All rights to Hiro Mashima

~ Fifth ~

-Lucy-

"Master, we have returned." Erza's brilliantly scarlet hair swished as she stomped though the main beer hall dodging flying objects and the odd guild member, coming to a stop in front of the diminutive man. "The mission went well. Gray and I finished with minimal damages and ahead of time, as per usual."

Master took a long sip of his beer and nodded. "Welcome back Erza. I'm glad everything went well with the council."

I walked up to Erza with Natsu trailing behind me. "Hey Erza. Uhmm…. We have a… uh… situation."

"Lucy, why don't we all talk in the office, then all information that has been found can be relayed to everyone and hopefully we can talk to Mystogan as well." Erza looks suspiciously at both Master and I.

"Why would you need to talk to Mystogan? What has happened?" Master jumps off the bar counter and starts to amble away to his office doors.

"Erza, all in good time. Grab Gray and Wendy for me please. Lucy, can you remove the wonder twins from their tower of books and meet us upstairs." I nod and turn towards the corner of the hall the hides Freed and Levy.

'Oh my Mavis, it's been ten minutes since we were talking to them, how did the number of books double already?!' I sigh and yell at Levy and Freed. I get an answer from someone within the deep pile of literature. With the help of Natsu, we extricate both bodies and usher them into Master's office.

"So, to summarize. Natsu woke up on the floor with no memories, got a check-up with Porlyusica who says he is just a normal fire mage now, the old spell named 'detach' was the most likely culprit that removed his Dragon Slayer magic, and Natsu only gets strong feelings but no memories when it comes to people or places that he previously knew?"

You've got to hand it to her, the girl knows how to weed through the useless crap and condense it like no other. "Gods, I leave you people for not even one week and you can't even hold it together without another major crisis!" Master looks stricken at her outburst.

"Well, I wouldn't call this a major crisis, per se. It's not like someone is threatening to unleash a whole dragon hoard on us again." Erza just rolls her eyes at me.

"Lucy, that isn't the point. There is someone out there, somewhere in Fiore, with a lacrima packed full with the magic from one of the most powerful dragon slayers there is." I hear twin scoffs behind me, it seems that the other slayers are feeling a bit touchy at her statement, while Natsu looks like the cat that ate the canary.

The tiny office is feeling sort of cramped now. Not only is my team here, but Wendy and Charles, as well as Laxus and the whole of the Thunder Legion. Gajeel with Pantherlily on his shoulder are leaning against the back wall. Oh and Levy, but she's so tiny she can basically fit anywhere so she doesn't really count.

Happy is currently sitting on Master's desk bawling big fat tears because 'Natsu is so mean to forget about me. He won't remember to give me fish anymore!'

Damn cat.

"Uhh…well…" I have no idea how to answer that statement. I never thought about what would happen with the lacrima once it got out into Earthland.

It's also not helping that I can feel the burning glares between Natsu and Gray behind my back. 'At least they haven't resorted to name calling yet, just be thankful for the little things.'

Erza takes a gigantic breath in and lets it out really slowly, like she is using an enormous effort not to go all 'Heaven's Wheel' on our asses. Thankfully she calms down enough to ask the question we would all like the answer to.

"What does this have to do with Jellal?"

Master adopts a contemplative tone. "You all remember how Mystogan stayed behind in Edolas?" We all nod, except Natsu who is still shooting Gray dirty looks. "Well after the GMG and Eclipse Gate fiasco, I told Jellal to keep the spare staves and cloak I gave him so that if he ever needed to contact us in person, he could do it as inconspicuously as possible. Most of Fiore, except for a select few in the council and most of our members here, think that Mystogan is still around."

"I must say Master that is a good plan, although Jellal never said anything to me when I saw him last." Erza twirls a strand of hair around her fingers, refusing to make eye contact with anyone in the room.

"Yah, but Erza, how much of your visit was actual talking, with like…words and such, and how much of it was letting your bodies talk for you?" It comes as no surprise that Bickslow is the one to ask the most temperamental woman in all of Magnolia if she spent most of her time with her estranged child hood friend doing the horizontal tango.

'Oh, he is so dead. She might even bring him bring him back to life after, just so she can kill him again.' I look around and most of the people present are trying as hard as they can not to be caught smiling, or Gods forbid laughing, by the red-haired demon.

Cause we don't want one of her swords to create a new asshole for us at any point of this conversation.

