All rights to Hiro Mashima

~ Fourth ~

-Lucy-

"GET OUT!"

Gods that woman is so bossy! Although, I can't say I'm surprised that she kicked Master and me out of the infirmary. Too many 'damn humans' for her taste I guess. Thank Mavis she let Wendy stay and help her out if need be.

I look at Master who is sitting on the bench beside me kicking his legs like a petulant toddler and grumbling something along the lines of; 'Master of the stupid guild' and 'respecting elders these days' under his breath.

"What do you think happened to Natsu? Some type of disease? A memory eating spell? A parasite? Mavis knows his house is a damn pigsty. Maybe we should check Happy for the same problem."

He shakes his head at my questions. "No, I don't believe this is something that just happened at random. You know from experience that with power and strength, especially in conjunction with rare forms of ancient magic, come despicable people with equally despicable plots." His tone is neutral, but his hands are clenched at his sides, knuckles white and shaking. One of his children has changed right before his eyes, I don't blame or judge him for being pissed.

"I understand Master, much better than anyone here unfortunately. I was the person who was sacrificed to a gigantic clock which then transformed into an even bigger flying metal fish."

Master looks down at the ground and stokes his beard sagely. "I know Lucy. I also believe that we will figure this out…sooner or later. Hopefully before some dark guild comes up with another world ending plot that has us shaking in our hypothetical boots." I laugh slightly at his comment.

'Is it just me, or do the dark guilds seriously have a knack of picking on Fairy Tail when they need to end the world? It must have something to do with the huge number of insane wizards that we seem to collect.'

"Anyways, stay here Lucy and listen to the old bat that's checking up on your partner, I need to call Mystogan. This all started with him as far as I can tell. When you're done, please go chat with Levy. You'll find her in the main hall behind the fortress of books." With that remark, he strides away down the corridor, presumably towards his office, but more likely towards Mira and his favourite beer mug.

The door to the infirmary creaks open. Three people shuffle out into the hallway.

I look at Porlyusica from my spot on the bench. "What's the verdict?"

She glares at the back of Natsu's head. "Like Wendy predicted. Physically he's fine, but memory wise there's nothing there."

"Nothing? Then how did he know that he likes to fight with Gray and that I always keep my promises? He even said Mavis' name once."

This time Wendy answered. "It seems that while Natsu has no memories of specific events, places, or even people, the strongest and most prevalent memories were attached to a very strong emotion and left behind those emotions on their way out of his head. Like an imprint of what was there previously."

"Natsu," I look into his eyes, "Is this what you meant when you said you had a 'gut feeling' earlier?"

He nods. "Yah, when I said you keep your promises, the closest emotion I get is…trusting? Maybe happiness? It's the same when I look into your eyes."

I eye him closely, noticing his slight blush with a hint of amusement. I choose to ignore my own blush on my cheeks. "And what about when you heard about Gray for the first time?"

His forehead wrinkles slightly as he frowns. "I want to punch ever living crap out of something. Hard. Maybe in the face if at all possible."

'HAH, those two. Even when one forgets the other their rivalry will live on. I bet they will be fighting even after they're dead and gone.'

"That's all well and good, but it gets worse. His magic is gone." I peer at Porylusica unbelieving.

"What do you mean his magic is gone? I can still feel it if I focus."

She shakes her head slowly. "No, he still has magic, I meant the rare ancient part of it is gone. He is no longer a Dragon Slayer. He's just a stupid human fire mage now. That's why he no longer has his elongated canines and I suspect it also explains why he is abnormally quiet and not destroying everything in sight."

"Well shit." I don't know how to handle this. Being a Dragon Slayer was Natsu's whole world! It was all he had left from his father other than the scarf around his neck.

"I'm done here. Don't call me back unless multiple people are simultaneously dying gruesome bloody deaths, and maybe not even then. Gods I hate you people."

And with that delightful statement thrown over her shoulder Porlyusica strides purposely out of the guild hall shooting the finger at Master as he cheekily waves good bye.

Wendy shakes her head. "Lucy, I am going to go to Charles. Let me know if you need anything else."

I thank the tiny Dragon Slayer and watch as she bounds away to the bar counter and orders something to drink while conversing with her Exceed companion.

I feel someone poking my ribs. "Uhm… Lucy, what do we do now?"

I sigh. "Come on Natsu, let's go talk to Levy and see what she has to say about this mess." Tugging his sleeve I lead him over to one of the back corners of the guild hall where a veritable castle has been made out of large tomes and ancient books.

"Oi, Levy, you in there somewhere?!" She peeks her head over the top of here literary cage.

"Hey LuLu. I think I've figured something out, well not just me, these ancient texts are so complex in places and almost completely degraded. I had to call in an expert to help me out."

A head of long green hair with quirky lightning bolts can be seen though the crack of the book bindings and another, much stiffer voice floats over the stacks. "Miss Lucy, it is a pleasure to see you again."

'Ah yes, Freed. A good idea to have him around to help out with all these translations.'

"How many times do I have to say it Freed? Just call me Lucy." I smile a bit at his high class conversation starter. 'Am I ever glad I left that life behind me.'

"Anyway, what have you guys found?"

