I have returned from the horrors of yearly exams. But at least that means I'll have more time to write for this fic!

I'm sorry for the long wait (really, I know how horrible it is waiting for updates so SUPER big apology) but I wrote a bit of a longer chapter this time so maybe that makes up for it? I'm still planning on doing weekly updates but I might upload chapter 8 a little sooner than next weekend just because I've missed about three updates.

But thank you so much to those who have continued to follow and favourite my fic! It means a lot to me and I'll do my best to make this a good fic.

Here's chapter 7! Enjoy :)

Last Chapter

Well done, little Fairies. You've figured out the spell - I didn't think you had the brains. Now you have to find the memories. Really, it's as easy as 1, 2, 3. They're such lovely memories. I rather enjoyed looking at them. Poor, little Lucy Heartfilia. So much pain. But I'll leave you to it. It can't be easy for such dim-witted creatures like you to find memories. When in doubt, start at the beginning.

M

"Start at the beginning? What does she mean by that?" Natsu wondered, his face scrunched up in confusion. Lucy found it kinda cute.

"I can try and decipher her words. I think some sentences have double meanings. She wouldn't just tell us where to find the memories; that ruins the point of the 'game'," Levy frowned at the paper in her hands.

"Yes, I think you're right," Erza said.

"Lucy and I were discussing this before; we should have people tell her stories about her life at Fairy Tail while others decipher the message. It's not a permanent solution but it's the best we've got."

"Alright then," Mira said with a small smile on her lips. "Let's crack this code."

Ever since Juvia had been attacked by Minerva, Levy and Mira had led a team of Fairy Tail's most ferocious bookworms and studious scholars to crack the code. But some of the message was so vague that they had a hard time. The message itself was not complicated but there were so many options and contributing factors that they didn't know where to start.

"The beginning? Does that mean the beginning of Lucy's life?"

"Schooling?"

"When she ran away?"

"When her mother died?"

Leaving it to the experts, Lucy wandered to the bar where Lisanna had replaced Mira as the barmaid.

"Hey Lucy, how's it going? Getting anywhere with the problem solving?"

Lucy only sighed in response. Lisanna gave her a cheeky grin and nonchalantly slid a strawberry milkshake across the counter with a wink. "How about we get Natsu and Happy over to tell you about joining Fairy Tail?"

Before Lucy could respond, Lisanna hollered across the guild hall, "Natsu! Happy! Get over here!"

Lucy could only sigh again. This was going to be a long day.

Lucy sighed contently as she lay back on the pillows of her bed after a long day of listening to her life story. It was weird, hearing other people talk about what she'd supposedly done when she had no memory of it at all. The stories didn't sound any more familiar but the warm feelings she got from hearing about them made her think that everyone was on the right track. Lisanna had helped her a lot today as well, and she was satisfied with her progress. She'd felt a bit light-headed at lunch so Lisanna had volunteered to come over to her apartment and keep her company in the form of a sleepover. However, said white-haired mage was rather quiet, as the two ate their dinner.

"Lisanna?"

"Hm?"

"Is there...anything wrong?"

Lisanna looked briefly startled, before pasting a smile onto her face. "Nothing's wrong, Lucy. Why d'you ask?"

Lucy looked at the other woman thoughtfully. "You just seem a little preoccupied. Boy troubles?"

Lisanna had to stop herself from gasping out loud. How had she known? Her surprise must have shown on her face because Lucy chuckled a little.

"It's Natsu isn't it? Why don't you tell him how you feel?"

Lisanna swallowed thickly and regarded the blonde in front of her. Poor Lucy...she really had no memory of Natsu's feelings, did she?

"Natsu...he and I have been friends for a long time. I know he doesn't like me that way. He loves another girl, but he's too dense to see it, and the girl isn't really…here. I'm pretty sure she loves him too. I just don't think it'd be fair if I made a move on him while she's gone."

There was a small silence as both girls continued to eat their dinner. Lucy raised her eyes up to Lisanna's. "I think that's really brave, Lisanna. Natsu's lucky to have you as his friend. I don't know if I'd be able to do the same if I were in that situation…"

Lisanna smiled wearily at the girl on the bed, her next words holding no bite and instead, held a gentle amusement. "I know you would, Lucy. Knowing you, you'd probably set them up on dates."

Lucy blushed at the compliment hidden in Lisanna's words. It felt strange, receiving a compliment about your personality when you had no memory of it.

Lisanna smiled softly at the blonde beside her as the two finished their dinner in a comfortable silence. The take-over mage knew the truth about the two oblivious friends and she wouldn't interfere. She would let him go and stay by his side as his best friend.

Natsu was confused.

Of course, Natsu was often confused. Sometimes, the others just used such long words and complicated language...like now, for instance. All this research and work that Levy and Mira were leading was so...complex. His brain hurt just thinking about it. Wait, could a brain hurt? He didn't know. Maybe he'd ask Lucy.

He felt a pang of fear and guilt as he thought of the amnesic blonde. Very deep down, he knew it wasn't really his fault but he couldn't help feeling guilty every time his best friend looked at everyone with confused eyes or waited for people to explain things that she would have known in an instant otherwise. Lucy had, once, told him not to feel guilty about every accident that happened because a lot of the time, he couldn't stop them.

But he could have prevented this.

He could have made sure she wasn't near anywhere near Motherglare and Rogue. What if he had gotten her to help move civilians to safer areas? This wouldn't be happening now. And what if she never remembered? But even as he wallowed in his guilt and fear, he could hear her scolding voice.

"Natsu! Don't think like that. It's not your fault and no one blames you, so why should you? Everyone knows what happened as well as you do. Remember what you told me? Fairy Tail is family. Don't just protect your friends; believe them and believe in them!"

