Lucy was humming quietly to herself when a heavy body sat down beside her. For a long moment she didn't bother looking up, knowing that there were only three people in the guild who had that kind of heaviness to them that would sit by her. Reedus wouldn't mind that she wasn't paying attention, he actually preferred to paint his subjects when they weren't looking at him. Elfman, if he had anything to say, would speak whether she was paying attention or not.

Which left Laxus. Sighing she turned, unsurprised at seeing the lightening dragon slayer sitting next to her, eyeing her cautiously. With a jerk of his head he turned and stalked away, which only made Lucy sigh louder as she followed after him into an empty hallway.

"What do you want, Laxus?" She asked, folding her arms across her chest as she leaned against the wall.

He mirrored her, leaning against the wall opposite her.

"I want you to explain to me why my craziest team member hasn't been in the guild for over a week now," He replied.

"Like I know. In case you hadn't heard, Bickslow and I are no longer an item," Lucy shot at him in irritation.

"Yeah, I heard," Laxus rolled his eyes. "You're dating stripper boy now."

Lucy sighed in exasperation, "Then what makes you think that I would have any idea where Bickslow is or why he hasn't been coming into the guild lately?"

Laxus leaned forward, "I know about the roses, Lucy. And I know he left one at your apartment a week ago. Now something was said or done because he hasn't shown up since then and Evergreen and Freed have both tried his apartment and he's not there."

Lucy shrugged, though concern showed on her face, "He's not at home?"

"Now do you see my concern? His babies are there - completely immobile by the way - but he's gone."

Lucy visably paled at that, Bickslow liked to stay in his place when he wasn't at the guild or out on a job, but she knew he would occasionally leave to do something crazy or go out with his friends. However, his 'babies' being alone and immobile - that was something Bickslow only did under extreme circumstance - or when he was having sex.

Lucy looked at Laxus with concern, "I will help you look for him, but don't think this change anything between me and him. I'm happy with Gray."

Laxus shrugged, "Whatever. I just need Bickslow back."

Bickslow sat in the dark, staring into it. He'd been sitting in the abandoned building for almost a week now, just thinking. He knew that he should probably go to the guild, or at least go home, because The Thunder Legion would probably be looking for him. He couldn't seem to get up the energy to move or even care, however.

He had discovered this place with Lucy on one of their many nightly walks. It had once been an amusement park, but had been abandoned, left to rot and decay. After the discovery the two would come down here to wander and sit and talk. Bickslow had found the switch that turned everything on and once in a while they would turn everything on and run around like crazy kids, riding the rides and playing the games, though they rarely took anything they won, at least, not out of the building.

He smiled as he sat down in the room they had dubbed "their" room. In it held a collection of everything they had won over the years. His winnings were piled in a jumble since he was always using them for his Seith Magic, but he never touched Lucy's and she had them all spread out nice and neat so she could admire them. There was a bookshelf in there as well where she put the ones she had considered most important: The ones he won her. They were better taken care of, each with a paper stuck to it that read when he'd won it, why he won it, and what she'd named it. Standing before it now, he felt the tears he'd been holding back start to surface once again as he read them.

Mr. Bear, October first year, for accidently stepping on my toes.

Lizard Head (or Komoto), April second year, for calling me stupid when he was mad.

The list continued on. He noticed, however, that compared to the first two years, the third year shelf seemed almost empty. He hung his head in shame, knowing that their last year had been awful and neither of them had come to the amusement park during that time. He turned and looked at his pile before taking her notebook from underneath her largest stuffed animal and beginning to label each of them and put them on the shelf.

When he'd finished there was quite a collection crammed up there, each labeled exactly as she would. He was surprised at how easily the worst of their times came back to him and how much he regretted each one. The biggest one he set in front of the shelf.

Bicky, April third year, for not being there when I needed him the most.

The tears that he had been keeping suppressed all week under a layer of anger finally sprang free and he sat down in front of the display, allowing his tears to flow freely.

Lucy knew of only one place the Bickslow might have gone that the Thunder Legion wouldn't know about. Cutting through alleyways, she ran, hoping that he was there. If not, then their beloved Seith Mage had disappeared without leaving an explanation or saying goodbye. Few people knew it, but that's exactly how he left his last guild, only explaining to his Master the reason why.

Lucy, of course, knew. Tears formed at the corners of her eyes as she thought about it. While she was still angry with him, she hoped against hope that he wouldn't leave them like that. They were a family now, right? He had been at Fairy Tail long enough that he should consider the guild his family even if he didn't get along with everyone in it.

Throwing open the door to the abandoned amusement park she stood in the doorway for a moment, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness before shutting it behind her and wandering around the place. She notice immediately that someone had been here within the last week or two, everything seemed cleaner than it had been when she was last there.

She finally entered "their" room, so surprised by the full display case that at first she didn't notice the person sitting in front of it.

"Lucy?"

She blinked, looking straight into Bickslow's eyes for the first time since they'd broken up. He stood, but before he could say a word she turned and fled from the room.