After her encounter with Laxus, Lucy became too much deep into her thoughts to even focus on her job. She wandered until the town's park, where some couples were taking a stroll. Sitting on a bench, she went to stare at her new music lacrima, thinking about that random encounter with Laxus.

Who would have thought that she would meet him like that. Lucy didn't know why, but she couldn't take him out of her head, just like during that one time at Akane Beach. However, this time, there was a very big difference. Back then, she would react with a mix of physical attraction and pure disgust, something that left her otherwise confused with such conflictive feelings. Not to mention that, in all those times, Lucy was more like a prey to Laxus who had such satisfaction in stealing her a kiss that completely left her without knowing what to do, a feeling that she hoped to never experience again.

However, that moment at the music shop was totally different. Laxus was respectful and his voice was now calmer and smoother without that scornful and arrogant tone. All that made Lucy forget about the disgust she used to feel about him. But, without the disgust, all that was left now was her attraction to him. She could finally admire him without having his brain telling her to stop. Perhaps that was the reason why she was all awkward with him. Despite that, she still remembered that forced kiss, something that was still holding her back regarding her own feelings for him.

It was then that reality came and hit her hard. Why was she even pondering about a possibility of being able to admire Laxus without having to worry about him being the jerk and the perv he used to be? Just the embarrassment of making herself that very question made Lucy to become slightly red.

"What am I doing?!" she asked, herself, as she shook her head to help her focus. "I can't be here thinking about Laxus! Come on, I have a job to do… I need to focus on it."

She then got up, ready to continue her investigation… when suddenly, a delicate aroma started to surround her.

"What the…" Lucy said, a bit confused and curious. "This aroma… Is it from the flowers? No… it's just too strong… But…"

The more Lucy inhaled that sweet aroma, the more numbed she felt her mind become. Not just that, but the sweetness of the aroma was starting to become too much irresistible. And just like that, it was as if the control she had over her body had been turned off and her awareness became foggy. All she knew is that she had to follow that aroma… She needed to follow that aroma… Without any control over herself, she just started walking… Her music lacrima just fell to the grass…

Elsewhere, Laxus was walking away from the town when he, all of the sudden, had a bad feeling that made him turn around to Amaryll. He has had it when he was in town, as if something there was lurking in the shadows. However, he didn't pay much attention to it, but now… He couldn't help but feeling that he should investigate it…


Meanwhile, on the train that was going for Amaryll, Natsu, Happy, Erza and Grey were heading to the town to meet up with Lucy. Like always, Natsu was not feeling well because of his motion sickness that caused him to lie on the chairs in an almost passed out state. Meanwhile, Happy was on Erza's lap, who was sitting beside Grey.

"I know Natsu was a jerk to Lucy and that this mission is not exactly easy, but should we really go there?" Gray asked Erza. "Lucy may get even more upset just for us to show up."

"That's Lucy for you…" Happy commented.

"You're right, Lucy may get even more upset" Erza replied. "But this is not just about Natsu apologizing."

"You're worry about her…" Gray started. "Look, Lucy may not be as strong as us, but she can handle herself."

"If it was another type of job, maybe…" Erza said. "I have no doubts about her capabilities… But this mission she took… I've heard something similar happening in other towns a few weeks back."

"Really?" Gray asked.

"Yeah…" Erza said. "Young girls… simply disappearing out of thin air… Because it was just one or two each time and there was no visible connection between the victims, there was no reason to make any link between the cases. But the more I look into them, the more similarities I notice. In fact, I was thinking in taking the job in Amaryll myself to see if my suspicions were right."

"So… what are your thoughts about it?" Gray asked.

"For them to make girls to disappear just like that, then they must use some kind of magic that allows them to subdue them without them even fight back" Erza said. "Especially if we consider they could target someone that could use magic."

"You're right" Gray agreed. "If their targets fought back, they would call too much attention."

"Does that mean they use some kind of magic to lure them or to put them to sleep?" Happy asked Erza.

"Most likely… probably even both" Erza said. "They must also be using some magic to keep themselves out of sight and to keep their targets subdued."

"It makes sense…" Gray told. "They can't exactly go around with kidnapped victims."

At that moment, both Erza and Gray noticed that Happy was making a thinking face.

"What is it, Happy?" Gray asked.

"I don't know… But this kind of sounds familiar to me…" he replied.

"You mean you recognize the case?" Erza asked.

"It's just… a déjà-vu" Happy replied. "But I just… can't put my paw in it…"

"Well, if it's familiar to you, maybe it is familiar to Natsu too" Erza said. "You two are always together, after all."

They turned to Natsu who was moaning as he felt his head light and dizzy with all the motion sickness he was feeling in such a way that he couldn't even talk.

"Well… maybe we can ask him after we get off the train" Erza said.

"Even then I doubt he will be any helpful" Gray told, in his teasing way. "If Happy can't remember things, then Natsu won't be the one to remember it. That guy's memory is even worse than a goldfish."

Despite being too much sick with motion sickness, Natsu was able to notice Gray's mockery and tried to talk back at him, but his current state prevented him from doing it.

