Elfman was leant on the fence which surrounded Fairy Hills, tapping his foot on the pavement in front of him. He hadn't brought any bags, they hadn't needed it the last time so he assumed they wouldn't need it this time either. He heard Evergreen's footsteps come down the path, and turned around slowly before having to take a moment to digest what he saw in front of him.

Evergreen was wearing sports leggings and a fitted crop top, her hair scraped back into a ponytail as she walked up to him. He took a moment to collect his thoughts as he handed her the coffee and sausage roll he had brought with him. They had opted to get an early night and a good rest the night before, and neither trusted the other to allow them to rest properly if they shared a bed.

"You look… different."

Evergreen scoffed, taking a bite out of the roll as she started to head towards the docks.

"You know, if you weren't so dense it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that my normal attire isn't actually the best for fighting in. I thought I would get as much as an advantage as possible."

Elfman nodded. It was a pretty good idea, if he came to think of it.

"Did you sleep well, at least?"

She nodded, starting to drink her coffee as they walked side by side along the street.

"And your magic reserves? All filled up?"

Elfman himself was brimming with magic, and he could feel it darting across his skin like a cool breeze. Then again, he hadn't used much in the last week. He watched as Evergreen's wings materialised, unfurling slowly and flapping on the breeze although she didn't take to the air. Elfman watched them, almost mesmerised as they glittered softly in the sunlight. Even in these more conservative clothes she was still shockingly beautiful. He was pulled out of his thoughts as she began to speak, slowly as if she was considering her words.

"Not as high as before, but still good. We may make it through the first round after all."

She chuckled slightly, but Elfman felt the tension underneath it. He could see the boat up ahead, and while they weren't the last to arrive it was still full of their guildmates, both those competing and those seeing them off. He grabbed her arm, maybe too roughly by the yelp she gave and turned her to face him.

"Evergreen. Before we go."

She looked at him in annoyance, before turning her attention back to her coffee.

"Whatever happens out there, it doesn't matter. I am so so proud of you, and I know everyone else is too."

Her face softened slightly, but she still refused to meet his eye as he bent down to place his forehead on hers.

"Whether we come home S-Class or not, I still love you."

"I just don't understand why we have to be on a boat, Luce! Can't you have Virgo just take us there or something?"

Lucy glared at her partner so she could keep from laughing, his pitiful whining as funny as it was annoying.

"I've told you, Natsu! She can come anywhere I am, but I'd have to be ON THE ISLAND in order to call her!"

The Dragon Slayer groaned, turning green just from looking up at the boat next to them. They were still standing on solid ground, but his stupid motion sickness was already acting up. Suddenly, he brightened, grabbing Lucy's shoulders and staring into her eyes.

"I know! Call her and make her stay here with me! When you get to the island, you can call her again and she can bring me!"

She tried. Really she did. He looked so hopeful and scared at the same time, she really didn't mean to laugh so loudly. Natsu wilted, his hands dropping to his sides before he just gave up and sat down in the middle of the street.

"I really am sorry, Natsu. I don't know that I would be able to do that and still have any magic power left afterwards. I don't ever have my spirits summoned for that long, or at such a great distance! I'll see what I can do though. The other Dragon Slayers all seem to have a plan, maybe I can get someone to share."

Lucy reached down to run her hand through his hair as she looked around, a soft smile on her face. Her partner just sat there pouting, his arms crossed over his stomach as if he was already nauseous. Maybe he was. As she looked towards the ship, she saw her best friend jumping over the side, waving at Juvia. Lucy ran forward quickly, coming together with the bluenettes in a warm hug, all three of them beginning to babble excitedly about the upcoming trial. She had a few minutes to catch up before asking Levy, everyone else wasn't here yet.

Carrying Wendy was so much easier than carrying Gajeel. It wasn't just the weight, either. Wendy had cast a support spell on him, which was useful, but also she didn't wriggle as much as Gajeel did. At least, that's what he told her when he insisted he didn't mind carrying her to the docks when she had overslept.

In all fairness, it was probably his fault. He had probably been training her too hard. They had amped up their training towards the end of the week, and although he had let her go early the night before she was probably so exhausted from the week in general the early night hadn't done much. An idea came to him to give the girl a little bit of fun, and he grinned as he worked out how to do it.

