Hi. ;)

Next chapter is up - I tried to make it a little longer. : D

Chapter 17

Mako woke up with a surprised yell and looked around in confusion. He lay on his back on the ground. The first thing he saw was the blue sky with fluffy clouds that floated lazily across the sky. He felt weird, like he had just lost something important.

He sat up, shaking his head, which hurt terribly. He looked around and spotted three people a few feet away. One was an old man sitting on a horse and a young blonde girl was sitting behind him…Lucy. Her face dripped with salty tears, but she looked angry, glaring at a young man. He had black hair and his body was swaying back and forth like he was sleepwalking. He seemed familiar…Mako narrowed his eyes as he recalled the name Gray Fullbuster. He was the guy that had stopped his and Lucy's wedding.

"Gray," Lucy said, her voice thick with tears and pain. "Gray, look at me please." Gray lifted his head from his chest and looked at her, black eyes glinting in the light. "Do you remember me?" she asked, her voice dropping to a shaking whisper.

"Sorry, but who are you?" he said casually, tilting his head slightly. Lucy jerked back in pain. What was he doing, why did he pretend that he didn't know her? That was just cruel!

"Excuse me, miss," the old man said, laying his wrinkled hand on gently her shoulder, "but why are you on my horse? Not that I mind of course!" he added quickly. Lucy shook her head, threw off his hand, jumped off the horse and ran away down the road. Gray scratched his head in wonder.

"That was a strange girl," he mumbled, before he turned back to face Mako. "Oh, Mako! Sorry, I was supposed to take you to the hospital…for some reason…right?"

"Um, yeah, I guess." Mako was really starting to get a headache.

"He forgot…" Lucy whispered to herself and ran faster, strong legs pounding against the road. "I can't believe it. He forgot me!" More tears ran down her red cheeks and she exclaimed sobs of frustration. She felt her keys slam against her hip and stopped instantly in her tracks. Had her spirits forgot her too? The thought frightened her, and she raised one of her keys.

"Gate of the maiden, I open thee!" she yelled and swung it shakily. "Virgo!" She had never yelled her name when she was this frustrated. The yellow light filled the air and the smell of smoke appeared.

"You called princess?" the female spirit said formally and bowed.

"Oh thank goodness," Lucy said and pulled the confused spirit girl into a hug. Virgo widened her eyes in shock, but didn't pull away. "You remember me! You do remember me, right?"

"Of course, princess," Virgo said confused. "Do you wish to punish me?"

"No," Lucy said and pulled away to dry her tears. "I'm just happy."

"I-I'm glad," Virgo said with a straight face, but she was quite clearly flustered.

"You can close the gate," Lucy mumbled. Virgo nodded, and disappeared in a flash of light. Lucy felt so relieved; her spirits still knew her. Then she realized something; she had been able to summon Virgo. Had Loki closed the gate?

Maybe she should check on him and see if he was okay after the fight. She swung her golden key and said the well-known sentence to call the lion spirit. The smoke rose around her and she felt the familiar presence of her strongest spirit.

"Loki?" Lucy said before the smoke had cleared.

"Hello," the spirit responded and his shape appeared through the dissipating smoke. He stood with one hand in his pocket and the other one adjusting his sunglasses.

"Loki, I am so happy to see that you're okay," she began and headed toward the spirit. "I thought the fight against the shadow mages had…"

"Oh, you must be my new owner," Loki said and bowed. Lucy froze mid-step and her eyes widened in horror.

"Wh-what?" she whispered, still frozen with one foot slightly off the ground.

"You have my key, so you want to make a contract with me, am I right?" Loki said, straightening up again.

"L-Loki, it's me. It's Lucy, your owner," she said unsure. "If this is a joke …"

"I'm sorry, but I really don't know what you are talking about," Loki mumbled, removing his sunglasses. He smiled gently. "Have you ever made a contract before?"

"Loki! Stop it!" Lucy yelled and bit her lip. "How can you have forgotten me? Virgo didn't, so why …" She trailed off as it suddenly hit her: Virgo had been in the spirit world when the bomb had gone off, but Loki had still been out – he had been affected.

"No way," Lucy whispered and fell to her knees. "That means that Natsu also…how could the bomb reach that far…I don't understand." A gentle hand touched her shoulder and she looked up Loki; his eyes were filled with pity and confusion, and who could blame him?

"I wish I could help you," he said and knelt beside her, "but the only thing I can do is to become your spirit – if you make a contract".

"I already did," Lucy whispered and sobbed.

"Do you have somewhere to go, friends…family?" he asked and helped her to her feet. "Make a contract with me another time, okay? For now, just relax and figure out your problems."

"You don't get it!" Lucy yelled and covered her eyes, trying to wipe away the tears. "I want you to remember, and I want Natsu, Mira and all the others to remember…I want Gray…to remember…" She broke off sobbing.

"Okay okay, I get it," Loki said and lifted his hands. "Just...call me when you're feeling better."

"Did you even listen?" Lucy asked, but Loki had already been surrounded in smoke and before Lucy could stop him, the spirit disappeared.

"Who would lock a poor girl in a basement?" Mirajane said angrily and cut Alica free from the bonds. Alica's head hung so her chin touched her chest; her breathing was deep and irregular.

