A/N Welcome to the second chapter. I just couldn't wait to get this one uploaded, so I got it out rather quickly! Thank you to Bentears and trueviolet1216 for reviewing my first chapter! Please read, enjoy, fav, follow, and review!

Chapter Two: Without a Trace

It was just a normal day at the Guild. Mira was behind the bar getting food and drinks ready, Cana was on her fourteenth barrel, and Gajeel was in his corner with his eyes closed pretending not to notice that Levy was sitting right next to him. Master was even on the bar drinking his own mug of ale down as he looked over his brats with a sense of pride.

The only thing that was the slightest out of order was the fact that there was order. Though everyone was talking loudly and having a grand time, they all noticed the lack of fighting, flying tables, and the sounds of destruction. All of which were almost expected to fill the guild. It was odd to say the very least.

"Hey, Makarov, it seems a little quiet today." Macao noted as he drank by Fairy Tail's master. It was early enough in the day that Cana hadn't challenged any of them to a drinking contest just yet.

"Enjoy it while it lasts; Team Natsu will be back soon." The master laughed. He always liked it when Natsu and Gray were out on missions instead of in the guild. It cut down on the destruction and the bill for repairs.

Makarov would have done anything to keep the destruction in his guild to a minimum. It was probably the one thing that came with being master he wouldn't miss when he announced his replacement. Too bad Gildarts ran away from the job. Now he was stuck with these brats until he could find someone else to take his place. If Laxus would just get along better with everyone, he would be a great choice.

"When does their mission end anyway?" Levy asked from the dark corner she shared with Gajeel and his exceed. She was excited for them to come back because Lucy had promised that she could read more of her novel when they came back. The last part that she had been allowed to read had ended in a suspenseful cliffhanger.

Mira looked up from the glass she was washing and answered "They should have been back a few days ago. I bet that Natsu tried to get them to walk back instead of taking the train. Or he and Gray could have gotten into a fight. You know how they can be." She smiled as she recalled their flamboyant personalities.

Levy just offered a disappointed nod before she went back into the corner she was sharing with Gajeel and Panther Lily. Both the slayer and the exceed were both feigning disinterest with matching scowls and crossed arms. Not that they were fooling anyone with that. It was also enough to make the solid script mage giggle on a normal day. But on this afternoon, she just didn't have it in her do to her worry over Lucy and the rest of Team Natsu.

As if summoned by the number of people thinking and talking about them, the guild doors opened to reveal the team that everyone was talking about. Four people and two exceeds walked into the guild, surprising everyone with a lack of a greeting.

They knew something was up with the usually happy team as they walked in and ignored the few greetings that were thrown their way. They watched in concern as they saw almost every head in the group was bowed down low for a reason no one knew. A depressed aura surrounded as they walked forward towards the bar,

This was not the rambunctious Team Natsu that they all knew and loved.

Not even Happy and Wend were smiling. If anything, those two seemed to be close to tears.

They all stopped as a group right in front of the master. Though, none seemed to be able to speak. They just stood before the master with identical expressions of grief.

"Is there something wrong?" Makarov asked the disheartened group that stood before him.

That was the tipping point for Wendy. A single tear had escaped from her eyes as he asked hem the question, and she was doing everything in her power to suppress the sobs that threatened to come out. Happy also had to bite his bottom lip to stay in a somewhat composed state of being.

Still, none of them spoke.

"Where is Lu-chan?" Levy asked from her corner. She had noticed the lack of the celestial mage since the group had walked in. "Did she go straight to her apartment?"

Erza took a step forward at that. "Master," she started, her usually strong voice cracking, "We cannot find Lucy. She has disappeared."

There was a collective gasp heard throughout the guild. They all froze as they watched the s-class mage; the Titania of Fairy Tail, slowly start to fall apart. It wasn't just because her shoulders were shaking either. Most of them that were standing there had never seen her like this, or heard so much grief in her voice.

"Start from the beginning child. What happened?" Makarov gently prodded. He knew that in order to understand any of what was going on he needed to know the entire story.

"In order to complete the mission, we were all separated." Erza began to report what had happened. "Natsu and I went for the master and the inner circle, and because we were helping Wendy train, we had her and Gray take care the large portion of medium strength mages. That left Lucy to deal with the underlings. We knew that she shouldn't have a problem dealing with them, especially with her spirits."

The Master nodded. He knew that Lucy was stronger than she gave herself credit for, and that she was actually strongest when she was separated from the group. He also thought that the split had been the best plan for the mission. All of the mages should have been dealt with easily.

"We all finished our assignments with relative ease. We were regrouping when Loke stumbled into us. He appeared as though he was in a lot of pain, though there were no visible injuries on him. He went straight to Wendy and told her that Lucy was in trouble. Of course we rushed to where he told us she was. And that was when we saw it." Erza stopped there, her eyes shielded by the curtain of hair that had fallen over her face while she spoke.

"What did you see?" Makarov prompted them to go on. Every single member inside of the guild was listening intently. To the point where one could hear a pin drop I the usually rowdy guild hall.

"It was Lucy," Gray spoke up, "she was floating in the center of this column of light that seemed to stretch all they up into the sky." He finished without looking up from the ground.

"The closer we got to the light, the more pain it seemed that Loke was in." Wendy added through her tears. She was bawling by then.

"We couldn't get to her. Every time we tried, the light seemed to push was away." Natsu finally was able to speak, "No matter what we did, the power wouldn't let us get close to her." It was clear that he was taking this even harder than the others. He was Lucy's partner after all; he was the one who brought her to Fairy Tail.

