A full week and a half had passed by since Team Natsu and Lucy met Brandish and figured out their route to Magnolia. Apparently, they were not too far from the closest port town that could bring them to Ishgar. From what Erza could see, travelling to Magnolia would only take at most four days. The port town was only around half a day's train ride away and a boat could take them to Hargeon in at least two. After that it was only a matter of time to get to Magnolia.

You are probably wondering then, why were they all still in the same town for over a week? It is because Lucy was getting nervous. She had yet to recover any more memories since meeting Plue and she did not want to reunite with her family while having little too no memories. She could not help but wonder what would happen once she is faced with older versions of Team Natsu and the rest of her family. She wondered how she would feel in their presence.

So for that reason, Lucy had been spending a lot of time with Team Natsu. After her girl's day with Erza, Wendy and Carla, she spent a day with Gray. He had told her about guild life; what they did as a team on their off days; about the friends she does not remember like Levy, Mira, Cana and Juvia; and etc. Lucy liked hearing about them, but could not help feel guilty every time she did. But even then, she still yearned to learn more.

"Lucy?" Erza called to her.

The blonde woman was looking out onto the street below from their inn room balcony. She turned back to face Erza, who looked at her with slight concern. "Oh, yes?"

"You feeling alright?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"You've been staring out into town lately," Wendy said as she and Carla walked into the room. "Are you still nervous about going to Ishgar?"

Lucy smiled solemnly before turning back to lean on the balcony railing and looking at her celestial keys. "Very," she admitted. "What will they be like? Will they be happy to see me? Will they resent me for being gone so long? I can't help but think things like that. I mean, I still can't even summon one of my zodiac spirits."

"You shouldn't rush anything, you know," Carla said as a matter-of-factly. "Nothing good ever comes of it."

Lucy chuckled at that. "I know, it's just..."

As she trailed off, the three fairies joined her on the balcony and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "If we know ourselves and our guild, believe us when we say we have no doubt our future selves will welcome you home with open arms." Wendy said.

Erza looked down to the street and immediately caught sight of Natsu, Gray and Happy exiting the inn. Gray turned left, likely making his way to the dinner or café they had been frequenting for lunch, while Natsu and Happy seemed to wonder what to do next. With a knowing grin, the scarlet haired woman turned to face Lucy. The blonde, bluenette and white exceed looking at her with curiosity.

"It's been a while since you last spent time with Natsu and Happy," she suggested. "Why don't you talk with them?"

"With Natsu and Happy?"

"I can't deny that is a good idea," Carla added. "When our Lucy was ever unsure of anything or even felt uneasy, just having them by her side made her feel better."

"Really?" she asked to which they all nodded.

"You better go run downstairs before they leave," Wendy said. "You won't be able to catch up once they start running around."

Lucy stood still for a moment, her head downcast as she looked at Natsu and Happy converse about whatever they were talking about. It really had been quite a while since she spent time with just the two of them. She knew she was partially responsible for that fact, especially since she told him that her younger self would not like the fact that he left her when things were tough. But, that is more of a them problem now.

With that in mind, she nodded to the three girls and ran out the room. They smiled at her actions knowingly - despite seeing so many different sides of this Lucy they did not recognize, there were still parts of her that remained the same even without memories. They wondered if that was because of her memories which she confused as dreams. It also made them wonder what their future selves were like as well. Hopefully, they could meet them when they find their Lucy too.

"Natsu! Happy!" the blonde woman called.

The duo turned to her and watched as she caught her breath. "Oh hey Luce," Natsu greeted. "What's up? I thought you were hanging out with the girls today."

"Oh, I just changed my mind is all." Lucy replied in between breaths. "It's been awhile since we've spent some time together after all."

"Aye," Happy agreed. "So what should we do today?"

Natsu crossed his arms and pondered for a moment. There was not much to do anymore since the town they were in was pretty small and everyone had more or less explored a good majority of the town. Everyoe had been telling her stories of the adventures they had taken, but none of them seemed to jog her memories at all and no other dreams had been very note worthy to be a memory. She had been hanging out with Plue a lot and was able to summon the other silver spirits, but not her zodiacs.

"You wanna try summoning Virgo and the others?" he asked to which Lucy's ears perked up.

"Huh?" she asked. "But... I thought I couldn't."

Happy climbed up to Lucy's shoulder and met her eye level. "Well you can summon all your silver keys now, so it shouldn't be too hard."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you definitely have less magic than what we remember our Lucy having, but not so little that you can't summon at least Cancer or Gemini."

"Oh it's been so long since I seen the crab guy! Let's try to summon him first!"

The duo laughed as the pink headed man took the blue exceed from the blonde woman's shoulder so that he can ruffle his fur. "You just want her to summon crab head 'cause you want to eat him!"

"Nuh uh!"

She could not explain it, but watching Natsu and Happy bicker, Lucy felt all her anxiety go away with the wind. It was just like the girls said, she felt better. It made her think about what the Natsu, Happy, Gray, Erza, Wendy and Carla of this time. Everyone had told her that their future selves would probably welcome her home without a second thought. But that did not mean she was done being wary or overthinking how the reunion would go - even more so without even half her memories.

She began laughing with them the more she watched their shenanigans play out. "Alright you two! Let's go somewhere we can train!"

"Aye sir!"

"So... how exactly do I summon a spirit from the golden keys?" Lucy asked.

The trio had moved to field outside of town. Happy had found it while flying around town early in the week and thought it perfect for a training session (especially knowing how destructive Natsu can be). Lucy stood on one side while Natsu and Happy stood across from her. They had told her that trying to summon Loke or Virgo might be too much for her and so she had decided to try and summon Cancer first.