"Hang on, I'm going to drop us down."

Lily muttered in her ear as he started circling the boat. Once she nodded so he knew that she'd heard him, Lily lined them up over the center of the foredeck, circled a little lower, and then just closed his wings. Wendy let out an excited shriek that devolved into giggles as the boat rushed up at them. As they came even with the mast, Pantherlily snapped his wings open again, leaning back to toss the girl above him, which of course made her shriek again. He immediately shifted to his larger form, landing on the deck with a THUMP and throwing his arms out to catch her. Wendy settled into his arms as if they'd planned and practiced the maneuver a hundred times, still giggling uncontrollably.

The Exceed smiled at her before setting her on the deck, preparing to shift back to his smaller form. He paused though, when her happiness faded almost instantly, one hand flying to her stomach.

"The boat isn't even moving yet! Why?"

Her voice was so pitiful, he scooped her up again, settling her onto his shoulder and walking towards the gangplank.

"Why don't I fly above the ship once we get going? I can carry you at least most of the way, it won't be a problem. I'm sorry, I should have remembered that you have the same sensitivity as Gajeel."

Wendy patted his head, scratching slightly as she smiled at him.

"That's alright, Lily! You shouldn't waste so much energy flying!"

The Exceed settled her on the dock before finally changing back to his smaller form.

"It's nothing, really. You're very easy to carry. I'm just going to talk to Gajeel for a bit, and I'll come grab you when we're ready to go."

The Dragon Slayer nodded to her partner before heading over to sit next to Natsu.

"Good job, cat. Try to show off an' end up makin' yer partner sick."

Lily rolled his eyes as he walked up to his friend, ignoring the dig.

"I was just trying to entertain the child. Not show off."

Gajeel just snorted, leaning against the railing of the ship and crossing his arms over his chest. Lily silently hopped up next to him.

"So. How'd the kid do?"

Juvia was practically skipping as she made her way along the sea front towards the docks. Gray hung back slightly, perfectly happy to simply watch her as she danced along the sand. The training had gone well, despite the few acid burns that still adorned his skin. Meredy had told him Juvia had excelled, nudging him with an elbow and whispering in his ear that it might be best not to wind her up too much anymore. But the sun was shining ahead, as good an indicator as any that Juvia was in high spirits.

They got to the end of the beach, and Gray had to make steps in order to get back up onto the docks. He held his hand out to Juvia, even though he knew she could hold herself steady perfectly well, and kept a hold of it even when they were back on solid ground.

They had barely made it to the boat before Juvia was barrelled up in an embrace with Lucy on one side, and Levy on the other. Gray couldn't help but smile as Juvia giggled, wrapping her arms around each of their shoulders as they were whisked up onto the boat, Wendy following along not far behind. Something creeped at the back of Gray's mind that he really fucking hoped she would be able to fight them when the time came but he also knew that at the end of the day, when all this was over, they would all need to fight as a team again. Juvia would give it her all, if not for herself then for him, and that's all he could ask for.

"How has your training gone?"

Erza's voice came from his left and he turned around to look her in the eyes before crossing his arms in front of him. The redhead was in her bikini already, but Gray couldn't complain as he did a quick stock check of his body and realised he was currently shirtless.

"It's gone… well. We focused on Juvia, I guess. Went to visit Jellal actually."

Erza hummed, and Gray instantly realised that she already knew that. It wasn't the biggest secret on the planet that she spent many a night talking to the man on the lacrima, he supposed it wasn't too much of a stretch that he would have told her. He just hoped the man hadn't said too much, it was entirely possible the two of them would come up against Erza in the trials and he didn't want to show all of his cards just yet. Not that Juvia probably wouldn't tell everyone as soon as she was asked.

"Well, I'm happy for you Gray. You both deserve S-Class you've worked so hard for it. Just remember you need to keep your cool and Juvia needs to… lose it."

It was an odd choice of words, and Gray was almost certain Jellal had let the cat out of the bag. Erza didn't elaborate though, simply smiling again as she walked off, probably to bother someone else. He sighed, glancing around the assembled guild members before deciding it was probably best to just get on the boat.

