The lovely town of Amaryll… located at a privileged location with an uncanny beauty, this town, much like the red blossoms of the flower it was named after (the amaryllis), is known to be the start of many love stories. Because of that, many young women visit it in hopes of finding true love.

Lucy arrived to the town and, after meeting with its mayor about the job to know its specifics and then settling on her hotel room, started walking through the town.

"Okay… so apparently some young women around town have been disappearing out of thin air" she said, as she read the notes that was given to her, as she walked through the town. "That is strange… How can someone just disappear out of thin air? And it was just young women… It can only be some kind of magic. But what magic is capable of doing this? And, more importantly, who is doing this… and why?"

Trying to solve a problem like that one was proving to be quite a challenge, as there were not that many clues. And even if she discovered how the young women were disappearing, how would she solve it? Despite all the knowledge she had, Lucy clearly still lacked the mental flexibility that her more experienced guildmates have. Perhaps, if Erza was there, she would easily be able to know what was going on there. And no matter what was causing that, for sure that Natsu and Gray (along with Erza) would be able to take down all enemies that crossed their way. Even Happy would be so useful thanks to his Aera magic.

Realizing she was already thinking how her teammates would be able to help her, Lucy started trying not thinking about them.

"Come on, Lucy, you can do this!" she exclaimed. "You're smart and resourceful. You can figure this out. Maybe I just need to clear my mind of things."

At that moment, she reached a music shop and said to herself:

"That's it! I can relax listening to some music. I bet there's even something I can buy there."

She entered the shop, while greeting the nice man at the counter. Lucy started inspecting the many music lacrimas that were in store there. Music lacrimas are round lacrimas of many colors that are able to store music in them and then can be played thanks to special devices or else transfer the music inside to other storage devices. Lucy looked around and then saw one lacrima that she immediately recognized.

"No way…" she said, as she picked up a red music lacrima inside a box that contained the image of a heart-shaped treble clef. "This lacrima is from my favorite band: Love Heart. I always loved their romantic ballads…"

Placing the box on a playing device, Lucy took the magic headphones connected to the device and started to hear one of the band's most famous songs (her favorite). She couldn't believe it she had actually found the one music lacrima that she didn't have of the Love Heart. And so she stayed a little moment listening to their song, as she let herself dwell on her inner thoughts about finding her true love.

Little did Lucy know that someone was watching her from outside the store…

Back at the guild, Erza, Gray, Natsu and Happy arrived at the guild hall, with them arriving at the counter where Mirajane was (with Natsu a little at the back, pouting a bit).

"Mira, have you seen Lucy?" Erza asked. "Someone here has an apology to tell her."

"Please, I already apologized to her… many times" Natsu mumbled, keeping his pouting look.

"We went to her house, but she was not there" Gray replied.

"What was a relief, as I really didn't want to see her angry face so soon at the morning" Happy commented.

"Well, she was here a while ago, but…" Mirajane started, nervously.

"But what?" Erza asked.

"Well… she told me what happened in your last job and… she was feeling quite down about it" Mirajane told. "So… she decided to take a job to regain her confidence."

"See?" Natsu asked. "Lucy has already moved on and went on a mission. There's no need for an…"

"Zip it…" Erza commanded, using her grave and yet intimidating voice that caused Natsu to cower.

"Yes, mam…" Natsu mumbled, terrified.

"You don't look so confident about this job she went to, Mira" Gray commented.

"Knowing Lucy, she probably went to the highest paid job she could find" Happy told. "She is so greedy that she would do it."

"What kind of job is it?" Erza asked.

"It's a missing people job on Amaryll" Mirajane replied. "I confess that I am a little worried, because Lucy matches the profile of the missing young women and she is still a little bit unexperienced…"

"I see…" Erza said, also sharing the same concern Mirajane. "Well, we're going to take the next train to Amaryll."

"What?!" Natsu asked. "Now I have to take a train just to apologize!"

But Erza simply grabbed one end of his scarf and started to pull it and, by extension, drag Natsu towards the exit:

"Okay, okay, I got it! Just let me walk, please!"

