Hello again!

Second update of the weekend! *so proud* This is to make up for those three weeks of silence; hope you like it!

Last Chapter

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."

Gray trudged along uncomfortably in his clothes, tugging at the collar of his shirt. He was half ready to take off his shirt but he couldn't with his hands full. And for a very stupid reason.

Natsu moaned miserably, his face green, as Gray dragged him along unceremoniously, oblivious to the strange stares they were attracting. Happy flew behind them cheerfully, munching on a fish, completely unaware that he could be helping Gray. It was a lovely day at Hargeon Port but Gray felt that couldn't really help on this mission, unless they got attacked by Minerva or anyone that was helping her.

Mira had told the three teams to split up and go to particular places where significant events took place and to rely on their dragon slayer's instincts but Gray highly doubted that he could rely on Natsu's instincts while Natsu was puking his guts out. Gray scowled at his friends and continued scouring the area for any clues. However, as he hadn't even been there when Lucy met Natsu, he couldn't do much.

"Natsu! You squinty eyed bastard, get up and walk yourself! What are we even meant to be looking for?" Gray complained, dumping the travel-sick boy onto a bench. "We got off the boat an hour ago! How are you still sick?"

"Ugh."

Gray rolled his eyes and scanned the area. There were some shops and restaurants around but nothing that stood out to him. Though Gray didn't know what he was actually looking for.

He sighed. "Why am I always stuck with this idiot?"

In the Worth Woodsea, Wendy walked alongside Erza and Carla. All three had decided that they would visit the places that Lucy went to during their adventures defeating the Oracion Seis but the problem was that the forest was so vast and untamed that they didn't really recognise half the places they went to.

Wendy sniffed the air a little. Not many scents lingered from their battles with Oracion Seis as it was almost eight years ago but the three recognised some of the magical signatures of their friends. Wendy could sense Natsu's dragon slayer magic in random places and Gray's ice magic but she had yet to sense some celestial magic. Carla had had a bit of a premonition and they knew to find a body of water but that could be a creek, lake or river anywhere in the Worth Woodsea. The group's initial determination was slowly fading, replaced by a heightened sense of frustration.

The three continued to walk under the searing sun until Wendy stopped them, her hand resting on Erza's arm.

"Wendy? Is something wrong?"

Wendy frowned and listened with her sensitive dragon slayer hearing. "Do you hear that?"

The three stilled. Slowly, they heard the sounds of trickling water.

Gajeel was not a happy chappy.

First of all, he'd been sent on some stupid mission to save bunny-girl's memories. Who cared about memories? Memories meant sentiment and sentiment was for losers anyway. Then, those stupid nerd researchers (though he'd never say that to Mira's face) had told him that he had to have a 'partner'. Pantherlily was his partner! But no, they had to send someone else along with the two of them. To be honest, the company wasn't too bad; Gajeel just felt like throwing a tantrum.

Juvia ambled alongside her friend, a little upset that she hadn't been allowed to go with Gray-sama. But, sadly, neither of them were dragon slayers so there was no point going with each other. Juvia thought about the blonde back in Magnolia. Lucy was honestly a kind friend and now that Juvia knew for certain that she did not have feelings for her Gray-sama and probably had feelings for a certain pink-haired dragon slayer, Juvia would do her best to help her friend.

The trio walked through the vegetation on the island of Tenroujima. The three had been a little nervous to, once again, step foot on the island after the incident with the seven years but Juvia had fearlessly charged ahead for the sake of her friend, leaving Lily and Gajeel with no choice but to follow her.

The three reached an area where there were eight cave openings. "The routes from the exam," Juvia realised, as they peered into the caves. "Which did Lucy take?"

Gajeel sniffed experimentally. "Can't smell her anymore. Too long ago. The whole place just smells funny. It can't have been Route E though. Salamander took that coz he thought Titania was there."

Lily sighed. "We have to look through the rest of them then?"

Juvia nodded. "When in doubt, start from the top."

Lucy sprinted faster. Explosions tore holes in the ground around her but she dodged them and continued running. The city buildings crumbed around her. She didn't know where she was running to but she knew she had to get there fast. Why? She had no clue.

There was a colossal roar as she screeched to a stop. She heard a familiar voice scream her name but before she could figure out who it was, a giant claw slammed her through the walls of a building.

Lucy felt strange. She knew she was in pain and couldn't move a muscle but she didn't feel like she was in her body and she kept blacking out. After what seemed like hours but could have been minutes, a young man with pink hair picked his way through the rubble towards her. He shouted her name but she couldn't recognise him. He glanced down at his hand and for the first time, Lucy realised she was holding a brown notebook. The man took it from her hands before she could say anything and the world dissolved into darkness.

When Lucy woke again, a dark figure loomed over her. She knew, for some strange reason, that this person was not here with good intentions. The woman gave her a humourless smile and raised her gloved hands, chanting in another language, as a sharp light burned Lucy's eyes, searing into her brain. She felt a scream leave her mouth as the pain intensified to a torturous level and she felt like every part of her was being unmade.

Lucy woke with a jerk. It was that dream again. She'd started having the dream after the little teams of dragon slayers had left but she hadn't worried about it until she got the same dream two nights in a row. This was the third night she had had the same dream and she knew she ought to consult Mira or Levy about it but she was still trying to decipher it herself. However, every time she tried to focus on the details, the dream would trickle away and leave her with nothing but a blank mind. She thought the dream was important but she couldn't be sure without knowing all the details.

There was a man in there who had….strange coloured hair. Green? Purple? Pink? Rainbow? Who knew? Lucy certainly didn't and she was feeling increasingly frustrated at her lost memories.

