hood. A few seconds later, she slowly lifted her book and opened it. She read the first line.

A young woman slowly moved. She lifted her hands and brought her feet forward. As the second line read, the second young woman moved. And so on. There were six young women including the reader. The five young women dance gracefully circling the reader. The reader's voice was slow and almost whispering at the beginning and it was getting louder and faster.

The crowd whispered to each other. They wondered what happened as they couldn't understand things the reader read. The language was different from their spoken language.

The reader lifted her head, eyes looked straight forward. Then she put her hand in the air. Her eyes slowly closed while her mouth kept reading.

A young woman, wearing a short skirt, had blonde hair. As she threw her hands in the air, a circle of fire suddenly appeared from the ground. The fire moved accordingly to her body movement.

'I don't think the ritual still exists. Look, it's written here that the ritual had never been used since five hundred years ago. I wonder how this writer managed to write this book.'

'It still exists. Even these days.' A young woman with short blue hair appeared before her smilingly. In her hand was a thick book, kept closed to her chest. 'Actually, this writer is my great, great grandfather.' The blonde nodded, half-believed. 'I've been watching you. I knew about your talent. It's pretty rare nowadays. Some people think it not exists.'

The ground suddenly became wet. Water flood out of nowhere and its level slowly increasing. The villagers quickly looked for higher ground. But the young women were still there. The ritual was yet to finish. The one who summoned the water was a young woman with blue hair with curled end. She wore blue clothes and her eyes were as blue as her hair.

'Are you sure? This thing is serious, Juvia.' The small young woman in front of her stared at her with full of concern. She corrected her red-framed glasses while taking a seat right opposite to her.

'Well, Juvia thinks there's some advantages for her to join the ritual," she answered smilingly.

'You're running away. Gajeel, say something!'

'Do not involve me in your damn fucking ritual-shit.'

Wind blew stronger. They might be expecting storm with such wind. But it didn't affect the summoners. They continued their ritual and the reader continued reading her book. Controlling the strong wind was a young girl with long blue hair. Her wind influenced fire to grow bigger and wilder. Still, the fire summoner could control her element.

'Carla, will I remember you after the ritual?'

'Why wouldn't you?' the white cat asked back.

They were lying on their shared bed, stared to the ceiling.

'Well…' She afraid that she would forget everything. Including her best friend.

'Don't worry. Everything will be fine." The cat patted her hand. She nodded to her cat.

The villagers ran to find safer place. The wind blew stronger and the fire grew wilder. The water that appeared from the ground didn't erasethe wild fire. Suddenly, the ground shaking. Lifting one of the summoners, the young woman with short white hair, up to the sky. Then, the other summoners were lifted to the sky. Leaving only the reader way down on the lower ground.

'Natsu, if Lucy and I lost our memories, who will you take care the most?'

A pink-haired young man stared at her.

'Why did you ask such question?' She shook her head.

'I don't know. At least, if I lost my memories, I have my sister and my brother to take care of me. Lucy – she had nobody.' Unfortunately, he nodded. She guessed that he agreed.

Voices heard from far. And they were getting closer. The voices were screaming high pitch. And they were coming from every corner of the village. From afar, they could see black figures flew to their direction. And they flew at high speed. As the black figures reached the ritual field, they flew circling a pink-haired young woman. They flew high to the sky as the woman raised her hands. As she slowly lowered her hands, the figures flew down to the ground and floated close to the reader.

'Stay there, never come closer!' She stopped a young man from stepping closer to her. '-Or…'

'Or what?' he cut her. She raised her right hand leveled to her chest. A black ball appeared floating over her hand.

'Or I'll make you stay.' The black ball broke into few black figures and attacked the man. They caught his hands and legs, and held his body, preventing him from moving.

'Sherry!'

'Bye.' She walked away.

The reader looked up to where the elements summoners stood. Lucy the fire summoner, Juvia the water summoner, Wendy the sky summoner, Lisanna the earth summoner, and Sherry the spirits summoner. They believed in her and they willed to help her lift the curse from the village.

'Look, there's another way instead of sacrificing yourselves.'

'Levy-chan, didn't we told you that we'll help you,' Lucy said.

'This thing is serious. There's side effect.'

'We'll create new memories, don't worry,' Juvia spoke smilingly. She knew that the water girl was lying.

'We have each other.' Little Wendy agreed with the others. How'd she ever thought to sacrifice such an innocent girl?

'Yes, we're not alone.' Lisanna grinned.

'I won't stop since I've come this far. I'm not going to change my decision once I made.' Sherry seated on a chair, crossed her legs, giving her back to the others. Everyone knew that she sad.

She raised her hand. The elements formed round balls and floated over her palm. She put her sight straight in front of her. Then she saw someone she knew.

'Do you think I'll find these elements summoners? There's high possibility that they extinct.'

He carried her on his back.

'They'd better be.' She chuckled and playfully punched his shoulder. She took her book from her bag pack. 'Don't move!' They almost fell onto the ground. She chuckled again.

'Even if I find them, do you think that they'll help me? They will lose their memories as a pay for lifting the curse.' She sighed.

'At least they only lose their memories. You…'

'It's my job, Gajeel.'

'Then, they should think how important you are before they kick you out of the village.'

'At least you still with me.'

'Then, you'll do what I say?' He stopped walking.

'No.'

'Forget the village, forget the curse. We leave this place together.'

'I can't. It's my job to protect this village. It's my village.'

'Whatever.'

He stared at her since the beginning of the ritual. He didn't run away when fire jumped out from the ground, when water flooded the place, when strong wind blew storm, when earth broke, when spirits attacked. He stood still, watching her.

She stood in front of a mirror. He sat on her bed behind her.

'Remember what I said?'

'No,' he quickly answered. She snorted and turned to him.

'After the ritual ended, make sure that you pick up my BOOK and my CLOAK. These two things are very important. Okay?'

He crossed his arms over his chest.

'Yeah, I got that.'

She sighed. She stood up and went to sit next to him on the bed.

'And, one more thing. Make sure you find the next reader. He or she will need the book and the cloak,' she reminded him.

'Yeah, I got that too.'

She rested her head on his arm.

'You'll miss me?' she asked.

'No.'

'You love me?'

'No.'

'You'll find my replacement?'

'Definitely.'

'You'll do everything I said?'

'No.'

'I love you.' Hmmm…

The reader smiled. She knew he watched her. Closing her book, she raised her hand. The elements gathered around her and floated circling her. Their movement accelerated, forming a growing white ball. A few seconds later, the white ball broke and gave out light that covered everyone's sight. After the light gone, the field turned awfully quiet. The young women found lying unconsciously on the ground.

The villagers ran toward the young women and quickly checked on them. He went too. They quickly took the young women to shelter. He took the young woman in blue, the water summoner. When he was about to leave, he stopped and turned his head a little. The book and the cloak were lying on the ground. Ignored. He threw the young woman on his shoulder and quickly and silently picked the book and the cloak as he told to. Then he left.

….

He watched the water summoner he took with him, sleeping on a bed. Gratefully, she only lost her memory. Not as much as what happened to his girlfriend. At least she would be able to forget that perverted ice prince.

I didn't own Fairy Tail.