"Now that's how I like things… for me to talk and for you not talk back" Gray teased Natsu.

Natsu tried to talk back at Gray again, only to fail because of the motion sickness, causing his friends to drop a chuckle.


At Amaryll, Lucy continued to follow the sweet aroma. She didn't know why she was doing that, only that she needed to do it. As she moved outside the path of the park, a mist started to involve her. Not so long after she entered the mist, she got out of it, right into an area that looked like a clearing surrounded by it. After she entered the clearing, the sweet aroma ceased and Lucy was able to regain her self-awareness. Confused, she asked:

"But… where am I?"

"On our web, little fly" a voice said.

Hearing that voice, Lucy couldn't help but finding it familiar. In fact, she couldn't help but feeling a chill running up her spine as she heard it. However, she couldn't think much about it, as she noticed as many men with nasty looks. It didn't take much for Lucy to realize she had fallen for their trap. By the way she was swayed into that place without even realizing it, she concluded they were the ones responsible for the disappeared girls.

Instinctively, Lucy proceeded to grab her keys, when suddenly a fiery whip surrounded itself around her wrist and pulled her hand forward, making her fall on her knees.

"No, no, no… We won't have that trick again…"

It was then that Lucy noticed the fire that was holding her. With that, together with the voice she just heard, she was able to put together who she was dealing with.

"Oh no… not you…"

She turned to look at the same man she encountered during the first time she met Natsu and Happy, the one pretending to be Fairy Tail's Salamander and using a Charm Ring to lure girls and use a Sleep Ring to subdue them as he took them to Bosco: Bora, a former member of the Titan Nose Guild.

At the public part of the park, Laxus had arrived to the place where Lucy was before being lured by the sweet aroma, following both his instinct and a strange magic energy that was still in the air. He quickly noticed the music lacrima that was on the grass and picked it up, realizing then that something was up.

Back at the clearing, Bora said to Lucy in a taunting way, while flicking his hair:

"I'm touched that you still remember me… I guess that is to be understandable… I did make a huge impression on you…"

"In your dreams…" Lucy replied. "You're a loser that needed charms to seduce a woman… Wait, I stand corrected… You still need them, judging by the way you lure me here…"

"And I have you and that firebrain friend of yours to thank for that" Bora said, as he approached Lucy. "After you two exposed my ruse, no one else fell for it. I needed a new approach… and that's how I came up with a new system. One of my men converts the magic of my Charm Ring into an aroma so we can lure our prey into this special barrier. After that… well, just take a look."

He snapped his fingers to one of his men that was carrying a box and he opened it, revealing something that left Lucy shocked. The box was filled with dolls. However, those dolls were not like any other. Lucy could feel a little of magic coming out of them and their eyes looked too much vivid to be made of plane glass.

"It can't be…" Lucy muttered.

"Don't fret" Bora replied, as he squatted in front of Lucy to be near her level. "They are perfectly fine… Once we manage to get out of Fiore and get to Bosco, they will be brought back to their beautiful bodies."

"You're disgusting…" Lucy said.

"Come on, don't make that face, it doesn't suit you…" Bosco teased, has he raised Lucy's chin. "Besides, I still have space for one more doll… I was expecting something nice, but when I saw you earlier, I knew I had to have you… the one that got away."

"If you think I am going to let you have me…" Lucy started.

"And what do you expect to do?" Bosco asked, provokingly. "This special fire of mine is burning away your magical energy bit by bit…And you don't have your friend here to help you."

After he said that, Lucy realized she could have bit off more than she could chew when she accepted to do that job alone. Not just she was outnumbered and had been subdued, but she could indeed feel her magic depleting. At her current state, and if she managed somehow to free herself, she wouldn't have enough energy to summon Loke. If she summoned Taurus, she would endanger the girls they had captured (not to mention the fact Taurus would probably be pervier than usual) and she knew Cancer probably wouldn't be great against a group of wizards that also included Bora. There was only one spirit that could help her… but first, she needed to free herself.

"It was nice to have this chit chat with you, beauty, but I'm afraid we'll have to go for the good stuff" Bora replied. "Maybe I'll keep you as a doll… so we can keep on playing together."

But before he could do anything, Lucy made her move, quickly kicking Bora whose loss of focus caused her fire to become undone, freeing her. Getting up and taking her whip, Lucy took advantage of the element of surprise to use her whip to grab the box with the captured girls and pull it to her, grabbing it and then retreating to keep her distance from Bora and his men.

"You naughty girl…" Bora said, as he got up. "You will pay for this…"

"I think I should be the one to say that…" Lucy replied, as she took one of her gold keys. "Open, Gate of the Maiden… Virgo!"

Her key glow, releasing then an intense light from where Virgo appeared, making her usual bow to Lucy, saying:

"At your service, Princess… Is it punishment time?"

"Yes… for this scum" she replied.


AN: In this story, I decided to opt for the manga version of Bora, the one where he was a female slave trader and not a model scout. I think it would work better to have Lucy to face a foe from the past. I hope you have enjoyed.