The blonde mage made her way to the guild after a quick bath and found the guild busy as usual. Mira had returned as the barmaid though Lisanna was still helping out. Levy and her nerdy troops had disbanded for now so Levy was sitting alone on a bench, going through thick volumes with a vicious intensity, aided by her Gale-Force reading glasses.

Lucy gave her blue haired friend a cheerful wave before heading to the bar, where Lisanna already had a strawberry milkshake prepared for her.

"Thanks, Lisanna!"

The three girls chatted amicably with one another as the sun rose higher in the sky. Lucy spent the rest of the day in a similar fashion until the guild doors opened slowly and a silhouette stood against the light of the setting sun. Mira stopped her conversation to greet the figure, who hadn't moved from his spot at the doorway.

"Hello! Can I help you?"

Gray, Natsu and Happy had wandered around for three days and hadn't found any sign of Lucy's memories. They assumed that it would be emitting faint traces of Lucy's magic so the trio were looking in every nook and cranny of Hargeon Port. The sun rose high in the deep blue sky as the three collapsed on a bench near a restaurant. Gray peered around.

"Hey…this is where we were before, at the beginning. We've already looked here."

Natsu groaned in response, face down on the bench. "I'm hungry…let's eat first!"

Gray waited for Happy's, "Aye!" but it never came. The ice mage looked at the blue cat in confusion. "Happy?"

Happy's eyes were wide as he looked around him. His eyes landed on the name of the restaurant they were sitting next to. And he freaked.

"NATSU! GRAY! Natsu, Natsu, Natsu!" Happy then proceeded to fly rapidly in front of their faces, as if it would make them understand the mystery that was his mind. "IT'S THIS PLACE!"

"Huh?" Natsu peered at the restaurant. "What is it?"

"They have really good fish, Natsu! Remember when we came here with Lucy when we first met her and I ordered ten plates of fish then got five more because I realised she was paying?" Happy was flying increasingly faster in his excitement. Natsu's eyes lit up.

"Oh yeah! This place has really good food!"

Gray sighed.

Then he stiffened. Lucy?

"Wait, Happy! Did you just say you went here with Lucy?"

The cat nodded obliviously. Gray gave a cry of frustration. "You couldn't have said that earlier!?"

"Why? Is it important?"

Gray almost cried. "We're here looking for Lucy's memories, in case you forgot! Levy said that her memories are probably hidden in places she's been. The memories could be in that restaurant!"

A look of comprehension dawned on the cat's face. "Oh! I thought we were doing that on day one, then finding good food for the rest of the trip!"

Gray banged his forehead on a brick wall.

Natsu bolted up from his position on the bench. "Oh! We're looking for Lucy's memories in places she's been! It could be in that restaurant!"

Gray cried.

The three females had been walking around the Worth Woodsea for almost four days. They'd found multiple streams but none of them had been the ones that Angel and Lucy had fought at. They were growing rather depressed at their lack of progress but Erza told the two entertaining stories every night of the other members of Fairy Tail and the guild's adventures, before Wendy and Carla had joined. Apparently, Erza had an evil, teasing side. Wendy and Carla couldn't say they were surprised.

The three had grown quite comfortable around each other and had reached another waterfall when Erza stopped, a strange expression on her face.

"Erza-san?"

"We're close."

The other two blinked and followed Erza, who waded into the water until she reached the waterfall. Wendy and Carla hovered next to her, Carla's pure white wings flapping gently. Erza's eyes followed the plummeting water to the very top of the waterfall.

"Lucy's magical presence is stronger here than in other places. Still weak, but more traceable. We'll have to investigate at the top. Requip: Black Wing Armour!"

The trio flew to the top with a rush of air and landed on the banks of a stream. Lucy's faint magical signature surrounded them. Wendy looked around, intrigued.

"What do we do now?"

Erza requipped back into her regular armour. "We find Lucy's memories. And we don't leave until we find them."

"Hmph."

Gajeel sat in a corner of the cave, arms crossed and scowling expression intact. Juvia only rolled her eyes at the dragon slayer and turned to Lily, who was shaking in the corner of the cave, paws covering his ears. Another flash of lightning tore through the darkness and rain outside the cave. Lily closed his eyes in anticipation, which didn't silence his whimper as the thunder rumbled intimidatingly. Juvia scowled at her companions.

"Gajeel-kun! We must move soon. We have spent three days in this cave and haven't even gotten to Route C! We have only explored two of the routes! Juvia would like to move on to help Lucy. These things need to happen quickly, Gajeel-kun, and we never used to be affected by trivial things like the weather."

Gajeel's scowl intensified to impossibly high levels. "We can't move coz Lily's scared of the thunder and we're not leaving him behind. Deal with it, Lockser!"

Juvia's glare rivalled that of Erza's. "We leave in ten minutes."

Gajeel tried not to look intimidated and failed and fifteen minutes later, they were well on their way exploring Route C. The three tensed as the route opened up into a large cavern.
"This is Lucy's…magical signature…" Juvia stared at the cavern in astonishment. Gajeel grunted.

"Let's get to work finding those damn memories then."

The figure in the doorway of the guild walked forwards slowly, head bowed slightly. He wore a large coat over his shoulders despite the heat and had strange earphones on, with a lightning shaped scar running down the length of his face. Lucy had no idea who he was but everyone else in the guild looked at the figure in astonishment. Mira's eyes widened.

"Laxus?"

So chapter 8 is done!

You guys have no idea how excited I was to write that last little section ^_^ Yay, Laxus! I'd appreciate any reviews; let me know if the changing scenes and stuff was confusing and I'll keep your feedback in mind for next chapter.

P.S. Next chapter may be sometime during the week or on the weekend...depends on the workload at school! But if I don't post chapter 9 during the week, it'll probably be back to weekly updates.