"Well, Lucy, we believe that it was a spell that wiped Natsu's mind clean of memories. We also believe that the memory loss wasn't the purpose of the spell, it was more of an interesting side effect that works in the perpetrators favour." Both Natsu and I were lost.

Freed thankfully sees our twin confused faces and quickly continues on.

"As far as we can tell, the spell is just as ancient as the magic that is used to remove from the host. For lack of a better term, it gouges out someone's magic from the roots. It can then be deposited in an empty lacrima, where it can be used as a power source for an inanimate object or implanted into flesh and bone. The closest translation we can get for the name of this spell is 'Detach'. It's a bastardization of the spell used to create true dragon lacrimas, like the one implanted into Laxus."

Natsu looks thoughtfully at Freed, which is something I never dreamed that I would see. Natsu plus thinking in general don't usually mix. "What does that have to do with my memories? And how is it that when my magic was removed, they only got half of it?" Both were good questions, which I didn't expect to hear out of his mouth. If I hadn't been looking straight at his face I wouldn't have thought it was him.

Freed looked just about as stunned as I felt. "Uhm… well… it is my opinion that before Igneel taught you Fire Dragon Slaying magic that you were either schooled in or had an aptitude for basic fire magic beforehand. When the spell was cast it looks for ancient or lost magic, so it only caught onto your Dragon Slayer magic and subsequently 'detached' it from your body and mind."

I finally caught on. "So what you're saying is that because Natsu fights with his whole being including his soul for the people and places he loves, those emotions and deep rooted memories fuel his magic. So when the spell was cast his memories disappeared because he longer needed them?"

Freed looked grim. "It is more accurately described as his memories were too deeply entangled in his magic that when it was ripped out by force, everything including some feelings and all of his memories went with it."

"Lulu," I look over at Levy this time. My eyes have got to be huge by now, this is heavy stuff. "This magic is crazy difficult to master and uses a gigantic amount of energy to wield, so not just any mage can do it. I think that one of the wizard saints or possibly Laxus or Gildarts could do it if they tried really hard."

Natsu cocks his head to the side. "Both of those mages are incredibly strong, right?" I nod in agreement.

"Yah, you pick fights with them constantly. Trying to beat them whenever they show up at the guild. What do you feel when you think of those two names?"

He looks down at the cracked stones of the floor and scuffs the toe of his right shoe against it. In a small voice he answers.

"Competitive."

I snort. "Well, you do yell 'fight me' whenever you see them in the guild hall, attack them without provocation, and then they both usually kick your ass in one hit. I have to practically peel you off the walls with one of Mira's spatulas every second day."

He rubs his jaw as if remembering a phantom punch from one of those fights. "Huh, I'll steer clear of them for now at least. Just until I get my real magic back." He grins at me. It almost looks like his old smile, but it was still lacking something.

Probably just my imagination. Or it could be that his teeth still look weird without the fangs.

"Sure, then you can just go back to almost dying from electrocution or exploding into a million pieces. Just don't come complaining to me when you're hurt and stuff again." I roll my eyes at him.

He whines like a child. "But Luuuuuce…."

All of our eyes go wide and Levy and Freed's eyebrows look liable to jump off the top of their faces. Natsu just looks disgruntled. Or constipated. Like he is trying way too hard to force the issue. This must be his thinking face. I can't recall ever seeing it very often before.

"Why did you just call me that?" I grab his biceps and shake him slightly. "Did you remember something?"

He shakes his head 'no' and gestures to his stomach area.

I slump my shoulders dejectedly. "Right, gut feeling."

"He's been doing this on and off all morning." I explain to the dynamic research duo. "Wendy says it's like an imprint of what was once there along with the emotions that were strongest in each situation. He already hates Gray without knowing him."

Levy shrugs. "Whatever the reason, I'm just glad that there is something of the old Natsu still in that brain. It's almost like muscle memory, but for the brain instead." She winks at me surreptitiously. "He must have loved your little nickname to remember it even after someone rooted around in his very soul and displaced his memories."

"What! No. You're talking nonsense Levy." She gives me a knowing look puffing her cheeks out an indignant huff. "And do not even get me started on Gajeel constantly calling you Shrimp."

Levy glows bright red at this. 'AHA! Gotcha, you blue-haired hypocrite.' She quickly deflects towards Freed.

"I think that's everything for now. Freed and I will keep the Master updated with any new information we find."

As I give Levy the 'we-will-talk-later-about-Gajeel' look, the front doors slam open deeply embedding the left side into the stone wall behind it. This spectacular display of raw strength and the utter disregard for property can only mean that a Fairy Tail wizard has come home.

I immediately know the returning mages without having to turn around. I can just feel the universe laughing at me.

"WE'RE BAAAAACK!"

I bow my head and pinch the bridge of my nose. 'Can't I catch a fucking break? Shouldn't they have been gone for at least two more days? How am I supposed to explain any of this to them without dying an icy, stabbing death? Gods I need a relaxing bubble bath. And some wine. Lots of wine.'

I throw a middle finger at the ceiling. "Fuck you universe! You're a goddamn prick!" Natsu seems startled by my outburst. I bet he's wondering if I'm crazy. I feel like I'm crazy standing here...yelling into thin air.

I turn around and see a swish of scarlet hair and a naked torso.

Yep, it's Titania and the ice princess.