He didn't know where that memory had come from but he guessed it was from their talk after coming home from Tenroujima Island after the seven year gap. A brief image of the dark, looming dragon and their futile attempts flashed in his mind before he shook his head. He wouldn't sit around doing nothing when he could be helping.

He made his way back towards the guild hall. He ran through the doors and nearly ran back out at the number of books, thick volumes and fluttering pieces of paper that had turned the guild hall into a library. In the middle of it all, Levy and Mira commanded their troops with loud voices that could barely be heard over the rustle of pages and babble of conversation.

Before Natsu could run out, Mira spotted him and his blood ran cold. Forget what he said about helping. The expression on her face didn't bode well for him…

"Natsu! A dragon slayer, just what we need. Come over here!"

After many unconvincing excuses, Natsu's horrible acting skills and Mira's Satan Soul, Natsu sat down in a chair surrounded by books in what seemed like the nerd control centre.

Mira's sweet smile didn't fool him. "So, Natsu, tell us everything you know about dragon slayers. Now."

When Lucy arrived at the guild the next morning, Lisanna in tow, the sleepy girls were stunned by the sight that met them.

Natsu had dark circles under his eyes and had apparently slid off a chair and onto the ground, snoring, while Mira and Levy and the majority of the research unit were jumping up and down jubilantly in a rather extravagant manner.

Levy, spotting the two girls, ran over in excitement. "Lu-chan! We've solved it!"

Lucy was immediately alert. "What? That was so quick! What did you find?"

"We have a good idea about what the clue means and we got some information from Natsu about dragon slaying magic. We just need to confirm it with Wendy and Gajeel to make sure he's not just a weirdo!" Levy explained cheerfully. Lucy and Lisanna looked at each other and shrugged. Lucy threw her arms around Levy.
"Thanks Levy-chan! This means a lot to me, really." Lucy didn't know how to convey her gratitude but Levy seemed to understand. The bluenette gave the blonde a wink and walked back into the fortress of books, where Wendy was sitting nervously and Gajeel was leaning on a stack of books that held even his weight. Natsu wailed pathetically as Erza burst into the room from the Fairy Tail Archives and grabbed the collar of his shirt, dragging him to a chair before unceremoniously dumping him onto the seat.

Lucy gave a small giggle. The guild was strange and insane but they were her family. She didn't need her memories to figure that out. Natsu suddenly looked over at her, his eyes wide. Wendy and Gajeel glanced at her too but before any of them could comment, Mira began her interrogation.

"Right, Wendy, Gajeel, we have some questions for you that Natsu has given us answers to but we need to clarify. Natsu's information is questionable at best so we thought it'd be safer to ask you both as well, seeing as you're all dragon slayers," Mira started cheerfully, oblivious to Natsu's offended glares.

"So, can you dragon slayers concentrate your magic so that it acts like an extension of yourself?" Levy asked professionally, glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. Gajeel stared blankly at her and Wendy looked slightly confused and apologetic. Gray, sitting at a nearby table without a shirt, rolled his eyes.

"They don't understand your fancy language, Levy." Then, to the dragon slayers, "What Levy means is, 'can your magic do stuff for you that would be, like, having an extra arm or something? Once, Natsu's fire turned into a sort of long arm of fire that saved him when he was falling into a canyon. Can your magic do stuff like that?"

Gajeel's eyebrows furrowed in concentration and Wendy looked at her hands, then at Carla, then back at her hands. There was a long silence.

"Well...once I gathered some wind in my hand and used it as a whip...does that count?" Wendy asked tentatively. Mira studiously wrote it down as Levy beamed.

"Yes! What about you, Gajeel?"

"It's a little hard for me to figure this out, shrimp…I can turn my arm into iron. Does that count?"

Mira and Levy glanced at each other and shrugged. "Okay."

There was the sound of whispering voices and hushed arguing in the circle of researchers before Levy and Mira turned to the rest of the guild. The two shared a look.

"We think there's a way that the dragon slayers can get Lucy's memories back," Levy began. "In one of the old books about dragons and dragon slayers in the Archives, it said that dragon slayers can learn to focus their magic into a sort of form and can use that as a weapon or as defence."

"So, for Wendy, you used your whip of air as a weapon. Natsu used his arm of fire to save himself from falling into the canyon and Gajeel...does both, I guess," Mira explained. Levy nodded.

"But it also says that there is a more advanced concept that is similar to that where the dragon slayer concentrates their magic so that it is pure magic itself and not the dragon slayer's usual form of magic. It's used to handle more delicate matters, things such as…"

"Lucy's memories," Mira finished. There was a small moment of silence as the guild stared at the two mages in awe. Levy looked at the three dragon slayers.

"I'm assuming it would just be a sort of golden energy. It's quite difficult though, so we have to practise before going to collect Lucy's memories."

The guild stared on in silence before bursting into applause. Everyone cheered, with shouts of 'You're so smart, Mira-chan!', 'Levy, you're the best!' and 'Can I marry you?' However, Cana stopped everyone's celebration.

"Hang on. You said, 'before going to collect Lucy's memories. Does that mean you figured out where it is? You've solved the puzzle?"

"The beginning…of Lucy's journey to Fairy Tail." Everyone looked at Erza, who had, until then, stayed silent. "Hargeon Port."

In a small room in a dark, towering castle, a woman looked into a large mirror. However, her face was not reflected. Inside, there were flickering images of what appeared to be a guild hall, where a blonde stood next to a white-haired woman and three figures were surrounded by books as a bluenette and another white-haired mage stood over them. The woman chuckled.

"Run and find them if you can, Fairies. Let's play a game of hide and seek."

So chapter 7 is complete! What do you think is going to happen next? *heheheh I'm super excited to write this now*

Reviews are appreciated ^_^