"Well... we actually don't really know," Natsu replied. "But when you first joined Fairy Tail, you showed us how you did it."

Happy nodded before imitating the summoning pose he remembered their Lucy doing every time she summoned a spirit. "Yeah! You would hold out the key, concentrate on your magic, and then, say the spell to summon your friends!"

"Summon my friends..."

Seeing her hesitation, Natsu walked over to the blonde woman and took her celestial key pouch. Lucy just watched as he took out Cancer and Taurus' key and held them out for her to look. She raised an eyebrow at him while he just looked at her like she had to be kidding. Happy joined them, climbing so that he was perched on Natsu's head. Neither of them said anything and just waited for her to move. There was no point if she did not do it herself.

Lucy remembered that the fire dragon slayer told her that the keys before her were the first keys she had alongside Aquarius. He told her that the mermaid spirit was usually her last resort while she summoned the other two often. They had told her that Taurus was the cow in her second storybook, the one that she summoned on the mountain while Cancer was the crab she summoned in the third book, the one in the mansion.

She remembered how she felt writing those two books and those specific pages. There was a sense of longing, which she now knew was because they were her lost memories, but there was also an aching pain. Not one caused by her fits trying to remember or her fire mark, but one that came from her senses. It tingled in her skin, it shook the ethernano that surrounded her, and it made her feel like she had hurt the feelings of important people.

Now that she thought of her stories, the memories of the drawings she created began to fade into images of blurred reflections. She could see herself hold the gate key. How the smooth cold metal felt in her hand. The magic circling around her as she was enveloped in light. Instinctively, she tightened her grip on the two celestial keys. Her heart aching yet again. The more she focused on the memory did the memory become clear.

Natsu and Happy gasped as they could feel magic circle around Lucy's body, her hair whipping around her as the wind stirred. They could see her flame mark react, a brilliant amber glow emanating for her neck instead of the smokey red from before. Her brows were scrunched together and they could see sweat start to form at her temples. They could tell, no, feel that she was almost there - all she needed was a small push.

Careful to not break her concentration, the fire dragon slayer went over to her and placed his hand on the flame mark, mixing his magic to not only calm the surge of magic power but to also add his own magic to her own. Whatever was sealing the rest of her magic, he knew that once they got Magnolia, maybe Levy or Makarov would be able to solve the mystery. And maybe, he would find his Lucy there and she can help this one remember.

As their magic synced together and she could make out a magic circle forming in front of her, Lucy concentrated on the words Brandish told her. The merging dreams and memories. The longing to meet her family. "Open! Gate of the crab and gate of the golden bull! Cancer! Taurus!"

"Wait both!?" Natsu and Happy cried.

Not expecting her to attempt to summon both celestial spirits, Natsu immediately went and supplied Lucy with extra magic power. The sound of a grandfather clock could be heard and a bright light blinded the trio's vision. When Lucy recovered from her fall, she opened her eyes and let them adjust from the bright light. And when they did, a gasp left her mouth as tears began to form. The faded memories becoming clear.

Two hands were extended towards her. One of tanned skin while the other was one with white and dark fuzz fur. "It's been a long time, baby." the owner of the tanned skin said.

"Luuuuucy we've missed youuuuuu," the other said.

The celestial mage could not help but let her tears do the talking for her. They streamed down her cheeks like a ragin river, the longing ache in her heart turning into a forceful pounding as her hands shakingly reached out for her celestial spirits. When her hands grasped theirs, it was like she had learnt to breathe for the first time all over again. She could feel magic power she never knew she had surround her as voices began to scream in her head.

Lucy!

Master Lucy!

Princess!

Unable to hold herself back any longer, Lucy jumped to their embrace. Hugging her two spirits like they were her life line. "Taurus! Cancer!" she cried, her hold on them only getting tighter. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry to all of you. You all were probably worried sick!"

The two shook their heads. "No, Lucy, you don't need to apologize," Cancer said. "No one blames you for what happened."

"You know what happened?" Natsu spoke up, picking up Happy and getting up from the ground.

Taurus nodded. "What we thought was a regular job, turned into a bloooooody battle," he said, causing the trio to gasp. "If we hadn't used what remaining magic power Miss. Luuuuucy had left to fled to the outskirts of that village, she wouldn't have made it."

"What happened that day?" Lucy immediately asked, drying her tears. "Why was my magic sealed away? Why are my memories gone?"

The crab and bull spirit looked at each other before turning their gazes to the floor. The gesture making Natsu, Lucy and Happy anxious. The fire dragon slayer and blue exceed never seeing the celestial spirits look remotely angsty since they got eclipsed that one time after the Grand Magic Games. Whatever happened to Lucy two years ago, it was not something they want to relive. They looked almost ashamed. Disappointed.

"You should ask Leo what happened, baby." Cancer said. "He was the one that called us to your aid."

"Gemini and Virgo were also with youuuu at the time toooooo, but they kept switching in and ouuuuut." Taurus added.

Lucy looked between her two spirits in anxiety. As happy as she was to remember her spirits, their words made her second guess wanting to know the answers that caused her amnesia. For the first time ever since going on this journey to remember who she was and what she had forgotten, Lucy was scared to learn the truth. Whatever happened to her two years ago, it was much bigger than just simply getting injured.

Natsu looked at Lucy with worry. What had started out as a moment of progress for her, turned into a moment of ominous uncertainty. The air was tense and the magic power that had circled them dispersed along with it. Him and Happy glance at each other from the corner of their eye. With how bad the event itself sounded, they knew damn well any of their future selves would not let it slide. Especially Natsu himself.

The fire dragon slayer looked back to Lucy, thinking about his time's Lucy. "Lucy..." he mumbles to himself. "Just what happens to you in the future..."