However, to everyone's surprise, her face turned a brilliant shade of puce. Very quietly, we all hear "We talked for twenty minutes. Give or take."

And because I have no self-preservation, at all, I blurt out in a very loud voice; "Damn Erza, you were with him for over two hours though!" Laxus and Bickslow are snickering now with lecherous grins adorning their stupid faces.

She whips around and conjures thirty or so weapons into the air all around us. "It was only an hour and a half Lucy!" Bickslow guffaws in the corner, and none of us can hold it in any longer.

We laugh.

Hard.

I feel Natsu poke me in the back while I am doubled over hugging my waist in mirth. "Hey Luce, what does that mean? Let your bodies talk for you?"

'Oh Mavis, I have to give THE TALK to Natsu…again. Once was enough. Honestly.

I whisper back to him. "Later Natsu." And wave his confused face away.

I look around and everyone is still chuckling slightly. 'It looks like we all have a death wish today.' The floating weapons start to spin in tight spirals and Erza's face looks positively demonic. Glowing eyes and dark aura. The whole nine yards.

Probably to save himself the cleanup from our impending 'death by multiple sword wounds', Master gets us back on track and deflects the devil in armours rage onto a more pressing problem. "I have been trying to get a hold of Jellal since Lucy talked to me this morning, but I haven't been able to reach him. However, I believe that it wasn't Jellal who came to us, but an imposter dressed like him."

Freed spoke up. "Master, how did you come to this conclusion? Could it have not have been Jellal who came this morning and another mage followed behind in the wake of the spell that made us all unconscious?"

The Master shook his head at this. "I don't believe that to be the case Freed. Whenever Jellal comes to guild hall this way he finds me directly, which he did not. If I am not here, the only other one who is not taken down by the sleep spell is Laxus, and he has informed me that Jellal did not come speak with him at your table this morning."

Now I understood why the Thunder God and his guard are doing here.

"So if Jellal didn't put the whammy on fire-breath over here, then who did?" As soon as Gray said the words 'fire-breath' I felt the air around me instantly rise at least 20 degrees.

I'm now sweating like a pig in a cramped tiny room with an out of control fire mage breathing down my neck muttering insults under his breath. 'I should have never woken up this morning.' I feel like giving the Universe the finger again, but I restrain myself because I don't want to show the other people just how crazy my thought processes have gotten recently.

"Are you okay Lucy? You look constipated or something. You know you really shouldn't try to force it like that." It seems that Happy is done crying and is looking for someone to pull is damn whiskers out.

One by one.

"Oh shut up you stupid cat." I don't even have the energy or wherewithal for my usually quippy come backs.

"All right. On that note, I believe that Natsu should train with Macao and Romeo to try to harness his magic again so he isn't left defenseless. Levy and Freed, please keep researching on how to put Natsu's magic back into his body when we do find this lacrima. Laxus and company, try to find out if Mystogan has been sighted anywhere in Magnolia recently and search the surrounding areas if he has. Lucy, please take Natsu to find the Conbolt's and accompany him around today. Gray and Erza will go with you. Wendy, if possible please contact Porlyusica to try to find out how to safely put a lacrima inside him as a last resort, I don't think she'll yell at you." We all nod and grumble a bit at our assignments. Wendy looks stricken at the thought of calling the aged healer for the second time in one day.

"What about me old man?" Master peers around all the bodies still milling about the room and looks into the back corner.

"Ah, Gajeel. I need you to go undercover again. See if there is any chatter going around the dark guilds about newly found dragon lacrimas or if a specific guild is gearing up for something big."

Gajeel nods and slips into the shadows. "Gihi, finally something interesting to do."

I turn to my team. "Come on, let's go find Romeo. He's really improved lately and he emulates Natsu, I bet he would love to teach him a few things. Macao is probably drunk now, so I don't want to bother him."

I grab Natsu's hand, cradle Happy in the crook of my arm and start on the search for the young fire mage.

Guest: I agree the timelines are indeed important. I took your advice and made the recommended changes and labelled the story as an AU to keep it kosher. Thank you for your support and constructive criticism. I hope this chapter, the changes, as well as taking out their ages gives the story more credibility.

ThayetJade: Thank you for being my first ever reviewer on my first story. Absolutely warmed by cold cold heart.

LovingmyOTP's: I agree, Natsu is ALL about the Dragon Magic. Hope this update helped fill that curious appetite.

Swallowmysoul: Thank you for the review! Hopefully your question will be answered soon!