"There. That should keep you settled. Oh! There's Juvia! I'll be right back!"

Gajeel opened his mouth to say something as the bluenette took off across the deck of the ship, but he just snapped his mouth shut again. There was no stopping the woman when she was on a mission, and apparently that's what she was doing. He'd just have to thank her when they got to the island again. He wasn't really going to mention that he wasn't motion sick, he didn't want the bunny girl asking Levy for help. There was a very real possibility that she'd help the other Dragon Slayer, and Gajeel didn't want her wasting any more magic than she had to. Besides, watching the Salamander's struggle was going to be hilarious.

Across the boat, the females had huddled together, catching up on their weeks. Each of their training partners had been so focused and kept them too busy for much time with each other. Eventually, after a few minutes of pleasantries and realising they still had some time Lucy dropped her voice to a whisper to try and keep it a secret.

"Levy, I need to ask you something. How are you planning on combatting Gajeel's motion sickness?"

Levy smiled, she always loved talking about her magic and the new things she had learned. She pulled a notebook out of her bag, and flicked through a few pages until she found the one she wanted. Lucy saw a few runes written on the page in a handwriting that definitely wasn't Levy's.

"I… borrowed... this notebook from Freed a couple of weeks ago, and these runes should stop the motion sickness. Seems pretty long term too, it should last until we journey back so if there are any vehicles on the island we won't need to reapply them. If I give you this you can…"

She was halfway through handing the book over when a large body shoved in between them, snatching the book up in his hands before holding it above his head.

"I'll take that, thank you…"

Both girls looked up as Laxus walked towards the back of the boat, waving the notebook in the air as he did and Lucy swore. Maybe they had all underestimated just how sensitive the Dragon Slayer's hearing could be.

"It's okay, Lu-chan, I can still remember how to do them it just means I will have to do it for…"

"No, you won't. You need all your energy for the trials."

Of course, if Laxus had heard their conversation Gajeel would as well. He stood behind Levy with his arms crossed and Lucy deflated. Obviously, this wasn't going to work. Levy shot her an apologetic look, Juvia covering her own mouth as she began to giggle, and she knew that the smaller girl would not be helping her out. She would have to find another way.

Freed and Cana were down in the hold of the ship, Cana studying her cards while Freed drew various runes across the two of them. Each symbol tingled as he drew them with his fingers across her skin, and if she was honest it made concentrating fairly difficult. He had already written many of them throughout the week, trying to spread out his use of magic power, but he insisted that these didn't take up too much of his magic and they absolutely had to be done last minute. Cana allowed herself a slight smile. She had gotten herself the only person who could prepare this much for the trials, and there was a chance that she could actually win this year. And she was taking Freed with her.

He had already drawn a number of runes across Laxus' bare stomach, when they had been the only ones there along with the S-Class wizards. It had been hard to subdue a chuckle as the rune mage settled in between the Dragon Slayer's legs to do it, and even harder to bite back a sarcastic comment but she had managed it. Freed insisted he was the leader of Laxus' body guards first and foremost, and that included protecting him from motion sickness. He had, however, explained to Cana that he had temporarily waived all of the runes that usually covered his teammates, with their permission of course. In the interest of fair play he had also removed ones that would have benefitted him, such as the tracking runes on Evergreen or the runes that alerted him whenever Bickslow got too close. Cana decided not to ask too much about that one. She tried to ignore the twinge of sadness when she realised she had no one like that. Sure everyone in the guild were family to her, but she had no teammates. No one to watch her back. Which had become starkly apparent when the time came to choose a partner for the trials.

"Do you know why we have been delayed so much?"

His voice was a low whisper, obviously still trying to hide the fact he was down here from all of his competitors. And Gildarts too, come to think of it. Cana gathered her cards back into a deck and allowed her magic to flow through her fingers as she shuffled them, finding the cards she needed and throwing them onto the table in front of her.

"It looks like Lisanna and Bickslow haven't made it here yet. Master is waiting for them."

Freed chuckled quietly as he moved to her back, drawing larger runes across the skin there.

"You know, I don't know what I was expecting."

C'mon, Bickslow. Even if you don't come yourself don't drag her down with you.

