Lucy reclined next to Wendy on the sofa in her room at the hotel. "So, Jellal and Erza are here too? Do you think anyone else was sucked through like we were?"

Wendy looked up at the ceiling. "I'm unsure. We really need to speak with Grandpa Crux. Is he ready for us yet?"

Lucy shook her head. "No, not yet. Another week and it will be a day I can call him up. Unless he chooses to come on his own, of course."

What went without saying was Crux was often fast asleep when he wasn't being summoned, so the odds of that happening were very low indeed.

"Well, I'm going to go and patrol Paris a bit. See if I cannot find traces of Ether other than our own." Wendy rose.

Lucy knew when it came to hearing, Wendy was the best of the Dragon Slayers after Erik. And when it came to smelling, while Natsu still had her beat for now, Wendy's power was air. And the scent was carried in the air. One day, Wendy would be the best tracker in the guild with her superior sense of smell.

"Be careful out there." Lucy sighed. "Did you see the Dark Knights this morning?"

Wendy laughed. "I had to pretend to have been turned into one. Then I sent several of the knights flying through a brick wall."

Lucy snorted. "Sounds like a plan you would come up with. I'll go and check on Adrien."

Lucy leaned in and pressed her lips to Wendy's and they shared just the briefest of kisses. Wendy gave her a lovesick smile before she ran and jumped out the window, gliding in the air as free as a bird.

"I wish I had the ability to do that." Lucy lamented as she changed into what she thought of as her 'Chloe' outfit.

She hated the bee-like look of the outfit with a passion and wished she could wear the clothing she longed to again. She briefly changed into her star dress Virgo to give her a boost of strength before changing back and heading out into the lobby.

When she arrived, she found Jagged Stone, coming back looking angry. She paused, not wanting the man to be akumatized. "What's wrong, Jagged?" She asked.

She and Wendy had found he was a pretty cool guy who nailed they were a couple right away. Wendy had also made him a pair of sunglasses that he loved so much.

"Ah, Chloe." He sighed. "Bob Roth wants me to do a duet with some kind of wannabe named XY. He's a little punk is what he is."

She grimaced. "My dad has connections with Roth, want me to see if he can persuade him out of it?"

Jagged smiled. "Thanks for the offer, but I'll handle it. Maybe I'll feed him to Fang."

Lucy laughed but then shook her head. "Please, don't do that. Have you met him?"

Jagged scratched his head. "Well, no. No one meets XY. He also doesn't do live performances. Though Roth is swearing he is doing one tonight at the Tower."

Lucy frowned. That was odd. Even a hack needed live performances. "I'll take a look into this, Jagged."

"Thanks, kid. You would be doing me a solid. Tell Marinette I said hi. Surprised she isn't here too."

"Well, she had other obligations today. I can't completely monopolize her time."

She took her leave and first went down to the record store. XY had a large selection but she noticed all of them were just musical, not lyrics. The face on the album was familiar as well, but she could not place it. She did not know anyone with the facial structure and the weird hair-do he had employed.

She then headed off to Bob Roth's studio to see if she could speak with him. As she arrived, she heard someone quite heatedly yelling at Bob Roth. Her blood froze. She knew that voice only too well.

"What do you think you doing, huh?" The voice demanded. A fist was slammed into a table. "I told you I wanted nothing to do with this music crap. But I find you put my face on album covers and airbrushed some stupid hair on me?"

"Look, son…" Bob Roth started.

"How many times do I need to tell you, I ain't no son of yours." The voice growled. Lucy recognized that warning tone in it, even if Roth didn't. "I thought I made that clear when I chose to live on the streets instead of your fancy manor."

"Oh, you did. But I will still be profiting off of you, make no mistake. And there is nothing you can do about it."

Wrong, Lucy thought. If the owner of that voice was who she thought it was, there was a lot he could do to Bob Roth, with or without powers.

"This is not the last you've heard on this, old man." The voice came again. "I'm giving you one last chance. Next time, I won't be asking so nicely."

The door slammed open and a young man just a year older than her walked out. He had pink hair and hazel eyes, that were currently briming with fire.

"Natsu…" Lucy said, her voice unbelieving.

The young man froze, he turned to look at her in shock. "Lucy?" He asked in disbelief. "Is that you…"

He was cut off as she tackled him to the floor. "NATSU!"

"Whoa, careful there Lucy. You're stronger than I remembered."

She cried softly into his chest. "Wendy and I have been training to strengthen our powers so we could go home." She managed after a long moment.

"Wendy is here too?" He asked in disbelief. "Why didn't we smell each other?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. But I'm so glad to see you again. We were worried you were still in Earthland."

He nodded. "Who else is here?"

She got off him and let him up. She noticed his clothing was threadbare and worn. "At least Erza and Jellal are here as well. We've meet Jellal but still are looking for Erza."

Natsu nodded. "She'll likely find us, when the time is right. What do you go by here?"

"My name here is Chloe and Wendy is Marinette."

He laughed. "Of course, you would be Chloe. Ended up a rich girl again?" His teasing was light, not meant to hurt.

"Yeah, well both my parents this time suck. So, I'll have no trouble leaving them behind. Wendy will miss her replacement parents. She hasn't had a parental figure since her mother died. But she's eager to get back to Fairy Tail."

She knew Natsu understood only too well. He had lost Igneel, his dragon father, on the exact same day as Wendy had lost her mother.

"I'm glad you two had each other," Natsu confessed. "I've been going crazy without you girls, Erza, Happy, or even Gray. Who would guess I would miss his stupid face."

"Well, come on. I'm taking you back to the hotel with me." Lucy pointed a finger at him. "No complaining. No guildmate of mine is going to live on the streets!"

He laughed. "Alright, settle down. I had no intention of saying no anyway. Shall we go?"

Lucy smiled. "Wendy and I have much to tell you. But first, you need new clothes, a bath, and then a meal. Maybe the bath and clothes first before the meal."

Natsu's stomach growled. "I've been living on fire from lighters mostly. I've consumed the occasional building fire too. The firefighters are always so confused afterward."

She smacked him in the back of the head. It was such a Natsu thing for him to say. They headed back together through Paris to the Grand Paris Hotel.

A/N: And our favorite fire-brand is back! I hope you're looking forward to the next chapter, cause I have some big plans. See you next month! As always, please consider checking out my other works on this site. You can also see my original works on Royal Road.

Link to Royal Road novel: fiction/55565/song-of-phoenix-ordeal-part-1