"I forgot," she whimpered.

"What did you say?" Mira said, helping the young girl to her feet. Alica's face was twisted in horror, and it almost made Mira lose her grip.

"I forgot something…but I'm not supposed to…. It was important, but I don't know what it was!" Alica said and stared at the black box. She had been sitting here in the basement, and hoping that the bomb in that box wouldn't explode, that the clock would never hit zero, but it had, and she had forgotten something. Something she was supposed to remember.

"Dear, let me help you upstairs," Mira whispered and guided the girl up from the basement.

"How did I meet you exactly?" Gray asked Mako as they walked toward the town. Mako had his arm around Gray's shoulders for support. "All my memories of you are blurry."

"Maybe you're getting old," Mako joked. Gray moaned, annoyed, and Mako laughed. "Kidding, but what do you mean they're blurry? You came here to stop me from marrying Lucy, remember?"

"Lucy? I don't know that name," Gray responded.

"What are you talking about? And why did you send her away anyway?" Mako asked annoyed. "You clearly made her upset. I thought you and her had something."

"Speak normally," Gray said confused. "I don't know a Lucy, and I definitely didn't stop your wedding."

"Sure you did, even though your guild helped a little…Fairy Tail, right?" Mako asked.

"I am part of a guild called Fairy Tail, but this Lucy-whoever is totally unfamiliar to me," Gray mumbled and wished he could change the subject, but Mako had suddenly changed his tone, and now sounded worried.

"You mean…you've forgotten about her?" Mako stopped walking, which forced Gray to stop too.

"Hey, what are you -?"

"Do you remember Alica?" Mako said and his voice showing signs of panic.

"No, I don't. What's going on? Who are these people?" he said and suddenly became weirdly worried. His head started to spin and he had a strange feeling that he should know this, that he should know who the two girls were.

"We have to get to the town, quickly!" Mako said, his voice beginning to shake.

"You're starting to creep me out," Gray said.

"Let's go! I'll explain on the way," Mako mumbled. He pulled his arm back and started to run.

"Hey! Aren't you hurt?" Gray yelled after him, but hurried to follow.

'Please tell me it isn't true,'Mako thought to himself, feet pounding against the dirt. 'Please, tell me she hasn't forgotten!'

Mako looked back to see if Gray was following. His face turned to surprise. "Where are your clothes?"

"What? Argh! Not again!"

Mirajane had brought Alica up to the bar, where a couple of Fairy Tail mages had started to ask her questions. They had seen her kiss Mako in the church, so they asked where he was, but Alica just stared at them with a faraway expression.

"You don't say much?" Levi said and put a hand on her hip. Alica stared at her with huge eyes.

"I forgot," she whispered.

"What did you forget?" Levi asked and tried to sound patient, but she was clearly curious. The other mages who followed the conversation seemed tense too. Jet and Droy stood close to Levi and Cana was watching with a beer in her hand.

"I don't know," Alica answered and looked down at her hands. Suddenly a smile appeared on her face and her eyes widen to insanity.

"What's wrong?" Levi asked and put a hand on the girl's shoulder. Alica didn't answer, just smiled her crazy smile. "What's wro-ARGH!" Levi yelled when a plant shot up from the floor and slammed her fingers away.

"Levi!" Jet and Droy yelled at the same time and both caught the slim girl before she hit the floor.

"Don't touch me," Alica whispered. Her eyes were covered in darkness, glinting coldly.

"I'm okay," Levi told her two friends and got back to her feet, turning back to Alica, glaring angrily. "What's wrong with you?" she screeched.

Alica lifted her head with a slow movement, tilting her head as though her neck was boneless, and stared at Levi. "I don't like flies that don't know their place."

"Hey!" Jet yelled and took a defensive position in front of Levi. Erza had lifted her gaze from the wood of the bar counter where she sat. Her eyes were hard as stone, glinting frostily as she stood.

"Who exactly are you?" she asked with a cold voice.

"We want to help you," Levi said and peeked out from behind her two friends.

Alica giggled, making chills run down Levi's spine. She lifted her hand and pointed at Erza. Ten large plants shot up from the floor and flew toward Titania. She lifted her sword, cutting two of them, and avoided the rest. All the mages in the room now became alert, jumping to their feet.

"What do you think your doing?" someone yelled. Alica giggled again and more plants cracked up through the floor and before anyone could blink, the plants wrapped around people's bodies and made them cry out in surprise. Erza avoided the next attack too, along with Elfman and a few others. Alica started laughing louder and directed a new plant toward Erza; this one wasn't green like the others, but bright red.

"That won't work!" Erza yelled and dug her sword into the plant. "What?" she said surprised when she tried to pull her sword back. The blade disappeared with an oozing sound. "What?" Erza repeated, watching the once solid metal drip from the handle.

"My plants are filled with acid," Alica explained with her grin painted on her (once so cute) face.

"I'll ask you again!" Erza said and her eyes practically dug into Alica's. "Who are you?"

"My name is Alica!" Alica answered and her eyes narrowed. "I'm a mage from the dark guild Eisenwald!"

Yeah, without Mako, Alica is a dark mage. :P What did you think?