The master cleared his throat, "You said that you could not find her; what did you mean by that?" He asked with confusion laced in his expression. His voice was gruffer than usual do to the fact that his throat had long gone dry from listening to the shear emotion in Team Natsu's voice along with the emotions that were bubbling up inside of him.

"The light was pulsing. With each pulse it would get more and more intense. Then right as it got too bright for us to see, it disappeared. And Lucy vanished along with the light." Erza continued the story.

"Wait," Gray suddenly spoke up again in his strained voice, "I remember that before the light became too bright, and while I could still see Lucy, I noticed that her clothes changed. For some reason right before she disappeared, she was suddenly in a ball gown for some reason." He didn't know what compelled him to say that, but he knew that they needed to share every detail of what happened.

Makarov nodded before he started to think for a moment. After a very pregnant pause, in which the entire guild was watching him, he looked up and asked "What about the mages she had defeated?"

"All of the mages were accounted for, unconscious, and secured with magic repelling ropes. Also, when questioned they had no clue what happened to Lucy, only that she and Taurus had knocked them all out." Erza said.

The other three nodded as they remembered how thoroughly Erza had questioned the dark mages. When they had woken up, she had threatened their very lives with her demonic aura and swords. It only proved that none had known where Lucy had gone.

"Also, there were no mages in the group, no, in the guild that could have had that much power. I would have to say that whatever created that light had to at least be on par with Jura of the wizard saints." The scarlet haired knight added.

"What did the magic feel like?" The master asked.

"It was strong," Gray offered.

"It felt … warm." Wendy answered shyly.

That caused Makarov to raise his eyebrows in surprise. Now there was only one other thing that he needed to know. "Was Lucy in pain? Did it seem like the light was trying to hurt her?"

Erza's head snapped up almost instantaneously. "Actually, she looked as if she was sleeping peacefully. If it wasn't clearly obvious that it was causing Loke pain, I wouldn't have suspected anything was wrong."

"Anything else that you noticed, anything at all?" The master asked.

"We tried to follow her sent. Well, Wendy and I did. From the clearing where she fought the mages, she and Taurus seemed to walk to a cave. That was where Taurus must have left, she went into the cave, and when she came out she must have summoned Loke. Then she would have been sucked into the light thing." Natsu said as he scratched his head, making sure that he didn't forget anything.

"I remember that when we asked the locals about the cave, they said that they didn't know what was in there because there was a barrier at the entrance." Gray added.

Before he could say anything else, he was interrupted by the Titania, "But when we went inside there, there was nothing. Not even the barrier that they spoke of."

Makarov caught his chin in his hand as he thought. From what they had said, he didn't think that Lucy was in any danger from the power that had surrounded her. But that didn't mean that he knew what was going on. If anything it made him even more confused. He didn't know why or how she had disappeared.

"Master?" Mira asked from behind the bar. Her ever cheerful eyes filled with tears that threatened to pool over.

"I don't think that Lucy is in danger," He stated.

There was a collective release of tension at his wards around the guild. Lucy had managed to wiggle herself into most of the guilds heart. No, she had become the heart. She had this way of making all of their worries disappear with a simple smile. She had a way of rallying everyone's spirits and making them work together.

Even with the mages that she didn't know very well. Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe had warmed up to her in their way. They noticed that she had some strength, and that whenever she was around, the guild seemed to light up. They weren't the only ones either.

Gajeel had realized this from the start; when he had been forced by Phantom Lord to kidnap her, and when he had tortured her. He didn't believe for one moment that she was just a regular guild member.

"However," Makarov continued, "I do not know what has happened. For now all we can do is keep looking. I will notify the other guilds and the council. I know that she has friends in other guilds that will gladly help. But you all must keep going on missions. They will take you o different places where you can ask questions and look for Lucy."

With the guild in agreement with him, Makarov went back to his office. He had to get onto the communication lacrima and notify everyone who could help. He also wanted to see if the only other celestial spirit mage around knew what was going on. It was a long shot, but he had the feeling that what happened to Lucy had something to do with her powers.

The days spent searching turned into weeks, and the weeks started to stretch out into months, no one could find a single clue to where Lucy went. And although the other guilds took the notice seriously, the council had felt that it was comical for a mage to disappear in a pillar of light. They even said as much. Whatever the case might have been, it was clear that Lucy was missing, and that Fairy Tail could not find her.

After the first month had passed, Fairy Tail was almost unrecognizable. There weren't nearly as many fights, and hardly anyone stayed in the guild. There weren't enough jobs for everyone searching, and each job finished was lacking the destructive finesse that the guild had gotten a reputation for. It was almost as if it was an entirely different guild.

Though, at the second month, after some had lost hope, the guild started to return to the normal routines that everyone was used to. They all knew in their hearts that Lucy had to be okay, and that she wouldn't want them to all e so uptight and worried about her. Even without her there, she managed to touch their hearts and give them the strength to keep going.

Team Natsu had stopped being depressed, and had just gotten into a determined spell. Master was almost thankful of the change. It cut down on paper work because less was destroyed. But he also hoped it would stay that way when Lucy came back. Not that he kept his hopes too high.

The second month had passed with no sign of Lucy. And once again they had begun to feel discouraged from the search. Some wondered if they would ever find the blond celestial mage. Even with hope in their hearts and Master's words, they felt that hope was being lost.

A/N: Yes, slightly depressing, but I felt like it needed to be. Please review and tell me what you think. I would love some feedback.