He had thought Bickslow had gotten over this. He never would have nominated him for S-Class if he didn't. But the hurried conversation he'd had with Lisanna a couple of nights ago told him different. Maybe Bickslow wasn't ready? Maybe he was that terrified little boy again.

Laxus chewed his bottom lip as he paced the deck of the ship, hoping that no one else noticed. He was the Thunder God! He shouldn't be affected by this, by anything! But he was, and he hated to admit it. His three closest friends, and by extension their other halves, genuinely meant the world to him.

"Can you not keep closer grips on your little pets?"

Laxus growled as he looked up to see Gildarts stood in the middle of the boat, careful not to touch anything around him at all. Good. Can't have the clumsy old fool destroying the ship before it even set sail.

"Shut up, old man."

Laxus wanted to send him packing to find Cana, but he didn't want to give Freed any trouble. He wasn't even sure if Gildarts knew who she had teamed up with, the two of them had been almost non contactable since the nominations were announced.

"He is kinda your responsibility, isn't he? You don't see my kid being late, do you?"

Laxus growled, but it hit him hard. The Raijinshuu were his responsibility, and without Freed to keep him in check Bickslow could be halfway across the country by now. When was the last time anyone had spoken to him? Maybe he should go and find Freed… Gildarts must have seen the worry on his face because he stopped teasing the Dragon Slayer and even had the humility to look kind of sheepish at what he had done.

Laxus took a deep breath in order to fight back, when a very familiar scent started to fill his nose. He sniffed again, sure that he had got it wrong. The air smelt overwhelmingly of the sea, along with the assorted scents of all of the guild member's around him but he always had been better at smelling out the Raijinshuu for some reason. But… that shouldn't be right. He shouldn't be coming from that way. Laxus turned slowly, looking over the side of the boat and out across the sea before sighing heavily.

His nose hadn't been lying. Out in the distance he could see two figures slowly getting closer and closer, one stood across what looked like a column and the other flapping two wings. What the fuck had they been doing for them to be coming from that direction? After a few minutes Natsu started whooping and hollering when he caught a hold of their scents as well, and soon everyone was waving at their guild mates as they made their way over to the boat, Bickslow starting to show off as he got closer. The Sieth started to jump from totem to totem, flipping in the air each time and getting bolder the closer he got before he finally jumped free of his totems all together, dismounting and landing upside down on top of the sails. Usually, he knew people wouldn't bother applauding but there was already just an excited atmosphere and he could just as easily pretend it was all for him.

Lisanna touched down gently next to Laxus, who looked down at her incredulously.

"Where the fuck have you been?"

Lisanna just shrugged, smirking up at him before tapping the side of her nose.

"That's our little secret, isn't it?"

Laxus sighed, about to say something more before his grandfather shouted that they were about to set sail, and his attention was taken up by laughing at Natsu as he was dragged almost screaming onto the boat by Lucy.

"Thirty-Four"

Droy looked over at Jet as the two of them stared at the horizon that the boat had disappeared over a long time ago. They had stayed in a comfortable silence, both sat on the edge of the dock as the rest of the guild had slowly filtered away and left them alone. Droy made a questioning noise, not really feeling like asking anything further.

"That's how old we're gonna be when she comes back this time."

Droy suddenly knew what he was talking about. It was a concern that had rippled around the guild in the last week, and it hadn't evaded those who were on the boat either. He didn't think either Makarov or Macao knew that he heard the two of them talking about provisions that would be made if the boat never returned. He didn't think he would ever be able to stay if Levy was gone for almost a decade again.

"It probably won't be…"

"We thought that last time, Droy. We thought it would be a week, tops. Then no longer than a month. Or a year. We were wrong then, and we can fucking be wrong again."

Droy didn't know what to say, looking down at the choppy waves in front of him as they hit into the side of the dock. Maybe they should have gone with her? But what was the chance of hiding on the boat with all the Dragon Slayers there? His hand moved over to where Jet's rested on the stone, encompassing it in his in what he hoped would be a comforting way. Jet simply squeezed his fingers for a second and didn't speak again.

Training is over, and the actual trials will be starting soon! This is so so much fun to write, I can't put it into words!
We both love all of your reviews, and all of your theories. Feel free to keep them coming in!

Until next week! *less than three*