In the music shop at Amaryll, Lucy was so involved in her music that she didn't notice a big figure approaching her and then leanning over her. Suddenly, Lucy was able to feel a big shadow and the face of someone near hers. When she turned around, the person in question made her jump back by surprise.

"Laxus?!" she asked, surprised.

It was Laxus, who had his ear close to the headphone Lucy was wearing, possibly to hear what she was hearing. His own presence was surprising enough, but then Lucy noticed how different he looked. He didn't have his usual style of clothing, now wearing a dark shirt under a long light jacket closed by a simple belt, loose dark pants ending below his knees, with each end having a light band circling it, and grey boots, all while wearing a large hooded light cloak. The only thing he hadn't changed on his look was his Sound Pod.

"Please tell me that's not your taste in music" he said, while bearing a neutral face, something that Lucy was not that used to. "I mean, it kind of makes sense with you, but even so…"

Lucy was so surprised by his sudden appearance that she took a while to process what was happening.

"What… What are you doing here?" she asked.

"This is a music shop, isn't it?" he replied. "I came to see if I can get something good."

As he started to look around, Lucy, who was still recovering from the shock of meeting Laxus there, went to take off the music lacrima she was listening from the devide.

"If you're here, it's too assume that Natsu and the others are not far, right?" he asked.

"Not exactly…" Lucy said, as she continued to watch the other music lacrimas, but mostly because she didn't know what to do with Laxus there. "I… came in a solo mission."

"I see…" Laxus said, as he took a yellow music lacrima and observed it. "That explains why everything is so quiet…"

The two of them went to the counter together and they stayed quiet as the shop keeper went to attend them.

"Oh, you have a very refined taste, miss" the shop keeper told to Lucy. "And you're lucky as well… I just have one more of this one."

"Thanks… I've been hearing that for a long time…" Lucy replied, as she paid the music lacrima.

"Oh, but this young gentleman has also a very nice taste" the shop keeper commented, as Laxus paid his music lacrima. "We don't have many people that enjoy Classic Rock like this one."

But Laxus politely ignored her and then took out the lacrima from its box and then he made his Sound Pot to connect with it with its cable, causing it to download the music in it what caused the lacrima to lose its color and become blank. After that, the cable went to connect to the Magic Database.

"You can keep the lacrima and reuse it" Laxus told the shop keeper.

"Oh… thank you very much, young man" she replied, as she kept the lacrima.

After that, Laxus started heading to the exit and got out. Lucy followed him and called:

"Laxus, wait!"

He stopped and turned to Lucy who said, when she got to him:

"Are you just going away like this?"

"You said yourself, you're on a job" Laxus replied. "I don't want to get in your way… or in the way of the guild."

"I know, but…" Lucy started. "Despite everything… the guild misses you. Especially the Thunder Legion… and master Makarov. He may not show it, but we all know that he does. I was not expecting to find you here, but… now that you are, I would like to tell the others you are okay…"

There was a silence where Laxus and Lucy stared at each other. But then the former turned forward and replied:

"And now you can tell them just that. Obviously I am okay. But don't forget that I have been expelled from Fairy Tail."

"Just because you have been expelled from the guild, it doesn't mean you are not allowed to interact with us."

"Maybe… but, after everything I've done, I still have a lot to grow before I can even confront any of my former guildmates" he replied, as he started to walk away.

"If that is true… then why did you even approach me?" Lucy asked.

That caused Laxus to stop and then answer:

"Honestly… I don't even know that myself. But one thing I know is that I must go now. By the way… I'm sorry about the petrification thing. I told Evergreen to only focus on Erza, Mira and the Phantom girl, but I guess she got carried away."

"It's okay… I've already moved on from that" Lucy replied.

And so Laxus started to move away, with Lucy observing him with some sadness in her eyes. Yes, Laxus has been a total jerk to her for the most time she has known him, but now that he had showed at that moment his true side, along with the remorse he feels for his actions, Lucy could no longer hold any grudge against him.

However, watching from afar, mysterious figures were observing Lucy. However, these ones possessed a dark aura. The one leading them then said:

"Well, well, well… It looks like we found our next victim…"